This 120-year-old Henry James novella is coming to the big screen.
If, despite its obvious cinematic potential, the Hollywood power brokers haven’t come a-knockin’ for your novel yet, don’t be discouraged; these things can take time. Sometimes they can take more time than you have years on this earth.
Case in point: an adaptation of a 120-year-old novella by Henry James is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival next month.
The Beast In The Jungle—a contemporary, French-language adaptation of James’ 1903 novella about a man who puts life and love on hold in the belief that a catastrophic event awaits him—will world premiere in the Panorama section of Berlinale (February 16-26).
Paris-based sales company Les Films du Losange unveiled the first clip for the film, which stars AnaĂ¯s Demoustier and Tom Mercier, in the wake of the announcement of its selection for the Berlinale’s Panorama section yesterday.
Strangely, after well over a century of crickets, this will be the third adaptation of The Beast in the Jungle in the last six years. Brazilian directors Lauro Escorel, Paulo Bettieliane, and Paulo Betti brought a version to the SĂ£o Paulo International Film Festival in 2017, while Dutch writer-director Clara van Gool’s English-language adaptation was released in 2019.
So take heart; in the year 2143, you, too, might experience the thrill of seeing your neglected-in-its-own-time masterwork lovingly adapted for the silver screen. The fact that you’ll be ensconced in the afterlife at that point should in no way diminish your enjoyment of the event.
[via Deadline]