Jolie to play evil Queen in Beowulf movie.

[KenM]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050818/ennew_afp/afpentertainmentusfilm_050818191332

I read it years ago. I don't think there was an evil queen in the orginal poem. But since when has that stopped Hollywood.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Maybe she'll be playing Grendel's Mother?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Maybe she'll be playing Grendel's Mother?

Shouldn't they get someone who is really ugly then? Or will they be using alot of make up?

 

[demiurge1138]

No! I had such high hopes for this movie! I mean, in order to film it, they'd need a bit more of a plot that "burly guy finds monsters, kills them", but "the epic poem tells of the tragedy of a man condemned to eternally err because he was born of a prohibited love between a mortal and a devil. His only possible salvation lies in a constant struggle against evil within him and in Grendel, a terrible and apparently invincible creature."?!?! No it doesn't! Burly guy finds monsters, kills them!

If they had said "the movie tells of..." etc, I might not be so furious, but dragging the poem down into the mire of the movie's plot... I'm angry. Angrier than I logically should be. Maybe because I thought that this version would be more faithful to the source material than the DTV Christopher Lambert movie...

Demiurge out.

Edit: No, no evil queen in the poem. Grendel's mother was a horrible hag, but not an evil queen. And certainly not Angelina Jolie.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Jolie, evil! Now that is a tough buy but mmmmmmmmmmmm such wicked thoughts...

 

[Sir Brennen]

Note that she'll just be voicing the character, since it's going to use the same computer animation techniques as Polar Express.

Neil Gaiman is one of the screen-writers. I'm sure he has great appreciation for the mythic source material, but in his blog he recognizes that turning a ancient poem into a movie is going to to require some (as in, a lot) of artistic license. There is one major departure from the story of the poem which the director requested, but after it was explained to him why, Gaiman was OK with the change.

 

[Wombat]

No evil queen in the original

Beowulf is also not a scion of the devil

I have very little hope for this

Why can't they leave the story alone? It's great as is!

 

[Turanil]

Why can't they leave the story alone?

Hollywood has secret objectives of altering people's minds into a mass of dumb jelly.

I mean: you should read this thread about an upcoming movie crap where a scientist discovers that the sun is about to explode into a supernova next week. **Furious Rolleyes**

 

[fett527]

Note that she'll just be voicing the character, since it's going to use the same computer animation techniques as Polar Express.

Neil Gaiman is one of the screen-writers. I'm sure he has great appreciation for the mythic source material, but in his blog he recognizes that turning a ancient poem into a movie is going to to require some (as in, a lot) of artistic license. There is one major departure from the story of the poem which the director requested, but after it was explained to him why, Gaiman was OK with the change.

Interesting. Hadn't read about it being animated before. Not sure if I like that...

 

[Zander]

The studio has confirmed that they're already planning a sequel, Beowulf 2: Revenge of Grendel's Father.