Tag: Lois Lowry

One Step Closer to a Giver Movie

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So is The Giver movie really happening? Looks like it:

Hollywood has been trying to bring Lois Lowry’s celebrated 1993 children’s book “The Giver” to the bigscreen for the better part of two decades — now the movie is one step closer to fruition, as Phillip Noyce (“Salt”) is in early talks to direct for The Weinstein Co., Walden Media and star Jeff Bridges, who is producing with Nikki Silver…

As recently as last month, Lowry expressed her doubts that “The Giver” would ever be made, having read four screenplays over the years. But with studios high on branded properties, the time may be right for “The Giver,” which also offers franchise potential. Lowry wrote two loosely-related companion novels, “Gathering Blue” and “Messenger,” while a fourth novel, “Son,” was released earlier this year and ties all three storylines together in an epic conclusion.

I’m sure part of the current push also has to do with the recent trend toward dystopian YA, and the success of the first Hunger Games movie.

Not sure how I feel about a movie adaptation, actually. Walt and I were talking about it recently, and we both said the film would have to find a way around the color issue. It’s such an unexpected moment in the book, but on screen it would be obvious pretty fast. Still, I know there have been stage adaptations of The Giver, so I’m sure they’ve had to deal with that issue as well. And I can see Jeff Bridges as the Giver, even though he’s not the guy I’ve been picturing. At any rate, I’m hopeful about this one.

(image: epSOS.de)

The Giver and Its Legacy

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Watch out for spoilers, guys. Although if you haven’t read The Giver yet, you need to get off the internet and go do that now.

On reading The Giver for the first time as an adult:

Kate [Milford]: I think I felt in my gut that he didn’t make it. I went inside from the beach, got on the computer at 2 p.m. on this gorgeous day, shut myself inside, and started doing mindless work. I didn’t want to think about it. But since then, over and over, I’ve been thinking about it. You have to decide what you want to think.

Jen [Doll]: It makes me wonder if the ambiguous ending of the book is a purposeful parallel of the message of the book itself, the ability to choose versus having things told to you, dictated, or prescribed. Choosing is harder, but in a free society, we have to be able to do it for ourselves, and of course, we value that. The ending itself becomes about this idea of choosing versus having your choice taken away, which is obviously a big part of the theme of the book.

I know The Giver is part of a series, but I’m with Kate when I think about the ending. When I first read it, I was in middle school and it was a major emotional moment for me. Was there hope? Was escape enough? And I love Jen’s point about choice, and how that’s really emphasized in the ambiguity of the ending.

Make sure to read the whole article; it’s reminded me of how much I love The Giver and what a wonderful book it is.