Well, one reason Joss might not want to take on "A Little Princess" is that Alfonso Cuaron made a highly acclaimed (but not financially successful) version just a few years back. I wonder if it was a mistake and they meant "The Little Prince", in which case Joss would only have to compete with Stanley Donen's nearly forgotten 1974 film and an opera.

Very nice interview, otherwise. Sounds like Joss really was tired and he was perhaps a bit more personally revealing than he would ordinarily be.

bobster | September 13, 23:36 CET

That international poster has such a Mad Max feel to me. I forgot to mention it before.

Caroline | September 13, 23:49 CET

Well, given the context he probably did mean "A Little Princess," since he's talking about oppression and torn families. But maybe you're right, Bobster. Certainly, Cuaron's adaptation means no more movies of it are likely any time soon, but I didn't get the sense Joss was serious about doing a movie - more just going into some random asides.
If it was "A Little Princess" he meant, that would explain why he worked it into "A Hole in the World." I loved that Fred had Wesley read to her from that book as she was dying. It was one of my favorites as a kid too (although it's definitely a "girl" book – kind of an odd one for a man to list as a favorite...)

acp | September 13, 23:50 CET

Mad Max trilogy were great films, didn't somebody suggest thatt AtS S6 LA would have been post apocalyptic a La Mad Max? or was I just in one of my fantasies (hmm Boreanaz and young Mel Gibson).

The Do That Girl | September 14, 00:22 CET

It was one of my favorites as a kid too (although it's definitely a "girl" book – kind of an odd one for a man to list as a favorite...)

Well, Joss does carry a pink plastic backpack. Obviously, not insecure about his masculinity.
;-)

tehipite_tom | September 14, 01:09 CET

And he is a self proclaimed girly man.
I love all these interviews we are getting. There is such insight into the man.It makes it harder to come up with my "perfect question" though, should I ever meet him.

Lioness | September 14, 03:16 CET

Hey, "A Little Princess" is a great book. The Cuaron movie is good, but not really in relation to the book...it doesn't even attempt to capture the character and overall narrative of the book.

Ilana | September 14, 05:25 CET

There's also an older version with Shirley Temple that's not at all faithful to the book. My favorite book as a child was "The Secret Garden" by the same writer, though I loved "A Little Princess" as well. That and "Charlotte's Web" and "Little Women" pretty much defined my childhood reading loves.

I know precisely what he means by "perfect" films -- and "The Court Jester" certainly qualifies. Some movies, like some books, have no weak points at all. I may not love them like I love other more problematic movies, but they're shiny in their perfection. (This is the distinction between love and admiration, I think.)

Did anyone else get a twig that he described his wife as essentially like his mother only nicer? That's a very loaded description, dude.

dottikin | September 14, 06:35 CET

ACP -- Gotta apologize for my stereotypically male total ignorance (other than titles) of any version of "A Little Princess" (okay, I probably saw the Shirley Temple film at some point on Sundays on L.A.'s Channel 11 back in the days before it was the Fox affiliate, but I was a zygote at the time).

I figured it with the whole Joss-girly-man thing it likely really was "A Little Princess", but wanted to give him the possibility of liking a more male-centric story, just to break the usual stereotypes a bit.

Gotta give the guy credit for his own male-security thing. As a child, my mom actually tried to get me to read "Little Women" and probably "A Little Princess" too, but she also habitually referred to my male friends as my "boyfriends" (straight girls have "girlfriends", right, my mother seems to have figured, though she still doesn't use words like "straight").

There was nothing to do but flee in terror and start reading Dashiell Hammett as soon as possible.

[ edited by bobster on 2005-09-14 16:27 ]

bobster | September 14, 18:25 CET

Hee hee and he mentions Danny Kaye's 'The Court Jester'. Man that's a classic. Was my favorite movie as a kid. (For the record, Danny Kaye kicks Jerry Lewis' ass SO hard it's actually pitiful.)

The Mad Max connection I can see. Problem is, it might work against the movie. For many people, SF movies set in a future where people wear clothes that look like the past, just scream 'B Movie!' and they don't look any further. (There's also the Waterworld thing that many see in it.)

EdDantes | September 14, 19:23 CET