My immediate reaction upon hearing the news that Jack Black will be starring in a film adaptation of Gulliver's Travels was "Yesssssss!!!!!!"
Then about five seconds later, I realized that the chances were very, very high that one of my favorite stories from childhood could be totally annihilated via this high-profile Hollywood undertaking. But, I'm choosing to remain optimistic that Black and crew will be able to do justice to this most wonderful set of tales.
If you are unfamiliar with the book, it's set up in four parts, and in each section the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, sets sail to a different strange and remote land. Probably the most familiar of his journeys is to Lilliput, home of people one-twelfth the size of us normal humans.
Gulliver's Travels was made into a fairly successful TV miniseries starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen in 1996, using Jim Henson's Creature Shop for some of the special effects. I can only imagine what the CGI whizzes will be able to do now with the newest technologies...
Filming for the big-screen take on the book will begin in March, and it's safe to say that Jack Black has his next few years planned out -- he's got the Kung Fu Panda and School of Rock sequels lined up, promotion for The Year One in 2009, the faux Jason Bourne comedy, and a few other rumored projects also up his very long sleeve. Yep, it's good to be Jack Black.
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