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Home , Jerzy Waldorff, The Godfather

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 15

Jurassic Park (1993) The Book: A warning to mankind of the dangers of genetic fiddling, Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel captured readers with its scientific rationale for engineering real life dinosaurs to populate a theme park. The Movie: ’s adventure flick lit up the box office during the summer of 1993, plunging a bunch of scientists, lawyers and kids into the depths of an island overrun with cloned dinos. He made Raptors a fixture in popular culture, and (2002) placed the T-Rex at the centre of one of cinema’s most suspenseful sequences. Being on the edge of your seat never felt so damn enjoyable. John Hammond’s grandchildren Tim and Lex were opposite ages in The Book: The memoir of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman and the novel. Lex was younger and keen on sports, whereas Tim was the older of the two fascinated with his ordeal hiding out in the Ghetto during World War II, computers. penned by Szpilman’s friend Jerzy Waldorff. The Movie: ’s harrowing depiction of Szpilman’s The Silence Of The Lambs experiences avoiding the concentration camps was showered with critical acclaim. In particular for the performance of leading man (1990) Adrien Brody, he won the Best Actor Oscar. The chronology of the The Book: Thomas Harris’ serial killer pianist’s story is re-ordered in the film, making space for Polanski’s sequel to Red Dragon finds Hannibal own commentary on the period. His own experience in the Krakow Lecter once more right in the thick of it-- Ghetto inspired the changes - including an entirely new character, this time with FBI rookie, Clarice Starling. Dorota. The Movie: Anthony Hopkins’ Lecter has only 16 minutes onscreen - and in that time managed to gift cinema with one of its most menacing yet compelling villains. And Jodie Foster as Agent Starling? A superb casting call. (If only she’d returned for the sequel...) Lecter’s line of movie dialogue: “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti” was originally “...a nice Amarone” in the novel. Not huge, we’ll admit, but for one of the film’s most quoted lines it’s a biggie. The Shining (1980) The Book: Stephen King’s first foray into the haunted house genre, The Shining meshed the author’s own real- life struggle with alcoholism into the story of Jack, a writer battling to pen a novel while he and his family hole up in the deserted Overlook Hotel for the winter... The Movie: Director ’s loose adaptation borrowed from the novel’s outline, using the “unhinged writer in a haunted hotel” framework as a suggestion. He shunned King’s own screenplay for his own take. An unfaithful interpretation of the book (no moving hedge animals, we’re afraid to say); the final product is a tour- Schindler’s List (1993) (1972) de-force in relentless filmmaking. The Book: Australian author Thomas Keneally’s The Book: Italian-American author ’s fictional retelling of actual events surrounding a Nazi account of a fictional New York Mafia clan explores the party member who came to the aid of the Jews in inner workings of the family as they enter a war concentration camps across Germany and . with their neighbouring enemies. The Movie: An epic historical blockbuster, Steven The Movie: One of the greatest films ever committed Spielberg’s film told the tale of Oskar Schindler, a to celluloid, ’s gangster epic put Al German industrialist who provided jobs for 1,200 Jews Pacino on the map as up-and-coming Mafia boss, Michael sentenced to death. It cleaned up at the Oscars and made Corleone, and follows his reluctant steps into a leading man out of Liam Neeson in the titular role. business - and of course, his dealings with his father, The part of Schindler’s accountant, Itzhak Stern (played “” (). A vast chunk of by Ben Kingsley) was a composite of several actual men the novel explained Vito’s background, in particular his working for him. climb up the Mafia ladder - all of which was cast aside for the movie. It did, however, form the basis of the sequel.