The BBC reports that the award-winning graphic novel Tamara Drewe is heading to the big screen. The tale of relationships, jealousies, loves and lust in a small English village sparked by the arrival of a vivacious young woman – the eponymous Tamara – was the creation of Posy Simmonds, one of the most interesting female comics creators in the UK. Posy’s work has featured heavily in the Guardian over the years and I’ve talked to readers – especially women – who don’t even think they are reading comics when they read Posy’s work, which is one reason I’ve often recommended works like Tamara Drewe to friends who generally wouldn’t consider reading comics material; most are pleasantly surprised. I can certainly see it offering terrific subject material for a film.
(cover to the new paperback edition of Tamara Drewe by and (c) Posy Simmonds, published Cape)
“I’ve loved Posy Simmonds’ work for a long time. I’ve got a tremendous cast and crew… Tamara Drewe is a terrific story. Fingers crossed, we can do it justice,” Stephen Frears.
Stephen Frears – The Queen, My Beautiful Laundrette and many others – is adapting Tamara, with production due to start this month at Pinewood and various external locations in the UK. Saint Trinian’s and Bond star Gemma Arterton (steady now!) will play the tempting Tamara, who becomes an object of both lust and hate as the story progresses. Gemma, currently working on the new version of Harryhausen classic Clash of the Titans, will be joined by Green Wing and Black Books’ Tamsin Grieg and Mamma Mia’s Dominic Cooper. The graphic novel made the best of the year list for many in the comics blogosphere when first published in hardback and deservedly so (a paperback edition is published this month by Cape) and as I said it struck me as a great ‘crossover’ graphic novel, perfectly suited for those who would generally never consider themselves comics readers; hopefully the film version will boost the profile of the medium further with the type of audience who probably avoid big-budget comics-to-film adaptations like Iron Man and let them see that the medium offers up a real diversity of work for all sorts of readers.
(Gemma in delectable screen siren mode with Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, (c) Eon)
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October 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
[...] will be demonstrating and discussing her work and particularly her recent book Tamara Drewe which was based on Thomas Hardy’s novel Far From the Madding Crowd. The film adaptation of [...]
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