One of my favourite graphic novels of last year (see here for my list of 2008 faves), Alex Robinson’s Too Cool to be Forgotten, has been optioned for a possible movie adaptation, reports MTV Splash. Anthony Bregman, producer on Charlie Kaufman’s recent Synecdoche, New York (although that may not be a ringing endorsement; I love Kaufman’s work usually but that film was a dreadful piece of over-long, self indulgence) has negotiated the rights to adapt Robinson’s Too Cool for the big screen.
(is it real or just a hypnotic delusion – or nightmare – either way its back to school in Too Cool to be Forgotten, by and (c) Alex Robinson, published Top Shelf)
Its a story I can see working quite well as a film – a middle aged man with that vague, disatisfied with your life feeling that seems to grow around that age, agrees to hypnotherapy to help him stop smoking. Instead he wakes up back in his old high school; to everyone around him he looks like his teen self but he retains his adult memories. Like the BBC’s excellent Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes the central character is not sure if he has actually gone back in time or if this is all some delusion playing out inside his own head during the hypnosis, but as the story progresses he – and the reader – become emotionally entangled in this life, part remembered, part-relived teen emotions and events but mixed with the longings and regrets of a 40 something man. Which isn’t to say its a downer – its funny in places, touching and emotional in others and it alights on aspects of life most of us will identify and empathise with. Is he really back? If it is a hypnotic dream then nothing he does matters, but if its real he could change the future. If he can change things, should he? Is he on a Quantum Leap like chance to fix ‘what once went wrong’ or is more like Its a Wonderful Life, a chance to re-learn how precious elements of his adult life really are?
If you missed it then you should consider picking it up (and Alex’s other work) – it’s funny in some places while other spots will bring a tear to your eye; you can read Richard’s review of it here. I’d also recommend it as one of those graphic novels that people who rarely read comics (presuming the entire medium to be capes and tights, not that there’s anything wrong with those) would also enjoy (I think it would surprise many of them with how it draws them in). Its also a nice coup for the folks at the fine Indy press Top Shelf, who published the book; another TS publication, The Surrogates is also heading to the big screen, with a film version starring Bruce Willis due this autumn. (link via ICV2)
June 9th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
one of my personal favorites as well