December meme

[kindkit]

halotolerant asked: "You have the power to comission a high-budget HBO series dramatizing any book/turning movie into series/updating TV series of your choice. What do you choose? Who is cast? What is so great about it and why does it win Emmys?"

Although I nearly changed my mind at the last minute in favor of a good adaptation of Pat Barker's Regeneration (the existing film is dreadful), I have to go with my first impulse: Mary Renault's The Charioteer. I've wished for ages that there were a film or miniseries of this book.

One important point: this has to be a BBC/HBO co-production, with HBO mostly just putting up the cash. The actors and the screenwriter(s) must be English.

The difficulty with details like casting, etc. is that I need a time machine. In an ideal world, Arden Winch writes the adaptation, a young Benedict Cumberbatch plays Laurie (if you've only seen Cumberbatch as Sherlock or as Khan, you'll have to trust me that he does vulnerability and quiet strength extremely well), a young Ralph Fiennes plays Ralph, and a young Steven Mackintosh plays Andrew.

Lacking a time machine, I'm only sure about Laurie, who should be played by Shaun Evans:



Evans impressed me a lot as Endeavour Morse in Endeavour: he can show very delicate nuances of emotion, and he can show strong emotion without shouting or chewing the scenery.

I'm at a loss for the other actors. One difficulty is that the characters are very young: Ralph is 26, Laurie 23, Andrew maybe 20, and although male actors nearly always play younger than their actual age, it's still hard to find young actors who have depth and subtlety. More so now than 20 years ago, I think, because acting in Britain has succumbed at last to the U.S. model of "good looks before everything." Any suggestions?

Similar problems with the writer. I'd want Renault's story preserved in all its essentials, with just the dated justifications for gayness taken out, and in particular I wouldn't want any melodrama added. No "a bomb hits the hospital and Ralph and Andrew think Laurie is dead" sort of thing. What I want, essentially, is a story told in the classic British TV style of the 1970s or early 1980s, one that focuses on characterization over thrills and that trusts the audience to understand the points being made without having every damn thing spelled out for them. But they don't make drama like that anymore. Now there has to be a sudden death or huge emotional confrontation in every episode. If Anthony Minghella were still alive, I'd let him adapt and direct (stomping hard on his tendency to make drastic changes), but I can't think of anyone I'd trust with the job now. Especially not anyone connected with Downton Abbey, which somehow, tragically, has become the current flagship of British historical drama. Ugh.

You know, I think I'm talking myself out of this project. Maybe an adaptation of Regeneration would be safer, because I'm not as emotionally attached as I am to The Charioteer, which I first read in my teens and practically memorized. I find it hard to be calm when other people are Wrong about The Charioteer, and lacking a time machine, I don't know if any adaptation could ever be good enough.

Anyone want to talk me back into it? Casting suggestions, etc. very welcome.