Subject
LOLITA as Orphan (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Professor Steven G. Kellman
<kellman@lonestar.utsa.edu> for the item below. He is the editor of a
forthcoming collection of essays on VN's short stories.
----------------------------------------------
An article in Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES about "orphaned films,"
works that have been completed but await distribution, included
discussion of Adrian Lyne's LOLITA.
Steven G. Kellman
Longfellow Institute, Harvard University
-------------------------------
March 9, 1997
Lost Without a Screen: the Fate of 'Orphan' Films
By INGRID ABRAMOVITCH
....
While Savoy's films were known for their lavish budgets, none of
them came close to the $45 million that it cost to make another
still-to-be-adopted movie, "Lolita."
Based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel but not, it is said, a remake
of the 1962 film starring James Mason and Sue Lyon, "Lolita" began
life as a project at Carolco, a production company that began
bankruptcy proceedings more than a year ago, after its movie
"Cutthroat Island" became one of the biggest money-losing films
ever. The head of Carolco, Mario F. Kassar, however, retained the
rights to make "Lolita." Filming on "Lolita," which was directed by
Adrian Lyne and stars Jeremy Irons, ended last February.
Mr. Lyne and Mr. Kassar had made "Lolita" with money from
Chargeurs, a French industrial group, without arranging for
American distribution..
Late last year, Mr. Lyne showed some "Lolita" footage to studio
executives, including Sherry Lansing, chairman of the Paramount
Motion Picture Group. In recent weeks he has shown the finished
product to other distributors. But despite landing on the cover of
Esquire magazine, "Lolita" the movie, like Lolita the nymphet, is
still an orphan.
A studio executive who saw the completed movie described it as
having little appeal. What's more, he said, "it's pedophilia, and
that's a very sensitive subject in America." Stephen Schiff, the
New Yorker writer who wrote the screenplay for "Lolita," defends it
as a "restrained film."
<kellman@lonestar.utsa.edu> for the item below. He is the editor of a
forthcoming collection of essays on VN's short stories.
----------------------------------------------
An article in Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES about "orphaned films,"
works that have been completed but await distribution, included
discussion of Adrian Lyne's LOLITA.
Steven G. Kellman
Longfellow Institute, Harvard University
-------------------------------
March 9, 1997
Lost Without a Screen: the Fate of 'Orphan' Films
By INGRID ABRAMOVITCH
....
While Savoy's films were known for their lavish budgets, none of
them came close to the $45 million that it cost to make another
still-to-be-adopted movie, "Lolita."
Based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel but not, it is said, a remake
of the 1962 film starring James Mason and Sue Lyon, "Lolita" began
life as a project at Carolco, a production company that began
bankruptcy proceedings more than a year ago, after its movie
"Cutthroat Island" became one of the biggest money-losing films
ever. The head of Carolco, Mario F. Kassar, however, retained the
rights to make "Lolita." Filming on "Lolita," which was directed by
Adrian Lyne and stars Jeremy Irons, ended last February.
Mr. Lyne and Mr. Kassar had made "Lolita" with money from
Chargeurs, a French industrial group, without arranging for
American distribution..
Late last year, Mr. Lyne showed some "Lolita" footage to studio
executives, including Sherry Lansing, chairman of the Paramount
Motion Picture Group. In recent weeks he has shown the finished
product to other distributors. But despite landing on the cover of
Esquire magazine, "Lolita" the movie, like Lolita the nymphet, is
still an orphan.
A studio executive who saw the completed movie described it as
having little appeal. What's more, he said, "it's pedophilia, and
that's a very sensitive subject in America." Stephen Schiff, the
New Yorker writer who wrote the screenplay for "Lolita," defends it
as a "restrained film."