Netherland - The Team Behind The Movie

So I've recently been discussing the book Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. My past two post have been on my initial thoughts on the book and how this book picked up popularity with mentions by President Barack Obama.

As a final post (for now) on the topic of this O'Neill's novel, I wanted to mention the most recent chapter of this book's history.

There is a movie plan in recently announced. And the crew behind this film is quite the power team.

As it stands Variety has reported that Focus Features has landed the deal to make this file with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo productions and Sam Mendes' Neal Street Prodcutions.

Oprah and Mendes are both highly respected. While Harpo's film involvement is limited, Oprah consistently demonstrates power to influence her audience, although her ability to get them in the movie theater, is limited. Oscar winner Sam Mendes on the other hand has certainly crafted films that get critics talking and it would not be surprising to see him directing this film as well.

This could be a successful pairing.

Not to mention, Oscar winner Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement) is the screenwriter behind the project.

When Christopher Hampton took on the screenwriting for Atonement, I questioned how in the world was he going to write a script to this very literary piece of fiction. As it turned out, I felt like he did an exceptional job capturing Ian McEwan's words on screen, and I think he is an excellent selection for this film because as mentioned in my initial post on Netherland, the book is powerful not as much for it's narrative, but for it's characterization, sense of place, and excellent writing.

It's unclear when all the pieces will come together for this project, but you can believe, I have my eye on it. It could be a great success, not to mention it has a chance to be the most popular cricket film ever.

(pictured above Sam Mendes, Oprah Winfrey, & Christopher Hampton)