Filmsane

Hi boys and girls. You’ve probably heard the news. The bad ass writer/director Alex Garland did a Reddit AMA session, and in it he actually announced that a brand new film adaptation of the Beach is in the works.

Well, someone very talented is currently working on a possible adaptation, so I’m really interested to see what they write, was his answer to the „Do you think there will ever be another shot at adapting The Beach“ question by an anonymous fan on Reddit.

Garland failed to elaborate which talented filmmaker is currently working on the new adaptation of his book, but knowing that there is a possibility for a new The Beach movie is actually exciting, since I’m one of the few fans of the original 2000 movie.

Yes, I know that the Danny Boyle directed drama was panned by most critics, and fans of both the book and Leo Di Caprio despised that film version, but I think it was actually not that bad. The movie’s reputation improved over time (I guessed the film aged and matured, or the fans finally had the guts to admit the movie was decent) but it’s one of the most exciting Leo movies of the post Titanic era.

The post Tiatanic fame of Leo attributed to the movie’s box office success, but I think the rest of the actors had their share also. Virginie Ledoyen was great and I also loved baby faced Guillaume Canet in the role of Étienne, her boyfriend.

Robert Carlyle was crazy and iconic even in the limited screen time, and let’s not forget Tidla Swinton. How great and scary AF was she?

The scenery was breathtaking, and prompted many many more adventures to book a flight to Thailand only to discover that the paradise-like island scenery was landscaped and modified by hand, or by CGI by the very talented film crew.

But that was on the surface. Although confusing and times, and with serious pacing problems there was good character development, and I was a fan on how the love triangle was executed. Fun fact about The Beach is that Ewan McGregor was Danny Boyle’s first choice to play the part of Richard. The studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio and cast him before Boyle could intervene. While McGregor blamed the studio, he did not speak with Boyle for many years, and admitted in an interview that he felt betrayed at the time. Back in 2015, McGregor and Boyle made amends and are now on good terms.

And speaking of Boyle, he did an amazing job shooting that movie. It’s not that easy shooting the majority of the film on an open set (and especially in Thailand), so way to go Danny!

Hey even Garland himself is credited in the movie. According to the IMDB page of the movie, he designed the map that Duffy gives to Richard, and as much as the haters would like to hate this movie, 18 years on they’ll have to admit that it was at least decent. Admit it… You’d see it if you were flipping through the TV channels late at night. Wouldn’t you?

I would, and I’m actually looking forward to the new potential movie.