Ang Lee would be my first choice as he has proved that he can direct Asian themed films that are succesful in the Western market ( Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) and also make successful films in general ( Brokeback Mountain, Hulk). This aside, I have outlined the following steps (very briefly) one might take to start to begin the task to turning this novel into a movie.
Careful planning would have to be put in place to make sure things were filmed where and when they had to be. To make things even more difficult, Japan is very seasonal and these seasons are very distinct both in look and temperature. Either way the funding for accommodation and food for the cast and crew needed to do the adaptation justice would be enormous, not to mention building sets. The best option would be to film the majority of the footage in Japan meaning either sourcing the entire crew from there or having translators etc. Therefore the cast would need to be of Asian decent yet be able to speak English (to appeal to a Western audience) and the scenery of Japan is difficult to recreate in studios. There is also the fact that though the book never states that it is in Japan, it is hard to ignore the similarities. There are also quite a number of stunts, SFX and fight scenes in the book which means expensive rigs, lots of insurance, choreographers, armorers, training for cast and preferably multi-camera takes. There would be many difficulties in the attempt to create Across the Nightingale Floor for example it is a period piece and by nature period films need a lot more time, research and funding.
I chose this work to conduct the first few steps of a mock-adaptation as it is not only a fantastic story but one that has the potential to translate well to film. The story centers around the life of the main protagonist Takeo (known at the beginning of the book as Tomasu) and is characterised by many traits from Japan’s past (customs, samurai, ninjas, clothing, food, feudal hierarchy etc).įor a full plot summary please click here. It is an action/fantasy story set on a set of islands which closely resemble feudal Japan. Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in the trilogy know as Tales of the Otori written by English born Australian writer, Lian Hearn (real name Gillian Rubinstein).
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