Book/Movie News

JULY 25TH, 2011

DAVIS ENTERTAINMENT AND LOLA VFX TEAM TO PRODUCE SCOTT WESTERFELD’S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING FUTURISTIC TRILOGY. “UGLIES” BEING PREPARED AS FIRST OF THE PLANNED LIVE ACTION FEATURES.


Project Signals Premier Visual Effects Company Move Into Film Production
 
LOS ANGELES (JULY 24, 2011) – Producer John Davis and the founders of Lola Visual Effects (Lola VFX) will team to finance, develop and produce a theatrical, live action feature based on Scott Westerfeld’s New York Times best-selling “Uglies,” the first of his futuristic trilogy first published in 2005.
 
The filmmakers have also acquired Westerfeld’s PRETTIES and SPECIALS, the remaining trilogy installments published by Simon Pulse, a Simon & Schuster company, with total sales of over 3 million copies. Jacob Forman (“All The Boys Love Mandy Lane”) will write the screenplay.
 
UGLIES will be produced by John Davis (“Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “I, Robot”) and Jordan Davis (“Jump In”), along with Colin and Greg Strause via their Hydraulx Entertainment banner. Lola’s Edson Williams and Thomas Nittmann will executive produce along with Adam Schroeder
 
Lola is the groundbreaking visual effects company paving the way for an entirely new level of story-telling, most recently transforming Chris Evans into the 90-pound weakling Steve Rogers for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. The company was founded by Colin and Greg Strause, Edson Williams, and Thomas Nittmann.

Set in an Orwellian future in which teens undergo surgery on their sixteenth birthdays to become supermodel “pretty,” UGLIES is the story of Tally Youngblood, one such “ugly” teen who is forced by authorities to forgo her transformation until she infiltrates The Smoke, a community of rebels who choose to retain their appearance and live outside of normal society. Tally soon discovers appearance isn’t everything and her world is not all that it seems.
 
“’UGLIES’ is a smart, youthful, and edgy trilogy peopled by sophisticated characters who have to navigate through a dangerous but fascinating world,” stated John Davis. “We are at this time in the development of cinema magic where we have the proper technology to fully realize Scott’s vision for the screen.”
 
In addition to CAPTAIN AMERICA, Lola is the company behind Brad Pitt’s youthification in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and flawless twining of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in THE SOCIAL NETWORK.  With this technology and expertise, Lola will handle the dramatic transformation of characters into the “pretty” versions of themselves while Hydraulx will create the futuristic world of UGLIES, an exquisite yet eerie dystopian future.
 
Stated Greg Strause: “With UGLIES, Scott created a visually stunning world that capitalizes on the strengths of both Lola and Hydraulx.  Our partnership demonstrates the expanding possibilities of enhancing creative storytelling with innovative visual effects.”
 
In other book/movie news, The movie based on Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" is set to be released in 2012 and the movie based on Catherine Fisher's "Incarceron" will be released in 2013 and we can not forget The Help, based on Katheryn Stockett's book, comes out August 10th 2011.  

Better than your 9th Grade World History Class

Fall of Giants is an engaging look at World War I through the lives of  five interrelated families.  Seeing WWI through the eyes of Americans, Germans, Russians, the English, and Welsh makes it much more real than the history books.  

Unfortunately, the horrors of our past often turn into stories that have no affect on our current lives.  As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   — Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, p. 284.  This historically accurate novel helps ensure that we do not do just that. 

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Torn between loyalty and love this WWII story about two 12-year-olds is a must read!  Available at the library or via Woodland’s Downloadable Library.   Inspired by true events.

Who Isn't Afraid of Sharks??!?

I have a friend, Kristen Tracy, who writes books for teens. I've enjoyed all of her titles so far, but this summer, she's coming out with the best one yet! Sharks and Boys is the story of . . . well . . . sharks and boys. When Enid decides to follow her recently-ex boyfriend to see if he's going on a date with another girl, she certainly doesn't expect to wind up stranded at sea on a rubber raft with her twin brother, her ex and his twin, and two other sets of twin brothers. And she certainly didn't think that they would be fighting injury, thirst, sunburn, and bloodthirsty sharks! Sharks and Boys has everything you would want in a good summer read . . . scary predators, handsome boys, and a cinematic style that allows you to see all the action in your head. I, literally, could not put this book down, and stayed up way past my bedtime so that I could see what happened to the stranded teens. Keep an eye out for this one!

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

How do you stay true to yourself when you do not even know who you are? That is what Frankie Landau-Banks tries to figure out as she navigates from an unknown duckling to a sought-after swan in this funny, feminist tale.

With a title like this how can you resist? HCL has it in playaway format which I enjoyed but you can always interlibrary loan it if you would rather read it.

Delirium

Love is a disease that finally has a cure the question is, would you really want to be cured? Lena Haloway thinks so. She knows firsthand what being uncured can do and she wants the safety and happiness that being cured can bring her. What she does not realize is the only way to know happiness is to know sadness as well.

Delirium is the first book in a trilogy by Lauren Oliver. If you enjoyed Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series you will want to check this one out. We do not have it available at HCL yet but you can check it out through woodlands.lib.overdrive.com in WMA, PC, or iPod format.

One Wacky Family

I can admit that my family--nuclear and extended--can be a bit weird. This has been true my entire life, and I think it's added to my enjoyment of books about large families with strange habits. In that vein, I've slowly but surely been working my way through the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews. These mysteries, beginning with Murder With Peacocks, feature a sarcastic female blacksmith who investigates murders while also dealing with the rest of her responsibilities. Meg's extended family is a hoot, and Andrews somehow manages to make them funny and eccentric while still being endearing. You'll have to interlibrary loan this series, but it's well worth it if you're looking for humorous mysteries.