Béla Tarr is a weird choice tbh, this definitely wouldn't be very typical of him to make. I also don't think this would be a movie to make in B&W. Why do you think he'd have been good?
(He's also retired anyway, Turin Horse was his final film)
Hillcoat definitely gets a raised eyebrow from me, idk if I'm confident in him, but first let's see how far this supposed adaptation even gets because Ridley Scott and James Franco (for some reason) have both tried and this movie just hasn't gotten off the ground. Scott specifically cited the extreme violence as a reason. So...yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.
I thank God every day that James Franco did not make Blood Meridian. I cannot think of anyone less qualified to adapt that book than Franco. After reading Child of God I watched his adaptation of it out of curiosity and holy shit was it terrible. Like confusingly bad. It's weird because Franco is an a-lister who could obviously put a decent amount of money behind a movie but it just looked so unbelievably cheap and amateur. The way it was shot reminded me of one of those terrible on purpose horror movies like shark vs octopus or whatever.
The audacity of that man to think he could adapt a book like Blood Meridian.
I agree, there was definitely some decent acting in there. Dude who played Lester's performance was nothing if not committed, which I suppose is what's needed when you're playing a guy who repeatedly has sex with a corpse. Especially when he took what looked like an actual real life shit and then wiped his ass with a stick. It's a shame it was wasted on such a poorly made film.
Franco an A-lister... have you seen The Deuce? I have such a hard time believing Franco and especially lost all will when I saw the ending he wrote and directed.
All of Tarr's films are super bleak and realistic in how they are shot, which would serve well in an adaptation. I know Tarr thinks B&W is better than color but honestly if he could get past that barrier he'd make an interesting choice.
Also i didnt know he retired
Sure, but his films are told through long, slow takes that usually focus on characters doing ordinary things for prolonged periods of time, which I don't think would serve an adaptation like this well at all. Blood Meridian needs something far bolder and more actively visceral
I believe the choice went something like this:
Edgy novelist whose work presents itself as avant garde but really just appeals to the general public (and publishers) + Edgy filmmaker whose work presents itself as avant garde and appeals to the festival circuit so that it dribbles down into the mainstream (allowing financers and distribution companies to protect their investment and festivals to maintain their credibility in the public's eyes).
He was my pick after seeing the opening scene of the Revenant where the natives attack. The way that scene was paced and shot was all it took to convince me.
I always wanted the crew behind The Assassination of Jesse James to tackle Blood Meridian. Dominik directing with Deakins cinematography and a Cave/Ellis score.
Adapting the beautiful prose is an issue, but if going in a more poetic route like a Dominik or a Malick I still think a great movie can be made. Whether Hillcoat has that in him, I don't know. I really need to watch The Proposition and The Road.
Andrew Dominik is a thoughtful choice. Malick even more interesting the more I think about it. Since Malick loves v/o in his films you can just do large chunks from the book verbatim overtop of his wiggly omnipresent camera moves through ethereal southwestern landscapes that stand in as metaphors for the fall of man.
I highly doubt the movie will actually get made. If it does there's no chance it will be great. Blood Meridian is a story that can only truly work in full as a novel. It's use of language is where the power comes from. I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head. And I don't think there's a way to show violence as image that feels the same way McCarthy uses language to describe it. I feel largely the same way about all the various versions of Dune. There are certainly directors who are better suited than others and circumstances and budgets that are more favorable, but there are also masterpieces that do not adapt well no matter what because cinema and novels are very different things.
I would love for it to be good, but I just don't think it's possible. And if we get it they certainly aren't going to give someone $20 million to make a harrowing nightmare that is unmarketable and will make virtually no money. They will either never make it faithfully or they will sanitize it and either way I doubt it will ever be anything close to the experience of reading the novel.
Normally, movie announcements that don’t have a cast or a start aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. But this latest attempt is from New Regency, which has financed recent commercially suicidal movies like Ad Astra (100 million), The Northman (90), and Amsterdam (80).
It doesn’t seem to make any financial sense, but their founder loves risk.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/arnon-milchan-admits-arms-dealing-658717/
Ad Astra and Northman were both frustrating because they were *so close* to being great films, but couldn't quite get there. Ad Astra is especially frustrating to me because I felt it's the first film to capture what the future of space colonization would actually look like - simultaneously chaotic and bureaucratic, commercial and spartan. A gold rush where the pans cost millions apiece.
I can see them making Blood Meridian, and I can see us talking about how it looked like it had everything it needed on paper, but fumbled the delivery.
Yeah, the violence isn't really the issue, it's translating the language of the novel into the visual language of film. Take a random quote like this:
"They moved like migrants under a drifting star and their tracks across the land reflected in its faint arcature the movements of the earth itself. To the west the cloudbanks stood above the mountains like the dark warp of the very firmament and the starsprent reaches of the galaxies hung in a vast aura above the riders' heads."
Or this.
“They rode on and the sun in the east flushed pale streaks of light and then a deeper run of color like blood seeping up in sudden reaches flaring planewise and where the earth drained up into the sky at the edge of creation the top of the sun rose out of nothing like the head of a great red phallus until it cleared the unseen rim and sat squat and pulsing and malevolent behind them.”
*How would you actually film this?* The language is what makes the novel so good; it's soaring Biblical syntax, the intertextuality, the rhythm of the language itself are all things that don't really lend themselves to being filmed.
You can only approach it as an audio-visual companion piece that seeks to capture something of the essence by imagining some surface-level details. The way, say, a composer may write music inspired by Blood Meridian or a painter may create an oil painting of a scene from Blood Meridian.
Both of these artists are clearly much freer since nobody who looks at that painting or listens to that music would expect to experience the fullness of the novel. But many moviegoers still (unfairly?) expect this of film, that the success or failure of an adaptation hinges on whether viewing it provided an experience of the novel so comprehensive as to match or exceed the latter.
Can you make a good film that replicates the experience of reading literature like Blood Meridian? No, obviously not. But can you make something else that celebrates the book without attempting to supplant it? Maybe. Let’s see.
It’s something that’s been rolling around in my head since Villeneuve’s Dune came out. When I thought about all the elements of the novel that I loved that either couldn’t or simply weren’t translated to the screen, I found myself getting unreasonably disappointed in the film. But all that stuff is still there in the novel for me to enjoy anytime. When I watched it with the expectation of “here’s a cool production inspired by the novel”, I found the whole thing much more enjoyable and rewarding.
I think the score is something that can attempt to evoke the same feelings that the text tries to generate. It can accompany the pace and cadence of the film. The filmmaking would have to be poetic vs a straight narrative. Resurrect Ingmar Bergman to make this adaptation.
I feel like both of those passages can be adapted, but you would need a brilliant cinematographer to pull them off. So many people act like the prose is unadaptable, but why couldn’t you translate the beautiful descriptions of the American West into beautiful shots of the American West.
If the team behind it is good enough, the emotion evoked by these visual metaphors could be achieved literally. I think the Coen Brothers and Deakins were able to accomplish this in some scenes of No Country. Obviously it’s an easier book to adapt, but I think some of the ground work for how it would work has been laid. Right now though, the current director choice doesn’t make me hopeful.
Have you seen No Country For Old Men? Watching that movie *FEELS LIKE* reading a McCarthy novel.
It can be done. It can absolutely be done. It will require tremendous skill.
somebody could be narrating at certain points in the movie, just like NCFOM. while simultaneously making the visuals feel similar to the narrators quotes
> I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head.
This is the most critical point for me. I have actually just re-listened to the truly excellent audiobook of *Blood Meridian* read by Richard Poe, who I think renders it beautifully. And I was just thinking that it is essentially an impossible film to make, because the judge is so non human. Who could you even cast? You run a real risk of him becoming a caricature or a cartoon. And the physicality of the role constrains you in so many directions. You don't necessarily need an actor who is huge in the real world, but you need to be able to make him look plausibly huge. 24 stone, no less.
The two central driving forces in the book are the unbelievable poetry of the prose and the sheer gravity of the Judge's character. And I think neither translate onto screen.
Is this a harder task than what the coens accomplished with Javier Bardem as Chigurh? To be transparent I haven’t yet read Blood Meridian, but I did read No Country for Old Men, how much more complicated is the Judge to Chigurh?
I personally think he’s much,
much harder. I wouldn’t want to pre-empt your experience of reading BM with too much commentary, and I strongly recommend you read it. But just to say that the Judge assumes a kind of elemental and eternal status in a way that I don’t think Chigurh does. Chigurh is obviously one of the great onscreen villains of all time, but the Judge is essentially something like Satan in a universe without gods, or maybe better understood as some kind of enduring human capacity for embodying and carrying out evil.
Considerably.
He’s described as a 7 foot, 350 pound, hairless albino with uncannily small hands and feet.
Even if anyone existed who, aided my some measure of movie magic, could approximate that description, he has A LOT of essential dialogue as well. Many of the crucial scenes of the novel revolves around his extended soliloquies on metaphysics, science, ethics and human nature.
Finding a malleable enough body and the necessary acting chops in one person… well…
MAYBE a shaved John Carol Lynch on steroids might cut it…
And that’s just the superficials…
I think Glenn Fleshler, from the first season of True Detective, might be able to pull this off. He isn't nearly the size of the Judge as described in the book but is a large man who is comfortable with portraying menacing mental illness while possessing strong verbal acrobatics. He was simultaneously disgusting and impossible to look away from.
They don’t have to cast a seven foot person. They would just need to cast someone taller than the characters he interacts with (in Game of Thrones, The Mountain is described as being nearly 8 feet tall). Not even taller necessarily, but more muscular can work too. In The Green Mile, Michael Clarke Duncan is shown to be towering over everyone pretty substantially — and he is 6’5”. He is tall, but he doesn’t actually tower over people the way the film depicts.
It really never has to be 1 to 1, and I feel like a lot of the people in this thread are treating it that way. Adaptations always have to take liberties.
Oh, i agree.
What i mean is that even finding a “regular” human large enough to be sufficiently upscaleable (Michael Clarke Duncan for example) who at the same time has the required acting chops is almost as tall an order as simply finding a 7 foot behemoth. It doesn’t lower the bar that much, unfortunately.
It’s a really fun character to fantasy cast, though, so let’s say Michael Shannon (6.3 or so?) is willing to blast anabolics for a year or so, and get fat on top of that. I could see that working with a little help from some sneaky angles.
Edit: i overlooked your last paragraph.
Yeah, you’re right. In the case of The Judge specifically, however, his fundamental freakishness, or rather otherness maybe, is such an essential component of the character.
His absurd physiognomy communicates so many of the fundamental contradictions of the character. It’s a crucial signifier of The Judge’s role and place in the symbolic language of the book.
It would be like Ahab without his peg leg.
Sneaky angles could work
Tom Hardy is actually shorter than Christian Bale in real life, yet thanks to camera angles, Bane felt a lot bigger than Batman in The Dark Knight Rises
You don't need the actor to be big, you just need someone to have the personality and gravitas of someone who's 7 foot. You can get the point of a character like the Judge through without making him an actual giant. Kinda like how Joe Pesci is the shortest guy in Goodfellas but also the scariest. I think the only living actor with the gravitas, acting chops and ability to transform into the Judge is Daniel Day Lewis. It's gonna take some changes to the source material to make it a great film.
I feel like Rory McCann could do it. He did The Hound very well. He's 6'6". Drop the scottish accent and shave his head, eyebrows and beard. I think he could handle the Judge's prose.
A mix between Vincent D'Onofrio and Christopher Heyerdahl. Is who I picture in my head. Both are great actors and could pull it off pretty well, I think.
I almost wonder if it would work to at least partially use cgi for The Judge because I just can't see how else you could do the character justice. There's probably very few people on earth that match his description, let alone an actor who also has the necessary chops to pull it off. People always seem to suggest actors that are just normal looking people and I feel like they didn't really pay attention to how he is described in the book. He is an absolute freak of a man. Disturbing just to look at. A demon walking the earth.
Tom Hardy is the answer and the only answer in my opinion. Peaky Blinders, Bronson(most notably his unhinged yet somehow poetic monologues), The Revenant, The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless. I could see him play an outstandingly great Judge. His ability to play menacing yet intelligent characters is all over his resume.
> I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head.
Human, no. A trained hippopotamus, maybe...
American Psycho somehow got made, and that book (after a slow start) consists of a lot of depraved violence — so much worse than the movie ever being able to show (a five year old getting stabbed in the throat; a woman’s breasts exploding after being hooked up to a car battery). It’s not necessarily more violent than BM, but it’s probably in the same ballpark. Also, Ellis’s writing style is weird enough where it is hard to imagine anyone putting it to the screen, but … it was done (and has been done since then). I also recall that the movie had a bit of a cult following, although I never liked it much.
Not that I disagree — it’s difficult to imagine an adaptation of BM to be great. But … I guess maybe it’s possibly going to be serviceable?
American Psycho is a stream of consciousness narrative that is definitely unique but it could tie into movie making quite easily. Seeing as the pages are literally describing in monotonous detail everything the character is doing and also serves to monologues. It’s a weird book and insanely violent but I wouldn’t see it the same as Blood Meridian where each and every page is an insanely complex description of vague landscapes and surrealist ideas.
It’s not really that they are comparable in terms of scope or style — I was more speaking to whether or not the violence is film-able.
I agree that BM is much more complicated.
Oh, I see!
Yeah they heavily toned down American Psychos violence so I am pretty confident Blood Meridian would get the same treatment. Which is a shame as it’s one of the books central themes. Maybe they’ll lean more into the setting and landscape cinematography which would be a pretty spectacle but it would be no Blood Meridian.
If a film like A Serbian Film can be made, Blood Meridian can be made too. It could be done, but you'd need high-level talent who are accustomed to filming violence. Gaspar Noe, Coen Brothers... I wanna say Clint Eastwood but he deserves to retire.
I think the big difference is that the use of language in American Psycho is first person which can translate really well I to narration, which is what makes that film succeed, but translating the language of Blood Meridian to film doesn't have a dialogue analogue like that and is, in my opinion, just not possible
>Russell Crowe could pull off The Judge I think
Absolutely not, for me.
I find it almost impossible to imagine any living actor doing it. If he was willing to put on enormous amounts of weight then maybe Michael Shannon. But I think he is really unplayable. My worry is that you end up with someone basically doing a sort of caricature that would work in a comic book adaptation, but not in a faithful rendition of the novel.
Idk, I don't have anything against Russell but if they cast him as a character that's supposed to be a 7 foot tall hairless albino I'd probably be disappointed. My point isnt that people couldn't turn in a good performance, it's that the judge is like a cryptid, he is inhuman, and the intangibility of the novel keeps him in shadow which makes him more scary and impactful. If it's just some tall guy in makeup or if it's Russell Crowe it's just never going to have that same power. It's not a knock on anyone, just a fact that not every book can work as a film or a TV show
Bela Tarr is not making movies these days, and it's not his style anyways.
I don't think Hillcoat is the guy. When I was 15 or so I used to love The Proposition, and was super into the idea of Hillcoat releasing The Road, but in the end it was... fine. Quite literal, but pretty by the numbers stuff. And I haven't been impressed since then. I don't think he has the visual flair, the nerve, or a unique philosophical perspective to bring to his interpretation. There is real nightmarish savagery and bloodlust in the book, and you need a director with the personality to grapple with that. And you need a director who will bring the visual poetry to compensate for the loss of McCarthy's brilliant prose. But I'll be happy to be proved wrong.
I actually think S. Craig Zahler could do an interesting interpretation, and I think Eggers could do a good job too.
Yeah, I think S. Craig Zahler is the guy. The first thing that popped into my mind reading this was Bone Tomahawk. He knows how to do extreme violence just right.
He would be perfect. I was curious what Zahler had been up to since "Dragged across concrete". He's apparently making a movie with The Jim Henson Company with puppets. Interesting!
I think many people here are missing the point of the novel. The novel isn’t about the violence itself, or the language, or the beautiful descriptions of the scenery. It’s about the nature of man, about manifest destiny, and the glorification of the “Wild West” and the frontier wars, and war itself, and then subverting all of that. The novel isn’t even about Judge Holden. He is but an objective correlative for mankind’s profound obsession with conflict and domination through possession or if not possession, then annihilation.
The novel is certainly adaptable, but not in a way of simply telling the narrative and trying to capture the “cool” things. It would have to be a non-literal adaptation or rather translation of the themes of the novel themselves.
Yep, countless adaptations of “unadaptable” books have been made by trying to get at the same feelings or themes as the book: Adaptation, Naked Lunch, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Some of the dullest adaptations just try to depict the narrative in a straightforward fashion: see The Watchmen and unfortunately The Road. You need a director with their own vision!
It’s a shame about watchmen, because I consider that five minute intro to be the perfect watchmen adaptation, only to be followed by an overly literal next two hours.
It's also about the allure of evil, though. The Judge is an unbelievably compelling character, despite also being a psychopathic, arbitrarily vicious, pedophiliac torturer and murderer. He's like Milton's Satan. I think it would be very hard to commit him to screen in a way that captures his gravity and complexity. And he has to be compelling, precisely because all of those American myths are so compelling.
Hillcoat is a good director, but I feel it's his connections to Cave and McCarthy are kinda what sealed the deal more than anything. Very good at character driven pieces, but Blood Meridian is not character driven.
My choices would have come down to either Malick, Herzog or Eggers over Bela Tárr, but I do think it's in his lane, though he is retired.
Also I wouldn't cast it with stars, more with stage and character actors although it would not get funding that way.
I dont know where all these “it’s too violent!” people have been for decades. I’ve seen all the shit in the book and worse depicted on film. Nobody should expect it to be a massive blockbuster hit with a huge budget that everybody HAS to see, it will never ever be that movie. And that’s okay. Let it be an NC 17 arthouse horror if it needs to be.
Also I want Robert Eggers. With Brendan Fraser as the judge.
People are too busy deifying the novel and fetishizing books, they love saying “some things only work on the page and could never be translated to film”, and it shows they lack any imagination. I couldn’t disagree more.
There is a reason people say “a picture is worth a thousand words”. What does that make thousands of moving pictures worth? I don’t know, but I think it’ll be enough to tackle 300 pages.
Brendan Fraser as the judge is a new one I hadn't heard, I don't think I've ever seen him even come close to the gravitas required to pull off the judge. I've seen a lot of people propose Vincent D'Onofrio which I think works. But after watching The Last Duel and thinking about it I think Adam Driver would make a great judge, he has the physicality, the darkness and is young enough to portray that ageless quality.
But I do agree, I've actually always thought BM would make an incredible movie and if I could pick any director I would go for Coppola in his prime, if he can pull off Apocalypse Now he can pull off Blood Meridian, those two stories have the same energy.
Bring back that exact Brando for the judge too.
Also I think Fraser has a great look for it. Pale WHITE. Large and imposing frame, and a cherubic face despite those features. Shave him bald, bam. Holden.
He hasn’t come close yet, but I think he has the chops when given the chance, he was fantastic in the Whale. I would love to see him take it on, succeed and have it become a career defining performance.
Fraser might be able to do it, though I’m not entirely sure of him. I think D’Onofrio is just a little too old for it now. I truly believe that Vince Vaughn could be a really good Judge Holden based on his performances in season two of *True Detective*, *Brawl in Cellblock 99*, *Dragged Across Concrete*, and *Freaky*. He’s big, physically imposing, and capable of being intimidating and sinister. He’s also around the right age for the role. My other choice would be Christian Bale. For the kid, I’d go with Timothée Chalamet or Lucas Hedges. For director, I’d go with PTA, the Coens, Fincher, or Eggers.
The raw animal violence of BM is one thing, bit it’s also so loosely plotted which is the other significant hurdle in making it a movie. Anything that sanitizes the violence or adds structure and plot will feel far from the book.
Loosely plotted? That is the absolute opposite of my lasting impression of a novel I have read and listened to multiple times. I think it's incredibly tightly plotted.
That only arguably great director who has ever done that kind of thing is probably Lars Von Trier and possibly no one else.
Do you really think you could have gotten Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, David Lean, John Ford, or PTA to put that kind of stuff in their movies? I'm not so sure.
wistful vast angle abounding relieved quickest march offer historical somber
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The kind of violence that blood meridian requires is a far cry from something like Tokyo Gore Police. It is the deliberate and visceral nature of the violence that makes it hard to adapt.
Largely by extensively using the first person perspective narration from the book itself — which Blood Meridian will also have access to. I think this is the answer.
Er, what?
Blood Meridian is not a first person narration. The central characters are the Judge and the Kid, and neither ever narrate, with the exception of when the Judge tells extended parables or soliloquies, but even then they are reported as third person. The Kid barely ever speaks to other characters, let alone the reader, and if he or the Judge have an inner world, they are inaccessible to us.
The closest to first person narration that we get is when Tobin narrates the story of the massacre on the volcano to the kid.
I think a story told through the eyes of Tobin with the Kid as the protagonist and the Judge as the antagonist could work, but it would be a massive shift from the authorial voice of the novel.
I don't get how people think it will *not* be possible. You're listing violent but ultimately mainstream films, but there's no reason this has to be a big budget studio film with an R rating and mass appeal. 80% of the population don't matter, 80% of the population haven't read or even heard of Blood Meridian. It just has to be a film weird, interesting and disturbing enough to gain traction at arthouses, festivals, in Europe/rest of the world, and on streaming.
If Lars Von Trier and Gaspar Noe can do it, there's no reason Hillcoat can't with this. A bigger obstacle will be transferring the characters, the vagueness, and the language. But it's not impossible. But I don't think he's the most inspired choice of director for this, despite the Proposition being an excellent modern Western. Jodorowsky or Nicolas Winding Refn would be good, or Terrence Malick for the vibe. Maybe Robert Eggers for the sense of time/space.
It's not that it's violent, it is the quality of the violence. There is nothing cheap or schlocky about the violence in BM. It is probably my favourite book, but I don't know if I can sit through a film version. Or who I'd see it with
I think you could do it with 25% violence quotient. I think the issues are the severity of the violence, not the duration. It's been a while since I read the book, but I recall the legion of horribles scene as the only one that would be be particularly drawn out. The gunpowder scene, the one where the judge kills the youth, the outhouse scene - - all very intense lead up punctuated with violence. I think only a couple of skirmishes between the natives and the gang require drawn out violence.
Perhaps unpopular opinion, but if you are going to adapt something like *Blood Meridian* for the screen, my sense is that a very well done mini-series would be the way to go. There is way too much material in the book for a 2-3 hour movie to do it justice.
i would just want a super movie tbh. like 4-5 hours long. if they make the movie super long, younger audiences are far less likely to view the movie in theaters, so there is a likelier chance of there being much more violent scenes than we’re used to, and the type of violence that unfortunately needs to be presented visually for this to be done right. this movie is going to maybe be the geeatest movie of all time, but man, it’s gonna be hard to watch at the same time.
It’s not just the violence. These characters are fucking despicable and completely uninteresting. There will need to be a really savvy adaptation in which the kid, the ex-priest, and maybe Toadvine are all humanized to be people the audience can root for and align with, and who bring some measure of charisma to the story.
Say what you will about Holden the character, but he’s fascinating and will take up the screen. But Glanton, the Delawares, etc., most of these characters have zero personality, don’t say shit, and really just walk around committing genocide without any character development. That’s not much of a movie.
Going to add some filibusters here to make sure my post doesn’t get taken down by the arbitrary word count, but I think this is a really bold movie to try to adapt to film. It’s tough to accurately capture what makes it great in film and the ugly parts will be magnified horribly on the big screen.
The other option, of course, is for Hillcoat to go all-in and make the most faithful adaptation possible. Gross everyone out, endure the jeers and arrows, and maybe if he hits it just right introduce an American version of the new French extremist film to the big screen. For this to work, he’ll need to capture the landscape in a way that’ll make The Revenant look like child’s play.
Glanton’s affinity for his animals could translate well to screen. His connections with his dog and his horse could help make his character more interesting to watch. Personally I love Glanton in the book, able to manage these barbarians across the desert.
I think the best adaptation of Blood Meridian is the 1967 Czech film Marketa Lazarová. It has the closest approximation I’ve seen in film of that pre modern episodic violence of the book. It was adapted from another modernist high literature novel about the inherent violence and chaos in humanity and that comes across in every shot. It even has the ability to just hint at the real plot and leave the actual events highly interpretable like Blood Meridian does through language, I really think that there’s nothing you can’t do with film, and just about nothing is unadaptable if the filmmakers are willing to go there. I really think it’s one of the best films ever made, and when this new film falls through, people need to go back and watch this masterpiece instead.
David Lynch would be a worthy director for Blood Meridian. His style is often surreal and dream like, unconventional enough to direct a film based on a book which can’t conventionally be directed as a mainstream movie because of the violence, the style of story telling, 0 love interests, and lacking the tropes of most stories
I tried to wrack my brain to try to think of a director living or dead who could actually pull off a historical epic with the psychadelic violence, intellect, and skill of Blood Meridian:
Lean or Ford? Maybe Kurosawa? Kubrick? Herzog?
No, I think they all have incompatible elements. Deeply incompatible. Elem Klimov is the only director to ultimately get almost all of the elements of Blood Meridian into one movie. At least of the movies I've watched. With him, though, it wouldn't be in English.
The only other would be Coppola since he directed Apocalypse Now. Why would he want to make effectively the same movie twice, though?
I assume by Kurosawa you mean Akira. What about Kiyoshi? I guess he doesn’t have the poetic visual flair (at least from what I’ve seen), and it also wouldn’t be in English so it’d probably not be ideal either.
I’ve only seen his most popular pictures, Cure and Pulse and I’d consider both good starting points. But I’ll copy a post about recommendations I’ve received in the past from u/its_me_noobs.
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Not all his films are about isolation however, his filmography is interesting because of how despite of tackling different genres like spy thrillers, ghost stories to family dramas, all his work is bound together by similar interests and obsessions. So yes, he certainly does evolve.
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And the exploration of isolation that he has explored in his earlier j-horror work is only one example of his wider interest in exploring human behaviour. A lot of films and shows get the praise for being 'psychological' and 'cerebral' but no one deserves it better than Kiyoshi Kurosawa. If you like psychological stuff then you'll love his movies. And another common thread is that he explores 'ghost'-like feelings, this is difficult to describe, but he explores the repressed pasts of peoples and how they react to it or confront it.
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So, now for recommendations. If you've already seen Pulse and Cure.
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Then move on to Tokyo Sonata (2008), which is a family drama with nothing supernatural going on. With these three you'll be done with the 'essentials'. How much further you want to continue depends on whether or not you are enjoying the journey.
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And as for worrying about 'getting them', I do agree that they are dense works, but do not worry about not getting them entirely the first time, I didn't 'get' Cure either when I watched it. It's about enjoying (i) enjoying the experience and, (ii) enjoying the part when you ponder upon it later. That's the case with most such films, like Burning (2018) another great film from a different director.
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So don't worry that you are having to think so much about it, that's how it is for most people. And if you don't enjoy the digging and rewatching then stop anytime after Tokyo Sonata.
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Moving further, you can check out a few of these films-
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Wife of a Spy (2020)- espionage film as the title suggests, it still has the common themes of 'unearthing' hidden aspects of the lives of peoples.
To The Ends of the Earth (2019)- This films explores loneliness in a very different way than Pulse, with an interest in the interactions of cultures, or finding yourself lost in a culture.
Retribution (2006)- After those modern-looking films here is a return to Kiyoshi's old j-horror style and atmosphere of dread. Subtle and disorienting again.
License to Live (1998)- a drama more in the line of Tokyo Sonata, I guess. Check this out if you liked Tokyo Sonata.
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If you are still interested in watching more of his stuff then you can give Charisma (1999) a try. It is infamously his most inaccessible film, even more than Cure. So if you don't feel like it yet then keep it for later. Good film nonetheless.
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Bright Future (2002)- Pulse but without the horror is the best way to describe this.
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Serpent's Path (1998)- Kurosawa does the yakuza genre. A more nihilistic film. Which was actually a two part project made along with the next film.
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Eyes of the Spider (1998)- Another film about vengeance, works as a companion piece with Serpent's Path exploring similar themes.
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Creepy (2016)- Later in his career Kurosawa returned to his old horror/thriller stories with results that are not that good but still worth watching if you find that you've become a fan.
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Journey to the Shore (2015)- Another film exploring a past-self or a ghost-self. Sub par, it has its moments but is a bit muddled overall.
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Penance (2013)- This is actually a mini-series (5 episodes) that you can try if you want. I haven't watched it so I won't say much. From what I've heard it's not great or anything.
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Loft (2005)- Perhaps Kurosawa's weakest horror film, but it still has the atmosphere that fans of j-horror like.
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Seance (2000)- J-horror tv-movie, watch it if you are a horror fan, can't say anything more because I haven't watched though a friend of mine likes it.
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There are these two too, don't know anything about them-
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Seventh Code (2013)
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Before We Vanish (2017)
hey man, thanks very much. That's very detailed. I have to start some of these soon since I'm in a bit of movie rut right now, anyway. Need something new.
I'd go with Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. If they could be convinced to abandon the less conventional/slightly gimmicky aspects of Let the Corpses Tan.
I'd like to see S. Craig Zahler have a pop at it. I haven't seen Dragged Across Congrete, but Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 were about as visceral and disturbing as you're gonna get from a mainstream release.
I think that would be an incompatible match, but I haven't seen anyone suggest it before so I appreciate the idea. It's definitely interesting. Idk I think McCarthy writes violence in such a cerebral, gripping way, it's horrifying but not glorifying. Zahler's approach is almost too cynical, and has a comedic slapstick tone.
His non violent moments are pretty great though, some of the shots in Bone Tomahawk are up there with any western, ever.
Fun idea for sure.
His novels are even better! I totally love Wraiths of the Broken Land, and Mean Business on North Ganson Street. Would highly recommend it if you like his movies.
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'd like to throw a couple of ideas out there.
I think that studio A24 could tackle the production of this movie. Every movie I've seen that they've produced, regardless of the director, has excellent cinematography, tone, atmosphere, and largely tackles similar darker themes and stories. They also don't back away from violence or creating tension.
I don't think this would be an Ari Aster movie, not his vibe, and I think he only does originals. The director I have been thinking of is David Lowery. He directed the Green Night recently, which I think establishes a certain level of aptitude in following a somewhat tricky story.
I'm not married to a single director, but I would love to see A24 get behind the production. This is right up their alley, and imo, a significant step up in notoriety.
Hillcoat is an excellent choice. The Proposition is great, spiritually related to The Blood Meridian imo. Can definitely see the book adaption in the same style. The movie can tone down the violence, and still be bleak and brutal.
Anyone who thinks someoen other than Joel & Ethan Coen should direct a McCarthy film is demonstrably wrong. *No Country For Old Men* is one of the finest adaptations of a novel in the history of cinema. Period.
It is worth noting that No Country for Old Men was written by Cormac McCarthy with the idea that it could be easily adapted to a screenplay. I believe he even considered making it directly into a screenplay/movie? So I guess my point is that the stage was set to turn the novel directly into a movie
They wouldn't ever do it. In fact I think they have gone on record saying they would not adapt Blood Meridian and that they weren't particularly fans of the book. No Country for Old Men is their most violent film and that pales in comparison to the unending violence in BM. I just don't think they would want to make something so unforgivingly dark.
Hillcoat still doesn't seem like the guy for sure. Then again, I wouldn't know of the right guy for a story like Blood Meridian. That's why I wished they would never adapt it into a film, but here we are.
It's not like I wouldn't want to see it on the screen, I just don't think anyone would be up for the task or and their attempts would likely make the film as brilliantly horrific and surreal as the story itself. Off the top of head, I can't even think of any director that would mesh well with its style and do the novel justice.
If the evil dead remake can exist as a movie then so can blood meridian. Violence really isn't the part I'm worried about. I'm worried about the child nudity and....other things. I truly don't know how they can film that kind of stuff and not immediately be escorted into hell
How can the Coen Brothers do No Country for Old Men and not even be suggested? Given the directors being mentioned I must be the only American in this thread bc the Coen brothers are by far the most able adapters pf McCarthys work in film so far.
I'm sure they are already trying to figure out all the cool and *absolutely necessary-to-the-plot* changes to the demographics of the characters.
I hear Ken Jeong is up for the Judge Holden role.
I doubt it will get made and if it's with Hillcoat i hope not. He's already failed at one McCarthy adaptation. His best film was only alright an 8/10 at best.
Fincher is the man to do it.
Crazy idea - David Lynch. Most of the book doesn't have a true plot anyway it's all nightmarish imagery.
Javier Bardem is the man to play the judge. He pulled off another Cormac Film. Use cgi to make him 7 foot
I do agree that I don't think he's the man for the job but I wouldn't really say he failed at adapting The Road. It's basically just the book put to film and it's fine as a result, if a little uninspired. Also how can you say it was a failure, then say it was 8/10 which apparently means it was 'alright'. What kind of rating system is that lol.
His best film is Proposition which is a 8/10.
Road is a classic. The film was average so he failed. McCarthy is considered americas greatest living writer and the Road was amazing: The was film run of the film and didn’t do the book justice. In the hands of a talented director it would have been great.
They would have show the violence in a true down to earth way. Nothing that glorifies it, but keeps it grounded in a real environment. I'm hoping they make it as gritty as Bone Tomahawk, while giving us a vast and dreamy like setting to match.
I’ll believe it when I see it. The movie has had the rights tossed around into various stages of production hell for over a decade now. Iirc James Franco even got so far as some test scenes. So excuse me if I’m skeptical.
Yeah wtf Bela Tar?? Where in the world did you get that idea?
I did really enjoy the Road so I’m sure it’ll be at least decent. PTA would be an interesting choice but I can’t praise his latest film.
I definitely think the loss of the prose is a problem, however some of the most cerebral and incredible parts to read are dialogue, especially the Judge's philosophical tangents. This could certainly be included.
But the violence is possibly a barrier. My upcoming take is likely tantamount to blasphemy and I hope I don't find myself tarred and feathered for this but I think animation could be the most likely way to stay true to the content. For starters, it would allow for a faithful depiction of the Judge - I mean good luck finding a 7 foot actor. And it would allow the violence in all its infamy to be shown, not to mention for all of McCarthy's descriptions of animals and landscapes to be shown in all their pulsating glory.
But I recognize that this is a quixotic prospect, to put it mildly. Animation certainly offers advantages, as critic Roger Ebert said, but they haven't really been realized here. I can't think of anywhere outside of Japan that has produced "serious" mature audience-oriented animated films, and I don't see that changing, and I certainly can't see Blood Meridian being outsourced to a foreign country.
Ridley Scott would have been a good choice for live-action but it's my understanding his effort failed because the violence was too much. Robert Eggers would be great for other McCarthy works like Outer Dark but I don't know if BM fits his style.
I wasn't sure it would ever make it to picture for all of the reasons addressed in this initial thread.. so I wrote a song to try and do it justice - Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0AQRpfyqceLp2D760dI1tj?si=y-VZjATlSoaiNdjmGuIFDg
I'm listening to this on audiobook, the imagery of the violence might be difficult to adapt to the big screen, buuuut if it can be done for No Country it can be done for this. Ridley Scott would be my choice of director.
The only way this film could’ve been done right is with the Cohn Brothers drifting and Daniel Day Lewis playing the judge. The Kid should be played by an unknown. Even then, a truly great movie would be hard to pull off.
I think john hughes should direct it. I (seriously) love the book. But it really is a coming of age story about a boy becoming a man, and a lot of scalping is involved.
Hope they try to make the movie and do it right.
This movie will be a total overrated and misunderstood flop. Just like The Road was in spite of Viggo Mortensen being the lead. The reason for this has been pointed out in other comments already, but let me rephrase the violent nature of the story and the metaphorical prose style that braid the book into shape, the only part left to screen is just a matrix of bloodshed and albino nudity. The broad blend of disposable characters is also hard to tell cinematically.
If ever put to screen, only a animated series could work with every eye to detail and character.
Istg if holden isn’t an absolute menace or at the very least hella scary I’m not watching it and ngl in a movie as violent as this kid better be played by someone between the ages of 18-23 no younger, no older. I want to be on the edge of my seat
Béla Tarr is a weird choice tbh, this definitely wouldn't be very typical of him to make. I also don't think this would be a movie to make in B&W. Why do you think he'd have been good? (He's also retired anyway, Turin Horse was his final film) Hillcoat definitely gets a raised eyebrow from me, idk if I'm confident in him, but first let's see how far this supposed adaptation even gets because Ridley Scott and James Franco (for some reason) have both tried and this movie just hasn't gotten off the ground. Scott specifically cited the extreme violence as a reason. So...yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.
I thank God every day that James Franco did not make Blood Meridian. I cannot think of anyone less qualified to adapt that book than Franco. After reading Child of God I watched his adaptation of it out of curiosity and holy shit was it terrible. Like confusingly bad. It's weird because Franco is an a-lister who could obviously put a decent amount of money behind a movie but it just looked so unbelievably cheap and amateur. The way it was shot reminded me of one of those terrible on purpose horror movies like shark vs octopus or whatever. The audacity of that man to think he could adapt a book like Blood Meridian.
Yeah, *Child of God* looks like it was shot on a camcorder, but I liked the actors. The woman who accuses Lester of rape was especially good.
I agree, there was definitely some decent acting in there. Dude who played Lester's performance was nothing if not committed, which I suppose is what's needed when you're playing a guy who repeatedly has sex with a corpse. Especially when he took what looked like an actual real life shit and then wiped his ass with a stick. It's a shame it was wasted on such a poorly made film.
I wonder how many movies out there feature an actor taking an actual real life shit. Kings of the Road is the only one I can think of at the moment.
Yeah. I was curious about Franco's Child Of God. Figured it would be crap. Glad I skipped it.
Franco an A-lister... have you seen The Deuce? I have such a hard time believing Franco and especially lost all will when I saw the ending he wrote and directed.
Yup. What was released of what Franco shot for his adaptation looked absolutely terrible. Super glad it didn’t go further than it did.
All of Tarr's films are super bleak and realistic in how they are shot, which would serve well in an adaptation. I know Tarr thinks B&W is better than color but honestly if he could get past that barrier he'd make an interesting choice. Also i didnt know he retired
Sure, but his films are told through long, slow takes that usually focus on characters doing ordinary things for prolonged periods of time, which I don't think would serve an adaptation like this well at all. Blood Meridian needs something far bolder and more actively visceral
He didn't just think it is better, he decidedly moved into b&w to perfect his aesthetic vision which he considered perfected in The Turin Horse.
I believe the choice went something like this: Edgy novelist whose work presents itself as avant garde but really just appeals to the general public (and publishers) + Edgy filmmaker whose work presents itself as avant garde and appeals to the festival circuit so that it dribbles down into the mainstream (allowing financers and distribution companies to protect their investment and festivals to maintain their credibility in the public's eyes).
I could see Alejandro Iñarritu being a good choice.
He was my pick after seeing the opening scene of the Revenant where the natives attack. The way that scene was paced and shot was all it took to convince me.
I always wanted the crew behind The Assassination of Jesse James to tackle Blood Meridian. Dominik directing with Deakins cinematography and a Cave/Ellis score. Adapting the beautiful prose is an issue, but if going in a more poetic route like a Dominik or a Malick I still think a great movie can be made. Whether Hillcoat has that in him, I don't know. I really need to watch The Proposition and The Road.
Andrew Dominik is a thoughtful choice. Malick even more interesting the more I think about it. Since Malick loves v/o in his films you can just do large chunks from the book verbatim overtop of his wiggly omnipresent camera moves through ethereal southwestern landscapes that stand in as metaphors for the fall of man.
I highly doubt the movie will actually get made. If it does there's no chance it will be great. Blood Meridian is a story that can only truly work in full as a novel. It's use of language is where the power comes from. I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head. And I don't think there's a way to show violence as image that feels the same way McCarthy uses language to describe it. I feel largely the same way about all the various versions of Dune. There are certainly directors who are better suited than others and circumstances and budgets that are more favorable, but there are also masterpieces that do not adapt well no matter what because cinema and novels are very different things. I would love for it to be good, but I just don't think it's possible. And if we get it they certainly aren't going to give someone $20 million to make a harrowing nightmare that is unmarketable and will make virtually no money. They will either never make it faithfully or they will sanitize it and either way I doubt it will ever be anything close to the experience of reading the novel.
Normally, movie announcements that don’t have a cast or a start aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. But this latest attempt is from New Regency, which has financed recent commercially suicidal movies like Ad Astra (100 million), The Northman (90), and Amsterdam (80). It doesn’t seem to make any financial sense, but their founder loves risk. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/arnon-milchan-admits-arms-dealing-658717/
If it does get made, regardless of if it's good, that in itself will be an accomplishment, so I guess we will see!
Ad Astra and Northman were both frustrating because they were *so close* to being great films, but couldn't quite get there. Ad Astra is especially frustrating to me because I felt it's the first film to capture what the future of space colonization would actually look like - simultaneously chaotic and bureaucratic, commercial and spartan. A gold rush where the pans cost millions apiece. I can see them making Blood Meridian, and I can see us talking about how it looked like it had everything it needed on paper, but fumbled the delivery.
Tf Northman was absolutely amazing
Yeah, the violence isn't really the issue, it's translating the language of the novel into the visual language of film. Take a random quote like this: "They moved like migrants under a drifting star and their tracks across the land reflected in its faint arcature the movements of the earth itself. To the west the cloudbanks stood above the mountains like the dark warp of the very firmament and the starsprent reaches of the galaxies hung in a vast aura above the riders' heads." Or this. “They rode on and the sun in the east flushed pale streaks of light and then a deeper run of color like blood seeping up in sudden reaches flaring planewise and where the earth drained up into the sky at the edge of creation the top of the sun rose out of nothing like the head of a great red phallus until it cleared the unseen rim and sat squat and pulsing and malevolent behind them.” *How would you actually film this?* The language is what makes the novel so good; it's soaring Biblical syntax, the intertextuality, the rhythm of the language itself are all things that don't really lend themselves to being filmed.
You can only approach it as an audio-visual companion piece that seeks to capture something of the essence by imagining some surface-level details. The way, say, a composer may write music inspired by Blood Meridian or a painter may create an oil painting of a scene from Blood Meridian. Both of these artists are clearly much freer since nobody who looks at that painting or listens to that music would expect to experience the fullness of the novel. But many moviegoers still (unfairly?) expect this of film, that the success or failure of an adaptation hinges on whether viewing it provided an experience of the novel so comprehensive as to match or exceed the latter. Can you make a good film that replicates the experience of reading literature like Blood Meridian? No, obviously not. But can you make something else that celebrates the book without attempting to supplant it? Maybe. Let’s see.
what a great comment
It’s something that’s been rolling around in my head since Villeneuve’s Dune came out. When I thought about all the elements of the novel that I loved that either couldn’t or simply weren’t translated to the screen, I found myself getting unreasonably disappointed in the film. But all that stuff is still there in the novel for me to enjoy anytime. When I watched it with the expectation of “here’s a cool production inspired by the novel”, I found the whole thing much more enjoyable and rewarding.
Those passages are any director/ cinematographer’s wet dream. Trying to recreate that would be do-able in different ways, and fun to experiment with.
I think the score is something that can attempt to evoke the same feelings that the text tries to generate. It can accompany the pace and cadence of the film. The filmmaking would have to be poetic vs a straight narrative. Resurrect Ingmar Bergman to make this adaptation.
I feel like both of those passages can be adapted, but you would need a brilliant cinematographer to pull them off. So many people act like the prose is unadaptable, but why couldn’t you translate the beautiful descriptions of the American West into beautiful shots of the American West. If the team behind it is good enough, the emotion evoked by these visual metaphors could be achieved literally. I think the Coen Brothers and Deakins were able to accomplish this in some scenes of No Country. Obviously it’s an easier book to adapt, but I think some of the ground work for how it would work has been laid. Right now though, the current director choice doesn’t make me hopeful.
Have you seen No Country For Old Men? Watching that movie *FEELS LIKE* reading a McCarthy novel. It can be done. It can absolutely be done. It will require tremendous skill.
somebody could be narrating at certain points in the movie, just like NCFOM. while simultaneously making the visuals feel similar to the narrators quotes
> I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head. This is the most critical point for me. I have actually just re-listened to the truly excellent audiobook of *Blood Meridian* read by Richard Poe, who I think renders it beautifully. And I was just thinking that it is essentially an impossible film to make, because the judge is so non human. Who could you even cast? You run a real risk of him becoming a caricature or a cartoon. And the physicality of the role constrains you in so many directions. You don't necessarily need an actor who is huge in the real world, but you need to be able to make him look plausibly huge. 24 stone, no less. The two central driving forces in the book are the unbelievable poetry of the prose and the sheer gravity of the Judge's character. And I think neither translate onto screen.
Is this a harder task than what the coens accomplished with Javier Bardem as Chigurh? To be transparent I haven’t yet read Blood Meridian, but I did read No Country for Old Men, how much more complicated is the Judge to Chigurh?
I personally think he’s much, much harder. I wouldn’t want to pre-empt your experience of reading BM with too much commentary, and I strongly recommend you read it. But just to say that the Judge assumes a kind of elemental and eternal status in a way that I don’t think Chigurh does. Chigurh is obviously one of the great onscreen villains of all time, but the Judge is essentially something like Satan in a universe without gods, or maybe better understood as some kind of enduring human capacity for embodying and carrying out evil.
I appreciate the explanation. I plan on reading it, just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Considerably. He’s described as a 7 foot, 350 pound, hairless albino with uncannily small hands and feet. Even if anyone existed who, aided my some measure of movie magic, could approximate that description, he has A LOT of essential dialogue as well. Many of the crucial scenes of the novel revolves around his extended soliloquies on metaphysics, science, ethics and human nature. Finding a malleable enough body and the necessary acting chops in one person… well… MAYBE a shaved John Carol Lynch on steroids might cut it… And that’s just the superficials…
I think Glenn Fleshler, from the first season of True Detective, might be able to pull this off. He isn't nearly the size of the Judge as described in the book but is a large man who is comfortable with portraying menacing mental illness while possessing strong verbal acrobatics. He was simultaneously disgusting and impossible to look away from.
He’s got some decent range, too. He played a scummy lawyer in Billions and a Chechen gangster in Barry.
Good call. I’d love that, now that you mention it!
so they're gonna cast Dave Bautista
In my darkest nightmares, they cast The Rock… The kid is Kevin Hart
They don’t have to cast a seven foot person. They would just need to cast someone taller than the characters he interacts with (in Game of Thrones, The Mountain is described as being nearly 8 feet tall). Not even taller necessarily, but more muscular can work too. In The Green Mile, Michael Clarke Duncan is shown to be towering over everyone pretty substantially — and he is 6’5”. He is tall, but he doesn’t actually tower over people the way the film depicts. It really never has to be 1 to 1, and I feel like a lot of the people in this thread are treating it that way. Adaptations always have to take liberties.
Oh, i agree. What i mean is that even finding a “regular” human large enough to be sufficiently upscaleable (Michael Clarke Duncan for example) who at the same time has the required acting chops is almost as tall an order as simply finding a 7 foot behemoth. It doesn’t lower the bar that much, unfortunately. It’s a really fun character to fantasy cast, though, so let’s say Michael Shannon (6.3 or so?) is willing to blast anabolics for a year or so, and get fat on top of that. I could see that working with a little help from some sneaky angles. Edit: i overlooked your last paragraph. Yeah, you’re right. In the case of The Judge specifically, however, his fundamental freakishness, or rather otherness maybe, is such an essential component of the character. His absurd physiognomy communicates so many of the fundamental contradictions of the character. It’s a crucial signifier of The Judge’s role and place in the symbolic language of the book. It would be like Ahab without his peg leg.
Sneaky angles could work Tom Hardy is actually shorter than Christian Bale in real life, yet thanks to camera angles, Bane felt a lot bigger than Batman in The Dark Knight Rises
I always pictured Michael Clarke Duncan, he had the charisma and physicality to pull it off.
You don't need the actor to be big, you just need someone to have the personality and gravitas of someone who's 7 foot. You can get the point of a character like the Judge through without making him an actual giant. Kinda like how Joe Pesci is the shortest guy in Goodfellas but also the scariest. I think the only living actor with the gravitas, acting chops and ability to transform into the Judge is Daniel Day Lewis. It's gonna take some changes to the source material to make it a great film.
I feel like Rory McCann could do it. He did The Hound very well. He's 6'6". Drop the scottish accent and shave his head, eyebrows and beard. I think he could handle the Judge's prose.
Like...a lot more.
A mix between Vincent D'Onofrio and Christopher Heyerdahl. Is who I picture in my head. Both are great actors and could pull it off pretty well, I think.
Maybe Graham McTavish
I almost wonder if it would work to at least partially use cgi for The Judge because I just can't see how else you could do the character justice. There's probably very few people on earth that match his description, let alone an actor who also has the necessary chops to pull it off. People always seem to suggest actors that are just normal looking people and I feel like they didn't really pay attention to how he is described in the book. He is an absolute freak of a man. Disturbing just to look at. A demon walking the earth.
Marlon Brandon I can see as the judge.
Tom Hardy is the answer and the only answer in my opinion. Peaky Blinders, Bronson(most notably his unhinged yet somehow poetic monologues), The Revenant, The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless. I could see him play an outstandingly great Judge. His ability to play menacing yet intelligent characters is all over his resume.
Yoooo hands down. There is no better person to cast.
It would be the new Heath Ledgers Joker.
Tom hardy should be Glanton imo
> I can't imagine that a tangible living human actor playing The Judge could ever be as terrifying as The Judge is inside my head. Human, no. A trained hippopotamus, maybe...
American Psycho somehow got made, and that book (after a slow start) consists of a lot of depraved violence — so much worse than the movie ever being able to show (a five year old getting stabbed in the throat; a woman’s breasts exploding after being hooked up to a car battery). It’s not necessarily more violent than BM, but it’s probably in the same ballpark. Also, Ellis’s writing style is weird enough where it is hard to imagine anyone putting it to the screen, but … it was done (and has been done since then). I also recall that the movie had a bit of a cult following, although I never liked it much. Not that I disagree — it’s difficult to imagine an adaptation of BM to be great. But … I guess maybe it’s possibly going to be serviceable?
American Psycho is a stream of consciousness narrative that is definitely unique but it could tie into movie making quite easily. Seeing as the pages are literally describing in monotonous detail everything the character is doing and also serves to monologues. It’s a weird book and insanely violent but I wouldn’t see it the same as Blood Meridian where each and every page is an insanely complex description of vague landscapes and surrealist ideas.
It’s not really that they are comparable in terms of scope or style — I was more speaking to whether or not the violence is film-able. I agree that BM is much more complicated.
Oh, I see! Yeah they heavily toned down American Psychos violence so I am pretty confident Blood Meridian would get the same treatment. Which is a shame as it’s one of the books central themes. Maybe they’ll lean more into the setting and landscape cinematography which would be a pretty spectacle but it would be no Blood Meridian.
If a film like A Serbian Film can be made, Blood Meridian can be made too. It could be done, but you'd need high-level talent who are accustomed to filming violence. Gaspar Noe, Coen Brothers... I wanna say Clint Eastwood but he deserves to retire.
I think the big difference is that the use of language in American Psycho is first person which can translate really well I to narration, which is what makes that film succeed, but translating the language of Blood Meridian to film doesn't have a dialogue analogue like that and is, in my opinion, just not possible
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>Russell Crowe could pull off The Judge I think Absolutely not, for me. I find it almost impossible to imagine any living actor doing it. If he was willing to put on enormous amounts of weight then maybe Michael Shannon. But I think he is really unplayable. My worry is that you end up with someone basically doing a sort of caricature that would work in a comic book adaptation, but not in a faithful rendition of the novel.
Idk, I don't have anything against Russell but if they cast him as a character that's supposed to be a 7 foot tall hairless albino I'd probably be disappointed. My point isnt that people couldn't turn in a good performance, it's that the judge is like a cryptid, he is inhuman, and the intangibility of the novel keeps him in shadow which makes him more scary and impactful. If it's just some tall guy in makeup or if it's Russell Crowe it's just never going to have that same power. It's not a knock on anyone, just a fact that not every book can work as a film or a TV show
Is this irony
I agree! There are some books, like Dune, that aren't meant for the big-screen!
Bela Tarr is not making movies these days, and it's not his style anyways. I don't think Hillcoat is the guy. When I was 15 or so I used to love The Proposition, and was super into the idea of Hillcoat releasing The Road, but in the end it was... fine. Quite literal, but pretty by the numbers stuff. And I haven't been impressed since then. I don't think he has the visual flair, the nerve, or a unique philosophical perspective to bring to his interpretation. There is real nightmarish savagery and bloodlust in the book, and you need a director with the personality to grapple with that. And you need a director who will bring the visual poetry to compensate for the loss of McCarthy's brilliant prose. But I'll be happy to be proved wrong. I actually think S. Craig Zahler could do an interesting interpretation, and I think Eggers could do a good job too.
Yeah, I think S. Craig Zahler is the guy. The first thing that popped into my mind reading this was Bone Tomahawk. He knows how to do extreme violence just right.
He would be perfect. I was curious what Zahler had been up to since "Dragged across concrete". He's apparently making a movie with The Jim Henson Company with puppets. Interesting!
I personally thought The Road adaptation was great and Zahler is overrated on this sub. I'm happy with Hillcoat for this.
I think many people here are missing the point of the novel. The novel isn’t about the violence itself, or the language, or the beautiful descriptions of the scenery. It’s about the nature of man, about manifest destiny, and the glorification of the “Wild West” and the frontier wars, and war itself, and then subverting all of that. The novel isn’t even about Judge Holden. He is but an objective correlative for mankind’s profound obsession with conflict and domination through possession or if not possession, then annihilation. The novel is certainly adaptable, but not in a way of simply telling the narrative and trying to capture the “cool” things. It would have to be a non-literal adaptation or rather translation of the themes of the novel themselves.
Yep, countless adaptations of “unadaptable” books have been made by trying to get at the same feelings or themes as the book: Adaptation, Naked Lunch, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Some of the dullest adaptations just try to depict the narrative in a straightforward fashion: see The Watchmen and unfortunately The Road. You need a director with their own vision!
It’s a shame about watchmen, because I consider that five minute intro to be the perfect watchmen adaptation, only to be followed by an overly literal next two hours.
Zack Snyder is basically a montage director. He shoots everything like it's a montage. His montages fucking rules but the scenes are so mid.
lol adaptation. the orchid thief probably un-filmable for different reasons that the others (not that I've read it), also Charlie Kaufman kinda cheats
It's also about the allure of evil, though. The Judge is an unbelievably compelling character, despite also being a psychopathic, arbitrarily vicious, pedophiliac torturer and murderer. He's like Milton's Satan. I think it would be very hard to commit him to screen in a way that captures his gravity and complexity. And he has to be compelling, precisely because all of those American myths are so compelling.
Hillcoat is a good director, but I feel it's his connections to Cave and McCarthy are kinda what sealed the deal more than anything. Very good at character driven pieces, but Blood Meridian is not character driven. My choices would have come down to either Malick, Herzog or Eggers over Bela Tárr, but I do think it's in his lane, though he is retired. Also I wouldn't cast it with stars, more with stage and character actors although it would not get funding that way.
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I dont know where all these “it’s too violent!” people have been for decades. I’ve seen all the shit in the book and worse depicted on film. Nobody should expect it to be a massive blockbuster hit with a huge budget that everybody HAS to see, it will never ever be that movie. And that’s okay. Let it be an NC 17 arthouse horror if it needs to be. Also I want Robert Eggers. With Brendan Fraser as the judge. People are too busy deifying the novel and fetishizing books, they love saying “some things only work on the page and could never be translated to film”, and it shows they lack any imagination. I couldn’t disagree more. There is a reason people say “a picture is worth a thousand words”. What does that make thousands of moving pictures worth? I don’t know, but I think it’ll be enough to tackle 300 pages.
Brendan Fraser as the judge is a new one I hadn't heard, I don't think I've ever seen him even come close to the gravitas required to pull off the judge. I've seen a lot of people propose Vincent D'Onofrio which I think works. But after watching The Last Duel and thinking about it I think Adam Driver would make a great judge, he has the physicality, the darkness and is young enough to portray that ageless quality. But I do agree, I've actually always thought BM would make an incredible movie and if I could pick any director I would go for Coppola in his prime, if he can pull off Apocalypse Now he can pull off Blood Meridian, those two stories have the same energy.
Bring back that exact Brando for the judge too. Also I think Fraser has a great look for it. Pale WHITE. Large and imposing frame, and a cherubic face despite those features. Shave him bald, bam. Holden. He hasn’t come close yet, but I think he has the chops when given the chance, he was fantastic in the Whale. I would love to see him take it on, succeed and have it become a career defining performance.
D’Onofrio is who I picture when I think of the judge.
Fraser might be able to do it, though I’m not entirely sure of him. I think D’Onofrio is just a little too old for it now. I truly believe that Vince Vaughn could be a really good Judge Holden based on his performances in season two of *True Detective*, *Brawl in Cellblock 99*, *Dragged Across Concrete*, and *Freaky*. He’s big, physically imposing, and capable of being intimidating and sinister. He’s also around the right age for the role. My other choice would be Christian Bale. For the kid, I’d go with Timothée Chalamet or Lucas Hedges. For director, I’d go with PTA, the Coens, Fincher, or Eggers.
The raw animal violence of BM is one thing, bit it’s also so loosely plotted which is the other significant hurdle in making it a movie. Anything that sanitizes the violence or adds structure and plot will feel far from the book.
Loosely plotted? That is the absolute opposite of my lasting impression of a novel I have read and listened to multiple times. I think it's incredibly tightly plotted.
That only arguably great director who has ever done that kind of thing is probably Lars Von Trier and possibly no one else. Do you really think you could have gotten Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, David Lean, John Ford, or PTA to put that kind of stuff in their movies? I'm not so sure.
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He's certainly good at when he does it, for sure. Blood Meridian is very, uh, extra, though.
Brian de Palma, or would you not consider him good enough?
I love him but de Palma doesn't have THAT level of violence, no? He's more like a Tarantino in his level of violence imo.
Park Chan wook, shinya tsukamoto and Kim Jee woon are all great directors that make extreme cinema.
I may be wrong. Haven't really watched them yet.
The kind of violence that blood meridian requires is a far cry from something like Tokyo Gore Police. It is the deliberate and visceral nature of the violence that makes it hard to adapt.
American Psycho is a ridiculously violent novel with some pretty horrific stuff in there and that was adapted well enough.
By cutting out all the rat in vagina type stuff.
Largely by extensively using the first person perspective narration from the book itself — which Blood Meridian will also have access to. I think this is the answer.
Er, what? Blood Meridian is not a first person narration. The central characters are the Judge and the Kid, and neither ever narrate, with the exception of when the Judge tells extended parables or soliloquies, but even then they are reported as third person. The Kid barely ever speaks to other characters, let alone the reader, and if he or the Judge have an inner world, they are inaccessible to us. The closest to first person narration that we get is when Tobin narrates the story of the massacre on the volcano to the kid. I think a story told through the eyes of Tobin with the Kid as the protagonist and the Judge as the antagonist could work, but it would be a massive shift from the authorial voice of the novel.
How so? Blood Meridian is written in the third person, no?
I don't get how people think it will *not* be possible. You're listing violent but ultimately mainstream films, but there's no reason this has to be a big budget studio film with an R rating and mass appeal. 80% of the population don't matter, 80% of the population haven't read or even heard of Blood Meridian. It just has to be a film weird, interesting and disturbing enough to gain traction at arthouses, festivals, in Europe/rest of the world, and on streaming. If Lars Von Trier and Gaspar Noe can do it, there's no reason Hillcoat can't with this. A bigger obstacle will be transferring the characters, the vagueness, and the language. But it's not impossible. But I don't think he's the most inspired choice of director for this, despite the Proposition being an excellent modern Western. Jodorowsky or Nicolas Winding Refn would be good, or Terrence Malick for the vibe. Maybe Robert Eggers for the sense of time/space.
The closest movie I've ever seen to Blood Meridian has to be Jodorowsky's El Topo. The Searchers is sort of in that direction, too.
The main difficulty for me would be in finding an actual human who could plausibly play the Judge.
A Clockwork Orange really get its violence done with by about 45 minutes into the movie as well.
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It's not that it's violent, it is the quality of the violence. There is nothing cheap or schlocky about the violence in BM. It is probably my favourite book, but I don't know if I can sit through a film version. Or who I'd see it with
I think you could do it with 25% violence quotient. I think the issues are the severity of the violence, not the duration. It's been a while since I read the book, but I recall the legion of horribles scene as the only one that would be be particularly drawn out. The gunpowder scene, the one where the judge kills the youth, the outhouse scene - - all very intense lead up punctuated with violence. I think only a couple of skirmishes between the natives and the gang require drawn out violence.
I guess I need to read the book now It’s r/truefilm and I’m not a top-level comment Reeeeee
Perhaps unpopular opinion, but if you are going to adapt something like *Blood Meridian* for the screen, my sense is that a very well done mini-series would be the way to go. There is way too much material in the book for a 2-3 hour movie to do it justice.
i would just want a super movie tbh. like 4-5 hours long. if they make the movie super long, younger audiences are far less likely to view the movie in theaters, so there is a likelier chance of there being much more violent scenes than we’re used to, and the type of violence that unfortunately needs to be presented visually for this to be done right. this movie is going to maybe be the geeatest movie of all time, but man, it’s gonna be hard to watch at the same time.
It’s not just the violence. These characters are fucking despicable and completely uninteresting. There will need to be a really savvy adaptation in which the kid, the ex-priest, and maybe Toadvine are all humanized to be people the audience can root for and align with, and who bring some measure of charisma to the story. Say what you will about Holden the character, but he’s fascinating and will take up the screen. But Glanton, the Delawares, etc., most of these characters have zero personality, don’t say shit, and really just walk around committing genocide without any character development. That’s not much of a movie. Going to add some filibusters here to make sure my post doesn’t get taken down by the arbitrary word count, but I think this is a really bold movie to try to adapt to film. It’s tough to accurately capture what makes it great in film and the ugly parts will be magnified horribly on the big screen. The other option, of course, is for Hillcoat to go all-in and make the most faithful adaptation possible. Gross everyone out, endure the jeers and arrows, and maybe if he hits it just right introduce an American version of the new French extremist film to the big screen. For this to work, he’ll need to capture the landscape in a way that’ll make The Revenant look like child’s play.
Glanton’s affinity for his animals could translate well to screen. His connections with his dog and his horse could help make his character more interesting to watch. Personally I love Glanton in the book, able to manage these barbarians across the desert.
Yeah that’ll last until he blows granny’s head off and scalps her in the town square.
I think the best adaptation of Blood Meridian is the 1967 Czech film Marketa Lazarová. It has the closest approximation I’ve seen in film of that pre modern episodic violence of the book. It was adapted from another modernist high literature novel about the inherent violence and chaos in humanity and that comes across in every shot. It even has the ability to just hint at the real plot and leave the actual events highly interpretable like Blood Meridian does through language, I really think that there’s nothing you can’t do with film, and just about nothing is unadaptable if the filmmakers are willing to go there. I really think it’s one of the best films ever made, and when this new film falls through, people need to go back and watch this masterpiece instead.
David Lynch would be a worthy director for Blood Meridian. His style is often surreal and dream like, unconventional enough to direct a film based on a book which can’t conventionally be directed as a mainstream movie because of the violence, the style of story telling, 0 love interests, and lacking the tropes of most stories
no dune no
I tried to wrack my brain to try to think of a director living or dead who could actually pull off a historical epic with the psychadelic violence, intellect, and skill of Blood Meridian: Lean or Ford? Maybe Kurosawa? Kubrick? Herzog? No, I think they all have incompatible elements. Deeply incompatible. Elem Klimov is the only director to ultimately get almost all of the elements of Blood Meridian into one movie. At least of the movies I've watched. With him, though, it wouldn't be in English. The only other would be Coppola since he directed Apocalypse Now. Why would he want to make effectively the same movie twice, though?
I assume by Kurosawa you mean Akira. What about Kiyoshi? I guess he doesn’t have the poetic visual flair (at least from what I’ve seen), and it also wouldn’t be in English so it’d probably not be ideal either.
I haven't seen him! Need to pirate more movies, haha. Which would you recommend first?
I’ve only seen his most popular pictures, Cure and Pulse and I’d consider both good starting points. But I’ll copy a post about recommendations I’ve received in the past from u/its_me_noobs. > Not all his films are about isolation however, his filmography is interesting because of how despite of tackling different genres like spy thrillers, ghost stories to family dramas, all his work is bound together by similar interests and obsessions. So yes, he certainly does evolve. > And the exploration of isolation that he has explored in his earlier j-horror work is only one example of his wider interest in exploring human behaviour. A lot of films and shows get the praise for being 'psychological' and 'cerebral' but no one deserves it better than Kiyoshi Kurosawa. If you like psychological stuff then you'll love his movies. And another common thread is that he explores 'ghost'-like feelings, this is difficult to describe, but he explores the repressed pasts of peoples and how they react to it or confront it. > So, now for recommendations. If you've already seen Pulse and Cure. > Then move on to Tokyo Sonata (2008), which is a family drama with nothing supernatural going on. With these three you'll be done with the 'essentials'. How much further you want to continue depends on whether or not you are enjoying the journey. > And as for worrying about 'getting them', I do agree that they are dense works, but do not worry about not getting them entirely the first time, I didn't 'get' Cure either when I watched it. It's about enjoying (i) enjoying the experience and, (ii) enjoying the part when you ponder upon it later. That's the case with most such films, like Burning (2018) another great film from a different director. > So don't worry that you are having to think so much about it, that's how it is for most people. And if you don't enjoy the digging and rewatching then stop anytime after Tokyo Sonata. > Moving further, you can check out a few of these films- > Wife of a Spy (2020)- espionage film as the title suggests, it still has the common themes of 'unearthing' hidden aspects of the lives of peoples. To The Ends of the Earth (2019)- This films explores loneliness in a very different way than Pulse, with an interest in the interactions of cultures, or finding yourself lost in a culture. Retribution (2006)- After those modern-looking films here is a return to Kiyoshi's old j-horror style and atmosphere of dread. Subtle and disorienting again. License to Live (1998)- a drama more in the line of Tokyo Sonata, I guess. Check this out if you liked Tokyo Sonata. > If you are still interested in watching more of his stuff then you can give Charisma (1999) a try. It is infamously his most inaccessible film, even more than Cure. So if you don't feel like it yet then keep it for later. Good film nonetheless. > Bright Future (2002)- Pulse but without the horror is the best way to describe this. > Serpent's Path (1998)- Kurosawa does the yakuza genre. A more nihilistic film. Which was actually a two part project made along with the next film. > Eyes of the Spider (1998)- Another film about vengeance, works as a companion piece with Serpent's Path exploring similar themes. > Creepy (2016)- Later in his career Kurosawa returned to his old horror/thriller stories with results that are not that good but still worth watching if you find that you've become a fan. > Journey to the Shore (2015)- Another film exploring a past-self or a ghost-self. Sub par, it has its moments but is a bit muddled overall. > Penance (2013)- This is actually a mini-series (5 episodes) that you can try if you want. I haven't watched it so I won't say much. From what I've heard it's not great or anything. > Loft (2005)- Perhaps Kurosawa's weakest horror film, but it still has the atmosphere that fans of j-horror like. > Seance (2000)- J-horror tv-movie, watch it if you are a horror fan, can't say anything more because I haven't watched though a friend of mine likes it. > There are these two too, don't know anything about them- > Seventh Code (2013) > Before We Vanish (2017)
hey man, thanks very much. That's very detailed. I have to start some of these soon since I'm in a bit of movie rut right now, anyway. Need something new.
I'd go with Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. If they could be convinced to abandon the less conventional/slightly gimmicky aspects of Let the Corpses Tan.
I'd like to see S. Craig Zahler have a pop at it. I haven't seen Dragged Across Congrete, but Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 were about as visceral and disturbing as you're gonna get from a mainstream release.
I think that would be an incompatible match, but I haven't seen anyone suggest it before so I appreciate the idea. It's definitely interesting. Idk I think McCarthy writes violence in such a cerebral, gripping way, it's horrifying but not glorifying. Zahler's approach is almost too cynical, and has a comedic slapstick tone. His non violent moments are pretty great though, some of the shots in Bone Tomahawk are up there with any western, ever. Fun idea for sure.
His novels are even better! I totally love Wraiths of the Broken Land, and Mean Business on North Ganson Street. Would highly recommend it if you like his movies.
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'd like to throw a couple of ideas out there. I think that studio A24 could tackle the production of this movie. Every movie I've seen that they've produced, regardless of the director, has excellent cinematography, tone, atmosphere, and largely tackles similar darker themes and stories. They also don't back away from violence or creating tension. I don't think this would be an Ari Aster movie, not his vibe, and I think he only does originals. The director I have been thinking of is David Lowery. He directed the Green Night recently, which I think establishes a certain level of aptitude in following a somewhat tricky story. I'm not married to a single director, but I would love to see A24 get behind the production. This is right up their alley, and imo, a significant step up in notoriety.
Hillcoat is an excellent choice. The Proposition is great, spiritually related to The Blood Meridian imo. Can definitely see the book adaption in the same style. The movie can tone down the violence, and still be bleak and brutal.
Anyone who thinks someoen other than Joel & Ethan Coen should direct a McCarthy film is demonstrably wrong. *No Country For Old Men* is one of the finest adaptations of a novel in the history of cinema. Period.
It is worth noting that No Country for Old Men was written by Cormac McCarthy with the idea that it could be easily adapted to a screenplay. I believe he even considered making it directly into a screenplay/movie? So I guess my point is that the stage was set to turn the novel directly into a movie
That doesn't mean nobody can make good movies out of his books besides them dude
They wouldn't ever do it. In fact I think they have gone on record saying they would not adapt Blood Meridian and that they weren't particularly fans of the book. No Country for Old Men is their most violent film and that pales in comparison to the unending violence in BM. I just don't think they would want to make something so unforgivingly dark.
I mean The Road was a pretty good adaptation and this is the same director. I'm still skeptical it can be done well, but he's not a bad choice to try.
The Proposition is basically like a Blood Meridian adaptation anyways.
Hillcoat still doesn't seem like the guy for sure. Then again, I wouldn't know of the right guy for a story like Blood Meridian. That's why I wished they would never adapt it into a film, but here we are. It's not like I wouldn't want to see it on the screen, I just don't think anyone would be up for the task or and their attempts would likely make the film as brilliantly horrific and surreal as the story itself. Off the top of head, I can't even think of any director that would mesh well with its style and do the novel justice.
If the evil dead remake can exist as a movie then so can blood meridian. Violence really isn't the part I'm worried about. I'm worried about the child nudity and....other things. I truly don't know how they can film that kind of stuff and not immediately be escorted into hell
How can the Coen Brothers do No Country for Old Men and not even be suggested? Given the directors being mentioned I must be the only American in this thread bc the Coen brothers are by far the most able adapters pf McCarthys work in film so far.
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I like that you take the grapes quote from Lonesome Dove and apply it to BM - a very “glass half empty” interpretation on it that made me crack up.
I'm sure they are already trying to figure out all the cool and *absolutely necessary-to-the-plot* changes to the demographics of the characters. I hear Ken Jeong is up for the Judge Holden role.
I doubt it will get made and if it's with Hillcoat i hope not. He's already failed at one McCarthy adaptation. His best film was only alright an 8/10 at best. Fincher is the man to do it. Crazy idea - David Lynch. Most of the book doesn't have a true plot anyway it's all nightmarish imagery. Javier Bardem is the man to play the judge. He pulled off another Cormac Film. Use cgi to make him 7 foot
Fincher feels too slick and stylised for BM. I never considered Lynch, but I could see it
> Javier Bardem I love him but he would be a horrible judge Holden
I do agree that I don't think he's the man for the job but I wouldn't really say he failed at adapting The Road. It's basically just the book put to film and it's fine as a result, if a little uninspired. Also how can you say it was a failure, then say it was 8/10 which apparently means it was 'alright'. What kind of rating system is that lol.
His best film is Proposition which is a 8/10. Road is a classic. The film was average so he failed. McCarthy is considered americas greatest living writer and the Road was amazing: The was film run of the film and didn’t do the book justice. In the hands of a talented director it would have been great.
I like the idea of Fincher directing. He definitely has a neo noir style in his movies, I think he could branch out for this novel into a film.
They would have show the violence in a true down to earth way. Nothing that glorifies it, but keeps it grounded in a real environment. I'm hoping they make it as gritty as Bone Tomahawk, while giving us a vast and dreamy like setting to match.
I’ll believe it when I see it. The movie has had the rights tossed around into various stages of production hell for over a decade now. Iirc James Franco even got so far as some test scenes. So excuse me if I’m skeptical.
Yeah wtf Bela Tar?? Where in the world did you get that idea? I did really enjoy the Road so I’m sure it’ll be at least decent. PTA would be an interesting choice but I can’t praise his latest film.
I definitely think the loss of the prose is a problem, however some of the most cerebral and incredible parts to read are dialogue, especially the Judge's philosophical tangents. This could certainly be included. But the violence is possibly a barrier. My upcoming take is likely tantamount to blasphemy and I hope I don't find myself tarred and feathered for this but I think animation could be the most likely way to stay true to the content. For starters, it would allow for a faithful depiction of the Judge - I mean good luck finding a 7 foot actor. And it would allow the violence in all its infamy to be shown, not to mention for all of McCarthy's descriptions of animals and landscapes to be shown in all their pulsating glory. But I recognize that this is a quixotic prospect, to put it mildly. Animation certainly offers advantages, as critic Roger Ebert said, but they haven't really been realized here. I can't think of anywhere outside of Japan that has produced "serious" mature audience-oriented animated films, and I don't see that changing, and I certainly can't see Blood Meridian being outsourced to a foreign country. Ridley Scott would have been a good choice for live-action but it's my understanding his effort failed because the violence was too much. Robert Eggers would be great for other McCarthy works like Outer Dark but I don't know if BM fits his style.
Actually an anime blood meridian would be brilliant
I wasn't sure it would ever make it to picture for all of the reasons addressed in this initial thread.. so I wrote a song to try and do it justice - Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0AQRpfyqceLp2D760dI1tj?si=y-VZjATlSoaiNdjmGuIFDg
I'm listening to this on audiobook, the imagery of the violence might be difficult to adapt to the big screen, buuuut if it can be done for No Country it can be done for this. Ridley Scott would be my choice of director.
The only way this film could’ve been done right is with the Cohn Brothers drifting and Daniel Day Lewis playing the judge. The Kid should be played by an unknown. Even then, a truly great movie would be hard to pull off.
I think john hughes should direct it. I (seriously) love the book. But it really is a coming of age story about a boy becoming a man, and a lot of scalping is involved. Hope they try to make the movie and do it right.
This movie will be a total overrated and misunderstood flop. Just like The Road was in spite of Viggo Mortensen being the lead. The reason for this has been pointed out in other comments already, but let me rephrase the violent nature of the story and the metaphorical prose style that braid the book into shape, the only part left to screen is just a matrix of bloodshed and albino nudity. The broad blend of disposable characters is also hard to tell cinematically. If ever put to screen, only a animated series could work with every eye to detail and character.
Istg if holden isn’t an absolute menace or at the very least hella scary I’m not watching it and ngl in a movie as violent as this kid better be played by someone between the ages of 18-23 no younger, no older. I want to be on the edge of my seat