Thursday, March 28, 2024

“Endless Love,” A Great Novel, Gets Second Chance in the Movies (Trailer)

Share

How many times can Hollywood make a movie out of Scott Spencer’s great novel, “Endless Love”? The answer: twice. No one gets a second chance like this. The first “Endless Love” featured the Diana Ross-Lionel Richie hit, Otherwise, it was a horror. Martin Hewitt played David, the main character. We never heard from him again. Brooke Shields was his lover– well, she was tall, at least.

The movie captured nothing of the book’s language or eroticism or sense of obsession. (David was so obsessed with Jade that he burned her house down just to save her family.) Franco Zeffirelli directed it based on his “Romeo and Juliet.” After that he went back to directing operas.

The new movie is directed by Shana Feste, and stars Alex Pettyfer (who looks right) and newcomerish ingenue Gabriella Wilde as Jade. Bruce Greenwood steps in as Jade’s father, Hugh, succeeding the great Don Murray from the earlier film.

Will it work now? I hope so. Read the book, please. Scott Spencer is a great American novelist. He doesn’t deserve two rotten adaptations.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
spot_img

Read more

In Other News