This isn’t exactly confirmed, but Pajiba has a source they trust that reports David Cronenberg is attached to direct an adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem novel As She Climbed Across the Table. Any and all Cronenberg news is of great interest to me, so I’m passing it along. The word is that Steven Zaillian (screenwriter of Schindler’s List and Moneyball) would serve as a producer.
Here’s the blurb for the novel from Amazon:
Particle physics, false vacuum bubbles, an alternate universe–this is the stuff of Jonathan Lethem’s novel As She Climbed Across the Table. The tale echoes Alice in Wonderland in its mad tumble through a rearranged reality. Narrator Phillip Engstrand is a university professor who has made a career out of studying academic environments. Engstrand is in love with Alice Coombs, a particle physicist engaged in a bold attempt to replicate the origins of the universe. The result of the experiment is Lack, a very selective black hole that sucks some things into its void–a cat, a pair of socks, a strawberry–and rejects others, namely, a love-struck Alice. As Alice’s unrequited obsession with Lack grows, Phillip becomes so desperate to save his beloved from this empty rival that he risks a journey down the metaphysical rabbit hole.
It sounds pretty interesting to me, and something Cronenberg could definitely work some magic with. Even if it doesn’t become a film, with or without Cronenberg, I think I’d like to read the novel.
There’s no indication when this production might happen, but Cronenberg is currently in production on A Dangerous Method, starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel. That film is based on the play “The Talking Cure” and explores the relationships between Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and a female patient who comes between them. After that, Cronenberg is scheduled to shoot Cosmopolis next spring, an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel. That project is set to star Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard. As of last September, the director was attached to remake his film The Fly, itself a remake. However, nothing has been heard of that since. There are additionally plans for a sequel to Eastern Promises, with star Viggo Mortensen and screenwriter Steven Knight returning.
Note: I can’t help but think of the Maya Deren film At Land when I read the novel’s title. I wonder if it holds any relevance? It could certainly be considered a “mad tumble through a rearranged reality,” though on a different level than Alice in Wonderland.
