Another C.S. Lewis Novel to be Adapted to Big Screen
Walden Media, the company that brought The Chronicles of Narnia to the silver screen, has recently announced its intention of adapting yet another C.S. Lewis work.
The Screwtape Letters, one of Lewis’ more adult-themed pieces of fiction, is now set for a release in May 2008, with Ralph Winter Productions set to produce it.
The movie attempts to tap into the crossover popularity of the author whose first adaptation, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, pulled in $744 million worldwide, according to Variety. The sequel to this, Prince Caspian, is expected to release next year.
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The Screwtape Letters is a book that takes on the form of a series of letters written from a senior devil, Screwtape, to a subordinate, Wormwood. In the letters, the elder gives advice on how to secure the damnation of an earthly man who the letters refer to as “the Patient.”
The comprehensive advice that Screwtape offers his nephew on undermining faith and encouraging sin is filled with examinations of human nature and Christian doctrine.
Much like Narnia, the film will be shot as a live-action movie.
Many critics have noted their worry over the themes in the books which may be difficult to adapt into a movie. They have noted the importance of the reader's own images and perspective shifts to make the story work, which cannot be translated visually.
Ralph Winter, who has also been producer for X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and the newest release from FoxFaith Thr3e, has much experience with live-action flicks.
The Screwtape Letters will be produced using Walden's Bristol Bay Productions.
Bristol Bay also produced Amazing Grace, a film depicting William Wilberforce, the man who championed the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, and is due in theaters nationwide Feb. 23. The film is appropriately timed as part of “Black History Month.”
