Peter Jackson’s Lovely Bones Hits Another Snag

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 1, 2008

The Lovely Bones

It appears that paradise may be a little too subjective, for according to /film, Peter Jackson and his art directors appear to be having a lovers’ quarrel over how best to depict that very setting, leading to a stalled production and an extended coffee break.

Alice Sebold’s book “The Lovely Bones” deals with the death of a child (Susie Salmon) and the ripple effects it has on her family’s lives from then on. As their lives progress, Susie watches them from Heaven, so a lot of the book takes place up in the clouds. The problem is, is it really up in the clouds, and how do you depict that on screen? Sebold defines a very subjective heaven, with each person having their own individual place. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they are alone, but the detail put into the surrounding is very much a personal statement for each character, so it’s understandable that the vision for Heaven is a hotly contested issue, but hopefully not one that will cause too many problems. Lovely Bones has already had it’s share of gossip, with Ryan Gosling departing the project early on, citing “creative differences” with Jackson.

More recently, Susan Sarandon (who plays Susie’s eccentric grandmother) walked Speed Racer’s red carpet, stopping to chat with Empire and giving quite the quote:

“Peter Jackson is really a nice guy and very interesting. It was really a very different way of working. We had a good time, I’m really curious to see what it’s like because he kept pushing me to be more and more extreme and sometimes that’s when you make your big mistakes so I’m not sure how it will come off – it will be interesting to see it from the point of view of the audience.”

Not quite throwing your complete support behind the direction you were given there, were you, Susan? Susan’s character is very much larger than life, with bad habits and not your stereotypical grandmother. This is a great deal of her charm, her complete difference from the norm and refusal to conform is what makes her an interesting character. However, Sarandon seems to fail to understand this, saying that she’s merely playing the comic relief.

“I play the comic relief, an alcoholic grandmother – my first grandma – but she doesn’t really seem like a real grandmother because she has a lot of hair and jewellery and nails and liquor. I don’t think I ever talk without a cigarette and a drink in my hand.”

Unless Jackson et al have changed things, this is how it’s meant to be, but whether it plays well on screen remains to be seen.