Documentaries about the perils of meat and of the food processing industry have been seen before. Fast Food Nation and Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me are just a couple that come to mind. Of course there are much earlier precedents, such as Upton Sinclair’s muckraking novel, The Jungle, published in 1906. No doubt Jonathan Safran Soer, who wrote Eating Animals, was aware of Sinclair’s novel when he penned his own bestselling book about the contemporary meat industry. Now the film based on Soer’s book, which had its world premiere in Telluride, may revive questions and concerns about American eating habits....
- 9/8/2017
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
[…] Was one to believe that there was nowhere a god of hogs, to whom this hog personality was precious, to whom these hog squeals and agonies had a meaning? Who would take this hog into his arms and comfort him, reward him for his work well done, and show him the meaning of his sacrifice?—Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)1Regarding The Jungle, the socialist author Upton Sinclair remarked that although he’d meant to “aim for the public’s heart,” he’d accidentally “hit it in the stomach.” The novel, about the life of a Lithuanian meat packer in Chicago, was treated with shock and mortification. But the public’s disgust was largely in response to Sinclair’s reports of dirtied meat products, not the plight of the working class. The subsequent frenzy only further undermined the novel’s critique of capitalism, which was ultimately reduced to a matter of meat and hygiene.
- 7/1/2017
- MUBI
The question “why horror?” has been answered again and again. Studies have shown that, for willing participants, the voluntary release of fear is a healthy thing. What I have to say will not apply to everyone, then, because not everyone wants to be frightened. Many of us have recently been frightened, in a new, giant, eclipsing way. Those of us who love horror, then, have a greater need for it now.
For centuries, horror has been used as a spurning, inspiring emotion in art. Euripides uses terrifying imagery and events in two landmark works: the Oresteia, an examination of how a democratic justice system can conquer chaos, and The Bacchae, a bleakly violent warning to Athens as it approached catastrophic war. Far before such issues were accepted in public discussions, Oscar Wilde wrote of the fear of sexual aberrance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle...
For centuries, horror has been used as a spurning, inspiring emotion in art. Euripides uses terrifying imagery and events in two landmark works: the Oresteia, an examination of how a democratic justice system can conquer chaos, and The Bacchae, a bleakly violent warning to Athens as it approached catastrophic war. Far before such issues were accepted in public discussions, Oscar Wilde wrote of the fear of sexual aberrance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle...
- 11/17/2016
- by Ben Larned
- DailyDead
Tony Sokol Aug 19, 2016
Fox Spotlight's adaptation of Rhidian Brook's novel The Aftermath has cast its leading roles...
Fox Searchlight’s The Aftermath has cast Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgard and Jason Clarke in the top roles.
The Rhidian Brook novel The Aftermath was an international bestseller that takes place in Germany during the post-war era in 1946. A woman named Rachael is reunited arrives in the ruins of Hamburg with her only remaining son. Her husband, a British colonel, is in charge of rebuilding the shattered city.
The novel was adapted for the screen by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel, the duo who penned Race, the Jesse Owens biopic. They are currently working on an adaption of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The adaptation will be directed by James Kent, who helmed Testament Of Youth. It is being produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free production company.
Knightley is also in...
Fox Spotlight's adaptation of Rhidian Brook's novel The Aftermath has cast its leading roles...
Fox Searchlight’s The Aftermath has cast Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgard and Jason Clarke in the top roles.
The Rhidian Brook novel The Aftermath was an international bestseller that takes place in Germany during the post-war era in 1946. A woman named Rachael is reunited arrives in the ruins of Hamburg with her only remaining son. Her husband, a British colonel, is in charge of rebuilding the shattered city.
The novel was adapted for the screen by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel, the duo who penned Race, the Jesse Owens biopic. They are currently working on an adaption of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The adaptation will be directed by James Kent, who helmed Testament Of Youth. It is being produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free production company.
Knightley is also in...
- 8/18/2016
- Den of Geek
'It's So Easy and Other Lies' movie: Biographical documentary of Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan. 'It's So Easy and Other Lies' movie review: Biographical documentary of Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan fails to develop unique idea Any rock and roll documentary that begins with a quote from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and ends with a reference to Norman Rockwell is gunning for something uncommonly rich and thoughtful. Here, the high-toned references are awkwardly applied to the story of Duff McKagan, Seattle-born bassist of the loud and legendary Guns N' Roses and subject of the documentary It's So Easy and Other Lies. In the annals of rock music, McKagan's tale is sadly typical, at least for those who survive long enough to star in a film about themselves: young rocker bounces from band to band before joining a soon-to-be world-famous group, enjoys a rapid ascent to the top,...
- 6/1/2016
- by Mark Keizer
- Alt Film Guide
The camera zooms in on a hectic street scene as percussion-soaked discordant rhythms elevate your blood pressure. An eerie green sail is lifted to tribal beats. A human the size of an ant side steps the rubble and faces forward. Everything is blurry at first, but as the clouds begin to lift, we can finally recognize a figure efficiently, almost poetically, hosing down a street. Is it a commentary on the deep dichotomy between the hurry up and wait boredom of a movie set and the end product made of pure excitement? Is it a mirror held up to our own voracious fan tendencies? Is it an indictment of movie website culture where bold names are heralded daily and ad nauseam no matter how uninteresting their latest still shot or promotional video may be? Undoubtedly, yes. Like Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” Mattia Renaldo (the well-respected video artist who’s dabbled in special effects-laced political commentary) has...
- 7/2/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Chicago — Before he became a famous TV star on "Friends," actor and director David Schwimmer helped start a theater company in Chicago with a group of his Northwestern University classmates.
Twenty-five years later, Lookingglass Theatre Company has gone from producing small storefront productions to a Tony Award-winning player in the city's arts community. And Schwimmer has returned to direct the company's summer offering, a crime comedy called "Big Lake, Big City" written by Keith Huff of TV's "Mad Men" and Broadway's "A Steady Rain."
Chicago is where Schwimmer comes to be creative.
"For me, it is my artistic home because of the company ... more so than anywhere," Schwimmer said, wearing a baseball cap and eating sushi during his dinner break while working on "Big Lake, Big City," which runs through Aug. 25.
Schwimmer was one of eight theater students at Northwestern who started Lookingglass in 1988. They were all working odd jobs,...
Twenty-five years later, Lookingglass Theatre Company has gone from producing small storefront productions to a Tony Award-winning player in the city's arts community. And Schwimmer has returned to direct the company's summer offering, a crime comedy called "Big Lake, Big City" written by Keith Huff of TV's "Mad Men" and Broadway's "A Steady Rain."
Chicago is where Schwimmer comes to be creative.
"For me, it is my artistic home because of the company ... more so than anywhere," Schwimmer said, wearing a baseball cap and eating sushi during his dinner break while working on "Big Lake, Big City," which runs through Aug. 25.
Schwimmer was one of eight theater students at Northwestern who started Lookingglass in 1988. They were all working odd jobs,...
- 7/9/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Sacha Baron Cohen should win the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m not joking; hear me out on this — narrative works of art have always had an extraordinary power to influence public opinion.Abraham Lincoln, upon meeting Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, famously said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!”; public outcry after the publication of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle led to congress passing the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and a discourse about the treatment of immigrants in society; and The China Syndrome, in conjunction with the meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor two weeks after the film's release, mobilized much of the citizenry against nuclear energy, resulting in far less electricity being produced from nuclear power than had been planned. The representation of fictional characters in print or on screen allows the viewer to...
- 5/16/2012
- by Gavin Polone
- Vulture
By Bob Tourtellotte
Los Angeles (Reuters) - Daphna Ziman is on a mission to help foster children, and she's picked a novel way to do it -- novel, being the key word.
Ziman, a Los Angeles-based philanthropist and activist for kids placed in foster care, has written a fictional novel, "The Gray Zone," whose protagonist was orphaned as a child.
Now, that kid is a grown woman named Kelly Jensen, and she's on the run from the law following the brutal murder of a Las Vegas politician. But with the help of a sharp-minded, handsome defense lawyer, Kelly could clear her name.
Sound like a fast-paced, breezy crime thriller meant for any summer reading list? Well, it is -- and it isn't.
Ziman's aim is two-fold: get people to read her story like they would any thriller from the likes of novelists James Patterson or Harlan Coben. But she also...
Los Angeles (Reuters) - Daphna Ziman is on a mission to help foster children, and she's picked a novel way to do it -- novel, being the key word.
Ziman, a Los Angeles-based philanthropist and activist for kids placed in foster care, has written a fictional novel, "The Gray Zone," whose protagonist was orphaned as a child.
Now, that kid is a grown woman named Kelly Jensen, and she's on the run from the law following the brutal murder of a Las Vegas politician. But with the help of a sharp-minded, handsome defense lawyer, Kelly could clear her name.
Sound like a fast-paced, breezy crime thriller meant for any summer reading list? Well, it is -- and it isn't.
Ziman's aim is two-fold: get people to read her story like they would any thriller from the likes of novelists James Patterson or Harlan Coben. But she also...
- 7/27/2011
- by Reuters
- Huffington Post
Filed under: Movie News
Enough already. Do we really need another game -- board or video -- ported to the big screen? Well, if you're the producer of the 'Transformers' and 'G.I. Joe' movies, anything goes: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who marshalled those toys into movies, has optioned the rights to the classic 1980s 'Space Invaders' arcade game. That's right, the quintessential shooter game that propelled video games from geekdom to middle-class obsession. According to The Hollywood Reporter, di Bonaventura and Odd Lot Entertainment's Gigi Pritzker are on the hunt for a writer to come up with a coherent story line that will capitalize on the game's simple premise: a player fending off attacking aliens' laser blasts. Anything is possible in Hollywood. Remember the 'Super Mario Bros.' movie? By the way, di Bonaventura is already working on developing another game: 'Asteroids.'
From the...
Enough already. Do we really need another game -- board or video -- ported to the big screen? Well, if you're the producer of the 'Transformers' and 'G.I. Joe' movies, anything goes: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who marshalled those toys into movies, has optioned the rights to the classic 1980s 'Space Invaders' arcade game. That's right, the quintessential shooter game that propelled video games from geekdom to middle-class obsession. According to The Hollywood Reporter, di Bonaventura and Odd Lot Entertainment's Gigi Pritzker are on the hunt for a writer to come up with a coherent story line that will capitalize on the game's simple premise: a player fending off attacking aliens' laser blasts. Anything is possible in Hollywood. Remember the 'Super Mario Bros.' movie? By the way, di Bonaventura is already working on developing another game: 'Asteroids.'
From the...
- 7/8/2011
- by Harley W. Lond
- Moviefone
David Schwimmer is pursuing a film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" as a potential third directing vehicle for himself reports Empire.
Sinclair penned close to one hundred books in his lifetime, his 1927 book "Oil!" was the basis for the Oscar winning "There Will Be Blood". 'Jungle' is an early 1900's novel which focuses on Chicago’s meat packing district and its horrific conditions.
Originally written to demonstrate the exploitation of immigrant workers, the book inadvertently led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration and is still read by many cautious eaters and animal lovers today.
Schwimmer intends to adapt the film in a much more character-driven manner, no word if he will keep it period or update it to a contemporary setting.
Sinclair penned close to one hundred books in his lifetime, his 1927 book "Oil!" was the basis for the Oscar winning "There Will Be Blood". 'Jungle' is an early 1900's novel which focuses on Chicago’s meat packing district and its horrific conditions.
Originally written to demonstrate the exploitation of immigrant workers, the book inadvertently led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration and is still read by many cautious eaters and animal lovers today.
Schwimmer intends to adapt the film in a much more character-driven manner, no word if he will keep it period or update it to a contemporary setting.
- 7/7/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
It's like everyone is adapting a selection from your high school reading list for the big screen this week! First, David Schwimmer announced that he was commissioning a project based on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and now Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt and star Andy Serkis are working on a performance-capture adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
- 7/7/2011
- Movieline
Though David Schwimmer will forever be known as Ross from Friends (which is what happens when you are part of one of television.s most successful sitcoms), his fledgling directorial career so far is characterized by films that couldn.t be more different in tone and subject matter. He got his feet wet with the Simon Pegg comedy Run Fatboy Run before moving on to Trust, which discusses the dangers of Internet chat rooms. And it was during a Web chat on behalf of Trust that Schwimmer revealed what his next project might be. During a revealing conversation with Empire, where he updated fans on the status of Madagascar 3 (he has recorded his vocal parts) and confessed to his favorite sandwich (a medium-rare cheeseburger with mustard, tomato, lettuce and onion), Schwimmer said that he.s optioned the rights to an adaptation of Upton Sinclair.s epic turn-of-the-century novel The Jungle.
- 7/6/2011
- cinemablend.com
With only a couple of films under his belt, 'Friends' alum David Schwimmer appears to have his sights set on adapting a literary classic. According to Movieline, Schwimmer stated in a recent interview that he has “commissioned an adaptation of 'The Jungle.'”
The 1906 novel, penned by muckracking journalist Upton Sinclair, follows the exploits of a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis who experiences firsthand the macabre and squalid conditions of the American meatpacking industry.
Upon finishing the novel myself, I almost fell into a depression-induced coma. So for me it is really hard to imagine Ross Geller bringing such an opaque story to the big screen.
Call me a cynic, but I cannot imagine this adaptation will be executed as well as other Sinclair adaptations such as Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood." What do you think?...
The 1906 novel, penned by muckracking journalist Upton Sinclair, follows the exploits of a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis who experiences firsthand the macabre and squalid conditions of the American meatpacking industry.
Upon finishing the novel myself, I almost fell into a depression-induced coma. So for me it is really hard to imagine Ross Geller bringing such an opaque story to the big screen.
Call me a cynic, but I cannot imagine this adaptation will be executed as well as other Sinclair adaptations such as Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood." What do you think?...
- 7/6/2011
- by Reid Volk
- screeninglog.com
Hey, remember that awesome time back in the 19 Double Os in that quaint little area of Chicago, where all the immigrant men got together and engaged in God's work, the backbreaking labor in unventilated rooms, standing on floors knee deep in blood, urine, meat scraps, and foul water. And how they even brought their wives and children, who helped out 14 hours a day, making sausage and canning meat for whopping 9 cents an hour! And remember the lost fingers, the skin disease, and tuberculosis, and the spitting up of blood! And how there were no toilets, so workers just pissed on the bloody floor! All in the vicinity of the meat the rest of America ate. Those were the days! Oh, and oh! Remember that guy who fell into the lard vat? And spent days in the vat until he was fished out, and there was nothing left but bones? And...
- 7/6/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
David Schwimmer Intends To Adapt The Jungle
David Schwimmer, who will probably be known as Ross Gellar from Friends until the end of days, is pursuing an adaptation of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. In an interview with Empire, Schwimmer announced has intentions to adapt the film in a much more character-driven manner. Sinclair’s classic novel put an early spotlight on the meatpacking industry, focusing on Chicago’s meat packing district and its horrific conditions. The Jungle inadvertently led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration and is still read by many cautious eaters and animal lovers today.
Thanks for reading We Got This Covered...
David Schwimmer, who will probably be known as Ross Gellar from Friends until the end of days, is pursuing an adaptation of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. In an interview with Empire, Schwimmer announced has intentions to adapt the film in a much more character-driven manner. Sinclair’s classic novel put an early spotlight on the meatpacking industry, focusing on Chicago’s meat packing district and its horrific conditions. The Jungle inadvertently led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration and is still read by many cautious eaters and animal lovers today.
Thanks for reading We Got This Covered...
- 7/6/2011
- by Emily Estep
- We Got This Covered
Released in 1906, Upton Sinclair‘s The Jungle has become one of the most important whistleblower books in American literature history; telling the story of Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis and his struggles to make it in America, it went into detail about the terrible conditions in Chicago’s meat packing district from the way they handled the meat itself (very unsanitary to say the least, and stop snickering) to their wretched treatment of their workers many of whom didn’t speak English which made it easy to take advantage of them. Thanks to The Jungle, the country began to pay more attention to food safety and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration in 1930. And this is despite the fact that Sinclair intended the book to bring the plight of immigrant workers and their exploitation into the public light.
And now, The Jungle is becoming a movie to be...
And now, The Jungle is becoming a movie to be...
- 7/6/2011
- by Jonathan Sullivan
- The Film Stage
The literary sensation Go the F–k to Sleep takes aim at horrible annoying children, sort of like how Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle took aim at horrible heartless plutocrats. Now, actor/Marvel mascot/general man-about-town Samuel L. Jackson has recorded a complete audiobook version of Adam Mansbach’s book, which is currently downloadable for free at Audible.com. Jackson prefaces his reading by explaining that, when he was reading stories to his daughter in her early years, he actually would tell her, “Go the f–k to sleep.” (Of course he did.) Jackson’s slow-burn parental exasperation — simultaneously tender,...
- 6/15/2011
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
The Film:
Before I lose you younger readers who cannot watch older movies, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was the Avatar of 1927, minus the box office intake. Now do I have your attention? Despite the grandiose nature of the sci-fi opus, it flopped and was heavily re-cut, but prior to today, Metropolis is a sci-fi version of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, with all of the cozy religious themes one can handle. It’s a masterpiece – visually, musically, and technically. Yet, even with that high praise, rarely anyone alive had seen the complete version, once a near three-hour film.
Over time, the deleted footage was deemed lost. Much like the deleted Spider Pit sequence from 1933′s King Kong, finding this footage would be the Holy Grail of cinema. Well, in 2008, the most complete version of Metropolis was found in Argentina of all places (considering this was a German production during the...
Before I lose you younger readers who cannot watch older movies, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was the Avatar of 1927, minus the box office intake. Now do I have your attention? Despite the grandiose nature of the sci-fi opus, it flopped and was heavily re-cut, but prior to today, Metropolis is a sci-fi version of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, with all of the cozy religious themes one can handle. It’s a masterpiece – visually, musically, and technically. Yet, even with that high praise, rarely anyone alive had seen the complete version, once a near three-hour film.
Over time, the deleted footage was deemed lost. Much like the deleted Spider Pit sequence from 1933′s King Kong, finding this footage would be the Holy Grail of cinema. Well, in 2008, the most complete version of Metropolis was found in Argentina of all places (considering this was a German production during the...
- 12/6/2010
- by Jon Peters
- Killer Films
This weekend, a mix of curiosity, boredom, and bravery took hold and I decided to try KFC’s new fast food choice: the Double Down sandwich. Since it’s release on April 12, all anyone has been talking about is how this bun-less wonder combines two fried chicken breasts, strips of bacon, two kinds of cheese, and something mysterious called “Colonel’s Sauce.” I had to have one.
Well, I had to have two. “Why not double down on the Double Down,” I thought. Then, naturally, my mind went to which movie I was going to watch while ingesting it’s combined 1,180 calories. Nothing was more fitting than health food documentary and recent Netflix “Watch Instantly” selection Food Inc.
Food challenges are nothing new to me. I recall a few years ago I ate a delicious Big Mac Meal (upsized!) while watching Morgan Spurlock’s excellent experiment movie Super Size Me.
Well, I had to have two. “Why not double down on the Double Down,” I thought. Then, naturally, my mind went to which movie I was going to watch while ingesting it’s combined 1,180 calories. Nothing was more fitting than health food documentary and recent Netflix “Watch Instantly” selection Food Inc.
Food challenges are nothing new to me. I recall a few years ago I ate a delicious Big Mac Meal (upsized!) while watching Morgan Spurlock’s excellent experiment movie Super Size Me.
- 4/19/2010
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
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