First, if you’re looking for some quality fiction, Jonathan Safran Foer’s novels are always winners. His breakout, Everything is Illuminated, was made into a film starring Elijah Wood. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a watch.
Second, Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is about a boy searching New York to find the lock that fits a key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Stephen Daldry is adapting the novel with Warner Bros. Tom Hanks stars alongside Sandra Bullock, James Gandolfini, Zoe Caldwell, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, and Max von Sydow. But what’s interesting is that the starring role went to a non-actor, Jeopardy winner Thomas Horn.
The first look shows Hanks and Horn bonding pre-disaster. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opens limited in limited release on December 25th. This will likely be the movie I take the fam to on Christmas day.
Here’s the synopsis:
Oskar (Thomas Horn) is convinced that his father (Tom Hanks), who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother (Sandra Bullock) and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can’t be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father’s closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him.
