Fahrenheit 451 as a film

Talking about Frank Darabont and his potential project The Long Walk, inspired me to dig deeper into another project Frank Darabont has long been attached with...that is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451.

Like most projects Hollywood's involved with (copies of copies of copies), this book has already been adapted to the screen before by the famous French director François Truffaut.

I've seen a few Truffaut films (the standards like The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim), and so was surprised to see this Truffaut film not only in English, but in color as well.

This film had a number of very creative elements, for example, the spoken opening title credits or the use of Julie Christie in the same role of two very different characters. While at the same time, I have to be honest, it was a little bit...I guess, I'll say, inaccessible. It wasn't quite an entertaining film, rather an artful adaptation.

All that to say, I can see why Frank Darabont has been trying to cast Tom Hanks in the title role (a role that when a remake was discussed over 15 years was associated with Mel Gibson). But I think it would take some fantastic writing and visual story telling to make this story really succeed in a film form...which may be way this classic has taken so long for it's potential studio green light.

All that to say, I have to imagine a new film imagining of this work will come to life...whether it will be by Darabont and any time soon, now that is another question.