Travis’s Comments (group member since Mar 13, 2017)

Travis’s comments from the Bourbon & Books group.

Tracking some of the news as it pertains to some of the books we've read being optioned and possibly headed to the big or small screen, but I'm sure the book was better. ;)
Please note that I am just copying/pasting the info below. I'm not writing it

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Originally published: 1934, Collins Crime Club
Optioned for: Film (Fox)
What it’s about: Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Peña, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., and others form the ensemble for Christie’s famous mystery about Hercule Poirot’s attempts to solve a murder aboard the Orient Express, with the murderer among the passengers.
Status: Kenneth Branagh will direct and costar as Poirot.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
BraveNewWorld_FirstEditionOriginally published: 1932, Chatto & Windus
Optioned for: Television (Syfy)
What it’s about: Aldous Huxley’s scarily prescient vision of the future sees humans born in hatcheries and seduced by consumerism, free sex, and—when those don’t make them entirely happy—the hallucinogenic drug soma, which they can take to get away from it all. But soon a “savage” from the “reservation” threatens the World State.
Status: Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television will adapt Huxley’s iconic novel, with Grant Morrison and Bryan Taylor (Crank) serving as writers and executive producers. No word yet if it will be a miniseries or ongoing series. The last update was in late 2016.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Michael B. Jordan will be starring in an adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s memoir Just Mercy.

Writer/Director: The screenplay is being written by Andrew Lanham and director Destin Daniel Cretton. Both are young, but have been recognized for their previous work. Lanham was a 2010 AFF Drama Screenplay Winner and 2010 Nicholl Fellow. Cretton was also a 2010 Nicholl Fellow who received good buzz for his feature film Short Term 12. It’s hard to know how they’ll handle Just Mercy, but I like the idea of it being adapted by people used to doing smaller projects – this story is good enough it doesn’t need to be made sentimental or, well, Hollywood.

Cast: Michael B. Jordan is signed on to play Stevenson (as well as be a producer on the movie), which is really great news. He has some blockbuster/mainstream recognition thanks to his current role as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and upcoming starring role as Adonis Johnson in Creed.

These are all the books that went on to greatness AFTER we read them. It's totally because of us, of course:

The Sellout - awarded the 2016 Man Booker Prize in October 2016 after we read it in July 2016
Evicted - awarded the Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction in April 2017 after we read it in June 2016
Bull Mountain - won the inaugural Pat Conroy ‘The Beach Music Mystery Prize’ on July 4, 2016 after we read it in October 2015.
PriestDaddy was chosen as a Top Ten Book of 2017 by the NY Times
PriestDaddy also won the 2018 Thurber Prize for humor. Maybe the book was funnier than we thought?