Walden Media Fans » The Giver

One of the most underrated films, but also one of my favorite movies of 2014, The Giver is now available to own on Blu-ray and DVD!

I’ve never read Lois Lowry’s Newberry Award winning book The Giver. I have, however, seen the feature film based on that book.

One of the best compliments that you can give to a movie, that is based on a book that you’ve never read before, is if the movie makes you want to read the book. I’ve had that happen a number of times over the years, including City of Ember, Big Fish and a few others. This one is no different. I definitely want to pick up the book, and the three other books that are set in the film’s world.

The Giver is a film that I’ve been actually looking forward to seeing for a number of years. As the movie got closer, I got a little more nervous about the movie. I knew it was possible that I wouldn’t like the movie, which happens from time to time (I’m very selective with movies that I see).

What I saw was a movie that has a lot of great messages. The ending of the movie is an especially good talking point about where true freedom comes from. The symbolism there is subtle, but it made me very happy, showing a bit of where true freedom comes from.

The movie has a lot of good conversation starters. There are some parts where the filming is a little odd, but intentionally so. It’s not a movie for small children, though. It deals with some things that would be scarring to young minds that would not be able to come to terms with how people can do bad things to each other, or to babies.

One major element of the film is how it addresses the value of life. All of life. And it does so in a way that is very moving and life affirming.

Something that might surprise you, but not readers of the book (based on some controversy around the first trailer that was released) is that the film starts out in black and white. It doesn’t stay that way, but definitely uses it as a storytelling device. The color saturation or de-saturation was a subtle device used to help the viewer understand what the characters are seeing.

The characters in the story are caught up in a world that is striving to protect its’ people from the dangers that come with being able to feel emotion, and to have choices in life. It seems that it’s also lead to a world in which the people that have grown up within this limited environment have no sense of the despicable things they may be carrying out. They’re purposefully kept naive. And where the story begins is a graduation of sorts, where the various ages of the people in the community have hit their next stage, and assignments are given.

To one, though, is given the memories of the time before the communities. That way, the elders can seek the advice of the receiver, to avoid making past mistakes once more.

The movie is PG-13, but not Michael Bay PG-13. Parents, see it first before taking your kids, so that you know what sorts of things you should be ready to talk about.

There was a sequence in the movie that nearly brought tears to my eyes, in a good way.

I highly recommend The Giver, and I look forward to reading the book.

If you have read the book, here are the author’s comments:

The Giver movie, based on the best selling novel by Lois Lowry. Starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, in theaters 2014!

In a perfect world where there is no conflict, racism or sickness, every member of society has a specific role, and 16-year-old Jonas is selected to be the Receiver of Memories. As Jonas uncovers the truth behind his world’s past, he discovers that many years earlier his forefathers gave up humanity in order to have a stable society.

We’re looking forward to seeing The Giver next summer, when it is released on August 15, 2014.  Here are a couple of photos from the set, courtesy of Instagram, and Twitter:

Taylor Swift, Cameron Monaghan and Odeya Rush on the set

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Taylor Swift has joined the cast of The Weinstein Company and Walden Media’s movie adaptation of “The Giver.”

The singer-songwriter is the latest member of the cast that features previously reported stars Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites and Katie Holmes.

Other cast members include “True Blood’s” Alexander Skarsgard, “The Odd Life of Timothy Green’s” Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan of “Shameless.”

The film, an adaptation of the popular young adult novel by Lois Lowry, stars Thwaites as a young boy who is selected for life service as the Receiver of Memories. He works with The Giver (Bridges), an old man who teaches the boy to use his sensory gifts.

Streep will play the antagonistic Chief Elder, who assigns the young their tasks, in the film about a society in which there is no sickness, conflict or racism.

Holmes will play Thwaites’ character’s mother.

–via

Katie Holmes has closed a deal to join Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges in The Giver, a drama from The Weinstein Co. and Walden Media that’s being directed by Phillip Noyce.

Brenton Thwaites is the young star of the sci-fi project, which tells of a society in which there is no conflict, racism or sickness.

Thwaites plays a young boy who is selected for his life service as the Receiver of Memories and works with The Giver (Bridges), an old man who teaches the boy to use his unique gifts of the senses. Streep is the society’s Chief Elder, an authoritative and antagonistic woman who assigns the young their tasks.

Holmes will play Thwaites’ mother, a strict obeyer of the laws that govern what is described as an antiseptic society.

The movie, which is eyeing a budget of around $25 million, is being produced by Nikki Silver of Tonik Productions along with Neil Koenigsberg and Bridges.

Michael Mitnick wrote the most recent script adapting the Lois Lowry YA novel.

A shoot in South Africa is being planned, although it is likely that Steep will shoot her scenes in England, where she is filming Disney’s Into the Woods.

–via

The Weinstein Co. and Walden Media have scheduled Phillip Noyce‘s sci-fi epic The Giver on August 15, 2014.

Based on the dystopian YA novel by Lois Lowry, The Giver stars Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaites as members of society in which there is no conflict, racism or sickness. TWC and Walden are partners on the film.

Thwaites plays a young boy who is selected for his life service as the Receiver of Memories and works with The Giver (Bridges), an old man who teaches the boy to use his unique gifts of the senses. Streep will play the society’s Chief Elder, an authoritative and antagonistic woman who assigns the young their tasks.

The Giver, with a budget of around $25 million, is being produced by Nikki Silver of Tonik Productions along with Neil Koenigsberg and Bridges. Vadim Perelman wrote the adapted script.

via

Australian actor Brenton Thwaites (“Maleficent”) has beat out several of his fellow rising stars for the young male lead opposite Jeff Bridges in the Weinstein Company and Walden Media’s adaptation of “The Giver,” TheWrap has learned.

Based on the bestselling book by Lois Lowry, “The Giver” is a largely introspective fantasy tale set in a colorless dystopian society that enforces Sameness and fears freedom. All memory of human history has been erased, emotion does not exist and citizens’ professions are chosen for them.

Thwaites has been chosen to play Jonas, the community’s Receiver of Memories who spends his days being mentored by the Giver (Bridges), who teaches him to confront and understand the lies that inform society. As Jonas comes to grips with living an unsheltered existence, he begins to acquire a taste for freedom and honesty, becoming an outcast in the process.

Thwaites’ competition for the coveted role included Nick Robinson (“The Kings of Summer”), Tye Sheridan (“Mud”) and Dylan Minnette (“Prisoners”).

Philip Noyce is directing the adaptation of Lowry’s celebrated 1993 children’s book. The movie has been a passion project for Bridges, who is producing with Nikki Silver of Tonik Productions, as well as TWC’s Harvey Weinstein, Dylan Sellers and Julie Rappaport. Production could begin as early as this fall in South Africa.

We’ve been waiting for this movie for a very long time, and there was a short time that we thought the movie had been passed on by Walden Media.  Turns out, we were wrong, and we’re happy to be, as Walden is definitely moving ahead, and soon.

Among the hottest open roles in Hollywood right now is the young male lead in the Weinstein Co. and Walden Media’s “The Giver,” the long-gestating adaptation of Lois Lowry’s acclaimed novel that will star Jeff Bridges as the title character.

Over the weekend, rising stars Nick Robinson (left), Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dylan Minnette and Brenton Thwaites were asked to test with Jeff Bridges for the role of Jonas, the young protagonist who was 12 years old in the book but will likely be aged up for the movie, according to individuals familiar with the project.

Miles Heizer (“Parenthood”) and Dylan Sprayberry (young Clark Kent in “Man of Steel”) earned callbacks from a prior casting session and read again for the coveted role on Saturday.

Long attached to play the title role, Bridges bought the rights to “The Giver” two decades ago, originally envisioning it as a vehicle for his father Lloyd. Bridges was introduced to the book, which has sold more than 10 million copies and won the 1994 Newbery Medal, by his daughter, who was reading it in high school.

Vadim Perelman (“House of Sand and Fog”) penned the most recent draft of the script and had been eyed to direct back in 2006 when Walden Media (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) and 20th Century Fox nearly greenlit the movie before deciding against taking the risk.

Times have changed and studios are now high on branded properties including “The Giver,” which also offers franchise potential. Lowry wrote two loosely-related companion novels, “Gathering Blue” and “Messenger,” while a fourth novel, “Son,” ties all three storylines together in an epic conclusion.

With casting under way, director Phillip Noyce, whose last movie “Salt” grossed $300 million worldwide, is one step closer to bringing “The Giver” to life. Production could begin as early as this fall in South Africa.

-via The Wrap

Lois Lowry’s book The Giver is inching closer to the big screen.  Many years ago Walden Media had the rights to create the motion picture version of the story.  They didn’t hold on to those rights.  However, it appears that they’ve acquired the rights once again, if they had ever truly dropped them.

Variety reports that director Phillip Noyce (Salt, Patriot Games) is now in early talks to helm the adaptation for The Weinstein Company, Walden Media, and star Jeff Bridges.

The book concerns a utopian society where all memories of the past reside with a sage figure known as “The Giver.”  When a 12-year-old boy is selected to be the new Giver, he learns of the hypocrisies and hidden truths of his world.  Bridges nabbed the rights to the book 20 years ago with the intention of developing it as a starring vehicle for his father, Lloyd, but now he intends to produce and star.