Pynchon

In 1963 the actor Kirk Douglas originated the role of Randle P McMurphy in a Broadway stage production of the Ken Kesey novel "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". Kirk was anxious to make a movie of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", with himself in the starring role, so he bought the film rights to the novel, but struggled for years to get a producer or director interested. Eventually Kirk passed the property to his son Michael. Michael got the movie made in 1975 with Jack Nicholson in the starring role after James Caan had turned it down. Quite rightly, Michael thought that his father was too old, in 1975, to play the part. Understandably, Kirk was quite pissed off about this.

I bet that Christmas 1975 was an interesting one in the Douglas household.



I only mention the above because it occurred to me on Saturday, while watching Christian Slater play Randle P McMurphy in the latest stage production of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" at the Garrick Theatre in London, that if Kirk Douglas had played the part in the sixties, or James Caan had played the part in the seventies, that we may never have had the chance to see Christian Slater on Saturday. The one thing people always comment on with regard to Christian Slater since his breakthrough in the movie "Heathers" is his Jack-Nicholsonism's. Admit it. He looks like him and sometimes he sounds like him.

I thought the Garrick Theatre production was terrific. Really good. Christian Slater and Alex Kingston, as Nurse Ratched, were brilliant, as was the whole cast. I really enjoyed it. Definitely recommended. Lorraine knew nothing about the story of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". She had not read the book and she had not seen the film. I think she liked it as well, although she said to me afterwards, "It wasn't a comedy at all, was it?" No, it wasn't. Her other critical appraisal was that Christian Slater was "still fit". Yes, he was. Yes, he was.

Bastard.

Today I went to see "Hostel".



I'm not particularly a gorehound (I haven't looked at Fangoria for years), but I thought it was good enough, if you are looking for that kind of thing. A warning, though. There is not nearly the amount of gore that you would expect by reading the reviews in the British press, and anyway that part of it is pretty boring. I mean, how many interesting ways are there to mutilate the human body? I thought the most interesting sections were the lead up to the first kidnapping. The drawing in of the lads to a holiday of sex and thrills, the encounter on the train, the hostel, the girls, etc. After that it got a bit... so-so. Perhaps I've seen it all before.

I'll go into the London trip in a bit more detail tomorrow. "24" is on in 10 minutes.