Monday, February 27, 2012

Really a Godmother?: The Godfather


A new book by Eamon Evans, The Godfather Was a Girl: . . . And Blanche Dubois Was a Guy, reveals the real-life inspirations for famous characters of book and screen.

Evan claims that Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, used his mother as the inspiration for his main character, played to perfection by Marlon Brando in the classic mafia movie.

An Italian immigrant, Puzo's mother raised her 12 children by herself in a New York slum. She was a 'wonderful, handsome woman... but a fairly ruthless person', Evans quotes Puzo as saying. "Whenever the Godfather opened his mouth, in my mind I heard the voice of my mother."

See the Movie blog
The Godfather Was a Girl: . . . And Blanche Dubois Was a Guy
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Movie: The Godfather

Monday, February 20, 2012

Best Picture Nominations Based on Books


Based on the novel, The Descendants, by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the motion picture by the same title is one of nine movies nominated for Best Picture at the 84th annual Academy Awards next Sunday, February 26.

Other motion pictures nominated for the Best Picture Oscar that were adapted from a novel or non-fiction book include:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The Help , based on the novel of that title by Kathryn Stockett.

Hugo, adapted from the Caldecott Medal winning-novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Moneyball, based on the non-fiction book,  Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis .

War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo and the stage adaptation.