The Time Traveler's Wife

[Reverend]

I rather think that 'The Shawshank Redemption' would be a better example since the film is several orders of magnitude better than the book, while the Harry Potter films on the other hand seam to trot alongside the books in terms of quality, at least from what I've seen of them.

 

[Alpinemaps]

I believe they had one last scene to film, and had to wait for the weather to change as well as Eric Bana's hair to grow back. But I could be mistaken--I'm only going from memory.

I heard the same thing, too.

Okay, so I caught the trailer the first time the other day. Watched it twice. It made me cry both times. This is going to be a *difficult* movie for me to watch.

Spoiler: Spoilers about the opening of the book, and the trailer

The first 50 seconds of the trailer is the first couple of chapters. Seeing the Beau Thai menu and the journal of visits, and the two of them getting it on in his apartment - fantastic!

This book is one of my top two books of all time. I've read it 3 times, and listened to the unabridged audio version twice. I've cried every single time. This book affected me - a lot. To the point that it made me realize that I *needed* to have children. (After being against ever having children).

The last time listening to the audio edition, I made mental notes about what could and could not be cut. Yes, they will lose a lot in translation. But, it's just an interpretation of the novel. I will always have the rich history of the novel (which feels like just part of the story to me, anyway - I think the novel could have been another 1000 pages worth of stories about Henry, Claire, and Alba). But there's tons they can take out, and this will still be very very good.

 

[May 20]

I just watched the trailer, and it did its job. I'm excited for this movie. And, I need to go dig through my book boxes to find the book and re-read it. I love this book.

 

[Mark de Vries]

I was thinking this morning about all the things I want them to keep in the film, especially characters. I want to see the story of Henry's father, and Gomes must be in there, too. Henry's work and his insane life before he met Clare. There's so much good in the book, I'll be sad to see anything cut, but that's unavoidable. I hope that the things they keep more than make up for the things they cut.

By the way, Alpinemaps, that's a very touching story. Amazing to see how much influence stories can have.

 

[Starbreaker]

Just saw the trailer last night. Looks great!

 

[Sakrysta]

Oh, and I had to go put a hold on the book at the library so I can read it again, thanks to the trailer and this thread.

That's exactly what I was thinking just now

I even took extra time on my lunch break yesterday to swing by a local used bookstore and check to see if they had a copy. They didn't. The proprietor told me they get them regularly, and they sell regularly. I'm tempted to check again next week (or at another used bookstore) if the hold doesn't come in before then. All this discussion has made me really crave another read-through.

By the way, what do people think of the time travel effects? I always pictured Henry's disappearances as far more sudden. On the other hand, he did usually feel them coming on, didn't he?

I'm torn over that. At first I thought it was a little cheesy, but then I decided, hey, it's a movie, it's a visual medium, they're going to want to involve your eyes in the process. We'll see how it plays out. I'm not completely convinced about the effect they used - from the way his time jumps are described in the novel, it doesn't seem likely that he "peeled" or "melted" away as the impression given by the CGI. I think I will end up wishing they'd made a different choice there.

The book is VERY full. I have the feeling that in order to make it manageable for film, it will have to be tightly focused on Clare and Henry's relationship. While characters like Gomez, Ingrid, etc., are integral to the novel, I'm not sure they are SO vital as to be necessary to the story's interpretation on film. I found myself wondering as I watched the trailer if they will deal with Henry and Clare's struggle with miscarriages, how Alba's conception came about, etc. I think a lot will have to be simplified and streamlined for the overall heart of the story to translate well on screen. All the time jumps and age variations of the book could become very confusing if told in the same way in the movie. I think that's part of what I'm so interested in as regards the movie - how will they translate it? How will they make it coherent to someone who hasn't read the novel?

Man, the more I talk about it, the more impatient I am for the movie's release.

(Slightly off-topic aside - it just hit me that Eric Bana was Nero in Star Trek! I'm sure I'm the only one who just made that connection - thank you Trek Today headlines in the right-hand banner! )

ETA: I am valiantly resisting the urge to branch out into comparisons between the show Journeyman and The Time Traveler's Wife. Be proud of me, but if anyone else brings it up, beware my attachment to both projects and my tendency to over-analyze.

 

[Neroon]

I even took extra time on my lunch break yesterday to swing by a local used bookstore and check to see if they had a copy. They didn't. The proprietor told me they get them regularly, and they sell regularly. I'm tempted to check again next week (or at another used bookstore) if the hold doesn't come in before then. All this discussion has made me really crave another read-through.

I picked up my copy - or rather my wife did for me - off of Half.com. You can get some surprisingly great deals there.

There is one terribly amusing scene from the book that I am convinced will NOT be on-screen:

Spoiler: Henry ....

... intrudes upon his younger self masturbating. Okay, that's rather personal, but it struck me as quite funny when I read the book for the first time

 

[Mark de Vries]

(Slightly off-topic aside - it just hit me that Eric Bana was Nero in Star Trek! I'm sure I'm the only one who just made that connection - thank you Trek Today headlines in the right-hand banner! )

Was he? Oops, I totally missed that!

I'm checking IMDb and I see Ron Livingston will be paying Gomez! That's awesome! I really liked him as Captain Nixon in Band of Brothers.

Henry's dad will be in the film, played by Arliss Howard, and there are a bunch of actors listed for Clare's family, too. I've always liked the Christmas sequence at the Abshire home.

There's also a release date of 14 August for the UK, US and Canada. There's no listing for the Netherlands yet, though . I hope they do release it here...

 

[Sakrysta]

^Those are pretty interesting casting choices. I really like Arliss Howard. And I had to look up Ron Livingston - I caught the show Standoff on Hulu a while back, and liked him there. Why was I picturing Gomez as a blond, though? A kind of John Schneider type?

I had the feeling the clip in the trailer where Clare and Henry are standing in a window where she says something about it being "magical" was probably from the Christmas visit to the Abshire home. Curious now to see if I'm right.

Oh, and I got an email today that my hold at the library is in. Though now, thanks to Neroon, I might have to order a copy online as well...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^Those are pretty interesting casting choices. I really like Arliss Howard. And I had to look up Ron Livingston - I caught the show Standoff on Hulu a while back, and liked him there. Why was I picturing Gomez as a blond, though? A kind of John Schneider type?

Yeah, I don't see Ron Livingston as Gomez. I mean, yeah, he can do the smarmy bit, but it's not at all how I pictured the character.

'Course, the weird mental casting I had was for the Doctor. I'd have cast Andre Braugher, even though the character, in the book, is white.

 

[Terengo]

I guess I'm in a distinct minority, because the book ultimately creeped me out. I enjoyed it a lot while I was reading it, for all the emotional depth to the love story that people have mentioned, until I started contemplating the fact that Henry cultivated Clare from a child to be his mate. It began to seem like a kind of pedophilia. If the real crime of pedophilia lies in unequal power relationships, adult vs. child, then didn't Henry have the same sort of advantage over Clare? What chance did she have to ever say no to a relationship with him? Viewed in that light, the final visit of Henry to old Clare began to seem not so much like a final meeting of lovers as some sort of doom that Clare couldn't escape. (Interesting idea: what if Clare simply avoided ever going into that room where she sees Henry last?)

 

[Ethros]

Never really heard of this before clicking on this thread, but it sounds fascinating (and I've just watched the trailer for the film) so I may have to pick this up ASAP, at least before the film comes out. Cheers

 

[Alpinemaps]

By the way, Alpinemaps, that's a very touching story. Amazing to see how much influence stories can have.

Thanks, I'm not sure why it touched me the way it did, but it did. I think Henry knowing what he did, and the relationship with Alba, and what Alba represented, is what touched me. My wife's family is very long lived, and mine is not, so it makes a person think...

The book is VERY full. I have the feeling that in order to make it manageable for film, it will have to be tightly focused on Clare and Henry's relationship. While characters like Gomez, Ingrid, etc., are integral to the novel, I'm not sure they are SO vital as to be necessary to the story's interpretation on film. I found myself wondering as I watched the trailer if they will deal with Henry and Clare's struggle with miscarriages, how Alba's conception came about, etc. I think a lot will have to be simplified and streamlined for the overall heart of the story to translate well on screen.

Spoiler: Characters that may or may not be in the film

Ingrid will not be in the film - and I can understand why they did it. It's just a little too much. But, that may mean we won't see much of Henry's past. I hope they deal with Claire's miscarriages, because it's such a defining thing for them. They just kept hitting, one after another and it broke my heart each time.

ETA: I am valiantly resisting the urge to branch out into comparisons between the show Journeyman and The Time Traveler's Wife. Be proud of me, but if anyone else brings it up, beware my attachment to both projects and my tendency to over-analyze.

Funny, because there was a lot of talk about it when it came out. There were even those thinking that TTTW was lifted from Journeyman! I remember threads talking about Journeyman at the time, and was convinced pretty early that Journeyman didn't lift from TTTW. There are enough differences that they compliment one another.

If anything, we should be talking about Lost and TTTW, and how time travel works in very similar ways in both.

^Those are pretty interesting casting choices. I really like Arliss Howard. And I had to look up Ron Livingston - I caught the show Standoff on Hulu a while back, and liked him there. Why was I picturing Gomez as a blond, though? A kind of John Schneider type?

I pictured Gomez the same way, because I think that's how he's described in the book.

I had the feeling the clip in the trailer where Clare and Henry are standing in a window where she says something about it being "magical" was probably from the Christmas visit to the Abshire home. Curious now to see if I'm right.

That's a really long part in the novel, but, a GREAT set up for the Abshire family. You really understand the entire family just from the 3 days they spent there. I was worried it wouldn't be in the movie, but I hope it is.

I guess I'm in a distinct minority, because the book ultimately creeped me out. I enjoyed it a lot while I was reading it, for all the emotional depth to the love story that people have mentioned, until I started contemplating the fact that Henry cultivated Clare from a child to be his mate. It began to seem like a kind of pedophilia.

That's an interesting perspective. But, remember two things - one, Henry did everything he could to throw Claire OFF that path - not giving him clues as to how to find him in the future, not telling him they were married (at least, not until she was a teenager), and resisting her constant seductions when she's a teenager. Second, everything is determined already. You can't change the future. So, there was no choice in the matter - Claire was going to be Henry's wife no matter what Henry did. Henry couldn't go into the past to Claire, unless he and Claire met in the future anyway.

Viewed in that light, the final visit of Henry to old Clare began to seem not so much like a final meeting of lovers as some sort of doom that Clare couldn't escape. (Interesting idea: what if Clare simply avoided ever going into that room where she sees Henry last?)

She couldn't have avoided it - it was already determined to happen. And that's the great tragedy of the novel (and hence, the title - since this is really Claire's story) - Claire is doomed to wait. Always waiting. She was going to wait. She was always waiting for Henry.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Interesting idea: what if Clare simply avoided ever going into that room where she sees Henry last?

It's that sense of fatalism in the book that sits uneasily with me. That the characters are powerless to do anything -- and know they're powerless -- because events have already happened from someone else's perspective.

I would liked to have seen Henry try to avoid his death. I would liked to have seen Henry try -- and ultimately fail -- to prevent 9/11. I would liked to have seen anyone take action, rather than accept the fickle hand of fate.

In some sense, the characters don't do anything. They simply do what the character arcs demand of them.

 

[Sakrysta]

Funny, because there was a lot of talk about it when it came out. There were even those thinking that TTTW was lifted from Journeyman! I remember threads talking about Journeyman at the time, and was convinced pretty early that Journeyman didn't lift from TTTW. There are enough differences that they compliment one another.

I agree. There are some striking similarities, though. My favorite commonality is the focus on feet/shoes. I saw Journeyman long before I read The Time Traveler's Wife, and when I did finally read the book, I was struck by the commonalities. I really don't think the show drew directly from the book, but I wonder if the occasional minor element didn't make its way from one to the other unintentionally. I find it difficult to otherwise explain the feet/shoes thing, the arriving hungry, etc. It's not a major thing, but it is noticeable.

(Note to self: Don't type posts with laptop remote keyboard - too frustrating and slow - thought trains go too fast to thumb-type!)

 

[Mark de Vries]

Why was I picturing Gomez as a blond, though? A kind of John Schneider type?

I always picture Gomez as an older version of a friend of mine, who is the artistic type and, interestingly, has a Schneider kind of hairdo (Not that I knew Schneider, I had to use my Google Fu). That friend is also blond, by the way.

I hope we do see a bit about Henry's past, especially the death of his mother. Well, not that we need to see it, but it should play a role. It was focus for his time travels, just as Clare was.

 

[Sakrysta]

Okay, so I'm over halfway through my re-read now. Last night's thunderstorm coupled with my own sleeplessness contributed to about a 5-hour stint of non-stop text inhalation.

Gomez IS described as blond - he's a chain smoker, Polish (his real name is Jan Gomol-something-ski) and has an amazing pompadour hairdo.

Pre-wedding Henry should have longer hair! I forgot about that!

There is no visual effect of Henry's disappearances mentioned so far, but a couple times the related sound is referenced - "as though all the sound was sucked out of the world" or something similar.

A couple elements not seen in the trailer that I hope make it into the film:

• Adult Henry teaching child Henry how to pickpocket
• The Cage - that's a big one
• The wedding switcheroo
• Winning the lottery
• To some extent, the fate/destiny concept, though probably not as it specifically relates to September 11, 2001

A few things I don't expect to see in the film:

• Clare & Henry "taking care of" the boy who abused her
• Anything to do with Celia and Ingrid, or Ben

I don't remember seeing a name for Kimy on the cast list? It would be a shame to lose her. Actually, I remember seeing the name "Rosa" as a character and wondering who that might be. A replacement for Kimy maybe? Or Nell or Etta?

Niffeneger deals pretty specifically with the aspect of determinism in the novel. The scene Neroon referenced above where Henry's father catches his two selves "in flagrante delicto" does a pretty good job - the Henry who knew and tried to warn the Henry who didn't actually CAUSED the thing to happen. And then there's the drawing Clare does of Henry, where she dates it even though he tells her not to, that it's not dated in the future. Niffeneger makes it pretty clear that her time travel rules are not going to deal with alternate timelines. Henry is both terrified by what he feels almost happened by making that one small change and relieved that it didn't (Clare trimmed off the date later, afraid of what the change might have caused). If he were actually to succeed in changing something from his past that would cause his future to unfold differently, who knows what the consequences would be? Journeyman did deal with it in "The Hanged Man" - Dan lost a digital camera in the past, and the result was technology leaped ahead 20 years - and changed his timeline so that he had a daughter instead of a son. By the time September 11 happened, Henry was well aware, not only that any attempt to change the event would just add to the certainty of its happening, but that it would very likely make things worse, even changing his own future. He could only change what he didn't already know about the future - like winning the lottery, etc. He didn't know how they bought the house, only that they did. So he found a way to make it happen.

I'm not saying that Henry shouldn't have tried to stop the tragedy of September 11. But I do think that Niffeneger had made her case well for why he wouldn't by the time that event happened in the book. And really (and I seem to keep referencing Journeyman), what could Henry have done? Dan called all kinds of people trying to warn them about the Game 3 earthquake. No one would believe him. He even tried making a bomb threat, to get law enforcement to evacuate bridges, etc. As Olivia told him, how did he know that even if he succeeded, the changes he made wouldn't just have caused more deaths? It's why time travel shows that deal with changing the past end up having some sort of directing conceit that knows what should be changed - Iggy, Dr. Tachyon, whatever.

 

[Mark de Vries]

Wow. You're a fast reader

Gomez IS described as blond - he's a chain smoker, Polish (his real name is Jan Gomol-something-ski) and has an amazing pompadour hairdo.

Okay, I had to look up what a pompadour hairdo looks like, actually. Hm, I wonder if they'll get Livingston to do that... Maybe they'll give him a wig

Pre-wedding Henry should have longer hair! I forgot about that!

Related to that: the age differences. Henry isn't always the same age when he visits Clare. I wonder if they'll show that. In the trailer Eric Bana looks pretty much the same age throughout.

A couple elements not seen in the trailer that I hope make it into the film:

• Adult Henry teaching child Henry how to pickpocket
• The Cage - that's a big one
• The wedding switcheroo

These, yes. I also hope we see Henry's very first time travel and his nighttime tour of the museum with his older self.

I don't remember seeing a name for Kimy on the cast list? It would be a shame to lose her.

I think Kimy is essential if they're going to do something with Richard's storyline. She played a major role in getting him off the drink and back into something of a regular life.

I also think that the story needs to be something more than just a good lovestory with a twist. Determinims would fit the bill, not least to stay true to Niffenegger's approach to time travel. Henry never asked for his disorder and has a hard time dealing with it, and we should see that, ideally through the fact that he can't change anything about it and will just have to learn to live with it.

The September 11 scenario in the back, by the way, felt to me more like a weak attempt at appearing up to date. It was not necessary in the story at all and I hope they won't use it in the film. It's been eight years.

 

[Sakrysta]

I finished the book last night, and I realized that the September 11 element was almost non-existent in the book. I think it was just Niffeneger's intention to acknowledge that it happened, and that Henry would have known about it ahead of time. It's such a significant historical event that to leave it out completely would have seemed odd.

Interesting note - Alba's birthday was 9/6, five days before the attack on the Twin Towers.

Oh, and I found out who "Rosa" is - she's Gomez & Charisse's third child.

 

[Mark de Vries]

I won't mind if 11 September is in the film, but if it's not I won't shed any tears

I haven't reread the novel yet, so forgive me if I remember things incorrectly, but I am curious to see how they'll do the NYE 2000 sequence. Now that can potentially be a great bunch of scenes. That, and Henry's last mad dash through time.