Modern Adaption of Fatherland

Isn't it about time for there to be a modern, faithful adaption of Robert Harris' novel Fatherland? The 1990's version done by HBO is poorly made and not faithful to the novel much at all.
 
We need to wait and see how much of a hit The Man in the High Castle is. If it's a huge hit we'll hopefully see more AH being adapted.
 
I suspect that borrowing liberally from the style of TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY would benefit an adaption of FATHERLAND (or perhaps just a headlong dive into Film Noir); I'm actually not entirely convinced of FATHERLAND's cinematic potential, but then again I wasn't entirely convinced that the Hobbit would bear being stretched into three movies and was just about proven wrong!:D
 
Fatherland is kind of a slow burn and it would be tough to be very faithful to the book. So much of the book is the ambiance of Nazi Germany, it might not come across well in film.

A good comparison is Gorky Park, which never really found its footing as a film but was a fantastic book.
 
No matter the cinematic qualities or lack of same in FATHERLAND, I think we can safely say that if there is a modern adaption of that novel then Mr Thomas Kretschmann has to be considered one of the front-runners for the role of Xavier March for reasons that should be obvious.

ce62bc81c1dbc449f6962fe866074482.jpg


^Exhibit 'A' for the Defence may be found above.^
 
If it weren't for the fact that I remain rather ignorant of Germanic cinema, I'd turn this into a full-fledged Casting Call!:)
 
There has been talk over the last couple of years of a German language film version of the book.
The 1995 version starts well enough, has some good bits to it, but in the end the screenplay was poor.
 
Now that would be interesting; I have to admit that the idea of a novel depicting one nation written by a person who is not actually a native of that culture being then adapted by a Production of the appropriate nationality fascinates me (given the elegantly recursive quality of such an adaption).

For example AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is a novel about Englishmen (not to mention one lady of Farsi heritage and a Gallic Valet!) written by a Frenchman; one would be interested to see what a modern British production would make of such a Novel!

In fact I HAVE seen the version starring Mr Jackie Chan, which I found to be rather Fun; one must admit that I would still love to see another modern adaption which cleaved a little more closely to the original novel.

If only poor Detective Fix deserves better than to be depicted as an outright Villain; the Heavy of the Piece he may be, but an honest Policeman he should remain! (in fact it might be interesting to see an adaption which follows his perspective in the main, which offers a nice twist on an Old Favourite).
 
BBC Radio did an excellent radio play of the story in 1997 it was really good and faithful to the novel, they did tweak the ending so March finds the camps still left, rather than destroyed than in the book, and he does kill himself for certain and Charlie is confirmed as escaped to Switzerland, all of which is implied in the book rather than stated for certain.
 
I think there's an English domestic servant (showing neatly Britain's relationship with the Reich in the TL) mentioned at one point, and mention also of an SS school in Oxford where one of the Gestapo officers studied, but iirc that's it. Jost is definitely German;I think it's mentioned that his father was a Leibstandarte veteran in whose footsteps he was expected to follow, despite being in no way cut out for it.
 
Top