The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces: How Ignatius J. Reilly Defeated Hollywood

by Stephan Eicke

Overview

For more than 40 years, dozens of film directors, writers and producers tried and failed to adapt John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. Along the way lawsuits were filed, filming locations destroyed, friendships shattered, reputations trashed, production companies bankrupted. Drawing on exclusive interviews, internal documents and private correspondence, this book tells the remarkable story of the non-making of A Confederacy of Dunces as a breathless and absurdist thriller. Celebrity appearances include John Belushi, Steven Soderbergh, Stephen Fry, Robin Williams, Warren Beatty and Harvey Weinstein, among others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476689319
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	12/16/2022
Pages:	229
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.46(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephan Eicke was editor-in-chief of the only European film music magazine, Cinema Musica. He co-founded the CD label Caldera Records, and has taught classes in Germany, the Netherlands, Kenya, Ghana, and Belgium. He lives in Germany.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

The Consolation of a Preface 1

A Note About the Text 5

Part I Ken and Thelma and Ignatius 7

1 A Posthumous Life 8

2 Knocking on Thelma's Door 17

3 Queen Mother Is Angry 23

Part II The Film That Never Was 29

4 The Story of Scott's Life aka Patient Zero 30

5 Probably, Maybe Definitely 36

6 Slices of Doom 41

7 The Two Texans 49

8 Manufacturing Dissent 57

9 A Fan Gets Involved 65

10 Can You Pass the Rorschach Test? 74

11 John Candy Can Only Have Half an Olive 79

12 Doctors Differ, Patients Die 86

13 Fare Thee Well 93

14 The Bad News Is There Is No Good News 100

15 A New Broom Sweeps Clean 106

16 Back to Base 110

17 Yours, Mine, Ours 116

18 Don't Lose the Plot 123

19 Grand Exit. Curtain. 130

20 The Place Where Dreams Go to Die 136

21 Many Paths Lead to New Orleans 141

22 A Cautionary Tale 147

23 Damaged Goods 154

24 Stunned, Still 159

25 It's Not Dead, It Just Smells Funny 165

Part III Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think 171

26 Irreverent and Quirky and Fascinating 172

27 Bits and Pieces 183

Summary 191

List of Writers, Directors, and Actors Considered 195

Chapter Notes 197

Bibliography 213

Index 215