While Jeff Bridges is currently a much loved and respected figure in Hollywood, it’s easy to forget that only a few years ago he was seen as a bit of a hasbeen, only good for supporting roles and smaller, cult movies. Tinsel Town may have liked The Dude, but commercially he had little weight. However that’s changed in recent years, and so he’s now trying to get a project off the ground he failed to ignite for nearly a decade, but which he now has a better shot at getting made.
In the late 90s, he started trying to adapt Lois Lowry’s young adult novel The Giver for the big screen, but despite several years of effort, he had to admit defeat in 2007 when the rights were sold to Warner. However, Variety reports that now the screen rights have become available again, and so Bridges and producing partner Nikki Silver have stepped in once more, and set Vadim Perelmen to handle the script (he has attached during Bridges’ last attempt as well).
The Giver is set in a utopian society where all memory of human history have been erased. A young boy is assigned to be The Giver of his community, a task which requires him to bear all of his community’s past experiences and emotions, in case a time comes when they will be of use. The 12-year-old boy is taken under the wing of the town’s current, elderly Giver, but he begins to question this new lifestyle.
It just shows how much time can change a project, as Bridges says, “I originally thought of the role of The Giver as a vehicle for my father, the late Lloyd Bridges, however, at 61 years old I feel the time is right for me to do it.”
It’s quite impressive to be so dedicated to a project you’re with it so long you end up taking on a part you originally planned for your own father! Let’s hope Jeff gets it off the ground this time.