Ghost World is made into a movie.

June 25, 2001 9:51 AM

Ghost World is made into a movie. The comic on which it is based is by Daniel Clowes, an "alternative" comics author of some fame. I think I'm just a bit shocked that, of all comics, a movie would be made about ... well, anything by Daniel Clowes. Starring Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch from American Beauty. (Thanks to URB magazine (print) for the tip and Memepool for the Clowes interview pointer.)
posted by moz (9 comments total)

Quicktime trailer is here.
posted by techgnollogic at 9:58 AM on June 25, 2001

I am really looking forward to this one. Ghost World was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival and did quite well there. The Hollywood Reporter wrote a review. Warning: spoilers!
posted by MegoSteve at 10:08 AM on June 25, 2001

(another rotten celebrity website. )
posted by rebeccablood at 11:27 AM on June 25, 2001

becca: yah, it's funny how much thora's site was like the stock description you gave some threads back of celeb sites. i just thought i'd give the url 'cos when i did a search on her name it was one site that didn't say THORA BIRCH XXX NAKED BIG FLOPPY BOOBS, and i was like, dood, bonus.
posted by moz at 11:41 AM on June 25, 2001

I wonder how many people headed straight to Google after reading that.
posted by rodii at 11:59 AM on June 25, 2001

I saw the premiere of Ghost World at the Seattle International Film Festival. I will try to write about it here without any direct spoilers.
Ghost World is quite a fine and sensitive movie, well acted and directed, and it does convey very well the feelings of rootlessness and not-quite-angst of the comic. But at the same time, I found it a bit disappointing that it introduced much more of a linear plot than the comic has, and especially that it inflated a minor character from the book into a major character, very finely played by Steve Buscemi, but whose presence in the film ultimately leads to a sort of bittersweet feel-good tone that the comic didn't have. So, all the changes the film made in the comic were for the worse, in my opinion--though this is only to be expected when a narrative is brought onto the big screen.
posted by Rebis at 12:46 PM on June 25, 2001

Rebis is a man who knows his comic books.

I was wondering about that, Rebis. Very strange, and I hope the movie hasn't watered down the devestatingly truthful ending of the comic. (Also, some of "Art School Confidential" and whichever Clowes story it was that involved the blackface art seems to have made its way into the plot. Very odd. Not as odd as "Like a Velvet Glove", but odd.)
posted by snarkout at 2:23 PM on June 25, 2001

More about the movie from Clowes' publishers, Fantagraphics.
posted by poseur at 10:35 PM on June 25, 2001

For those that go to the film and enjoy it, stick around until after the credits are over for a short bonus. At the 6/16 screening in Seattle they unfortunately turned off the projector before the credits were done and so the crowd missed the extra.

It's a likable enough movie. I think it's amusing how some Ghost World comic fans seem to be upset that it doesn't exactly follow the comic. Questioners at the Q&A session seemed heartbroken that the film didn't include Ghost World graffiti stuff or more references to childen's records.

Scarlett Johansson is underused in the film (imagine Manny & Lo without Manny). The poster should probably have Birch and Buscemi on it.
posted by gluechunk at 11:54 PM on June 25, 2001