When Hollywood makes a movie out of a book, it’s often remarkably different from the original. Ever wonder what authors think about this?
James Marcus, a writer for the L.A. Times who also happens to be a musician, recently asked Philip Roth about the film adaptations of his work. Roth hated the most famous one, Portnoy’s Complaint, but raved (positively) about the film version of Goodbye, Columbus, which he called “a movie about shouting. Jewish shouting.”
Marcus happened to be recording the conversation, and created a dance track from Roth’s sampled voice. The track is a wild chorus of jungle drums, guttural moans, and ghostlike laughter. According to the book blog MobyLives.com, “If [‘Jewish Shouting’] catches on, Marcus has promised to make a 15-minute dance floor version.” Check it out, and let’s see if we can’t help it along.
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