Last week, the trailer for Cloud Atlas, an adaptation of the "unfilmable" David Mitchell novel, was released. It was very pretty, very long, and very crazy-looking.
For a work of fiction whose hydra-headed millennia-and-genre-hopping narrative begins at sea near 19th-century New Zealand and ends (um, spoiler alert, I guess, although the "end" in question happens around the halfway point) with a campfire story about man's final descent into barbarism in post-apocalyptic far-future Hawaii, David Mitchell's 2004 novel Cloud Atlas is actually pretty easy to follow, and even enjoy. It's a page-turner that happens to be engineered like a particle accelerator; there are actual stories (and actual cliffhangers) within its tricky nesting-doll structure, as well as prose that riffs on Daniel Defoe, Martin Amis, and Philip K. Dick, but also Pelican Brief–era John Grisham, as if Mitchell were writing for the spinner rack in an interdimensional airport.
A visit to Pawnee City Hall yesterday –- conveniently located in the palm tree filled San Fernando Valley –- provided many memorable moments, including Rob Lowe talking to a dog, Rashida Jones suffering through an epic post-Watch The Throne tour hangover and the incongruous sight of Chris Pratt nose-deep in a 500 page book. But while most of the details will be saved until for a longer Parks & Recreation story, coming next month, one bit of news did emerge: the Party Down movie may be closer than you think.
In between takes on a freezing Southern California morning -– really! –- Adam Scott revealed more details on the big-screen reincarnation of the culty catering comedy. “We have a treatment,” he said, “and if everyone’s schedules work out, we’ll shoot it over the summer.” This info comes on the heels of a previous relevation that the film had a production company lined up and was only waiting on the go-ahead from Starz. Still, two years from cancellation to cinematic rebirth is a timeline that should embarrass even the most patient of Bluth fans and give hope to anxious Greendale Human Beings. With visions of pink bowties dancing in our heads, we cautioned Scott about the one thing that could still derail the project: Michael Cera. He said there was no chance of that happening, before deadpanning. "At least I hope not.”
