Odds of Hollywood finally making a 'Catcher in the Rye' movie: Less than zero

Hollywood never had a chance to make a movie out of J.D. Salinger's delightful "The Catcher in the Rye," though it wasn't for lack of trying. Over the years, everyone gave it a shot -- Sam Goldwyn, Billy Wilder, even Steven Spielberg. Let's face it. It ain't gonna happen now, even though Entertainment Weekly has a post up floating the slightly preposterous theory that things could change with Salinger's death, since the reclusive author once wrote a letter to a fan in 1957 saying that he might leave the movie rights to his wife and daughter as a way of helping them make ends meet.

Of course, by the time Salinger died, he'd long ago separated from his wife, while his daughter had written a nasty memoir about dear old dad, making it highly unlikely that any movie rights would have remained in their possession.

Anyway, it's hard to imagine that if Salinger had seen any youth-culture movies over the past 20 years that he would've felt any more optimistic about a good Hollywood outcome for his beloved masterpiece. In fact, it's hard to imagine a modern-day filmmaker (OK, excepting Wes Anderson, who acts like he for all intents and  purposes grew up in a Salinger story) who has the right sensibility for capturing the distinctively disaffected tone of "Catcher in the Rye."

But Salinger's death reminded me of Hollywood's cheekiest attempt to win over the old master. Way, way back in 1982, Larry Mark -- now a successful film producer who was co-producer of last year's Oscars -- was a brash young production executive at Paramount Pictures. The studio wanted to do a film in a prep school setting, so Mark, who'd gone to Hotchkiss, was given the job of overseeing the project. As he told me last year during Oscar season, after reading several lackluster scripts, Mark realized that if the studio were going to all that trouble to make a prep school movie, why not go after the holy grail of preppy literary properties.  

Mark had just seen a photo of Salinger snapped outside his local post office, so Mark identified what he believed to be the exact location and sent Salinger a pitch letter. There's no evidence that Salinger ever read it -- he certainly didn't reply -- but it's a classic of its kind. On official Paramount stationery, Mark tells Salinger that the studio has been trying to develop a prep school project, saying: "We have managed to come up with several scripts -- all of them awful. You see, there's no way to do such a project -- unless it happens to be 'Catcher in the Rye.' "

Mark acknowledges Salinger's concerns about being raped and pillaged by Hollywood, shrewdly adding that "I share many of these feelings." So he offers Salinger the ability to oversee each step of the way from novel to film, concluding with this wonderful flourish: "Please give a kid a break -- and advise me how to go about changing your mind." I still have a copy of the letter on my wall, as a reminder of what deep roots chutzpah has in the showbiz family tree. I often fantasized that Salinger kept his copy as well, as a reminder that some books are best left on the shelf, safely nestled in our individual imaginations, free from any Hollywood interpretation. 

Comments

[kj]

Looking forward to reading Patrick Goldstein's annual "Studio Report Card" article for 2009. Can readers anticipate it anytime soon?

[Dan Kim]

Well I guess we only have to wait 70 more years now for the book to fall out of copyright and into the public domain.

[mike ryan]

Iggby goes down was pretty much the closest we'll ever get to seeing Catcher on the silver screen.

[mike ryan]

Iggby Goes Down is pretty much the closest thing we have to Catcher being portrayed on the screen.

[Drew]

Can't you just see Taylor Lautner (or whoever the "it" boy du jour may be) as Holden Caulfield?

[LAT Reader]

Yes, what a film visionary Larry Mark is! Without him, the world would have been bereft of such immortal classics as THE LAST HOLIDAY, GLITTER and CUTTHROAT ISLAND. Oh wait! I forgot that he also produced BICENTENNIAL MAN, well-known as this generation's CITIZEN KANE.

Patrick - you're so concerned with ingratiating yourself to another overpaid, over-the-hill producer that you actually prove Salinger's point. Why would a person like Larry Mark know what to do with something that a true, legendary artist produced?

[emily]

please do NOT make a movie version of this! the narrative style of this book is what makes it so great and distinctive. you just could not include all of that in a voiceover, and if you cut it out, the heart of the novel is lost! i love this book, and hope hollywood phonies never ruin it. ;)

[Piano Chords]

I remember when I was excited about the idea of more Star Wars movies. I think some things are better left a mystery. I'd hate to have a terrible Hollywood adaptation out there. JD Salinger and "The Catcher in the Rye" are enduring legends because they present a tantalizing question mark. Unfortunately, the mythical mind of George Lucas and his "game changer" no longer entice us with "what if".

[Kendra]

It is so depressing how they aren't going to make a movie out of this book.... it is the best book i have ever read and will probably always be. J.D Salinger will be missed.

[Becky]

To be honest, I don't think it would be such a good thing if Catcher in the Rye was made into a movie anyways.

After all, Holden HATED the movies, so to stay true to the book why should they take it to the big screen?