New Featurette for Jeff Bridges' THE GIVER
There is a new featurette for The Giver, and it has me so relieved. The trailer came out a few weeks ago (you can watch it here), and I was a little nervous. First of all, it was all in color. Second, it really played up the action-y elements. I expected that, but there was so much of it in the trailer that I worried they had totally missed the tone of the book. I guess I should have had more faith in Jeff Bridges.
The new featurette is black and white, except for an apple that bursts into color and shatters… something. I don’t know, it’s symbolic, you guys. But the red apple was a nice touch. The Giver is set in a ”colorless dystopian society that enforces Sameness and fears freedom. All memory of human history has been erased, emotion does not exist, and citizens' professions are chosen for them." The main character, Jonas, can “see beyond” the Sameness, and the first time he does, he sees the color in an apple. Another nice touch is putting Lois Lowry, the author of the book, front and center talking about the questions the book raises. I’m wondering if I’m not the only fan of the book who found the first trailer off-putting. This featurette seems designed to soothe our fears.
It worked for me. I am totally on board now. I’ve gotten a glimpse of the nuance that was missing from the trailer, and let’s be real, Bridges was born to play the Giver. The rest of the casting seems solid. I can even get behind Taylor Swift as Rosemary. Also, I’ve noticed that the footage in the trailer seems to come from later in the film, and most of the footage here seems to come from early in the story. It looks like we’ll transition into a colorful world along with the Jonas.
The Giver is directed by Phillip Noyce and also stars Brenton Thwaites, Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes, Meryl Streep, Cameron Monaghan, and Odeya Rush. It hits U.S. theaters on August 15.