Disney Gets Rights To Anne Frank Story, Iconic Scribe David Mamet To Write
We think this is a little dark for an animated classic, so hopefully the Mouse steers clear of it.
Disney has recently acquired film rights to The Diary of Anne Frank. The new version is slated to be written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet. David, who is already writing the script, will be looking at the original diary along with the Broadway play in order to bring "his own original take on the material that could re-frame the story as a young girl’s rite of passage."
So, we guess they won't be discussing the part where she dies in an internment camp?
We think an exceptional rendition of Anne Frank's story is definitely needed, we're just not sure Disney is the one to handle it.
What do U think?
[Image via AP Images.]
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oh lord.. i hope they wont hire one of these disney airheads to play the part. we care much of Anne here in holland, they better not screw this up..
That's sweet but….we already have SOO many movies based on WW2 & the Holocaust. Can't we just not make any for a while?
i think is a sad story for kids…
but they should know what happened to her… and learn from the past!
Disney shouldn't do it.
No Way! That is a horror no child should see. There are plenty of Anne Franks movies out there. This is going too far!
WOW….. Could be interesting
You're right Perez….you shouldn't be able to "reframe" a true story situated in one of the darkest periods of human existence. Disney should back out.
I think you should shut the fuck up - I pretty sure Disney knows what their doing.. Cmon! So lame dude.
i agree wit pixiecullen..
I read the book and saw a couple of movies. What they went through was pure HELL! No way should children be expose to that.
i can't wait to watch this!
I think Disney are the greatest film makers on the planet and will do a beautiful and sensitive job…
I agree.. this isn't a kid's movie at all.
im jewish and very concerned
I think it's a great idea!!!! Disney will find away to tell the very important part of history to children and adults without it being dark and scary. I think it may become one of their great classics.
Disney always ruins everything.
Films like , Hannah Montana : The Move.
Music like, Hannah Montana : Best of Both Worlds
etc.
Have all fucked America up!
Please do us all a favor and get back to drawing talking animals on boats and freezing dead peoples bodies.
i think disne yis great for this movie because ebveryone including kids shpuld see what she went through and why it must never happen again sccrew what you think perez 75% of the time your always wrong anyways
I agree with Perez. I hope they don't F it up! At least it is a start though, for the young Jewish girls of America!
i definetly do not think that disney should make this movie its a very serious topic like it MIGHT be possible as a pixar flick but even then it would be a very dark topic to handle and a story like this should not be an animated childrens flick because of the tragedy in the end.. oh well disney is known for butchering original classics into a more comedic approach lets see how it turns out
that's pretty messed up
its about time x such an amazing diary x
i do not know what to think of this..
Loved the book. Don't screw it up
This sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. There is no part of Anne Frank's story that can possibly be portrayed in any sort of light hearted manner. The Disney name is not associated with dark stories so I can't imagine what they hope to do with Anne's sad, sad story. I hope this gets stopped before it even gets started because this is a really bad idea.
why can't Disney handle it??? alot of their original stories had sad aspects to it. Bambi-his mother was shot. Old yeller dies. yes, animals, but sad. They do not have to make it a dark, dark story in the beginning, but a story of strength. did you even read it Mario???? the diary ends before the interrmint. she was not able to bring it with her. What happens to her is in an afternote. So, yes, it is along Disney's line, but instead of their normal animal story, they are now using the story of a brave jewish family in WWII
I'm dutch and this makes me sick to my stomach. Let's just nuke all of humanity and be done with this slow death. Thanks.
Also, it would be ironic if disney made this…wasn't walt disney a facsist?
Broadway play??? Ah no.
They NEED Emmy Rossum to play her!
bad idea!
Disney is totally wrong, the BBC produced an amazing drama/movie last year. The same people who produced that should be involved. The story needs to be real and not Americanised, by thick dumb asses.
P.S. She dies of disease in the Interment camp….She didn't die from getting gassed. Glad Disney might clear that speculation up for retards who don't know anything.
Enough has been done in her memory. Let her rest in peace.
Why not? Bambi and Fantasia were two of Disney's biggest hits and they had dark themes in them. I just hope that Disney won't "Disney-fy" the story. David Mamet is an excellent writer and has a dark, sophisticated edge to his writing so I think it would be riveting. The main concern is the wrilting and also casting the best actress to play the role of Anne. Dakota Fanning maybe?
It was a concentration camp, not an internment camp. Internment camps were horrible in their own right, but I think its important to clarify.
Disney is sooo stupid!!!!!! First, why would any little kid want to watch something so sad???? And although i think they should make a GOOD movie( there's about a million anne frank movies but they suck, i saw them in school) disney is not the people to be making it. All disney will do is sugercoat the holocaust/ WW2. And the holocaust/WW2 isn't something you should or should be sugercoated. It's a very, very grime, sad subject that needs to be told what it was. So kids know and understand how horrible it was. Knowing the idiots at disney, miley cyrus will probably play anne frank.
just dont ruin it! i think it is important for kids to learn stuff like this. there was this bbc version a few years back and the actress was IDENTICAL to anne, and did an amazing job. just dont cast slutty cyrus as margo or anything…….
Re: jennyann726 – Yeah, Auschwitz. But she died of Typhus not from gassing. She was sent to get gassed but she died before it could happen.
if lovato, cyrus, gomez or any of those wannabe's get to get to this movie i would be really mad!
Re: JoulesUK – i agree. The BBC drama was very well done.
My initial reaction to this was "Oh my gosh, no! They'll ruin it!"
But then, in hindsight, I think this could be really good. What better company to make a film on the Holocaust FOR CHILDREN than Disney?
The Holocaust is something that children DO need to be educated in, purely for the fact it was such a significant period in History.
If we can educate children of the Holocaust with a format that will reach out to them, then why not?
I think this is a good way for the victims and survivors of the Holocaust to be remembered, IF Disney do a good job. This could be a masterpiece or a complete disaster. With a little knowledge of this tragedy, it would be an excellent way to prevent anything of it's nature in the future.
Go for it, Disney!
On the website "The Straight Dope" April, 2005, there is an article about Disney's views. One of Disney's animators claimed Disney "had a strong interest in, if not outright sympathy for, the Bund" and Disney was seen "on more than one occasion ….going to meetings all the time." He Admired Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's approved filmmaker, but could not hire her as it "would damage his reputation." There was an antisemitic feeling in the Disney studio, with Jewish people the butt of gags as shown in shorts that were made at the time. So would Walt Disney studio be the appropriate venue, I don't think so. Let Anne's memory rest in peace, and that she is remembered as a symbol for bravery against the worst evil.
I really don't think Disney should do it. Anne Frank's story is to violent. I know, in fourth grade I did a report on her. It's to violent for these kind of people. I think that if Disney does it, it will be a bust. They really shouldn't. If someone should do it… make sure they are actually fit for the job.
[re=4183850]Re: Brittany
Re: PixieCullen – I agree
I love Anne Frank… not like girlfriend way ;DD
Re: bip25 – but many adaptations have stopped at where the diary stopped, before they get found out. maybe not so conicidentally my favourite adaptation was one where it went on right up until her death because it was more heartbreaking and made me an emotional wreck for like a day afterwards. i think that was the 2001 version, the 2009 bbc one stopped as they were leaving for the camp so wasnt as upsetting as you dont see the family seperated or any of them die. if disney do it i have no doubt they will stop when the families are discovered
are they going to make anne frank sing? cause disney's the pimp of bad signers now.
I think someone with a dark view should make it. It was a dark time so it would only make sense. Someone like Rob Zombie maybe? I mean not him of corse but how he has a darker view on things.
Dakota Fanning could win an Oscar for this role. She is a good actress and is well known enough. Hope she gets this role.
Once more, Perez disappoints by not providing critical details: First, is this going to be an animated, or live-action telling of the story? Second, is this going to be produced by Disney Pictures itself, or by one of its more adult divisions (such as Touchstone Pictures)? Beyond that, the producer (Andrew Braunsberg) has a good record from years ago (including an all-time classic, "Being There".
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Brendolynne, you're right in that it's a dark story. But that's why it deserves to be told. Eight years ago, I stood on the grounds of Bergen-Belson, the German concentration camp where Ms. Frank died just before the camp was liberated by US and British troops. It was maybe the most sobering day of my life, walking amongst mass graves with the words "Here Lie 5000 Dead" engraved on te front. But as I left, I realized that bearing witness to the unspeakable is one of the most important things that we can ever do. And although it is not material for small children, older kids could, and should, be told this remarkable story.
I wish the founding fathers didn't destroy Indigenous American history……they could've done the SAME movie without Nazis and just put in Christians instead
They're not going to release it under the Disney name, jerk off. They own Dimension, Miramax, Hollywood Pictures, etc., so they would release it under one of those company names. Why are you so fucking dumb, Mario?
Lets just hope they get good actors to play the parts. Not Disney tweens.
The Story Of Anne Frank needs to be told, just not by Disney. They'll probably turn it into a musical or something..
I am NOT looking foward to the "Disneyfication" of such an important story. First, the story of Anne Frank is sad and the circumstances were ugly. It would be an insult to make light of it and turn it into a piece of Disney fluff, complete with songs and choreographed dancing, etc. Second, Anne did not live happily ever after in a magical castle surrounded by singing animals. She died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. How are Disney going to explain such tragic circumstances to small kids? Sorry, but this is one story Disney shouldn't touch. Children will be too traumatized, and adults won't stand for the truth distortion required to make this into a kid's film.
Re: Siouxsie Michele Lynn – It was actually the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but yeah, she died from Typhus
Re: Wilisfitinyamouth –
Thank Jebus someone has a brain here.
i don't think disney can hanlde stories without a happy ending. this is a disaster waiting to happen. i also think this needs to be told in dutch like she wrote it.
wait is it going to be a cartoon??
It could be good, but if they have Miley or Vanessa playing Anne Frank I am going to kill someone.
Oh god, they're going to ruin it. They're going to make it look like 'everything was okay but they were suffering' and then they're only going to show you like a one minute after-word thing about how Anne Frank died. Jesus, if your going to do something do it right, give it to someone who could like, golly gosh, make a GOOD movie out of it.
As a teenaged Jewish girl myself, I think this is a good opportunity to teach people about Anne Frank and her story. If you can take a book like "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" into a movie, I'm sure you can do the same with Anne Frank. That being said…
This is different, because it's a true story. Anne was a real girl, which is why it isn't appropriate for people to comment and say "I loved the book!" This isn't a book to be loved. It's a book to be read and appreciated, but not loved. Also, I'm hoping this is an opportunity for a young Jewish actress to make her mark in Hollywood.
Disney did do an animated version of Anastasia, the story of the Romanov daughter whose family was lined up and executed (little children and all), but some people claim she survived somehow. I wouldn't put it past them. But If Demi Lovato or Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus are announced to play the part, I will go nuts.
Re: bip25 – Tragedy at the end? Have you read the book? The entire thing is a tragedy.
Re: Wilisfitinyamouth – good point. technically there have been 'disney' horror films
i really hope they do a good job cuz Disney movies have been garbage these last few years.
btw, mirimax, the disney sub-division, did an extremely good version of the boy in the striped pyjamas, also a holocaust film, and it was brilliant, as good as the book
just because it's disney doesn't mean it has to be animated or exclusively for 5 year olds.
Re: jennyann726 –
O_O you're right! I read she was transferred to Auschwitz at first but then the group had to be seperated in which she was taken to Bergen-Belson. My bad.
Melissa Gilbert starred in a made for tv movie in the 80's. It was so pathetic. Disney couldn't do any worse. Melissa Gilbert looked nothing like the wan Anne Frank.
Leave it to Disney to destory a real story by making it look fake. Let Pixar handle it.
i so wish walt disney was still alive. that anti-semetic genius. ( i think i misspelled that lol)
This is so very wrong for disney. It's almost disturbing to me. What are they thinking?!
I don't love this idea. The story is meaningful, poignant and should remain in its original state. I have a feeling Disney's going to eff with it and turn it into something completely different. And they will probably use it as a Miley Cyrus vehicle. Where's a writers strike when you need one?
www.nakednotions.com
Re: PixieCullen – Totally agree.
Re: Wilisfitinyamouth – huh, i never knew that..
im sorry but why disney?
i actually am interested in this story..
and.. i hope disney will make this good.
I will blow something up if they pick MIley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, etc. for the part!
This is something only a REAL actress could handle.
Really? Disney? I'm not sure what to think about that yet. Let's wait for more details.
The story of Anne Frank is read by children in Elementary school and is a perfect reference material for teaching about the Holocaust. The story is not graphic,especially when compared to other literature written about this time. Disney is the perfect fit to finally transform this memoir of a young girl to a major motion picture. Only a powerhouse such as Disney will maintain the integrity and truth of the short life of Anne Frank. The novel ends with her family being taken from the attic. I am positive Disney will stay true to history. This will not be filled with horrorific images like the videos of the camps being liberated. Having this movie made by one of the largest porduction companies ever, is the epitomy of Anne Franks dreams, and will bring her goals and last wishes to life. However, Disney needs to look outside of its current stars to play the roles of the Frank family.
Come on everyone. Disney isn't just the quote-unquote "Disney", i.e. Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers. Disney is also ABC, Buena Vista, Touchstone, Miramax, hell even ESPN is under the Disney umbrella. There have been plenty of good non-'Disney' films out of some of those.
Re: Siouxsie Michele Lynn – she was not sent to get gassed. She died only a few weeks before the camps were liberated. She survived the random selections and died of disease, along with her sister. Her father Otto Frank found this out upon his release. He was the only one in her immediate family who survived. Her diary was retutned to him by Miep who was one of the people who helped hide the Frank family. He ripped out half of the pages of her diary before having it published years later. He did not want the world to read all of her innermost thoughts, such as angry feelings towards her family or hormonal feelings of being a teenage girl. Years later another version was published, in which he allowed all the pages to be printed. Miep also wrote a book detailing the hiding of the Frank and van….famiies from her perspective.
Re: Siouxsie Michele Lynn – Anne Frank did not spend her last days in Auschwitz. It was BergenBelsen. While Auschwitz is the most famous, there were hundreds of camps throughout Poland. Another mis conception is that the concentration camps were mostly in Germany. The worst ones were in Poland.
Walt Disney always seemed to be a bit of a racist to me so Disney doing this movie is weird. They should stick to fictional stories.
Re: nshino –
AS i said…..I know she didn't get send to get gassed. I know most of the history and MISTAKENLY said Auschwitz.
Re: nshino –
Yeah, most of them were in Hungary, Poland and Germany. There are small not so well known internments/concentration camps. I went to the Museum of Tolerance here in LA and I learned about the history as well as taking a class that concentrated on WW2. Since i have a grandfather that was working inside Auschwitz I got an idea of how bad it was, Anything else?
Re: nshino – It's a pleasure to read such educated and historically accurate posts in these comments (proves my earlier point about the comments section being the most compelling part of this blog).
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Of course the early camps were all in Germany proper (Dachau, Sachenhausen, Buchenwald, etc). and housed political prisoners and other enemies of the Reich.
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Too many people don't understand that many German Jews read the writing on the wall (especially after the passage of the Nürnberg Laws), and emigrated. By the time the death camps were open and performing their nefarious tasks, there were very few Jews left in Germany. Of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, about 3.2 million were from Poland.
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Bergen-Belsen was originally built for Russian prisoners of war, and later was utilized to handle the "overflow" from other sites. Ms. Frank was transferred out of Auschwitz because she was still useful as a worker, while the Nazis, knowing the war was going against them, wanted the facilities at Auschwitz-Birkenau to be used 100% for killing.
I bet ol' Walt is spinning in his grave right about now.
lemme guess…selena gomez as anne? ridiculousssss
Re: jenn96 –
That was Warner Brothers, moron. Good try.
I'm really not sure..
I mean, in the past, Disney has done wonderfully making movies from stories that weren't very fun and kid-friendly.
For example, The Hunchback of Notre Dame…
But these days people might freak out about a movie thats edgy like that..
So Disney should be careful what they make into a movie.
SHE DOESNT DIE IN A CAMP IDIOT! AND ITS A CONCENTRATION CAMP! GEEZE!
if it gets kids interested in reading her diary i'm for it. i just hope disney finds the right people to create a movie that has substance and meaning.
but i would love for my cousins to know the history.
I agree with what PixieCullen said….this movie could be very good and very educational, but PLEASE do not make Miley Anne Frank. Yes, I agree with many posters that this is a emotional book, but as a teacher I could tell you children are learning about the Holocaust (well the basics anyways, genocide and what not) as young as 3rd and 4th grade. Check out the book "Terrible Things" by Eve Bunting and you will see.
I don't think there should be an animated anne frank story made.
I do think there could be made a beautiful and important movie out of this story. But i'm hesitant about this movie. Perhaps there's been enough movies made about this topic, and maybe this story should remain in book only.. Some stories are more powerful because you have to use your own imagination.
Re: Teach123ABC –
You're fuckin kidding right? I was learning about BS when in 3rd grade. In 4th grade, i was learning about the Gold Rush :l
Please, keep the kids as innocent as possible. Then dump our worlds shitty history on them when they won't go up to mommy and ask questions.
I have worked on a David Mamet movie. He is excellent. I think he needs to use a light touch on this one though. It is not his typical stuff, imo.
Why is everyone assuming it's going to be an animated film? Did everyone forget that Disney owns MANY other film companies? And that they make films other than animated ones?
Umm, HELLO. Disney is the studio behind the new "Prince of Persia" film.
God, sometimes I really worry about humanity.
Re: Siouxsie Michele Bale –
Sadly, they are….I am with kindergartners now so I don't have to worry about that haha (thank you Lord!!!!).
Re: Bloem-jo – Of course, a movie called "The Diary of Anne Frank" was made in 1959 - it won three Oscars and had eight additional nominations.
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Mamet will be basing his script on the play written by Goodrich and Hackett - they also wrote the screenplay for the 1959 movie.