What a great script this is.
Especially for a one off which turns out to be the case here. Considering how good it is and how well received it was, I am left to wonder why there weren't more...
Obviously he is a great actor and this is one of his best roles, but The Horse's Mouth is also one of the best examples I've seen of a movie with a lead actor who also wrote the screenplay.
.
I imagine because this script took great chunks of dialogue from Joyce Carey's book, which is superb. Guiness not only preserved the words but the feeling, except he softened the ending, the reason for which I can only think might be box office.
It's not often a book lends itself to such cinematic translation so perfectlyt, but undoubtedly, thanks to Guiness' faithful rendering, which required much work, it was clearly a labour of love, not an unmitigated joy. As a once in a lifetime project, Guiness clearly devoted himself, but in his autobiography, (I forget which volume), he admits the kind of work was not in his nature, as he was more a creator with himself as the canvas than a craftsman with words of others.
I imagine because this script took great chunks of dialogue from Joyce Carey's book, which is superb. Guiness not only preserved the words but the feeling, except he softened the ending, the reason for which I can only think might be box office.
It's not often a book lends itself to such cinematic translation so perfectly, but undoubtedly, thanks to Guiness' faithful rendering, which required much work, it was clearly a labour of love, not an unmitigated joy. As a once in a lifetime project, Guiness clearly devoted himself, but in his autobiography, (I forget which volume), he admits the kind of work was not in his nature, as he was more a creator with himself as the canvas than a craftsman with words of others.