We seem to be in a period of diminishing returns for big-screen adaptations of Young Adult fiction. The genre enjoyed early highlights such as the Twilight saga and the Hunger Games movies, but more recently has generated flops including the in-limbo Maze Runner series and The Fifth Wave.
Undeterred, Hollywood is persisting. The latest to get the treatment is Jay Asher's best-selling novel 13 Reasons Why, which has been adapted as a 13-episode TV series by Netflix.
Before rolling your eyes and writing it off as yet another production-line YA adaptation, it is worth noting that Tom McCarthy, the director of Oscar-winning movie Spotlight and TV hit The Wire, is behind the camera for the first two episodes, which perhaps gives it a better-than-average chance of bucking the recent trend of failure in the genre. In addition, teen idol Selena Gomez – once cast in the lead role of an aborted movie adaptation – is an executive producer.
“It’s funny, I know exactly what you mean about YA adaptations, and normally I might agree with you,” says Dylan Minette, who plays the male lead, Clay Jensen.
“But on paper, I could just see it was going to do great things. When I saw Netflix were doing it, then the fact that Tom McCarthy was directing it, [screenwriter and co-showrunner] Brian Yorkey is a Pulitzer Prizewinner, Selina Gomez producing, I was just like ‘OK – the people making this are not going to make something bad’.
“The pedigree that they’re hiring just showed that this was going to be of a higher standing than some of the other adaptations right now, and I stand by that, now we’ve made it.”
The show tells the story of high-school student Clay, who receives a mysterious box containing a tape recording made by his former classmate and crush Hannah Baker, played by newcomer Katherine Langford, who has recently taken her own life.
Led by cryptic clues on the tape, Clay sets off on a journey to attempt to solve the mystery of Hannah’s death.
The series marks the screen debut of Langford. The young Australian actress made the trip to the United States to shoot the series, and admits it wasn’t all plain sailing.
“It was ridiculous, but in such a great way,” says Langford. “I had my first screen-acting class in March 2015 and I was, like, 18, turning 19, so it’s a risk trying to get into acting when you’re that ‘old’, in inverted commas.
“I’d just come back from a month in London and the States, where I’d been testing for some roles that I gave up drama school for, that I didn’t end up getting. So I was back home in Australia with no job, no drama school, wondering what I was going to do, and my manager just sent the audition for this through. Next thing I know, I’m testing on Skype with Tom McCarthy – and two days later, I got it.”
Even in pre-President Trump days of 2015, an aspiring foreign actress who had just landed a role in a major new show had to jump through a few hoops before being allowed into the US to work.
“Then it was like – OK, you’ve got 10 days to get your work visa – it usually takes eight to 10 weeks,” Langford says.
“But I’d never done anything before. Luckily, the stars aligned. The projects I’d previously tested for and not got, the directors and writers that I’d worked with on those projects wrote me letters of recommendation.
“If I hadn’t had those failed auditions, I probably wouldn’t have ever been able to do this job. I guess life’s funny like that sometimes.”
• All episodes of 13 Reasons Why are available from March 31 on Netflix
cnewbould@thenational.ae
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
England squads for Test and T20 series against New Zealand
Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes
T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince
MADAME%20WEB
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
'Tell the Machine Goodnight' by Katie Williams
Penguin Randomhouse
HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 680Nm
Price: Dh465,071
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 285bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: TBA
On sale: Q2, 2020
Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
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The%20specs
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Hamilton’s 2017
Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now