The novel was only published a week or so ago, but Kazuo Ishiguro's long-awaited The Buried Giant is already making its first, tentative steps to the screen. Mentioned as an aside towards the end of a Guardian article about the genre controversy the book is currently spinning is the not-insignificant news that heavyweight producer Scott Rudin has picked up the option for an adaptation.
Ishiguro's first published work in a decade takes place in a mythologised fifth-century Britain, in which an old couple decide to undertake a journey to find the son they have not seen for several years. Hindering their seemingly simple quest, however, is a mysterious mist enveloping the land, causing amnesia in all its inhabitants. The trolls, ogres, dragons and giants are also something of a problem.
The author says the setting is "a neutral environment to explore the idea of collective memory and how societies heal after atrocities by forgetting the past". Fantasy doyenne Ursula Le Guin has taken umbridge at Ishiguro's fears that the book's genre trappings would alienate his intended audience. Is it fantasy? Is it magic realism? Does it matter?
Ishiguro's last novel was Never Let Me Go (itself employing some sci-fi elements, although the author prefers 'speculative fiction'), filmed by Mark Romanek in 2010. The author's Booker Prize-winning The Remains Of The Day was adapted by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant in 1993. Ishiguro also wrote the original screenplay for Merchant Ivory's The White Countess in 2005.
Scott Rudin's prolific producing credits include multiple films with the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach and David Fincher, among many others. His most recently released credit was on Alex Garland's Ex Machina, and his Steve Jobs biopic is currently in production with Danny Boyle directing. No details of his plans for The Buried Giant are yet 'out there' beyond his aquiring the option.
The Buried Giant is published in the UK by Faber & Faber.