The Silver Screen Society chose Big Fish as their December project, asking designers to come up with concept art rather than traditional one-sheets. [The results](http://silverscreensociety.com/#2397435/Big-Fish) are pretty great.
[Brad Woodward’s](http://www.bradwoodarddesign.com/) illustration does a particularly nice job tracking Edward’s journey in the movie, including two visits to Spectre:
Thanks to Matt Salisbury for the link.
As [announced](http://www.playbill.com/news/article/151625-Producers-Reel-in-a-Whopper-for-Broadways-Big-Fish-Musical-Susan-Stroman) [today](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/susan-stroman-signs-on-to-direct-stage-musical-of-tim-burtons-big-fish/), we’re doing Big Fish as a Broadway musical, aiming for Spring 2012.
Susan Stroman is directing and choreographing. Andrew Lippa wrote music and lyrics. I wrote the book. Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen are producing.
It’s based on Daniel Wallace’s novel and my script for the 2003 film.
This isn’t one of those announcements where some people had lunch and said, “Hey, maybe let’s try to do a show.” It’s written. Two acts. Amazing songs. We’ve read it and sung it forty times for lots of different people.
Studious readers of the blog and my Twitter feed may have noticed I’ve been in New York City a lot. This is why.
I’ve had to pass on writing and directing jobs because I’m unavailable — but couldn’t explain why. This is why.
I’ve learned how to sing passably. This is why.
I’ll have much more to write about the show in the weeks and months (and hopefully years) ahead. Broadway is a completely different world than Hollywood, a parallel universe in which many things are better for writers — but also more complicated.
All the hard work getting the show to this point will no doubt be eclipsed by the hard work getting it to the stage. I know I’m lucky to be working with veterans.
I’ve approached this whole experience — a six-year journey — as a fascinated newcomer. I’m excited to share what I’m learning.
Matthew McGrory, who played Karl the Giant in Big Fish, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 32.
While his character in the film was about eleven feet tall, in real life, Matthew was “only” a bit over seven feet. While he was big, you didn’t really sense he was a giant until you shook his hand. Then you felt like a child trying to greet an adult.
I got to know Matthew a bit while we were filming in Alabama. He was quiet but funny, muttering asides in that incredibly deep voice that sounded computer-generated. He travelled everywhere with his own chair — he was too big to fit in regular ones — but in every other way was a normal member of a sizable cast.
Meeting Matthew, you definitely got the sense that being his size was a strain on his health, and in fact, his death is listed as natural causes. My condolences to his family and many friends.
[Boxofficeprophets](http://boxofficeprophets.com) has a well-considered article by Kim Hollis that looks at the differences between Daniel Wallace’s book and the movie version of Big Fish:
John August’s screenplay does take great liberties with the story detailed in the novel. Much is added or embellished, which is almost necessary given the brevity of the book. None of the expansion feels forced or off, though. It’s perfectly in keeping with the story of a man whose life was truly monumental.
You can read the rest [here](http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=8537).
Thanks to [Daniel](http://danielwallace.org) for the forward.