Movie adaptations of books have always irked me. Because the makers never get it right! And it is quite difficult also to exactly replicate the author’s words into pictures on the big screen and I feel the essence of the book gets lost in this translation. This dislike for book-to-movie adaptations has stemmed from a personal experience and it all began when Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight was adapted for the silver screen. *sigh* That is a story for a different time. Well, one of my favourite books, A Man Called Ove which is penned by the Swedish writer, Fredrik Backman, has also been adapted into a movie. The protagonist’s name has been changed in the movie and the title has been renamed to A Man Called Otto.
When I heard this news, I was scared as hell to know who would be cast as Otto and will that actor be able to do justice to the beautiful character written by Backman. But when I saw that Tom Hanks is playing Otto’s character, I heaved a sigh of relief. The movie is helmed by Marc Forster. Other cast members of the movie include Mariana Trevino, Rachel Keller, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Cameron Britton. The trailer of A Man Called Otto has been released, and here’s all about it!
Watching the two-minute-39-second clip was like skimming through the book for me. Oh, how all the scenes, characters and dialogues just came back to me, and I was squealing with happiness! I saw the world through Otto’s eyes in the trailer and it was like that Leonardo Dicaprio meme for me where I aggressively pointed at each scene that was picked as it is from the book!
From his entry scene and how he screams at the truck driver who gets her vehicle stuck in his house’s lane to his dislike slowly turning into longing for his very noisy neighbouring family, Otto’s personality is quite relatable! For those who have not read the book, he might come across as a very rude, arrogant and mean old man but on the inside, he is a real softie! What I am particularly looking forward to is seeing Tom Hanks play the role of Otto because he is not how I had imagined Ove would look like.
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From the trailer, it looks like Tom Hanks has done a good job of getting into Otto’s character. From the permanent scowl on his face to his annoyance when things don’t go his way, Hanks has very well understood the nuances of Ove’s character. When you will come to know the reason why he turned this rude, you will weep as I did! The book is beautiful and from the trailer, it looks like A Man Called Otto is going to disappoint either. And it better not, because I will not be able to stand it! The movie is up for a worldwide release on January 13, 2023.