posted October 18, 2013 #
There's been a lot of hub-bub lately about the forthcoming movie,
Dear Mr. Watterson... a love letter to one of the greatest creators of all time. The film doesn't make an effort to actually reach the creator of
Calvin & Hobbes, opting instead to respect his desire for privacy and seclusion (which, honestly, I couldn't respect more). However, the folks at
Mental Floss took a different approach and ended up
with an exclusive interview - the first in many years. It is, unsurprisingly, full of insightful gems to his career. I love this quote about why he never went for a movie adaptation:
If you've ever compared a film to a novel it's based on, you know the novel gets bludgeoned. It's inevitable, because different media have different strengths and needs, and when you make a movie, the movie's needs get served. As a comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes works exactly the way I intended it to. There’s no upside for me in adapting it.
Happy to see Mr. Watterson getting a bit more of his due - as he really created something remarkable with
Calvin & Hobbies, both in terms of the work itself and his ability to keep it sacred. A true rarity these days.
