Eric Bana all but broke our hearts in the 2009 movie adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel about a man with a genetic condition that forces him to spontaneously travel through time. Using the diary of the woman he loves, he tries to pursue a normal life, but his situation proves to be difficult to maneuver.
If you watched the movie (even without reading the book -- I’ll allow it this time because it features Rachel McAdams), you know what I’m talking about. It’s super melancholy, but so good that you subject yourself to watching it over and over again.
Anddd, swoon.
Now, HBO is putting together a series based on the book (probably without Rachel McAdams, boo) and I can’t tell if I’m excited to add another show to my watch list or ready to throw my hands up in despair.
The show has been ordered straight-to-series, which means we’re getting the damn thing whether we’re ready or not. Clare and Henry are going to fatefully fall in love on screen again and we’ll just have to grab a box of tissues and deal.
Screenwriter Steven Moffat, who spearheaded “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock,” is on board to write the script and executive produce the series, but I swear if this means Benedict Cumberbatch is going to play Henry, I will boycott. He’s just not right for this.
Moffat, though, is apparently a big “Time Traveler’s Wife” fan -- he told The Hollywood Reporter that he actually wrote a similar storyline into a “Doctor Who” episode.
“‘The Girl in the Fireplace’ [was] a direct response to it. When, in her next novel, Audrey [Niffenegger] had a character watching that very episode, I realized she was probably on to me,” he said. “All these years later, the chance to adapt the novel itself is a dream come true.”
This honestly just feels like another example of HBO toying with how far they can push us until we snap. “Westworld” has robots taking over, “Game of Thrones” is a story for a different day and the newly-airing “Sharp Objects” adapts a Gillian Flynn novel, so we all know it’s not going to end well. I guess they figure why not throw in a sobfest story for good measure!
“It’s a story of happy ever after -- but not necessarily in that order,” Moffat said.
Yeah, WE KNOW.