I was checking-out Facebook profile of the very cool guy and was pleased to see that, in his list of favorite films, he placed Tim Burton's BIG FISH first. It is a really charming movie and the role of the son, William, is played by one of my favorite actors, BILLY CRUDUP. I don't know Billy but, in addition to being sensational in SLEEPERS, I did catch him on Broadway.
The book, BIG FISH, while weighing in at less than 200 pages, reads like an epic. As a fan of Greek mythology, I was crazy about all of the references to Ulysses that author DANIEL WALLACE placed softly throughout the bigger-than -life story about the life of a man. As a son named William who also had but a brief chance to try to learn all I could about my dying father, I cannot read BIG FISH without crying. As for the film? It is almost as good as the novel.
A few days ago, I wrote about another "W" writer, DAVID FOSTER WALLACE who recently passed away. I'm big on "W' writers and I list Daniel Wallace right up there with DFW.
The kind of writing I aspire to is done so well in BIG FISH. The story has other layers, waiting underneith, for those who wish to look. For others, the surface story is just fine, too.
Some rainy night, consider renting the film BIG FISH. Or, better yet, some rainy day, read the DANIEL WALLACE novel.
-WW
