Sand and Fog Must Get In His Eyes

Andre Dubus III who is alive; Photo: Dreamworks

Gothamist barely knows how to read more than four consecutive paragraphs, so when we read Times movie critic Stephen Holden's aritcle about the pluses and minuses of recent films, we were ridiculously excited. Holden writes about the depressing looking Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly film, House of Sand and Fog, "It's no coincidence that this film recalls the superior 'In In the Bedroom.' Both movies were adapted from fictional works by Andre Dubus III in which characters find themselves caught in ethical cul-de-sacs that they resolve with desperate life-and-death acts."

Well, almost: Andre Dubus, who wrote the novella In the Bedroom, is the father of Andre Dubus III (pictured), who wrote the novel House of Sand and Fog. Yes, an Amazon search for "Andre Dubus" brings up work by both, but reading the press notes for the film (on the film's website) would reveal that its Andre Dubus is still alive, giving quotes about the movie, whereas Andre Dubus senior died in 1999 and is much missed. Not that we're taking pleasure is pointing this out or anything.

An identity theory interview with Dubus III where he's asked why he wanted to become a writer ("Um. [You mean] Because of the daddy thing?")

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By Jen Chung in Arts and Events on January 2, 2004 9:39 AM

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Jen

Heh.

The article also gave a credit erroneously to Andre Dubus III, author of the novel that was the basis of the current film "House of Sand and Fog." "In the Bedroom," (2001), to which the new film was likened, was based on a story by Andre Dubus, the father of Andre III.

Interestingly another correction involved someone Gothamist ran into a few summers ago: Artist Keith Godard (whose name as misspelled Goddard in the Times); that was the evening I bullied someone who said that Tom Cruise wrote Minority Report. "SCOTT FRANK WROTE IT!" I yelled.