King Dork movie

[Bovio]

Is being made.  Who should be in it?

[Phronk Mortian]

Is being made.  Who should be in it?

me

[Chad]

All Ages Dave.

[Harry Hijinks]

All Ages Dave.

and his hot mom.

[mattlame]

All Ages Dave.

NO!!

Dangerous Dave

[Phronk Mortian]

NO!!

Dangerous Dave

daycare dave

[Harry Hijinks]

daycare dave

dateless dave

[Another Adam]

dateless dave

Dave Underage.

[JimJerseyBeat]

Frankie Muniz as Tom.

William H Macy as Big Tom.

Dr. Frank should have a cameo as one of Tom's h.s. teachers.

[Bovio]

I think that the Mr. Teone should be played by the old fat teacher from Boston Public.
I hope they get actually 15 year olds to play Sam and Tom.

[Chad]

Frankie Muniz as Tom.

William H Macy as Big Tom.

Dr. Frank should have a cameo as one of Tom's h.s. teachers.

William H. Macy as Big Tom is an awesome idea.  I don't know about Frankie Muniz as Tom, though.

[unlovablefrank]

Where did you find the movie news?  Anything leak out recently?

also there's a few days left to vote for King Dork to win a quill award:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737557/#anc_Quills_YoungAdultTeen

[JimJerseyBeat]

William H. Macy as Big Tom is an awesome idea.  I don't know about Frankie Muniz as Tom, though.

I was trying to think of anyone under 20 who could play a quirky teenager.  It'd probably be best if they just cast two unkowns as Tom and Sam.   Toby Maguire would have been good 10 years ago.

I love the idea of William H Macy as Big Tom though.

[Bovio]

Where did you find the movie news?  Anything leak out recently?

also there's a few days left to vote for King Dork to win a quill award:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737557/#anc_Quills_YoungAdultTeen

Doktorfrank.com

[llivermore]

Frankie Muniz as Tom.

A couple/few years ago, maybe, but he's too old now.  Also maybe a bit too much of a wiseass.  I know Tom is a wiseass, too, but he keeps his wiseassedness more to himself.

[Chad]

I was trying to think of anyone under 20 who could play a quirky teenager.  It'd probably be best if they just cast two unkowns as Tom and Sam.   Toby Maguire would have been good 10 years ago.

I love the idea of William H Macy as Big Tom though.

I kind of just love William H Macy.  I could also picture Tim Tobbins as Big Tom.

I am still drawing blanks for the kids.

[Christopher]

They should cast me.  I've been looking for a new job anyway.  I'm 25, but most of you who know me know I could probably play a teenager.  Dear, Hollywood.. make me famous because my current job bores me to tears.  I have zero acting experience, but.. I mean, it can't be that hard, right?  Woo to the hoo.

[Pleasedontrock]

This should be cool. I just finished the book and I loved it.

*SPOILERS*



Points of implausibility:

-"Dork" gets regular blow jobs from hot girls. Yes, there was an explanation of sorts for this behavior, but seriously? We're supposed to feel bad for the guy? I would except for, oh yeah, I still remember what high school was like for actual dorks. And it didn't involve blow jobs, hand jobs, or any other kind of jobs (Except maybe Steve Jobs! am i rite?).

-Two guys are music nerds in the 2000s but only listen to music pre1975 or so. Even the biggest music dorks in high school (me, etc) listened to at least some newer stuff, if for no other reason than to mock it. On one hand, this was kind of a betrayal of the author's own high school experience. On the other hand, I suppose it would have ruined it if Frank had tried to listen to the radio for a few hours a day just to be able to make up-to-date music references. That would have inevitably failed. And sticking to the early to classic period makes it a little more timeless, I suppose.

-The ambiguous ending was okay, but a little unsatisfying. (Disclaimer: I think most novels don't end particularly well.)

Despite these relatively minor points, I loved the book. Some passages in particular were quite excellent. One short passage comes to mind--where the main character makes fun of his step-dad (which is only human) and then feels bad about it (which is only human) and then makes a comment about being human being an excuse for a lot of things, and being human sort of sucks. Or something. Obviously I'm slaughtering it, but it was one of a number of excellent short passages.

I thought the band names were great (and familiar, I remember doing stuff just like that all day throughout high school) and the plot was good. It was second to the characters, but good enough to drive the story along. I particularly liked the sound equipment set-up. I used a Karaoke machine with a piece of crap guitar and a RadioShack $10 mic plugged in to it.

Long live Frank Portman (remember the minor scandal when that human rights comp came out and they put his full name in the liner notes?). That's great that his next book is already sold. I'm glad something good ended up coming out of the east bay. I hope this doesn't mean the end of MTX, but if it does, at least it ended for something worthwhile.

[kelly lynn]

i want to be high school kid #4!

[JimJerseyBeat]

**Spoiler

Tom gets one blowjob in the book and it's totally the girl running the show.  In fact he's quite amazed it happened at all.

When I finally publish my Dr. Frank interview, we will all learn what year the events in King Dork take place.  Frank deliberately wrote the book to make it as timeless as possible which is why none of the kids have cellphones, computers, email , etc. and only listen to classic rock.  The story could really take place in  1979 or 2005.

My nephew is 16 and only listens to AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin, btw.  And I'm his fucking uncle!!!  You'd think Jim Testa's nephew would be the world's biggest Queers fan, or at least listen to Yo La Tengo or something...  but no way.

[Pleasedontrock]

**Spoiler

Tom gets one blowjob in the book and it's totally the girl running the show.  In fact he's quite amazed it happened at all.

When I finally publish my Dr. Frank interview, we will all learn what year the events in King Dork take place.  Frank deliberately wrote the book to make it as timeless as possible which is why none of the kids have cellphones, computers, email , etc. and only listen to classic rock.  The story could really take place in  1979 or 2005.

My nephew is 16 and only listens to AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin, btw.  And I'm his fucking uncle!!!  You'd think Jim Testa's nephew would be the world's biggest Queers fan, or at least listen to Yo La Tengo or something...  but no way.

**SPOILER***

No way, the blowjobs are like a regular thing by the end (Tuesdays and Thursdays or something?) And the super hot popular drama girl gives him a handjob near the end, but that's just because he's in the hospital. I got the feeling that he was going to be having regular sessions with both girls on alternating days or some such fantasy-based arrangement.

[Bovio]

He mentions in the book, when speaking of the past, "Before they had computers" or something at one point in the book.  I forget what part, but I do remember that line.  So it has to take place, I'd suspect, in the 90s at least.  He also talks about CDs being better than vinyl, so it has to be post 1985.

I wish I could be in that movie.  I'm only 18, but I'm a)not an actor, b)in NH, and c)I don't think I look like either Sam or Tom.

Anyone know anything about Frank's next book?  And I've heard news of a sequel to King Dork.  I think in Wikipedia.  Any info on that?

[Jesse]

He mentions in the book, when speaking of the past, "Before they had computers" or something at one point in the book.  I forget what part, but I do remember that line.  So it has to take place, I'd suspect, in the 90s at least.  He also talks about CDs being better than vinyl, so it has to be post 1985.

I wish I could be in that movie.  I'm only 18, but I'm a)not an actor, b)in NH, and c)I don't think I look like either Sam or Tom.

Anyone know anything about Frank's next book?  And I've heard news of a sequel to King Dork.  I think in Wikipedia.  Any info on that?

Frank said the indeterminate time period was done on purpose, so it wouldn't be too dated and could be enjoyed by multiple generations.

And yes, I heard the same thing about a sequel, I think from the man himself.

[ChaddDerkins]

On www.doktorfrank.com he says the name of his next book.  I forget it now.

[JimJerseyBeat]

I just read Dr Frank's blog and it says that they've just about got the film rights sold.  That's a big leap from saying someone is going to actually make a movie.

My friend Jim DeRogatis went through this with his Lester Bangs book.   You put the film rights up for sale and somebody buys an option.  Then whoever gets the option shops the idea to studios, production companies,  or backers and tries to get them involved.  The option usually has a time frame attached --if the buyer can't make a deal to get the movie made in a certain amount of time, ownership reverts back to the author and he tries to sell the film rights to somebody else.

In the case of the Lester Bangs book Let It Blurt, both Cameron Crowe and Michael Stipe were interested but Vincent D'Onofrio wound up with the highest bid.  He saw it as a starring vehicle for himself, but then he got the Law & Order show and that was the end of the movie idea.


In some cases, like the Harry Potter books or The DaVinci Code, it's a no brainer. But an awful lot of books get optioned for film rights and the movie never happens for one reason or another.