At last, we've got some info on the Dickens storyline directly from screenwriter Peter Morgan himself. From an interview with Cinemablend:
I'm interested in the Dickens connection, because it's never made very literal what the connection is between Dickens and the story. [Damon's character listens to Dickens stories read aloud on tape, and at the end of the film attends a reading by Derek Jacobi at the London Book Fair].
I don't know why I did that except for the fact that I love it. And I thought it indicates great loneliness, and it indicates great vulnerability. The soothing tones of a Dickens story, if that is your friend and that's what you take to bed with you. I thought that says so much about the character, without saying it about the character. There's a lovely moment where we see Derek Jacobi reading at the end of the movie, and it cuts to Matt's face wreathed in smiles. And I thought, oh, that's so sweet. What a surprise. I love the Dickens part. I don't know why, it just says so much about the character.
Awwwww.
(Hope you guys don't mind me going on and on about this. It's so rare these days that we get to see anything about Dickens in a feature film -- especially a character who happens to love Dickens so much -- that I just have to fangirl a little bit!)
I just read a synopsis of "Hereafter" and thought it sounded marvelous. Completely did not connect it to the movie you've been talking about until just now. (Despite having seen some of the films he's directed, I still think of Clint Eastwood in terms of action movies.)
Posted by: Christy | October 16, 2010 at 05:45 PM
Finally watched the movie tonight and was excited to see that items from my business, Everything But The Books, made it into the movie!
I sold the engraving of Dickens that is on the wall in the apartment along with a set of Dickens bookends that are barely seen on the headboard of his bed and a parian bust of Dickens that is also briefly visible on the top shelf in the bookcase in his living room.
Posted by: Robert Scobie | March 19, 2011 at 02:29 AM
what is the name of the book Derek Jacobi is reading in the movie "hereafter"?
Posted by: Uriel | March 24, 2011 at 12:31 PM
"David Copperfield" on CD; "Little Dorrit" in the live reading. More information is available here:
http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2010/10/the-master-list-of-dickens-references-in-hereafter.html
Posted by: Gina | March 24, 2011 at 01:24 PM