Your Word Against Mine

First, Hollywood discovered the Oxford English Dictionary. As I reported in a past column, Mel Gibson’s Icon Entertainment is considering adapting Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman for the big screen. The book examined the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, driven by James Murray. It focused on the friendship between Professor Murray and the major contributor to the dictionary, a schizophrenic physician and convicted murderer. John Boorman is now attached to direct the movie, but no casting or shooting schedule confirmation is now available.

Recently on the Reuters/Variety news service, I read about another silver screen development in the world of words. Not one, but two movies about Scrabble are in the works. Wall Street Journal writer Stefan Fatsis’ nonfiction Scrabble book, Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumphs, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble, has been optioned by Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelon and Miramax Films grabbed “Your Word Against Mine,” a romantic comedy about a young man and woman who are major competitors in tournament Scrabble.

After discovering the news, I began thinking that all Hollywood needed to complete this trend was a movie about a spelling bee competitor. The next day, I read about a recently optioned screen scenario featuring a young woman headed to the national spelling bee.

What’s next? Maybe “Hangman Survivors” or “Crossword Capers.”

If you’re looking for the just the right ensemble to wear to the Scrabble movies premiere weekends, take a look at the "Word Gear" catalog at the National Scrabble Association website. They have “It’s your word against mine” T-shirts, caps and cups along with a wide range of other Scrabble accessories.

Of course, not all film concepts actually make it from development to production, but I’m hoping that all four of these films make it to my neighborhood multiplex. You can never have too many movies about “words.”

By the way, I plan to review “Word Freak” in a future article. Just as soon as I get it read.

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