November 12, 2005

Congratulations, Malcolm, just remember to leave your soul with its rightful owner when you're done using it:

Proving that there is no limit to the amount of money an insightful journalist can make if chooses to sell his soul comes this article in Variety:

Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way is developing Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller Blink into a movie, with DiCaprio attached to star and Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) onboard to write and direct.

As he did in his previous book "The Tipping Point," in "Blink" Gladwell combines vignettes about people making snap judgments in various situations to argue larger points about how people make first impressions.

Gaghan's pitch is thought to include a writer character based on Gladwell and various characters out of the book, woven together into a story.

Here's my capsule review of Blink:

- Go with your gut reactions, but only when they are right.

- And even when your gut reactions are factually correct, ignore them when they are politically incorrect.

Uh, Leonardo, Gladwell, who is a little bit black, got the idea for Blink when he grew an afro and suddenly started getting hassled by The Man. Are you sure this role is perfect for you?

Tyler Cowen asks:

So who will star in Freakonomics?


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leonardo DiCaprio endorsing "BLINK" and playing Gladwell in a movie version, is probably the most conclusive proof we can have that Malcom Gladwell is a shyster and a pimp when it comes to social science theory and popular culture. DiCaprio is a child star who parlayed his androgynous pretty face into a money making machine. Unlike a lot of other child stars, DiCaprio stayed off drugs and destructive Hollywood lifestyles, and emerged as a pretty reliable Corporate investment. Sort of like other "properties" like Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise---until he started getting weird on Scientology, and having all sorts of rumors about his personal sex life. But I can't think of anyone more shallow and superficial then DiCaprio---except maybe Barbara Streisand. So MG and LD collaborating seems like the perfect match to me.