The Medusa Fora

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30998

Sutherland On For Fairytale Of New York
Romancing Kate Bosworth
"...No, this is not going to be an attempt to make a film out of the classic Shane McGowan/Kirsty MacColl tune Fairytale of New York, at least not completely. But new indie romantic comedy Fairytale of New York is looking to hook up a troubled Irish type with a woman, and has snagged Kiefer Sutherland and Kate Bosworth to be the odd couple.
We’re not sure we see the combo of........."quote http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30998

Copyright? Royalties?

That was my first thought to , but then again it depends on how loosely it is based on the copyright 1988 song of Shane MacGowan & Jem Finer [by The Pogues ]
or indeed the J. P. Donleavy book [1972?).Or both ? Any Irish love story in NY could suggest both. Despite the song and book only conection being the title.

Just tried to find out if the book came out in 72 or 73 with out any look.Always thought it was a much older book.

Post edit;The above cover picture is the first UK edition 1973.
A Fairy Tale of New York Cloth | Eyre Methuen, Ltd., London, 1973 - ISBN 413450309 - 410 pages First UK edition.
info from http://www.jpdonleavycompendium.org/fairy-tale.html

RoddyRuddy wrote:Just tried to find out if the book came out in 72 or 73 with out any look.Always thought it was a much older book.

I think it's the case that Donleavy first published Fairy Tales of New York as a play in the early 1960s.*

The novel, A Fairy Tale... didn't appear till 1973.

*Edit: 1961 according to what seems to be a pretty comprehensive Donleavy website:
http://www.jpdonleavycompendium.org/jpd_author.html

You are spot on firehazard .But looks like its not just me that has made this mistake ;
"...** Again there is a great deal of confusion over the two titles Fairy Tales of New York and A Fairy Tale of New York. The former is the story in play form, the latter the novel. It's been misstated online that A Fairy Tale of New York is JPD's second novel. Although Donleavy began writing A Fairy Tale of New York after The Ginger Man, his second published novel was A Singular Man. His interview in issue 63 of The Paris Review explains the reason for this. Fairy Tales of New York, the play, was published in 1961 by both Random House in the US and Penguin in the UK, but the novel A Fairy Tale of New York was not published until 1973....."quote http://www.jpdonleavycompendium.org/jpd_author.html

http://www.filmshaft.com/sutherland-wil ... f-new-york

Another link about the film , there c15 more on line now and the Pogues angle is being down played.

The above one also meations a remake of Straw Dogs film.