After much debate (and some requests) I have signed up with crowdfunding service Patreon to better support future blogging efforts. You can find my Patreon page here and more information after the jump.
Saturday, 16 January 2077
Support The Wertzone on Patreon
STICKIED POST
After much debate (and some requests) I have signed up with crowdfunding service Patreon to better support future blogging efforts. You can find my Patreon page here and more information after the jump.
After much debate (and some requests) I have signed up with crowdfunding service Patreon to better support future blogging efforts. You can find my Patreon page here and more information after the jump.
Tuesday, 17 July 2018
Timothée Chalamet in talks to play Paul Atredies in DUNE
Director Denis Villeneuve has earmarked young actor Timothée Hal Chalamet to play Paul Atredies in his upcoming two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune.
22-year-old Chalamet is best-known for appearing in Homeland, Men, Women and Children, Interstellar and Call Me By Your Name, the last of which earned Chalamet a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars.
Paul Atreides is the main protagonist of Dune (and appears in a minor role in its two immediate sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune), the 15-year-old son of Duke Leto Atreides of Caladan. The Atreides family moves to the desert planet Arrakis, known as Dune, the source of the spice melange, which transforms consciousness and allows for interstellar travel. There the feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen spills into open warfare. Paul has to win an alliance with the mysterious natives of Arrakis, the Fremen, to secure victory against the Harkonnens.
Previously filmed by David Lynch in 1984 and as a SyFy mini-series in 2000, Dune is the biggest-selling single science fiction novel of all time, with over 20 million copies sold since it was published in 1965.
Villeneuve recently directed the highly critically-acclaimed science fiction films Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, but has cited Dune as a much more challenging project. Legendary Pictures have earmarked the film for an early 2019 shoot.
Sunday, 15 July 2018
Duncan Jones to direct a ROGUE TROOPER movie
Duncan Jones has announced that he is directing a movie based on cult British comic Rogue Trooper. He made the announcement in a slightly oblique fashion via Twitter.
Rogue Trooper was created in 1981 by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons, originally appearing in issues of 2000AD alongside characters like Judge Dredd. The series is set on the planet Nu-Earth, originally a paradise-like colony of Earth that was torn apart in a brutal, generations-lasting civil war between the Norts and Southers. This was has made the planet almost uninhabitable, with a toxic atmosphere forcing the people to live in domed shelters.
The original and most iconic storyline follows Rogue, the sole surviving of a bungled offensive. Rogue is a Genetic Infantryman (G.I.) who has been engineered to survive in the toxic environment, resulting in blue skin and an enhanced immune system. He is assisted by AI chips with notable personalities built into his helmet, gun and backpack. Rogue discovers his unit was sold out to the enemy by a "traitor general" and he sets out to expose and punish this individual in a storyline that lasted four years. Since the conclusion of that story, Rogue has appeared in numerous further adventures in both comics and video games.
British director Duncan Jones is the director of Moon (2009), Source Code (2011), WarCraft (2016) and Mute (2018), and is a director of some skill, although Mute was disappointing. It's unclear how far into development this project is, but we hope to hear more soon.
Rogue Trooper was created in 1981 by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons, originally appearing in issues of 2000AD alongside characters like Judge Dredd. The series is set on the planet Nu-Earth, originally a paradise-like colony of Earth that was torn apart in a brutal, generations-lasting civil war between the Norts and Southers. This was has made the planet almost uninhabitable, with a toxic atmosphere forcing the people to live in domed shelters.
As promised... pic.twitter.com/6y3pzn2Cn1— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) July 15, 2018
British director Duncan Jones is the director of Moon (2009), Source Code (2011), WarCraft (2016) and Mute (2018), and is a director of some skill, although Mute was disappointing. It's unclear how far into development this project is, but we hope to hear more soon.
SF&F Questions: Is HARRY POTTER an epic fantasy?
The Basics
Harry Potter is the biggest-selling novel series
of the past twenty years. More than 600 million copies of the seven-volume
sequence have been sold and the nine movies set in the same world have grossed
over $9 billion (with a tenth due for release this year). The series is a huge crossover success, attracting both young
and adult readers, and its characters, terminology and storylines have entered
the popular consciousness.
One question that arises occasionally is to do with the
genre of the series. The field of epic fantasy has boomed in popularity in the
last twenty years, driven by the success of the Lord of the Rings movies and, more recently, the Game of Thrones TV series (both based
on huge-selling novel series). It is therefore interesting, if ultimately
unimportant, to ask the question, is Harry
Potter an epic fantasy? If not, what genre is it in?
I asked this question previously in 2011 and this generateda lot of discussion (lots of excellent points in the comments as well), but I
hadn’t fully caught up with either the books or films at that point. Now that I
have done so with the films, it seemed an interesting idea to revisit the question.
What is an epic fantasy?
What makes this question more problematic is that no
generally-accepted definition of what an epic fantasy is seems to exist. Most
people seem to respond with a variation of, “I don’t know, it’s got magic and dragons
and elves in it, or something?”
The Encyclopaedia of
Fantasy (1997) offered this definition by SFF uber-critic John Clute:
"An epic is a long narrative poem which tells large tales, often incorporating a mixture of legend, myth and folk history, and featuring heroes whose acts have a significance transcending their own individual happiness or woe. The classic epic tells the story of the founding or triumph of a folk or nation... Prose fiction which might be called EF include several of the central secondary world tales central to the development of fantasy over the past 100 years - e.g. much of the work of Kenneth Morris, E.R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen R. Donaldson. Any fantasy tale written to a large scale which deals with the founding or definitive and lasting defence of a land may fairly be called an EF. Unfortunately, the term has been increasingly used by publishers to describe heroic fantasies that extend over several volumes and has thus lost its usefulness."
Not tremendously helpful, so in my own blog series A History of Epic Fantasy I offer the
following definition:
"An epic fantasy is a substantial work of fiction set either in a fictional realm, or a fictionalised version of the real world, in which several characters (and sometimes many dozens) are faced with transformative goals and tasks. Something inherent in the setting must be impossible or fantastic, to set it aside from being merely an alternative history or work of science fiction. There is usually an antagonist to defeat, magical items to utilise and battles to be fought on a large scale. The work is usually long or extends across multiple volumes, although short epic fantasies are not unknown."
What is Harry Potter about?
If you’re one of the three people on Earth not familiar with
the series, it may be constructive to briefly summarise the series to see how
well it fulfils the tenants of epic fantasy:
Harry Potter is a fantasy series written by J.K. Rowling
consisting of seven novels: Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(2000), Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince (2005) and Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). An eight-film adaptation of the
books (The Deathly Hallows was broken
into two films) began in 2001 and concluded in 2011. A sequel stage play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and
two prequel movies (Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them and The Crimes of
Grindelwald) have followed.
The books are set in a fantasied version of the real world,
where magical creatures, wizards, witches and sorcery exist in parallel to our
world, but sophisticated magic is employed to keep the existence of this world
secret from the mundane one. The magic community regards the non-magic
community disparagingly as “muggles” and takes little interest in them, despite
their technology and numbers. Children with an aptitude for magic are taken to
one of several magic schools, with apparently one school for each country or
region: the UK’s school, located in Scotland, is called Hogwarts.
Eleven years before the books begin, the magical world is
rocked by a conflict where one wizard, Tom Riddle, attempts to seize power and
conquer the magical world (and possibly the muggle one as well). Taking the
name “Voldemort” and styling himself “the Dark Lord”, nearly succeeds in his
mission. During a final battle in the village of Godric’s Hollow, he
successfully kills two wizards opposed to him – Lily and James Potter – and
tries to kill their one-year-old son, Harry. However, Harry is able to resist
the attack and Voldemort is apparently killed as a result. When the books open,
Harry is being looked after by his mother’s sister Petunia and her husband
Vernon, both muggles who despised Lily and James, and hate and mistreat Harry
as a result. Despite their objections, Harry is recruited into Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, who was hitherto unaware of the existence of
the magical world, starts off on the backfoot. He is also taken aback by his
fame as a result of his role in Voldemort’s apparent destruction. Potter
quickly makes two very close friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, but
earns the enmity of Draco Malfoy and the potions teacher, Severus Snape.
Over the course of his time at Hogwarts, it becomes clear
that Voldemort was not killed, but instead reduced to a shadow or wraith-like
existence. Voldemort’s followers, the Death-Eaters, successfully restore their
master to a corporeal and apparently invulnerable form and Voldemort quickly
launches a renewed attempted to conquer the magical community. Harry, aided by
friends and allies, organises a resistance and learn Voldemort’s weakness, that
to preserve his life he has split his life force between seven vessels, known
as Horcruxes. Harry sets out to destroy the Horcruxes and also draw Voldemort’s
forces into a decisive battle at Hogwarts.
Does Harry Potter fulfil the criteria?
At first glance, Harry Potter fulfils most of the criteria
to be counted as an epic fantasy. The story is epic in scale, unfolding over
seven novels (and eight long movies), the latter four of which are quite large.
Although the story is episodic, at least to start with, a clear over-arcing
storyline quickly emerges and comes to dominate the saga.
The story itself is also the most familiar one in epic
fantasy: a Chosen One (Harry) is prophesied to stand against a Dark Lord
(Voldemort). Magic is a fact of life and non-human races (elves, goblins,
centaurs and giants) and creatures (dragons, giant spiders, basilisks and many
others) abound. There are several key and major battles throughout the series
and there are a large number of Plot Coupons (magical mcguffins or plot
devices), including magical swords, a secret crown (or diadem), the Horcruxes,
the Deathly Hallows and magical wands, among many others. There are also
conspiracies and political intrigue, with the return of the Dark Lord being
regarded with scepticism by many factions which hinders Harry’s attempts to
forge an alliance to stand against Voldemort.
Several arguments mustered against Harry Potter being an
epic fantasy seem unconvincing. The series is predominantly aimed at children
and teenagers, but several key epic fantasy works are likewise aimed at younger
readers, including J.R.R. Tolkien’s The
Hobbit (and The Lord of the Rings
at least starts in a similar mode before becoming more adult), C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Ursula K. Le
Guin’s Earthsea series and
Christopher Paolini’s Eragon saga,
whilst other series seem to be deliberately calibrated so either children or adults
can enjoy them, such as David Eddings’ Belgariad
(recently reissued in a YA edition) and Weis & Hickman’s Dragonlance books. Being aimed at
younger readers does not disqualify a work from being an epic fantasy.
More debatable is the fact that Harry Potter ostensibly takes place in our world but with a magical
hidden society. Some have argued this makes the series more akin to an urban
fantasy than an epic one. This seems flawed, as urban fantasies take place in
urban environments: Jim Butcher’s Dresden
Files features a secret magical world existing alongside our
own, but the action itself takes place in the real world (most regularly in and
around Chicago). The same is true for Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series and other works of urban fantasy. Harry Potter, by contrast, does not
take place in urban environments (a few isolated moments aside) and the majority of the story takes place in fictional locations, mostly
in and around Hogwarts Castle.
Furthermore, many epic fantasies do take place in remote and
fictional historical periods of our world (such as Tolkien’s Middle-earth works and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time), in parallel
universe versions of our history (such as Kate Elliott’s Spiritwalker Trilogy and Crown
of Stars series) and feature characters crossing over from our world to a
fantastical one (such as Narnia, Guy
Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry and
Stephen Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant, the Unbeliever). It’s actually less common to encounter epic
fantasy worlds with absolutely zero connections to our one.
The level of worldbuilding that Rowling has done for the
series also exceeds that of many epic fantasies, with vast numbers of
characters, timelines, backstories, magical rules, terms and bloodlines created
and detailed.
Answer: Harry Potter
fulfils most of the requirements for being an epic fantasy, and the arguments
used to counter its place in the genre would also eliminate many works
considered to be inarguably core to the genre. As such Harry Potter can be
counted as part of the epic fantasy subgenre, as well as being a YA fantasy.
Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to my Patreon page and other funding methods, which will also get you exclusive content weeks before it goes live on my blogs. SF&F Questions are debuting on my Patreon feed and you can read them there before being published on the Wertzone.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The fifth Harry Potter novel, The Order of the Phoenix, is also the longest, clocking in at over 800 pages in paperback and taking the author three times longer to write than any previous book in the series. When it came time to adapt the novel the screenwriters had to take a chainsaw to the manuscript.
Mercifully, this approach worked. Michael Goldenberg expertly focused the script on the core of the story from the novel whilst removing extraneous subplots. The loss of some of this material is a shame, particularly the removal of Ron's Quidditch storyline, but for the most part the cuts are well-judged and give us a fast-paced, action-packed film with some moments of more atmospheric reflection, courtesy of new director David Yates.
The addition of Yates adds an interesting visual texture to the film. Best-known previously for the excellent BBC mini-series State of Play, Yates darkens the visual tone of the series and introduces a much greater sense of continuity and creeping menace. The Harry Potter world makes a bit more sense as a setting in the Yates movies, and his grasp of film-making is assured and compelling. Keeping Yates around to direct the next three movies as well was a very good move. New castmembers such as Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange are also outstanding, Staunton's brittle-to-the-point-of-deranged Umbridge being a particularly effective antagonist.
Where the film falters is when it includes elements from the book but can't pay them more than lip service: Nymphadora Tonks is well-played by Natalia Tena (later to appear in Game of Thrones) but she has such little to do in this or subsequent films that you wonder if the character should have just been cut altogether. The death of one major character, which was an important moment in the novels, is also kind of glossed over here.
Still, the film succeeds in being a well-paced, well-directed and compelling piece of fantasy cinema.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (****½) is another fine addition to the film series. The movie is available now in the UK (DVD, Blu-Ray) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray) as part of the Complete Harry Potter Movie Collection.
Mercifully, this approach worked. Michael Goldenberg expertly focused the script on the core of the story from the novel whilst removing extraneous subplots. The loss of some of this material is a shame, particularly the removal of Ron's Quidditch storyline, but for the most part the cuts are well-judged and give us a fast-paced, action-packed film with some moments of more atmospheric reflection, courtesy of new director David Yates.
The addition of Yates adds an interesting visual texture to the film. Best-known previously for the excellent BBC mini-series State of Play, Yates darkens the visual tone of the series and introduces a much greater sense of continuity and creeping menace. The Harry Potter world makes a bit more sense as a setting in the Yates movies, and his grasp of film-making is assured and compelling. Keeping Yates around to direct the next three movies as well was a very good move. New castmembers such as Imelda Staunton as Delores Umbridge and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange are also outstanding, Staunton's brittle-to-the-point-of-deranged Umbridge being a particularly effective antagonist.
Where the film falters is when it includes elements from the book but can't pay them more than lip service: Nymphadora Tonks is well-played by Natalia Tena (later to appear in Game of Thrones) but she has such little to do in this or subsequent films that you wonder if the character should have just been cut altogether. The death of one major character, which was an important moment in the novels, is also kind of glossed over here.
Still, the film succeeds in being a well-paced, well-directed and compelling piece of fantasy cinema.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (****½) is another fine addition to the film series. The movie is available now in the UK (DVD, Blu-Ray) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray) as part of the Complete Harry Potter Movie Collection.
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
Eli Monpress is a trickster, a thief and a manipulator of spirits. His latest caper involves kidnapping the King of Mellinor, but the kingdom holds a dark and ancient secret that triggers an intervention by the powerful Spirit Court, the arbitrators of the use of spirits and sorcery. Monpress may be in over his head, but he has resources to call upon that no-one suspects.
The Spirit Thief is the first novel in the five-volume Eli Monpress fantasy series by Rachel Aaron, and was her debut novel. The book is standard fantasy caper fare, a little bit Ocean's Eleven by way of Dungeons and Dragons, with a group of mismatched protagonists forced to work together to pull off a challenging mission.
In the right hands - say Scott Lynch with his excellent Lies of Locke Lamora or Joe Abercrombie with a considerably bloodier take on the idea in Best Served Cold - this can make for a gripping and compelling novel. The Spirit Thief doesn't really come close to that kind of quality, but Aaron makes up for the relative lack of depth by making a book that's short, fun and even kind of airy. There's not much in the way of grimdark here (a few cynical musings on power aside), with Aaron instead clearly having fun writing the book and creating a breezy palate-cleanser of a fantasy novel.
There are some interesting ideas, most notably the magic system which revolves around the manipulation of spirits. Every organic object in the world has its own spirit and sorcerers can "talk" to those spirits to bring about events they want: getting a wood spirit to lose cohesion so a door frame collapses and the door can just be pushed over, for example. Monpress's skill is in negotiation: rather than commanding or cajoling spirits, he makes friends with them and can thus extract a much greater level of service than other wizards. Exactly why Monpress has this level of spiritual empathy is unclear, but will presumably be explored in later books.
The magic system is interesting and the central characters are interesting, but so far pretty archetypal: Spirit Court investigator Miranda is by-the-book and overconfident, Eli is a rogue and charmer but with notable secrets, Josef is an honourable warrior whose ideology gets in the way of practicality and Nico is an apparently young girl but with weird superpowers. There's also a talking wolf and a couple of sentient swords, because why not? If you're going to write a fantasy novel you might as well go all-out.
This sometimes leaves The Spirit Thief feeling derivative of other works and it struggles to maintain its own sense of identity. This isn't helped by extremely limited worldbuilding (the nation of Mellinor is so bland it's barely even described, which is a problem when the geological history of the kingdom suddenly becomes important in the finale) and the prose, which can tend towards the bland. Dialogue is a bit better and there are some interesting tics in characterisation which are promising for future books. But overall the book is fun and easy to read.
The Spirit Thief (***½) will win no prizes for originality or the quality of its writing, but it's also a refreshingly straightforward and even more refreshingly short and concise fantasy adventure with some hints that the series may get more interesting in the sequels. The novel is available now in the omnibus The Legend of Eli Monpress (UK, USA).
The Spirit Thief is the first novel in the five-volume Eli Monpress fantasy series by Rachel Aaron, and was her debut novel. The book is standard fantasy caper fare, a little bit Ocean's Eleven by way of Dungeons and Dragons, with a group of mismatched protagonists forced to work together to pull off a challenging mission.
In the right hands - say Scott Lynch with his excellent Lies of Locke Lamora or Joe Abercrombie with a considerably bloodier take on the idea in Best Served Cold - this can make for a gripping and compelling novel. The Spirit Thief doesn't really come close to that kind of quality, but Aaron makes up for the relative lack of depth by making a book that's short, fun and even kind of airy. There's not much in the way of grimdark here (a few cynical musings on power aside), with Aaron instead clearly having fun writing the book and creating a breezy palate-cleanser of a fantasy novel.
There are some interesting ideas, most notably the magic system which revolves around the manipulation of spirits. Every organic object in the world has its own spirit and sorcerers can "talk" to those spirits to bring about events they want: getting a wood spirit to lose cohesion so a door frame collapses and the door can just be pushed over, for example. Monpress's skill is in negotiation: rather than commanding or cajoling spirits, he makes friends with them and can thus extract a much greater level of service than other wizards. Exactly why Monpress has this level of spiritual empathy is unclear, but will presumably be explored in later books.
The magic system is interesting and the central characters are interesting, but so far pretty archetypal: Spirit Court investigator Miranda is by-the-book and overconfident, Eli is a rogue and charmer but with notable secrets, Josef is an honourable warrior whose ideology gets in the way of practicality and Nico is an apparently young girl but with weird superpowers. There's also a talking wolf and a couple of sentient swords, because why not? If you're going to write a fantasy novel you might as well go all-out.
This sometimes leaves The Spirit Thief feeling derivative of other works and it struggles to maintain its own sense of identity. This isn't helped by extremely limited worldbuilding (the nation of Mellinor is so bland it's barely even described, which is a problem when the geological history of the kingdom suddenly becomes important in the finale) and the prose, which can tend towards the bland. Dialogue is a bit better and there are some interesting tics in characterisation which are promising for future books. But overall the book is fun and easy to read.
The Spirit Thief (***½) will win no prizes for originality or the quality of its writing, but it's also a refreshingly straightforward and even more refreshingly short and concise fantasy adventure with some hints that the series may get more interesting in the sequels. The novel is available now in the omnibus The Legend of Eli Monpress (UK, USA).
Friday, 13 July 2018
HBO greenlights new Joss Whedon TV show
HBO have given a straight-to-series order for a new Joss Whedon project called The Nevers. Like much of Whedon's output, the series will focus on a strong central cast of female characters (presumably the Nevers of the title), this time who develop unusual powers in Victorian England. Mayhem results as various forces try to get their hands on these women and their abilities.
Dubbing it his "most ambitious narrative yet," the series will mark Whedon's first foray into television as a showrunner since Dollhouse in 2009, although he has since executive produced and directed his brother Jed's show Agents of SHIELD and worked as a director and writer on individual episodes of shows such as The Office.
Whedon is, of course, best-known for creating, writing and directing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the hit 1997-2003 fantasy show. This spawned a successful spin-off, Angel (which ran for five seasons), before he wrote and produced Firefly, a space opera show which founded a fevered cult following but only a small audience. It was cancelled after just 14 episodes were made. Despite vowing never to work with Fox Television again, he was later lured back to make a show called Dollhouse, which likewise was cancelled prematurely, although this time after at least making it to two seasons.
Whedon began working in film in the 1990s, working as a writer and script doctor on such movies as Toy Story, Twister, Speed and Alien: Resurrection. In 2005 he wrote and directed Serenity, a film sequel to the Firefly TV series, and in 2008 he made Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a musical comedy. He then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe's creative team, initially as an advisor but then as writer and director on The Avengers (2012) and The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Expressing dissatisfaction with Marvel's creative interference in the latter project, he decamped to rivals DC, where he stepped in at short notice to complete the filming of Justice League when Zack Snyder had to drop out before filming was complete to deal with a family tragedy. Whedon was developing a Batgirl film script before concluding it wasn't going the way he wanted and leaving the company.
Last year, Whedon was rocked by a personal scandal when his ex-wife accused him of carrying out multiple affairs with younger female castmembers on several of his shows. Whedon has downplayed the allegations via legal representation, but the news shocked his fanbase who had previously praised him for his depiction of female empowerment in his media. The biggest Whedon fansite shut down in the wake of the allegations and his fans have been divided ever since.
It's been speculated for some time that Whedon would find a better home for his projects on cable TV, with him blaming network interference for problems on most of his projects. In particular, Whedon struggled with Fox's restrictions in dealing with more challenging material on Dollhouse and the network airing Firefly out of order and with insufficient advertising. HBO should give Whedon a lot more freedom to develop the project according to his own wishes.
The news also sees HBO doubling down on genre content, with Damon Lindelof's Watchmen pilot recently completed and expected to go to series, a third season of Westworld ordered, J.J. Abrams producing a new SF show called Demimonde and Jordan Peele developing Lovecraft Country. Game of Thrones will also air its final season next spring, with two spin-off in active development, one of which has already been ordered to pilot.
Dubbing it his "most ambitious narrative yet," the series will mark Whedon's first foray into television as a showrunner since Dollhouse in 2009, although he has since executive produced and directed his brother Jed's show Agents of SHIELD and worked as a director and writer on individual episodes of shows such as The Office.
Whedon is, of course, best-known for creating, writing and directing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the hit 1997-2003 fantasy show. This spawned a successful spin-off, Angel (which ran for five seasons), before he wrote and produced Firefly, a space opera show which founded a fevered cult following but only a small audience. It was cancelled after just 14 episodes were made. Despite vowing never to work with Fox Television again, he was later lured back to make a show called Dollhouse, which likewise was cancelled prematurely, although this time after at least making it to two seasons.
Whedon began working in film in the 1990s, working as a writer and script doctor on such movies as Toy Story, Twister, Speed and Alien: Resurrection. In 2005 he wrote and directed Serenity, a film sequel to the Firefly TV series, and in 2008 he made Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a musical comedy. He then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe's creative team, initially as an advisor but then as writer and director on The Avengers (2012) and The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Expressing dissatisfaction with Marvel's creative interference in the latter project, he decamped to rivals DC, where he stepped in at short notice to complete the filming of Justice League when Zack Snyder had to drop out before filming was complete to deal with a family tragedy. Whedon was developing a Batgirl film script before concluding it wasn't going the way he wanted and leaving the company.
Last year, Whedon was rocked by a personal scandal when his ex-wife accused him of carrying out multiple affairs with younger female castmembers on several of his shows. Whedon has downplayed the allegations via legal representation, but the news shocked his fanbase who had previously praised him for his depiction of female empowerment in his media. The biggest Whedon fansite shut down in the wake of the allegations and his fans have been divided ever since.
It's been speculated for some time that Whedon would find a better home for his projects on cable TV, with him blaming network interference for problems on most of his projects. In particular, Whedon struggled with Fox's restrictions in dealing with more challenging material on Dollhouse and the network airing Firefly out of order and with insufficient advertising. HBO should give Whedon a lot more freedom to develop the project according to his own wishes.
The news also sees HBO doubling down on genre content, with Damon Lindelof's Watchmen pilot recently completed and expected to go to series, a third season of Westworld ordered, J.J. Abrams producing a new SF show called Demimonde and Jordan Peele developing Lovecraft Country. Game of Thrones will also air its final season next spring, with two spin-off in active development, one of which has already been ordered to pilot.
Tuesday, 10 July 2018
Billy Dee Williams to return to STAR WARS in Episode IX
Billy Dee Williams is returning to the Star Wars franchise. He will be reprising the role of Lando Calrissian in Episode IX, which is currently in production for a December 2019 release.
Williams played the role in the films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), but has returned to the role in projects including The Lego Movie (2014) and episodes of Star Wars: Rebels (2015), as well as video games. Apparently both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson considered including him in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but ultimately decided he didn't really have a role.
The sad passing of Carrie Fisher (who played Princess/General Leia) and the on-screen elimination of Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) means that Williams will be the highest-profile returning member of the original cast in Episode IX, alongside Anthony Daniels (C3-PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca).
A younger version of Lando was played by Donald Glover in the recent Solo spin-off film.
Williams played the role in the films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), but has returned to the role in projects including The Lego Movie (2014) and episodes of Star Wars: Rebels (2015), as well as video games. Apparently both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson considered including him in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but ultimately decided he didn't really have a role.
The sad passing of Carrie Fisher (who played Princess/General Leia) and the on-screen elimination of Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) means that Williams will be the highest-profile returning member of the original cast in Episode IX, alongside Anthony Daniels (C3-PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca).
A younger version of Lando was played by Donald Glover in the recent Solo spin-off film.
Details leak on second GAME OF THRONES spin-off show
Last month HBO confirmed it was moving ahead with a pilot script for a Game of Thrones spin-off show based on the Long Night, the ancient war between the First Men and the White Walkers that ended with the construction of the Wall and the founding of the Night's Watch. Jane Goldman has been developing the project (in consultation with George R.R. Martin) and HBO have been happy enough with her work to push it through to the pilot stage. We're now hearing that the pilot will shoot in October and November - nine years exactly after the pilot shoot for Game of Thrones itself - with a view to the first season shooting next year and airing in 2020, mirroring the GoT development process.
There are also now rumours spreading that HBO is leaning towards greenlighting a second pilot, this time set around the Doom of Valyria. This is the project that Max Borenstein (Godzilla, Skull Island) has been working on for some time and has the working title Empire of Ash. According to the reports, HBO and Borenstein - presumably also in close consultation with George R.R. Martin - have developed a significant amount of worldbuilding for this project, with a five-season, 10-episodes-per-season story arc worked out in some detail which presumably culminates in the Doom and its aftermath.
According to the report, the story will be predominantly set in Valyria and its colonies in Sothoryos, and will feature a much more diverse cast of characters in terms of religion and ethnicity. The story will follow several characters with House Targaryen very much a minor background faction, but which will presumably become higher in profile later on. According to the reports Aenar Targaryen and his daughter Daenys the Dreamer will play a role, which suggests this will be multi-generational story, spanning the century between Aenar's departure for Dragonstone and the Doom itself. In this manner the show sounds highly reminiscent of HBO's epic series Rome (2004-07), except set in a fictional setting.
Is this story plausible? Yes, of the five spin-off ideas HBO originally commissioned, I understand that three are still in serious play, including both a Long Night and Doom of Valyria series. The third, which may be the Dance of Dragons, may actually be dependent on how far they go down the Doom of Valyria route, as both would be dragon-heavy story with political intrigue; Empire of Ash may be more tempting as it's a whole new story whilst the Dance's storyline will be presented in full in Fire and Blood, so I suspect the Dance project would move onto the backburner if Empire moves forward (in fact, the suggestion that HBO are actually considering two projects indicates this may have already happened).
The reasons why Empire of Ash has not been formally greenlit yet appear to be myriad: HBO want some more space from The Long Night's announcement before confirming this project and they have also been courting Miguel Sapochnik to direct the pilot. However, Sapochnik has also reportedly been approached by Netflix to direct possibly multiple episodes of the first season of The Witcher, which is now in formal pre-production and casting, with a view to shooting at the end of this year or the start of next, potentially clashing with the Empire of Ash pilot.
Interesting to get more news on this as it develops.
Ted Nasmith's depiction of Valyria, from The World of Ice and Fire.
According to the report, the story will be predominantly set in Valyria and its colonies in Sothoryos, and will feature a much more diverse cast of characters in terms of religion and ethnicity. The story will follow several characters with House Targaryen very much a minor background faction, but which will presumably become higher in profile later on. According to the reports Aenar Targaryen and his daughter Daenys the Dreamer will play a role, which suggests this will be multi-generational story, spanning the century between Aenar's departure for Dragonstone and the Doom itself. In this manner the show sounds highly reminiscent of HBO's epic series Rome (2004-07), except set in a fictional setting.
Is this story plausible? Yes, of the five spin-off ideas HBO originally commissioned, I understand that three are still in serious play, including both a Long Night and Doom of Valyria series. The third, which may be the Dance of Dragons, may actually be dependent on how far they go down the Doom of Valyria route, as both would be dragon-heavy story with political intrigue; Empire of Ash may be more tempting as it's a whole new story whilst the Dance's storyline will be presented in full in Fire and Blood, so I suspect the Dance project would move onto the backburner if Empire moves forward (in fact, the suggestion that HBO are actually considering two projects indicates this may have already happened).
The reasons why Empire of Ash has not been formally greenlit yet appear to be myriad: HBO want some more space from The Long Night's announcement before confirming this project and they have also been courting Miguel Sapochnik to direct the pilot. However, Sapochnik has also reportedly been approached by Netflix to direct possibly multiple episodes of the first season of The Witcher, which is now in formal pre-production and casting, with a view to shooting at the end of this year or the start of next, potentially clashing with the Empire of Ash pilot.
Interesting to get more news on this as it develops.
Saturday, 7 July 2018
Filming concludes on GAME OF THRONES, for good
Filming on the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones concluded yesterday, according to fan site Watchers on the Wall.
This news marks the end of a journey that began on 24 October 2009, when HBO began shooting the show's pilot episode in Scotland. A crowd of mostly-unknown young actors and a few seasoned hands like Sean Bean and Mark Addy arrived at Doune Castle to begin work on a speculative pilot based on a series of (relatively) obscure fantasy novels. The script was promising and, of course, HBO's involvement intrigued everyone, but it still felt like a shot in the dark.
Twenty-six days later, shooting on the pilot was complete, following additional location shooting in Morocco (for the Pentos scenes) and set filming in Belfast, Northern Ireland (which became the show's primary production base). HBO was sent the completed pilot a few months later and, well, they didn't like it. Mortified, producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss sat down with HBO to go through the problems. Impressed by Benioff and Weiss's willingness to admit their mistakes and find workable solutions, HBO greenlit the show itself, with production on the rest of Season 1 resuming on 23 July 2010. The series debuted on 17 April 2011 with a heavily recut and partially-reshot version of the pilot, which immediately garnered a positive critical reception.
Even so, no-one could foretell that Game of Thrones would become an international sensation, the biggest drama show in the world for most of its duration. Everyone from Snoop Dogg to Prince William is a fan and the show has generated online discussion on a scale that's truly remarkable. It's also made stars of young actors including Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, propelling them into the Star Wars and X-Men universes, among others. The size and scale of the production has also peaked with this last season, with each episode officially costing over $16 million on paper (but in practice the budget appears to have no upper limit on it, as long as it's justifiable) and the shooting schedule running the longest of the entire series, from October 2017 to July 2018. Officially there are just six episodes in the final season, but it appears these episodes have no cap to their run time, so they may run significantly longer than the hour each episode has (mostly) clocked in at previously.
George R.R. Martin has also seen his personal fame explode as a result of the show's success, which has blasted sales of the Song of Ice and Fire novels from 12 million (in 2011) to almost 90 million today, making it possibly the biggest-selling epic fantasy series since Tolkien* (the series now has approximate sales parity with the Wheel of Time sequence, but far more actual readers) and dramatically increasing fan hunger and demand for the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, to fevered levels.
It's been a hell of a ride since the start of filming (which I was privileged to experience a little of, as related here, here and here) and we'll see how it ends next year. Although the actors and extras can now relax (barring possibly some dialogue looping and of course promotional duties), the directors, producers and VFX crews are still working full-tilt on post-production, visual effects and scoring to bring the episodes to life. Game of Thrones' final season is currently due to air in Spring 2019. It will be followed, a year or two further down the line, by a possible spin-off series from a different creative team.
* Assuming you don't count Harry Potter as an epic fantasy, as some people do.
This news marks the end of a journey that began on 24 October 2009, when HBO began shooting the show's pilot episode in Scotland. A crowd of mostly-unknown young actors and a few seasoned hands like Sean Bean and Mark Addy arrived at Doune Castle to begin work on a speculative pilot based on a series of (relatively) obscure fantasy novels. The script was promising and, of course, HBO's involvement intrigued everyone, but it still felt like a shot in the dark.
Twenty-six days later, shooting on the pilot was complete, following additional location shooting in Morocco (for the Pentos scenes) and set filming in Belfast, Northern Ireland (which became the show's primary production base). HBO was sent the completed pilot a few months later and, well, they didn't like it. Mortified, producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss sat down with HBO to go through the problems. Impressed by Benioff and Weiss's willingness to admit their mistakes and find workable solutions, HBO greenlit the show itself, with production on the rest of Season 1 resuming on 23 July 2010. The series debuted on 17 April 2011 with a heavily recut and partially-reshot version of the pilot, which immediately garnered a positive critical reception.
Even so, no-one could foretell that Game of Thrones would become an international sensation, the biggest drama show in the world for most of its duration. Everyone from Snoop Dogg to Prince William is a fan and the show has generated online discussion on a scale that's truly remarkable. It's also made stars of young actors including Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, propelling them into the Star Wars and X-Men universes, among others. The size and scale of the production has also peaked with this last season, with each episode officially costing over $16 million on paper (but in practice the budget appears to have no upper limit on it, as long as it's justifiable) and the shooting schedule running the longest of the entire series, from October 2017 to July 2018. Officially there are just six episodes in the final season, but it appears these episodes have no cap to their run time, so they may run significantly longer than the hour each episode has (mostly) clocked in at previously.
George R.R. Martin has also seen his personal fame explode as a result of the show's success, which has blasted sales of the Song of Ice and Fire novels from 12 million (in 2011) to almost 90 million today, making it possibly the biggest-selling epic fantasy series since Tolkien* (the series now has approximate sales parity with the Wheel of Time sequence, but far more actual readers) and dramatically increasing fan hunger and demand for the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, to fevered levels.
It's been a hell of a ride since the start of filming (which I was privileged to experience a little of, as related here, here and here) and we'll see how it ends next year. Although the actors and extras can now relax (barring possibly some dialogue looping and of course promotional duties), the directors, producers and VFX crews are still working full-tilt on post-production, visual effects and scoring to bring the episodes to life. Game of Thrones' final season is currently due to air in Spring 2019. It will be followed, a year or two further down the line, by a possible spin-off series from a different creative team.
* Assuming you don't count Harry Potter as an epic fantasy, as some people do.
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