Let The Right One In – TV Series
So this is a concern… Let the Right One In is in development process for an adapted television series. After a bidding war that involved Showtime and A&E, the latter network has won the rights to develop a Let the Right One In TV series. The A&E series will join the network’s stable of other shows that also jump off from films: Bates Motel, based on Psycho, and The Returned, which is a remake of a French series that was, in turn, a remake of a French film. There aren’t many details on the Let the Right One In series, but we’ve got them below.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and actor-writer Brandon Boyce (Teen Wolf actor; Apt Pupil and Wicker Park screenwriter) are adapting the pilot and series from the Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist that Lindqvist adapted for the 2008 film by director Tomas Alfredson.
Spoilers for Let the Right One In follow. The 2008 film left out some characters, plot points and character history, only alluding to some of the history of the seemingly young vampire Eli as she befriends an isolated boy named Oskar. In fact, one point the original film only engages in ambiguous fashion is that Eli wasn’t born female, but rather is a boy who was castrated by the nobleman who also turned the child into a vampire. With more room to go into character backstories, the TV series may well retain the novel’s original approach.
The US remake of the film, Let Me In, further changed some things in the story as it moved the setting to New Mexico. We don’t know how this TV version might go — the THR piece references Vermont, which suggests that the show will go with the snowy setting of the original novel and film, while keeping it in the US.
The US remake, which was one of the better remakes around, would be more suited to an adaptation than the original. There’s no casting info or potential air date for the Let the Right One In TV series at this point.
The Walking Dead – Spinoff Series
News collated from The Hollywood Reporter offers the first real details about The Walking Dead spinoff series:
Cliff Curtis (Gang related) stars as Sean Cabrera, a teacher who shares a son with his ex-wife. Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Dickens is set to co-star as Nancy, a guidance counselor who works at the school with Sean and is seeing him romantically. Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) co-stars as Nancy’s son Nick, who has battled a drug problem. And Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Woods) is set as Nancy’s ambitious daughter Ashley, who is the polar opposite of Nick and has dreams of leaving L.A. for Berkeley when the apocalypse strikes.
The Walking Dead companion — first announced in September 2013 — could give AMC a zombie drama in every quarter, given the six-episode freshman season’s summer bow. The flagship, which resumes production in the summer, airs the first half of its season in October and the second half in February. The offshoot series comes as The Walking Deadevolved to megahit status. The zombie drama, overseen by showrunner Scott M. Gimple, ranks as TV’s No. 1 drama series among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic.
“We take incredibly seriously the notion of building a satisfying companion series to the No. 1 show on television. From the beginning of The Walking Dead on AMC, we’ve been asked questions about what was going on in other parts of the zombie apocalypse, and what it looked like as the world really did ‘turn.’ Through this new series, we’re going to find out,” AMC president Charlie Collier said in making the announcement Monday. “Robert Kirkman, Dave Erickson and their writing team, along with an incomparable set of producers, cast and crew have created something remarkable and clearly distinct. We respectfully follow the request of Monty Python as we bring out (the latest of) our Dead.”
“We feel empowered by this two-season commitment, a serious show of faith from our network partner AMC,” Kirkman said. “I personally take it as a sign that they believe, like we do, that we’ve accomplished our goal of developing something original that can pay tribute to the original show and expand the world I created while at the same time having something new to say with this story. I’m very grateful that we now have the opportunity to tell this amazing story and show the fans that we really haven’t scratched the surface yet when it comes to The Walking Dead.”
AMC Global — the cabler’s international network, has acquired the international televisions rights to the series, which it will air within 24 hours of the U.S. premiere — something Fox International Channels does with the flagship series.
Damien – Casting News
In news that is only mildly interesting to me because I recently rewatched the original The Omen film, it was announced that Merlin star Bradley James has landed the title role in Damien, Lifetime’s straight-to-series drama follow-up to 20th Century Fox’s classic horror film The Omen. In his TV directing debut, Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) will helm and executive produce the first episode.
Produced by Fox TV Studios, the six-episode Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn (James), the mysterious child from the 1976 film who has grown up, seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages.
Damien, slated to premiere in 2015, is written and executive produced by Glen Mazzara via his 44 Strong Productions. Ross Fineman, who developed the project alongside Mazzara, executive produces through his Fineman Entertainment. Pancho Mansfield also serves as executive producer.
South of Hell
The Eli Roth and Jason Blum horror series, South of Hell has added a few more fan favorites to the guest director roster: Ti West (House Of The Devil, The Sacrament), Rachel Talalay (Doctor Who, Tank Girl), Jennifer Lynch (The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf) and Jeremiah Chechik (Helix, Reigh) have been tapped to direct individual episodes of WE tv’s original scripted thriller South Of Hell.
Set in South Carolina, South Of Hell focuses on Maria Abascal (Mena Suvari), a stunning demon-hunter-for-hire whose power stems from within. Like those she hunts, Maria is divided within herself, struggling with her own demon, Abigail, who resides inside of her, feeding on the evil Maria exorcises from others. Zachary Booth and Bill Irwin also star. The show has an eight-episode straight-to-series order for a 2015 premiere. South Of Hell is produced by Sonar Entertainment and Blumhouse Television
Ash Vs. Evil Dead
The Evil Dead movie franchise has officially crossed over to television with a 10-episode straight-to-series order from Starz for a 2015 premiere. Titled Ash Vs. Evil Dead, the followup to the classic film franchise reteams the original filmmakers, director Sam Raimi, longtime producing partner Rob Tapert and star Bruce Campbell
who will serve as executive producers. Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.
Raimi will direct the first episode of Ash Vs. Evil Dead, which he co-wrote with his brother Ivan Raimi (Darkman) and Tom Spezialy (Chuck). “Evil Dead has always been a blast,” Raimi said. “Bruce, Rob, and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Ash’s lame, but heroic saga. With his chainsaw arm and his ‘boomstick,’ Ash is back to kick some monster butt. And brother, this time there’s a truckload of it.”
Ash Vs. Evil Dead also reunites Sam Raimi and Tapert with Starz where they executive produced the pay cable network’s first scripted hit, drama Spartacus. Ivan Raimi will co-executive produce the series, and Aaron Lam (Spartacus) will serve as producer.
Fans have been buzzing about an Evil Dead series since Sam Raimi announced at Comic-Con — where he and Campbell are hugely popular — that he was working on it. “I’m really excited to bring this series to the Evil Dead fans worldwide – it’s going to be everything they have been clamoring for: serious deadite ass-kicking and plenty of outrageous humor,” said Campbell.
The original Evil Dead film followed Ash and his friends who travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release demons intent on possessing the living. It was a hit, spawning a franchise that included two sequels directed by Raimi, produced by Talpert and starring Campbell, as well as video games and comic books. There was also a recent feature reboot produced by Raimi and Talpert and directed by Fede Alvarez.
Barker Returns To Hellraiser
Clive Barker has finished the second draft of the film that will reboot and expand upon the story seen in the original Hellraiser. (And which was created in Barker’s novella The Hellhound Heart.) A few details are below, thanks to the author.
EW spoke to Barker on the occasion of the release of the Nightbreed director’s cut blu-ray, which finally presents Barker’s 1990 film in a cut that resembles his original intentions. Talking about that movie is also a good excuse to bring up Hellraiser, the “very loose remake” of which continues to develop:
I think the phrase is ‘reboot,’ although I’ve never really understood what that meant. I wanted to make sure we sounded some fresh notes. The movie actually begins on Devil’s Island. I wanted to fold into the Hellraiser narrative something about the guy—the Frenchman Lemarchand—who made the mysterious box, which raises Pinhead. I figured, ‘Well, what would have happened to him?’ He might well have been taken to Devil’s Island [a penal colony] and I thought that would be a pretty cool place to start the movie. We’re waiting for Bob to come back to us and see when we’re going to actually make the movie.
In Barker’s original novella, Lemarchand was one of a few people who had devised a method of communicating with the extra-dimensional Cenobites. (That group includes Pinhead, who became the film series’ poster child.) Lemarchand has been portrayed on film before, inHellraiser IV: Bloodline, the last film in the series to get a theatrical release. (There are five more direct to video sequels. The last one, Hellraiser: Revelations, was made in a matter of weeks so that the Weinsteins would retain rights to the franchise.)
We’ve got some really cool things coming down the pike. They’re movies which I’m able to watch over as a producer rather than as a director, [but] each time another thing gets added to the rest of the things that we’re doing, I get more tantalized by the idea of actually doing it as a director myself. So, I don’t think I’ll wait too long until I sign on for something myself.
11/22/63 – Coming to Television
Bad Robot have announced a new drama series through Hulu based off Stephen King’s 2011 best selling novel, “11/22/63.” JJ Abrams is a huge fan of Stephen King’s work, and already has an order from Hulu for 9 episodes.
The book stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks and won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller, the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
“11/22/63” tells the story of Jake Epping, a divorced high school English teacher who lives in Maine. Jake uses a time portal in a local diner to try and stop the assassination of President Kennedy. The portal has rules, 1) no mater how long or how short your visit to the past, you only lose two minutes in the present when you return and 2) the portal ALWAYS takes you back to September 9, 1958, at precisely 11:58 a.m. This may sound like an easy fix but there are consequences to EVERYTHING you do when it comes to time travel and most of them are not so pleasant.
The Walking Dead – Companion Series Confirmed
There are the original comic books, webisodes, board games and the Talking Dead for fans of The Walking Dead. Now the network has finally announced it has ordered a pilot episode a Walking Dead companion series. This has been mentioned for some time, now an official press release confirms that the pilot will be shot before the end of 2014. Problem is, if you’re looking for more information than has already been public knowledge for some time you’ll be disappointed.
AMC announced today that it has ordered a pilot episode of a companion series for “The Walking Dead.” “The Walking Dead,” which premiered on AMC in October, 2010, has been the #1 program on television among adults 18-49 for the last two years. Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert from “The Walking Dead” are also executive producers of the new project which, like the original, is being produced by AMC Studios. Dave Erickson (“Marco Polo,” “Sons of Anarchy”), who co-created and co-wrote the pilot with Kirkman, will serve as an executive producer and showrunner.
“Almost from the beginning of ‘The Walking Dead’ on AMC, fans have been curious about what is going on in the zombie apocalypse in other parts of the world. In fact, beyond requests for zombie cameos, it’s the question I get asked the most,” said AMC President Charlie Collier. “Obviously, we all take our stewardship of the original franchise incredibly seriously and we, along with Robert, Gale, David and now Dave, are all proceeding with extreme care in order to ensure that we are offering fans something truly compelling, engaging and distinct. We’re thrilled to be taking this next step with these remarkable partners.”
“There are many corners of ‘The Walking Dead’ universe that remain unseen in the shadows. Being given the opportunity to shine a light into those corners and see what lurks out there is an absolute thrill. I know the fans are anxious to hear what Dave and I have been cooking up for this new universe of ‘The Walking Dead,’ and I’m happy to be one step closer to sharing it with them,” said Kirkman.
“I’ve been fortunate to have collaborated with both Robert and AMC on past projects and I’m thrilled to join them again, along with Gale and David, to build upon ‘The Walking Dead’s’ already epic narrative,” said Erickson.
The pilot is scheduled for production in late 2014. No additional details are being provided about the location and/or casting for the pilot at this time.
The highly-anticipated fifth season of “The Walking Dead” returns to AMC on October 12. “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman and published by Skybound, Kirkman’s imprint at Image Comics.
American Horror Story: Freak Show
One of the great things about Ryan Murphy‘s FX anthology horror series is that each season is a fresh start. The next season, American Horror Story: Freak Show, will see many of the same cast and crew heading to 1950’s Florida, where a “dark entity” emerges.
While Murphy isn’t as secretive as some of his fellow showrunners, he hasn’t said that much about where the new run of episodes might take us. So it’s exciting to get our first glimpse at the cast in costume, including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Michael Chiklis, and so many more.
American Horror Story: Freak Show’ begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952. A troupe of curiosities has just arrived to town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike. This is the story of the performers and their desperate journey of survival amidst the dying world of the American carny experience.Speaking to THR, Murphy explained what makes American Horror Story: Freak Show unique even among American Horror Story seasons. “It feels like a Douglas Sirk movie; it’s very 1952 presentational and then the horror is an unexpected jab,” he said. “As opposed to last year, which was crazy camera work and comedy. This year feels different.”
Though the tone, setting, characters, and storyline are all new, Murphy said American Horror Story: Freak Show does tie in with some of the same themes laid out in earlier seasons.
“At every freak show, you have the tropes but there’s some [that are] unique and weird. It’s about something: It’s about outcasts and how society at that time … true stories about circus performers who were cast aside. The story in many ways dovetails with Asylum, because they leave one era and you can see many of them in real life were put into asylums. There’s a great symmetry we’ve come up with that’s rewarding.”
The poster is amazing. From top to bottom and left to right, we have Sarah Paulson as Bette and Dot Tattler, Denis O’Hare in an unnamed role, Kathy Bates as bearded lady Effil Darling, Angela Basset three-breasted woman Desiree Dupree, Frances Conroy in another unnamed role, Michael Chiklis as strongman Wendell Del Toredo, Jessica Lange as freak show manager Elsa Mars, and Evan Peters as Effil’s son Jimmy. Other stars include Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Wes Bentley, John Carroll Lynch, Finn Wittrock, Jyoti Amge. Patti LaBelle and Matt Bomer are expected to guest star. Not everyone here has an obvious physical deformity, but we’ll surely find out what makes them freakish on the inside. After all, the hashtag #WirSindAlleFreaks translates to “we are all freaks.”
American Horror Story: Freak Show premiere’s Wednesday, October 8 at 10 PM on FX.
The Living And The Dead
Life On Mars creators Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham are writing the six-episode period drama The Living And The Dead. Co-produced by BBC America and BBC Wales Drama Production, the story follows Nathan Appleby, a reluctant gentleman farmer in 1888 England who is obsessed with proving the existence of the afterlife. He looks into hauntings, paranormal happenings, and ghostly visitations, encouraged by the Society for Psychical Research. But as his investigations become more frequent and scary, Nathan starts to see and hear disturbing things that he simply cannot have imagined. Casting is to be announced. “We are as excited about this show as anything since Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes,” said Pharoah and Graham, who also are exec producing for Monastic Productions. “We want it to be moving, tender, sensual — and very, very scary.” BBC Worldwide will distribute The Living And The Dead worldwide.
Constantine Won’t Smoke on NBC
John Constantine is sad; all he wants is a smoke, he won’t however… His restraint comes from the standards & practices department at NBC, which is more powerful than any nicotine patch when it comes to killing off a nicotine habit. You can have rape, murder, torture and all manner of violence, but no smoking on network tv.
The character, a DC Comics mainstay since his creation by Alan Moore in the mid-’80s, is coming to television via David Goyer and NBC. And despite the fact that Constantine is a serious smoker (such a dedicated smoker, in fact, that lung cancer became a major plot point in his overall story) the network has said “no smoking” to the producers of Constantine.
Pilot director Neil Marshall explains some of the no smoking reasoning. Given that Constantine is about a damaged magic using-antihero who is more likely to hurt his friends than help them, is there really any thought that John Constantine, played by Matt Ryan, would inspire kids to smoke? (Maybe? Some people are pretty dumb.) Collider spoke to pilot director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Doomsday, several Game of Thrones episodes) who explained that NBC axed the idea of John Constantine smoking on television.
No we’re not [making him smoke]. It’s the one thing, a compromise I guess. On network it’s the one thing — you can’t smoke on network. That’s one of his character traits. We’re working around that. We’re trying to get aspects of it in there as much as possible. We’ll see.
Marshall says he doesn’t know what happens after the pilot, and that he can’t say whether Constantine’s cancer will end up being a plot point in some manner despite the lack of smoking. He does say there is no mention of cancer in the pilot.
Smoking aside, violence and disturbing content won’t be an issue. Which is to say that Hannibal may have evil company.
Hannibal is on NBC, and that’s pretty dark and disturbing. Whatever the regulations are, you can be as dark and disturbing as you want and we’re going to go in that direction. The intention is to be as dark and scary as possible with the show. And that was our whole kind of plan going in, to make it scary. So we’re going to explore all kinds of things. But the smoking is very frustrating. Who knows where it will go; where the story will go; where the character will go? There’s still lots of options.
Constantine premieres Friday October 24, at 10pm. Here’s the official blurb:
Based on the wildly popular comic book series “Hellblazer” from DC Comics, seasoned demon hunter and master of the occult John Constantine specializes in giving hell… hell. Armed with a ferocious knowledge of the dark arts and his wickedly naughty wit, he fights the good fight – or at least he did. With his soul already damned to hell, he’s decided to leave his do-gooder life behind. But when demons target Liv, the daughter of one of Constantine’s oldest friends, he’s reluctantly thrust back into the fray – and he’ll do whatever it takes to save her. Before long, it’s revealed that Liv’s “second sight,” an ability to see the worlds behind our world and predict supernatural occurrences, is a threat to a mysterious new evil that’s rising in the shadows. And now it’s not just Liv who needs protection; the angels are starting to get worried too. So, together, Constantine and Liv must use her power and his skills to travel the country, find the demons that threaten our world – and send them back where they belong. After that, who knows… maybe there’s hope for him and his soul after all.
The Omen… Again
Former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara is sticking with horror for his next project.
Mazzara is developing a follow-up to the 1976 horror classic The Omen for Lifetime, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Titled Damien, the drama centres on Damien Thorn as an adult haunted by his past. Damien is faced with a series of macabre events and must finally face his true destiny: He is the Antichrist.
I may be missing something here but I thought we covered this with Damien: Omen II (1978) and Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981). There have been other less successful attempts over the years to keep the franchise going, the TV movies, Omen IV: The Awakening (1991) and The Omen (1995). The latter was an attempt to make a series… it failed.
Original writer David Seltzer rewrote his novel in 2005 for an NBC mini-series called Revelations. The original film was remade in 2006 starring Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick was a minor hit.
Mazzara is also in talks to write Overlook Hotel, a prequel to The Shining.
Friday the 13th the Series… Again
Jason Voorhees is ready to slash his way to small-screen stardom. Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Crystal Lake Entertainment have set a deal to produce a new hour-long dramatic series based upon the characters and settings of Friday the 13th. That’s average news, not sure how this would play out… bad news is that Sean S. Cunningham, who helmed the 1980 original, will be executive producer along with EFO Films principals Randall Emmett & George Furla, Mark Canton of Atmosphere Entertainment MM, Steve B. Harris of Diversion3 Entertainment, and Ted Fox of Fox Entertainment. Also producing is Horror Inc. president Robert Barsamian, who produced the features… That’s an awful lot of ‘interference’ from a production standpoint, it looks bad already.
Bill Basso (Terminator) and Jordu Schell (Avatar) have been set to script a storyline that re-imagines Jason in multiple time periods. Roy Knyrim (Gods And Monsters) of SOTA FX will coordinate the special make-up effects for the series. If you recall, the original was set at a summer camp, closed because of the drowning of an unattended child. Promiscuous counselors tried to re-open the place, but they began dying. Jason actually took root as the indestructible villain in the second film, with his signature hockey goalie mask coming later. The series is contemporary, focusing on the eclectic characters of Crystal Lake who are forced to confront the return of the killer, as new secrets about his wacky family are revealed.
“Jason Voorhees is synonymous with the genre and we plan to build on this legacy with a provocative and compelling take that expands upon the storylines that have already thrilled millions worldwide,” explained Cunningham. Said Barsamian: “Expect the show to take viewers in some exciting new directions that we’re confident will not only excite existing fans of Friday The 13th but also attract new audiences to the situations and characters that inhabit the small town of Crystal Lake.”
Credit where it’s due, Cunningham made the original Friday the 13th, however that movie apart, Cunningham has never understood Jason, he’s never understood why he worked or why he was so popular. Since his return to the franchise he’s done two of the worst series movies in Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X. What he’s always wanted to do and fail at, is make over-sexed-teen comedies. This is a money grabbing exercise… again.
The Extinction Parade
The undead just won’t die… yet. Legendary Television and Digital Media (the television arm of Legendary Pictures) has optioned World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide author Max Brook’ horror comic series The Extinction Parade for development as a TV series.
Brookswill assist with development of the project as well as write the pilot episode. The Extinction Parade pits zombies against vampires in a world where a zombie plague has put the human race on the endangered species list… and that’s not good for the vampires as it could be the end of their food supply. Therefore the vastly outnumbered vampires enter into an all-out war with the zombies, with humans caught in the middle.
Brooks said ” I only brought the idea to one company, Legendary, because they do the kind of quality work of which any writer would be proud.” Ok, maybe the HBO offices were closed that day… Looking forward to it.
Aquarius – The Manson Family
As his Showtime dark comedy series Californication, comes to an end (7 seasons!), David Duchovny reunites with Bob Greenblatt for Aquarius, a gritty 1960’s cop drama at NBC about a cop who goes undercover to track Charles Manson and the Manson Family before their infamous murder spree. The project has received a 13-episode straight-to-series order.
Aquarius marks the return to broadcast TV of Duchovny, who starred in Fox’s hit The X-Files, in which Greenblatt also was involved while at Fox. The project stems from a script McNamara developed for FX a long time ago with Adelstein producing.
Set in the late 1960’s, Aquarius stars Duchovny as a Los Angeles police sergeant with a complicated personal life who starts tracking a small-time criminal and budding cult leader seeking out vulnerable women to join his “cause.” The man’s name is Charles Manson. The twists and turns of a complicated undercover operation will lead Duchovny’s character and his young partner to the brink of Manson’s crimes that eventually will lead to the Tate-LaBianca murders in subsequent seasons. “Event series are a big priority for us, and the combination of a show that charts the lead-up to the Manson murders, along with a television star of the magnitude of David Duchovny, is the very definition of an event,” said NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke. Added Greenblatt, “After being involved in the production of both The X-Files and Californication, it gives me great pleasure to work with David Duchovny for the third time on this compelling drama.”Aquarius joins another Charles Manson project, a limited series is in development at Fox with writer Bret Easton Ellis and director Rob Zombie.
It all sounds very similar to the 1976 move Helter Skelter which was based on the best selling book by Vincent Bugliosi who prosecuted the Manson Clan.
Stakeland – The TV Series
Fresh off the success of their Sundance thriller “Cold in July,” director Jim Mickle and writer/actor Nick Damici are on the verge of teaming with author Joe Lansdale once again, this time for the small screen.
Mickle and Damici, long-time creative partners, teamed for 2010′s cult favourite post-apocalyptic vampire series “Stake Land,” which is also in development to continue as a television show. Greg Newman, who executive produced the movie, is also involved.
The movie actually began as a potential web series, providing Damici, who wrote that film, a base of characters and expanded lore to develop for serialization.
The series would begin seven years after the end of the film, and would involve many new species of vampires.
“They all mutated, there’s tons of different vamps,” Damici explained. “I said to Greg, the only thing I’ll need — I’ll write my ass off — the only thing is I’ve got to have enough of a budget to have flying vamps. It spread to animals, so we’ve got vamp dogs and a vamp bear.”
The Flash
Warner Bros. Television has just released the first image from its CW pilot The Flash, based on the DC comic. It shows Grant Gustin in full retro head gear as his character Barry Allen’s superhero alter ego The Flash. In the show, through a freak accident, scientist Barry Allen (Gustin) is given the power of super speed that transforms him into the Fastest Man Alive. Allen was introduced on the CW series Arrow this season but The Flash won’t make his debut until the pilot, co-starring Jesse L. Martin and executive produced by co-writers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg and director David Nutter. Production begins next week…
Preacher at AMC
AMC and Sony Pictures Television have closed a deal to develop Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s controversial 1990s comic book series Preacher as a drama series. The project will be written/executive produced byThis Is the End writers/directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, with Sam Catlin (Breaking Bad) serving as executive producer/showrunner and Original Films’ Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon also executive producing. Despite speculation, there are no plans for Rogen to have an onscreen presence at this time. Preacher follows Reverend Jesse Custer, a tough Texas preacher who has lost his faith, has learned that God has left Heaven and abandoned His responsibilities. He finds himself the only person capable of tracking God down, demanding answers, and making Him answer for His dereliction of duty. Accompanying Jesse on his journey is his former girlfriend and a friendly vampire who seems to prefer a pint in the pub to the blood of the innocent. On his tail is an immortal, unstoppable killing machine named the Saint of Killers – a western lone gunman archetype whose sole purpose is to hunt and kill Jesse.
“This is a great piece of material for AMC, and we’re thrilled to begin working with the creative team behind it to make another iconic AMC series,” said the network’s EVP Joel Stillerman. AMC is looking to repeat the success of another series based on an edgy comic, The Walking Dead. For Rogen and Goldberg, the deal marks the end of a long journey. “We’ve tried for seven years to work on Preacher and we’re so psyched AMC is finally letting us,” the two said. “It is our favorite comic of all time, and we’re going to do everything we can to do it right. Humperdoo!”
Ennis also reflected on Preacher’s long development path that stretched 16 years and a slew of incarnations: feature films, series and miniseries with various auspices. (HBO took a stab at developing it as a series with Mark Steven Johnson seven years ago). “Steve Dillon and I are very happy to see Preacher being developed for TV, which seems a much more natural home for the story than a 2-hour movie,” Ennis said. “Obviously it’s taken a while, but Ken Levin along with Neal Moritz and his team refused to give up, long after the point when I myself grew skeptical, and their unrelenting enthusiasm for the project has gotten us where we need to be. I’m particularly impressed that Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin understand Preacher fully — meaning they get it for what it is, not some vague approximation,” Ennis said, noting that he and Dillon had been involved in the creative conversation for the TV series. The 1995-2000 comic series Preacher, from DC’s Vertigo imprint, quickly achieved a cult status while also creating controversy with its dark and violent content. In addition to Rogen and Goldberg (through Point Grey Pictures), Catlin, Moritz and Cannon, Preacheris exec produced by Ori Marmur, Ken Levin and Jason Netter
iZombie
Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero’s drama adaptation of DC’s iZombie has received an official pilot green light. Written by frequent collaborators Thomas and Ruggiero based on the characters created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred and published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint,. iZombie, from Warner Bros TV and Rob Thomas Prods, is a supernatural crime procedural that centres on a med-student-turned-zombie who takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity, but with each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse’s memories. With the help of her medical examiner boss and a police detective, she solves homicide cases in order to quiet the disturbing voices in her head.
Thomas and Rugierro are executive producing with Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge. This marks the fourth order for DC/WBTV this season, joining series Gotham at Fox and pilots Constantine at NBC and The Flash at the CW. Zombies are still a hot TV commodity at the moment with AMC’s mega hit The Walking Dead, NBC pilot Babylon Fields, a remake of the hit French drama The Returned at A&E, and ABC’s midseason series Resurrection.
The Kid Stays In The Picture
Iconic Hollywood producer and former studio head Robert Evans has partnered with Television 360 to develop a pay cable TV series about Hollywood in the 1970’s. They’ve made a deal with Fox 21, and Evans is exec producing with Guymon Casady, Dean Schnider and Scott Lambert. They are out to writers right now. The vision of the series is much darker than the contemporary inside Hollywood depicted in Entourage. Set in the ’70s with a creative tone similar to Casino, it involves the last days before studios were taken over by conglomerates, when they were run by wily entrepreneurs, and where there was a mob influence, drugs, sex, excess, casting couches, and some of the best movies made in the 20th century. The protagonist is an outsider who against the odds rises to become a king in Hollywood in a tale of power, legacy, and the American dream.
The series isn’t based on Evans — real anecdotes will be used in a fictitious storyline — but everyone who either read or, better yet, heard him read the audio of The Kid Stays In The Picture knows that Evans started as an actor and rose to the top of Paramount Pictures when that studio was nearly out on its feet. He, with a scrappy team of execs that included my former Variety editor Peter Bart, saved the studio by making classics including The Godfather, Love Story, Rosemary’s Baby, Harold And Maude, The Odd Couple, The Conversation, Serpico and others. Evans has plenty of stories to tell about that era.
Rosemary’s Baby – NBC Mini-Series
I posted news about his back in July, but now it appears that NBC has moved forward with the four-hour miniseries of Rosemary’s Baby, an adaptation of the 1967 best-selling suspense novel by Ira Levin. Agnieszka Holland, who has been nominated for both an Oscar (Europa, Europa) and an Emmy (Treme), has come on board to direct the mini, written by Scott Abbott and James Wong (American Horror Story). Casting begins immediately, with filming set to begin in January in Paris.
“Ira Levin’s mesmerizing book was a ground-breaking reflection on how effective and influential a psychological thriller could be,” said Quinn Taylor, NBC’s EVP, Movies, Miniseries and International Co-Productions. Added NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke, “As we move into the event movie and miniseries space, Rosemary’s Baby represents the kind of attention-getting, surprising project that will make noise for us. The story has been updated and moved to Paris, but it’s faithful to the spirit of Ira Levin’s classic novel.”
Rosemary’s Baby centers on a young married couple who move into a Paris apartment that has a haunted past. After getting pregnant, the wife becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their neighbors will have ulterior motives when her child is born. The book has a famous feature adaptation, the 1968 film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow.
This is NBC’s first miniseries in a long time as the genre has been enjoying a resurgence following the success of History’s Hatfields & McCoys. The network’s last miniseries until now was the 2009 The Storm, which aired during the summer. NBC has several other miniseries in the works, including an adaptation of Stephen King’s Tommyknockers, along with several limited series, including The Bible sequel AD: After the Bible.
Terminator – The TV Series
It was inevitable… Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures, the companies behind the upcoming Terminator film trilogy, are expanding the franchise to television with a TV series to be done in conjunction with the first rebooted Terminator film slated for release in 2015. The series will be written and exec produced by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor), with the writers of the upcoming Terminator movie Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier serving as executive producers.
The series will follow a critical moment from the original 1984 Terminator movie, taking it in a completely different direction from the film. Plot details about the forthcoming Terminator movie are being kept under wraps, but it too is expected to be tied to the first movie. As the rebooted film trilogy and the new television series progress, the two narratives will be designed to intersect with each other. (Thus the head-on involvement in the series of the new film’s writers Kalogridis and Lussier.) For now, Paramount, which is Skydance and Annapurna’s partner on the feature trilogy, is not involved in the TV series, but that could change down the line. Paramount is returning to television, recently relaunching a TV division. Skydance too recently expanded into television, landing The Manhattan Project, on WGN America. The companies’ plan to intertwine the narratives of movies and TV series is reminiscent of Marvel’s efforts with Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and movies like Thor and The Avengers – but on a bigger scale. Imagine attempted to do something as ambitious with the adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower, which was envisioned as a movie trilogy with TV series bridging the films, but the project didn’t get off the ground. The Terminator TV series will be produced by Megan Ellison of Annapurna and David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross of Skydance.
The blockbuster Terminator franchise, which has earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, has spawned a TV series before: Fox’s 2008Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Casting of the Sarah Connor role in the upcoming film is now underway, with Arnold Schwarzenegger booked for a return as the title character. Stentz and Miller also wrote the upcoming films Starship Troopers and The Fall Guy. Their series credits include Fox’s Fringe.
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