Hey folks, Harry here... Below we have a great report from a Neil Gaiman Book Signing in Huntington, New York... and we learn a State of the Union of Gaiman Projects!!! However, independent of this information I learned today from a source highly connected to DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING feature film... that the director of this hopefully wonderful project is none other than Neil Gaiman himself. Is that a good thing? We'll see, we know that at the very least the film will become what Neil wants it to become. Let's just hope that Warners throws their complete support behind him, I want this film to work!
Harry,
Neil Gaiman was at the Book Review in Huntington, NY tonight signing copies of his new book "American Gods", dispensing sage advice and generally playing the part of the genteel god-among-men that he is to the hilt. During the question- and-answer session, he ran down the list of properties of his currently in development and updated us on their progress:
The Ramayana: He is currently at work on the 3rd draft of his treatment. The first two drafts were straightforward attempts "to condense the 8000 page poem as faithfully as possible into an 80 minute script." The third draft is Neil "playing with it, tweaking it, noodling with it." Specifically, he is addressing aspects of the poem that don't translate well into filmic terms, such as the fact that the protagonist is a god who traipses through the poem at the head of his army of magical monkeys and whatnot, doing what he has to do without ever really facing jeopardy or uncertainty - a spectacular but not particularly emotionally engaging scenario.
Death the High Cost of Living: He gave pretty much the exact same information as in the previous NYC account, including the "bless their little cotton socks" line re: Warners. Asked to assess the completeness in his opinion of the 1st draft he had turned in on April 1st, he said he didn't really think it a proper first draft, "rather more a 7/8ths draft."
The Sandman: "Still in limbo." He stated that the drafts are still rolling in, each progressively worse than the last, but that he no longer has the heart to read them. He stopped at upon receiving a draft in which Morpheus' first line was, "Foolish mortals! So you think your puny weapons can harm me, the Sandman, Lord of the Realm of Dreams?" -he was forced to drop this draft at around page 40, without ever finding out how it resolved. In fact, he noted that he only learned the rest of the draft's story much later on by reading the review on Ain't It Cool News!
Good Omens: Terry Gilliam is in preproduction. Will it happen? Neil hopes so, but he conceded he's an optimist. His co-author, he suggests, maintains a more realistic perspective. Terry Pratchett's mantra: "It'll never happen." "But Terry, what if Gilliam does manage, against odds, to make a really good movie?" "It'll never happen." "Well... imagine, will you, that the film is made, we're in the theater, walking down the aisle with movie stars behind us! What do you think-" "It'll never happen." On the subject of how involved he and TP are in the production, Gaiman said, "Not at all! Why would we want to be? The book was a Gaiman and Pratchett book. With the film, we want to see a Terry Gilliam movie!" He also observed that, even in the event it turns out to be a "bad" Terry Gilliam movie, he'd still prefer that to the vast majority of "good" films churned out by the industry.
The Books of Magic: "Moving up fast." However, the main character, Tim Hunter, iis no longer a 12-year-old bespectacled British wizard "for reasons beyond my comprehension." (This with a knowing wink towards a huge stack of Harry Potter books.) Instead, Tim will be 17 and American, but (Gaiman seemed quite pleased by this) they are letting him keep his spectacles.
That was it for Neil's movie news. Throughout, he was a gentleman and truly entertaining. Next up at the bookstore: seemingly following Neil location-for- location, the Chin will make his Confessions this Friday! I'll be there paying homage, of course, and will send in any tidbits he might let slip.
If this is of any use, please call me "Stormcrow" as you did on my previous submission (the one-of-a-kind picture of Saruman with his bong, smuggled out of New Zeland at the cost of many Bothans' lives.)
