The First Movie

[Cail]

Yeah, but I bet Andrew McCarthy works really cheap now.

[IVB]

Even with the soothtell, too much important stuff happens in the 1st chrons. TWL would make almost no sense at all without the 1st chrons.

Well, it would make sense if it were treated correctly.

My greatest fear is that the 1st chronicles would be totally denatured when filmed. The TC portrayed on the screen would not be the one we all know so well. There would be no rape of Lena. Most audiences don't want rapist heroes.... I am not saying that I am looking forward to a detailed rape scene, but as everyone knows it is VITAL to the story in all three books. With no rape, there is no Elena with incestuous desires (whole other line of problems there...) and the breaking of the Law of Death, no weakening of the Vow before Korik's final corruption. No motivation for Tirock and Atarian to attempt summonings, nothing for Covenant to feel guilt over. In the first two books most of Covenant's conflicts are internal. He hardly does anything but avoid responsibility, refuse to engage, and waits to wake up. We know why he does this, but the movie audiences will not, no matter how much explaining is done. It will come off that he his a coward and a whiner. What I can easily see happening is all three books being rolled into one or two movies, tops. I hope two... The first movie would be a hybrid of LFB/TIW. Elena will not be TC's daughter, but will be a love interest. Forget the Oath of Peace, it will not resonate with most movie goers. TC will be first summoned at the start of the Illearth War so the movie can have lots of big battles to appease the LOTR fans... Remember, no matter how big of fans the directors and screen writers are, the money people are going to have a big say in the production. Fans of the books will be disappointed with the result. If the all three books are rolled into one movie then result will be TC in name only and immediately be dismissed as a LOTR rip off. I am not kidding, in LOTR they had Liv Tyler (Arwen) rehearsing sword fights at Helm's Deep before book fans found out and inundated Peter Jackson with complaints.

Who knows, they may get the money for all three movies up front and film then concurrently as LOTR was done, but I doubt it. If LFB is shot first and flops the remaining 2 will not even be considered and you can forget the second chronicles.

Now if the second chronicles were filmed, the key points could be handled via flashback as Covenant fills linden in on Keven's watch or something, or even a historical montage similar to the Fellowship (then the rip off complaints will really roll in...). I am not saying that it will be very detailed, but at least the average movie goer will have a protagonist who as decided to do something right away...

[Loredoctor]

My answer is make the films outside of america. Get them funded by a European company because it is more likely that the chronicles will remain largely unchanged.

[IVB]

My answer is make the films outside of america. Get them funded by a European company because it is more likely that the chronicles will remain largely unchanged.

When I read LFB, I always envisioned the exclamation 'Bloody Hell!' with a British accent...

[The Dreaming]

The first chronicles feels much more "epic fantasy-y" than the second. I think that for these movies to be successful (regardless of the inherent worth of the material) they need to shamelessly ride the wake of The Lord of the Rings movies, much the same way the books did. The first chronicles has a much more classical high fantasy feel to it.

It's like Donaldson said, the first chronicles are about armies and temporal might. The second are about corruption. I think that the first is more what audiences "expect" to see. Regardless, they don't expect to see a main character rape someone in the first twenty minutes, but let's keep the surprises to a minimal for the first movie. Being transported to a land that you are completely unfamiliar with and seeing it hurt just won’t have any affect on someone unfamiliar with the first chronicles. Although, I suppose it would put you into Lindon's perspective quite nicely. If the 2nd Chrons came second, you would get the people who had seen the first seeing it from Covenants perspective and the people seeing it who had not seen the first trilogy looking at things from Lindon's perspective. That would be pretty cool.

[kevinswatch]

It doesn't make much sense to film the Second Chronicles first...

Plus, in the First Chronicles we get the awesome large army battles in Illearth War that people love to see in movies...heh.

Plus, I love The Power that Preserves. Heh.-jay

[CovenantJr]

I agree. The First Chronicles are the way to go.

[Loredoctor]

Agreed.

[matrixman]

My answer is make the films outside of america. Get them funded by a European company because it is more likely that the chronicles will remain largely unchanged.

When I read LFB, I always envisioned the exclamation 'Bloody Hell!' with a British accent...

I never imagined any of the characters having a British or any other specific accent. In my mind, they spoke with generic accents, or maybe it's better to say they spoke with no accents. When Covenant says "Hellfire!" in the books the word simply registers in my brain as "Hellfire!" and that's the end of it. That's probably not a very good explanation. If I were to force myself to think about his accent in particular, I might hear him speaking with an American accent, if only because it's been fairly well established that Covenant is a writer living somewhere in the United States.

Having said all that, I've resigned myself to the likelihood that a TC movie will have a predominantly English cast, though I can always hope they'll surprise me. Peter Jackson's LOTR films may spawn cinematic cliches for years to come, and a TC movie could easily end up being one of them, if the TC filmmakers are too enamored by Jackson or Tolkien that they forget to create a distinct style for Covenant.

I'm not opposed to the TC films being made outside of America, but I'll be shaking my head if perfectly fine North American actors are shunned unless they agree to use a British accent (a la Elijah Wood). I'm sure the actors would relish the challenge, but that's beside the point. Peter Jackson has set a template for fantasy cinema so convincing that anything that deviates from that template may seem wrong now to the public; but all the more reason for the TC movie producers to have courage and vision to tear up the blueprints and do something different, to let jaded moviegoers know that Jackson and Tolkien aren't the whole story of fantasy.

Oh, by the way, I also think the 1st Chronicles should be made first.

[CovenantJr]

TC has an American accent to me. I can't read dialogue without hearing the voice in my head, so I have to provide an appropriate accent, though any character whose nationality isn't specifically mentioned defaults to my own accent, so the people of the Land are all English

[ook]

How strange Covenant Jr - thats exactly how I feel. I'm scottish and TC has definitely got an american accent but Linden and all of the others speak english (and oddly with english accents rather than scottish although I'm originally from Inverness which is famed for its correct english pronunciation!)

How does that work?

Ook

ps TC also looks like SRD now

[Myste]

I think they've got to make the First Chrons first. What worries me is this--will they do each book as a separate movie? Or will they turn the first trilogy into one film, the second chrons into the next film, and the last chrons into the third? I just see huge problems in store for Revelstone Productions.

And, I just noticed this from the press release, sorry if it's been pointed out before--TC is described as an author who's being "shunned." While this is true, it doesn't say anything bout TC being a freakin' leper.

[Loredoctor]

Seriously, why would they not make him a leper? It would be like making Gollum not corrupted by the ring.

[Myste]

Maybe they didn't want to give away too much in the press release...I suppose as soon as the uninitiated person hears the word "leper" it's an absolute turnoff. Can you imagine the studio heads' reaction while listening to the pitch?

"See there's this best-selling author, right? Think James Caan in Misery. Well, it turns out he's a leper, you know? And one day he cracks his head and gets transported to this other world called the Land, which is a sort of Middle-Earth meets Deliverance kind of place. And the first thing he does when he gets to the Land is, he rapes the girl who's trying to help him. Then he spends the rest of the movie trying to get home, in a Milo & Otis meets Saving Private Ryan epic journey. Now here's the kicker--he's a complete A-hole through the WHOLE MOVIE. Great, huh?"

[JohnOrloff]

So listen, I have been lurking here recently, and noticed everyone is leaping to conclusions.

The Hollywood Reporter article was, as Stephen Donaldson said, " both premature and misleading" (as well as kooky-- where they got "Saturn", we'll never know).

It is a fact that Mark Gordon (producer of "Saving Private Ryan", "The PAtriot") and Peter Winther (prodcuer of "Independence Day", "The Patriot") and myself (writer of "Band of Brothers"), are attempting to figure out how to make a movie out of TCTC.

Peter and I have each been fans of the books for over 20 years-- and we take the respnsibity seriously. We are not going to re-invent them, nor are we going to change them in any major way. We LOVE these books.

Film IS, however, a different medium than literature, and as such, things must be adapted. For example, as some one else mentioned, to shoot LFB as written, would in itself require about 8 hours of film. So we will have to in the least, shorten...

We have every hope to stay as true to the book, and Mr. Donaldson's vision, as possible. In fact, I hope that Mr. Donaldson will be very involved in this adaption. I am sure at some point he will tire of my phone-calls to come.

I of course understand your nervousness and trepidation.

I don't know if any of you saw "Band of Brothers". It was an adaptation that was extremely faithful to the source (in this case the real men more than the book). We even got some criticism as TOO faithful to the truth (for comparison, take a look at "Pearl Harbor"). I take the responsibilty of TCTC with the same level of seriousness.

And Mark Gordon is no slouch, having been nominated for an Oscar for "Ryan". And Peter's understanding of effects is gigantic-- and his passion for, and knowledge of, the material matches anyone's on this site.

There is still a huge hurdle to get past though-- namely, finding a studio willing to develop the project. That is why the article in the Reporter was premature. And this is, given the nature of TC as a character, not a no-brainer.

So, everyone calm down.

I don't think it appropriate at this time to have a full blown conversation at this site, though once we go forward, I hope that can change-- I think Peter Jackson was very right to include other fans in the process. TCTC is not mine, it is OURS.

But I will tell you this-- our plan at this moment is to do LFB alone as the first film. The Chronicles are MUCH too rich to try to stuff into one or two films. So we'll start at the beginning-- a good place to start, no?

Breathing easier I hope?

[drew]

WOW

[Myste]

It is a fact that Mark Gordon (producer of "Saving Private Ryan", "The PAtriot") and Peter Winther (prodcuer of "Independence Day", "The Patriot") and myself (writer of "Band of Brothers"), are attempting to figure out how to make a movie out of TCTC.

Holy crap. I TOTALLY pulled my "Saving Private Ryan" crack out of thin air. Guess it goes to show you never know who's going to be reading your fangirl rants.

Thanks JohnOrloff!

[Creator]

So listen, I have been lurking here recently...?

Welcome to the Watch John!

Welcome and BE TRUE!!

[and Happy New Years!]

[Loredoctor]

Welcome to the watch, John!

[hierachy]

Hey, John, welcome to the watch.