OMEN
09-13-2006, 08:44 PM
Director Peter Jackson has optioned the film rights to historical fantasy novel series Temeraire.
The Hollywood Reporter said the Wellington director was looking at adapting the books by first-time US writer Naomi Novik into film and video games.
The books focus on British naval Captain Will Laurence who, during the Napoleonic Wars, uses a dragon named Temeraire to fight his enemies.
In real life, Temeraire was a 98-gun warship which played a distinguished role in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, but in the books the Captain captures a French ship, and discovers an unhatched dragon egg in the hold – a gift from the emperor of China intended for Napoleon. When the egg hatches, he gives up his ship to continue the fight with the dragon he names Temeraire.
"Temeraire is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love – fantasy and historical epic," Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter. "I can't wait to see Napoleonic battles fought with a squadron of dragons. That's what I go to the movies for."
Novik, a former computer programmer, said she was reassured that her works were in the hands of the director who brought J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy to life.
"Those movies meant so much to me," she told the Reporter
MGM has recently expressed an interest in having Jackson film The Hobbit, as a prequel to his billion-dollar The Lord of the Rings series.
Novik wrote the first Temeraire book in 2004 and is now working on the fourth instalment.
Jackson said he was hooked from the beginning: "As I was reading these books, I could see them coming to life in my mind's eye." According to the Reporter, Jackson hasn't decided whether he will make one Temeraire movie or three.
Jackson has signed to produce a remake of the World War 2 movie Dambusters, and is working on writing a film adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones.
NZPA
The Hollywood Reporter said the Wellington director was looking at adapting the books by first-time US writer Naomi Novik into film and video games.
The books focus on British naval Captain Will Laurence who, during the Napoleonic Wars, uses a dragon named Temeraire to fight his enemies.
In real life, Temeraire was a 98-gun warship which played a distinguished role in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, but in the books the Captain captures a French ship, and discovers an unhatched dragon egg in the hold – a gift from the emperor of China intended for Napoleon. When the egg hatches, he gives up his ship to continue the fight with the dragon he names Temeraire.
"Temeraire is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love – fantasy and historical epic," Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter. "I can't wait to see Napoleonic battles fought with a squadron of dragons. That's what I go to the movies for."
Novik, a former computer programmer, said she was reassured that her works were in the hands of the director who brought J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy to life.
"Those movies meant so much to me," she told the Reporter
MGM has recently expressed an interest in having Jackson film The Hobbit, as a prequel to his billion-dollar The Lord of the Rings series.
Novik wrote the first Temeraire book in 2004 and is now working on the fourth instalment.
Jackson said he was hooked from the beginning: "As I was reading these books, I could see them coming to life in my mind's eye." According to the Reporter, Jackson hasn't decided whether he will make one Temeraire movie or three.
Jackson has signed to produce a remake of the World War 2 movie Dambusters, and is working on writing a film adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones.
NZPA