HBO turns Fire into fantasy series - Cabler acquires rights to Martins Ice

Wednesday, 17 January 2007

BY Michael Fleming {Variety} - HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martins bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. "Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff ("Troy") and Weiss ("Halo") and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script. The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones," and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each) to fuel a seasons worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but wont complete the seven-book cycle until 2011. The author will co-exec produce the series along with Management 360s Guymon Casady and Created Bys Vince Gerardis. Martins series has drawn comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, because both are period epics set in imagined lands. But Martin has eschewed Tolkiens good-vs.-evil theme in favor of flawed characters from seven noble families. The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood." "They tried for 50 years to make Lord of the Rings as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three," Martin said. "My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, youd have to choose one or two characters." Aside from writing the most recent draft of "Halo," Weiss recently adapted the William Gibson novel "Pattern Recognition" for WB and director Peter Weir. LINK THIS ARTICLE

 

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