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The Talisman: the Netflix series
I was just perusing through imdb.com and see Steve Spielberg is set to do this as a movie?
If this has been discussed before, I apologize, it's new news to me.
If this has been discussed before, I apologize, it's new news to me.
Comments
Right now I'd say it's no closer to being made than it was in 1984.
I'm not really even sure Speilberg could do it justice....
Spielberg, King Dangle 'Talisman' at TNT
'War of the Worlds' director will produce six-hour miniseries
December 5, 2006
TNT is getting back into the Stephen King business, reaching back a ways in the prolific author's catalogue for a miniseries adaptation of "The Talisman."
The miniseries will also bring Steven Spielberg, who executive produced "Into the West," back to TNT. The Oscar-winning "Saving Private Ryan" and "War of the Worlds" director will serve as an exec producer of the six-hour project, which is scheduled for a summer 2008 premiere. Kathleen Kennedy and DreamWorks TV heads Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will also be exec producers.
"We are so happy and proud to be working with DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg after such a tremendous experience making 'Into the West,'" says Michael Wright, who oversees original programming at TNT.
King wrote "The Talisman" with Peter Straub in 1984. The story centers on Jack Sawyer, a boy who goes on a quest to a parallel world called the Territories to retrieve the title object, which will save both his dying mother and her "twinner," the Queen of the Territories.
A film adaptation of "The Talisman" has been kicking around Hollywood virtually since its initial publication (early paperback editions carried the cover line "Soon to be a major motion picture"). Spielberg was at one time attached to direct a feature-film version of the novel, but it never got off the ground.
At other points in its life, directors Vadim Perelman ("House of Sand and Fog") and Edward Zwick ("Blood Diamond") were attached. A miniseries project at ABC, with Spielberg executive producing, was in the works as far back as 1999. The TNT mounting, however, appears to be the first version of the project with an actual release date.
TNT has a good track record of late with King adaptations. The cable network mounted a four-hour "Salem's Lot" miniseries in 2004 and "Nightmares & Dreamscapes," based on King's short stories, last summer.
Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3," "The Ring") is writing the adaptation of the novel for TNT. A director hasn't been hired yet.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-stephenkingthetalismantntminiseries,0,5056174.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines
For Release: Dec. 5, 2006
TNT Teams with Executive Producers Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy And DreamWorks Television For Mystical Adventure Adapted from Stephen King and Peter Straub’s THE TALISMAN
Six-Hour Limited Series About A Boy on Quest through Parallel Worlds Slated to Premiere on TNT in Summer 2008
After an enormously successful collaboration on the critically acclaimed Into the West, TNT is teaming once again with DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg, this time for an epic, six-hour adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s other-worldly adventure THE TALISMAN, according to an announcement by Michael Wright, senior vice president of original programming for TNT and TBS. This project also returns the drama network to King territory after such high-profile projects as Salem’s Lot, one of cable’s most popular movies of 2004, and this year’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. Frequent Spielberg partner Kathleen Kennedy will join him in executive-producing THE TALISMAN, along with Ehren Kruger (Skeleton Key, The Ring, Arlington Road and currently adapting Nightline for DreamWorks Features), who will adapt the King/Straub novel. THE TALISMAN will be co-executive produced by Darryl Frank (Into the West, Taken) and Justin Falvey (Into the West, Las Vegas), who head up DreamWorks Television. THE TALISMAN is slated to premiere on TNT in summer 2008.
“We are so happy and proud to be working with DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg after such a tremendous experience making Into the West,” said Wright. “We’ve also had excellent results working with Stephen King’s material on Salem’s Lot and Nightmares & Dreamscapes, so the opportunity to bring these talents together on our network is just about as good as it gets. Like those previous projects, THE TALISMAN is a truly epic production, but one that will present all new challenges and opportunities. We look forward to working with this top-notch team of filmmakers as we create what is certain to be a television event to remember.”
Written in 1984, THE TALISMAN marks the first collaboration between bestselling authors King and Straub. It tells the story of Jack Sawyer, a boy who goes on a quest through this world and through a parallel world known as “The Territories,” experiencing both good and evil in each. His goal is to obtain a mysterious talisman that will save his dying mother’s life, as well as the life of her “twinner,” the Queen of The Territories.
TNT’s prior work with DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg, the 2005 production of Into the West, was an enormous critical and popular success. The epic, all-star tale of westward expansion, which was watched by more than 81 million viewers over its six-week run, earned 16 Emmy® nominations, an ad-supported cable record for a limited series and more nominations than any other 2005-06 program.
TNT’s previous adaptations of Stephen King works include this year’s eight-part critically-acclaimed limited series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, which featured dramatic storytelling and an all-star cast, including stand-out performances from Oscar® winner William Hurt in “Battleground” and Emmy® winner William H. Macy in “Umney’s Last Case.” In 2004, TNT premiered Salem’s Lot, a four-hour production starring Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland, James Cromwell and Andre Braugher, which also received abundant critical praise and ranked as one of ad-supported cable’s top movies of the year.
CS: How have things been going on "The Talisman"? Have you actually been working with Stephen King or Peter Straub on that at all?
Kruger: I haven't worked with those guys, the authors. I've worked heavily with Steven Spielberg and Katherine Kennedy, who are the producers on the project, so we've had years of creative meetings on it. Now it's moving ahead in a mini-series version, since we're having trouble getting the feature off the ground. So I'm working on that now, and the good news about having six hours to tell the story instead of two is there's a lot more of the book that can now be part of the movie.
CS: Did you have a script for a two-hour movie at one point that you're embellishing with four more hours of story?
Kruger: We're using some of the elements of the feature script and then, there's a lot to add and expand. The core structure of the feature was always that of the novel, but there was just no way we could include a lot of what's in the novel, so now we're able to go back and cherry-pick the best sequences and plotlines and subplots of the novel again.
CS: Have you found a director for that and will it be the same director for the whole thing?
Kruger: I don't know. Probably will be one director for the whole thing, but we'll have more of a sense of that later in the spring.
The announcement was made March 6 at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was part of a presentation on TBS, TNT, Court TV, Turner's broadband site Super Deluxe and Turner Sports.
Spielberg will executive-produce a six-hour miniseries based on Stephen King and Peter Straub's best-selling supernatural thriller The Talisman for the summer of 2008, with DreamWorks Television producing. Spielberg, who produced Into the West for TNT, will be joined by his longtime partner Kathleen Kennedy as executive producer, along with Ehren Kruger (Skeleton Key, The Ring), who will adapt the King/Straub novel. Darryl Frank, who heads up DreamWorks Television, will be co-executive producer, along with Justin Falvey.
The Talisman, which was published in 1984, marked the first collaboration between King and Straub. It tells the story of Jack Sawyer, a boy who goes on a quest through this world and through a parallel world known as "The Territories" on a mission to obtain a mysterious talisman that will save his dying mother's life and that of her "twinner," the Queen of the Territories.
TNT's six-hour adaptation of the Stephen King-Peter Straub novel, executive produced by Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, has been put on hold because of budgetary issues, sources said.
The limited series, from DreamWorks TV, was announced by TNT with big fanfare in December and slated for a summer 2008 premiere.
After all scripts were recently completed, it became clear that their execution would require a larger budget than previously allocated, sources said.
The fantasy-horror project, about a boy's quest through this world and a parallel world known as the Territories to find a talisman that will save his mother, is said to involve elaborate special effects. TNT and DreamWorks are now addressing the financial issues and looking for ways to make the series, sources said.
"Talisman" has been a passion project for Spielberg and Kennedy, who have developed it since optioning the book about 25 years ago though Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.
Originally, "Talisman" was envisioned as a feature, with Richard LaGravenese writing a draft in the early 1990s.
In 2000, the project was set up at ABC as a four-hour miniseries executive produced by Spielberg and Kennedy. Mick Garris was brought in to write and direct the mini, but after he delivered the script to the network, ABC opted not to proceed with the project because of what was reported at the time as budget issues.
"I got a call from Kathleen Kennedy saying the network said they can't afford it," Garris told IGN FilmForce in a 2003 interview.
"Talisman" was resurrected as a feature again at Universal Pictures and DreamWorks. After a series of writers, including Ehren Kruger, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro; directors, including Vadim Perelman and Ed Zwick; and production start dates, including July and then September 2004, the project was put on the back burner until Spielberg mentioned it to TNT's Michael Wright in summer 2005 after TNT and DreamWorks TV's collaboration on the 12-hour mini "Into the West."
>>> Source: Five Questions With Peter Straub
Problem is, director Steven Spielberg has had an iron grip on the rights for the last 25 years.
After failing to get his director reel to Spielberg's camp, Ratthe opted for the next best option: YouTube.
Ratthe uploaded his six-minute video The Hotel Room in the hopes of snagging the director's attention -- and from the looks of the demo, he might have a decent shot.
It might just be the best King remake in years -- remember those 2007 abominations 1408 and The Mist? Both were awful at best, a shame since King's material has birthed some of the best horror films ever.
The short stars Cameron Bright, who recently played a mutant in X-Men: The Last Stand, as a young man struggling to make sense of a glimpse into a strange alternate universe. The visual effects were done by Montreal-based Buzz Image, the team behind the aesthetic of Frank Milller's stunning big-screen adaptation 300.
Ratthe has made his intentions crystal clear by posting the following statement to his YouTube page: "My main objective for creating this piece is to demonstrate my directing ability and my vision to the producers who own the rights to the story: STEVEN SPIELBERG & KATHLEEN KENNEDY."
IGN: And I have to ask this because I'm a huge fan of the book. Any word on that long-in-development adaptation of Stephen King's The Talisman?
MARSHALL: Yes, there is! It's back to being a movie. It's kind of on the backburner since we're waiting to see how everything shakes out with the DreamWorks, Paramount, Amblin thing.
>> Source
Frank Marshall is producing the film with Michael Wright exec producing.
Based on the best-selling novel, the movie follows a boy, who in order to save his mother from certain death, enters a parallel world known as the Territories in search of a powerful talisman.
Amblin had initially been developing the project as a TV show, but has since decided to turn it into a film.
Boone has had a long-standing relationship with the author after being tapped to write and direct an adaptation of “The Stand.” When that project was put on hold, the iconic writer tasked Boone with penning an adaptation of “Revival,” which is currently in development.
In 1982, Steven Spielberg was so enamored by The Talisman, the fantasy horror book by Stephen King and Peter Straub, that two years before the book was published, he acquired the screen rights outright and in perpetuity.
He then spent the next 35-plus years developing it as a movie, trying in vain to find a way into the story.
Now, Talisman may finally be ready to reach screens but, as befits the times, as a series.
And, as it sometimes takes a village to raise a project, Spielberg has assembled some mighty collaborators to help him make the adaptation a reality.
The Duffer Brothers, whose own Stranger Things owes more than a few debts to King’s work, will executive produce a series adapting the book, that will be produced by Netflix in association with Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Paramount Television Studios.
Curtis Gwinn, who worked as a writer-exec producer on Duffers’ Stranger Things, will act as writer and showrunner of the project, which is in development. With deals still being sewn up and in negotiations, Netflix and the production parties involved had no comment.
The book was an instant best-seller when it hit stories in 1984 and King and Straub reunited for a sequel in 2001. On the adaptation front, the most recent developments occurred inn 2019 when Mike Barker, who directed several episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, was involved in what was then being envisioned as a feature.
For the new take on Talisman, Matt and Ross Duffer will exec produce via their Monkey Massacre Productions while Spielberg exec produces via Amblin Television along with partners Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. King will also exec produce as will Paramount Television.
Todd Cohen will oversee day-to-day development on the project for Amblin, along with Spielberg, Frank, and Falvey.
>>> Source
“I kept my herd...safe.”
Now if only Straub and King would finish the trilogy.
It's the only unfinished story in King's works.