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Mortal Engines film coming from The Hobbit writing team (dir. Christian Rivera)

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S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
http://variety.com/2016/film/news/peter-jackson-mortal-engines-fran-walsh-1201898798/

Peter Jackson and his “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” team have found their next pic with their long-in-development adaptation of “Mortal Engines.”

Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens will co-write the film with Christian Rivers directing.

The movie is Rivers’ first major directing job, having spent the majority of his 25-year career working closely with Jackson. Rivers began as a story board artist, later moving into supervising visual effects and finally serving as splinter unit director on “The Hobbit” trilogy. Rivers won a visual efforts Academy Award for his work on the 2005 film “King Kong.” He also recently served as second unit director on the remake of “Pete’s Dragon.”

“Christian is one of my closest collaborators,” says Jackson. “The combination of emotion and jaw-dropping visuals in ‘Mortal Engines’ makes this the perfect movie for his move into feature directing. What Christian intends to do with Philip Reeve’s terrific story is going to result in an original and spectacular movie. I wish I could see it tomorrow!”

Based on the novel by Philip Reeve, Jackson and Walsh have been involved with the project for several years, having optioned the rights from Scholastic in 2001. Ken Kamins – Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens’ longtime manager – brought the project to MRC.

The book is set in a world many thousands of years in the future. Earth’s cities now roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive Traction Cities, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the Outlands who will change the course of his life forever.
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K

Killer Queen

Banned
Think I'll avoid any more of Peter Jacksons adaptations, terrible hobbit adaptations aside, his take on the fellowship of the ring left a lot to be desired. (Have seen the sequels yet as I haven't gotten through the books yet)
 
V

Veelk

Banned
I actually had the same creative writing teacher as the guy who wrote these. He was insanely cool. I should remember to read the second book. The first one I felt only got really good towards the end. But I'm happy to hear my fellow alumni made it.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
Killer Queen said:
Think I'll avoid any more of Peter Jacksons adaptations, terrible hobbit adaptations aside, his take on the fellowship of the ring left a lot to be desired. (Have seen the sequels yet as I haven't gotten through the books yet)
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Fellowship was perfection.

There's are plenty of films you can shit on PJ for. And out of all of them you choose Fellowship?
 
N

Nipo

Member
Killer Queen said:
Think I'll avoid any more of Peter Jacksons adaptations, terrible hobbit adaptations aside, his take on the fellowship of the ring left a lot to be desired. (Have seen the sequels yet as I haven't gotten through the books yet)
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His adaption of LotR was brilliant. He took the self indulgent prose of Tolkien and turned it into a compelling story.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
I'm in. Hobbits and lovely bones sucked but I'm still always gonna give a couple hours to this creative team. Hell, if nothing else the Hobbit still had very solid production design
 
K

Khoryos

Member
Interesting! I'd heard of these books but never read them - I thought the idea sounded great, but was very confused when the TV show seemed to be about vampires or some shit.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Hopefully this person learned the right lessons from Jackson. Peter has talent but also stumbles frequently and indulges himself a bit too much.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Fellowship was perfection.

There's are plenty of films you can shit on PJ for. And out of all of them you choose Fellowship?
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Nipo said:
His adaption of LotR was brilliant. He took the self indulgent prose of Tolkien and turned it into a compelling story.
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Disagree, im not a fan of the changes he made to the source material. You're free to think it's a good movie, and its decent, its just a poor adaptation which is a shame because it had great casting. I'm no director but I can think of plenty of ways it could've been better; and its not like this Is an uncommon or unpopular opinion as it's shared by plenty others including the Tolkien estate, which is why he's never allowed to touch the Simarilion, whether he wants to or not.

I don't think it's a bad movie. Just not a very good adaptation
 
A

AdventureRacing

Member
Killer Queen said:
Disagree, im not a fan of the changes he made to the source material. You're free to think it's a good movie, and its decent, its just a poor adaptation which is a shame because it had great casting. I'm no director but I can think of plenty of ways it could've been better; and its not like this Is an uncommon or unpopular opinion as it's shared by plenty others including the Tolkien estate, which is why he's never allowed to touch the Simarilion, whether he wants to or not.
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It most certainly is an uncommon opinion. The movie is damn near universally praised and is usually near the top of the best movies ever made lists for a reason. I'm not saying you can't like it or think it was poor but you're definitely in a small minority thinking that. Not that there is anything wrong with that, tastes are subjective, just don't delude yourself into thinking that's a common opinion.
 
L

Loxley

Member
Rivers was semi-promoted and brought in to do some second-unit work for The Hobbit films, and anyone who's watched the LOTR/Hobbit appendices will recognize him since he's been featured in all of them. As one of Jackson's oldest colleagues I'll be really interested to see what he can do.
 
S

Spyder_Monkey

Banned
There are plenty of Peter Jackson movies to shit on; the Lovely Bones, the Hobbit, etc. But LoTR? That has to count for some sin among movie buffs doesn't it?

I've heard of the books before but haven't read. The premise itself sounds intriguing enough so I hope they get it off the ground.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Eager to hear these 'plenty of ways'.
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I guess what it really comes down to is that the film neuters the first two thirds of the book in favor of long drawn out exposition scenes and rushing to Moria when really the film in my opinion should've been about those two thirds and ended at Moria.
The first two thirds of the book consist of Frodo leaving the shire with his friends as he's pursued by the Nazgul which by all means are the antagonists of this story. Instead about 80% of the journey is cut out in favor of rushing to meet strider when it shouldn't have been, because what was cut out is really the meat of the story and the film leaves you with the bones.
I'd have preferred it to follow Frodo and his friends as they're thrown into this situation with little idea of what's going on and no guide whilst being pursued by evil supernatural forces and during that time you get to know Frodo better in addition to the tension of being chased by an intelligent otherworldly force and narrowly escaping each encounter making the stakes real. Those are the interesting, fun and exciting moments of Fellowship.

I also didn't like how they handled Saruman. He's not explicitly evil at that point in the story, he has his disagreements with Gandalf and Gandalf is on his way, suspicious and cautious of him but they're not all out swinging each other around in ridiculous fashion and a lot of time that shouldve been spent on the story above is allocated to this silliness when it's unnecessary and unimportant to this particular story.

After they meet Strider things are a bit better and that section was done okay, despite not making any sense.
(The black riders slipped into the town quietly after dark by getting over the fence or some hedges and they were also watching the hobbits as they entered the town which iirc was supposed to look more like the shire but with real buildings rather than some random medival town) but the Black Riders still aren't any more intelligent or scary, they're just some dudes on horses.

The journey to Moria was alright and Moria was pretty well done too so I won't pick on it. Though this is really around the time the movie shouldve ended if Jackson was so adamant on removing material, the rest of the book has some interesting and important exposition but that's the stuff that should've been condensed, but instead it takes up large amounts of the film.

And finally I'm not a fan of how they handled certain scenes and characters, the worst offender being when Frodo was injured and being pursued by all the riders it was Frodo himself that rode to the top of the hill and tried to stop them from pursuing him, not the elf lady, who pretty much stole large amounts of her story from the other Elf (their names escape me)


There's way too much to go into specifics but I just feel it's a poor adaptation that prioritizes all the wrong parts of the story. On its own it's not a bad film and I'm not saying it is, I'm saying it's a poor adaptation of another material, which it most definitely is. I don't see why that's such an outlandish opinion when the Tolkien estate themselves feels the same way.

Christopher Tolkien said:
“They gutted the book, making an action movie for 15-25 year olds. And it seems that The Hobbit will be of the same ilk. Tolkien became…devoured by his popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of the time. The gap widened between the beauty, the seriousness of the work, and what it has become is beyond me. This level of marketing reduces to nothing the aesthetic and philosophical significance of this work.”
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A

A-V-B

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Fellowship was perfection.

There's are plenty of films you can shit on PJ for. And out of all of them you choose Fellowship?
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No kidding. Fellowship was like a perfect D&D fantasy come to life. And I say that in full knowledge of what came first.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
A-V-B said:
No kidding. Fellowship was like a perfect D&D fantasy come to life. And I say that in full knowledge of what came first.
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And really that's my problem with it. There's nothing wrong with it on its own, but it's barely Fellowship of the ring which is where my distaste for it comes from. It takes some things from the book and fucks off snd does its own thing.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
Killer Queen said:
And really that's my problem with it. There's nothing wrong with it on its own, but it's barely Fellowship of the ring which is where my distaste for it comes from. It takes some things from the book and fucks off snd does its own thing.
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Which is what makes it a good adaptation.

A good adaptation doesn't = slavish toward the source material to the point that it will make an accurate retelling, whilst being a slog of a film.

A good adaptation is something that best represents the spirit of the material in a completely different medium.

Your version where 95% of the film is Frodo and the Hobbits running from the Nazgul would get super old, super fast. Jackson's FotR maintains the spirit of the book and economizes the storytelling, without feeling rushed - which is a huge fucking accomplishment for Peter Jackson of all people, who these days never knows when to say when.
 
C

CSX

Member
Loved the series back when I was in middle school. I remember wanting a movie adaptation of the series after finishing the 2nd book. Took a while but glad it's finally happening :D
 
R

RedShift

Member
Sweet, loved this book when I was younger. If only we could get a Sabriel film as well...

Slightly odd the plot description says 'On one of these massive Traction Cities' rather than mentioning it's London though.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
SCULLIBUNDO said:
Which is what makes it a good adaptation.

A good adaptation doesn't = slavish toward the source material to the point that it will make an accurate retelling, whilst being a slog of a film.

A good adaptation is something that best represents the spirit of the material in a completely different medium.

Your version where 95% of the film is Frodo and the Hobbits running from the Nazgul would get super old, super fast. Jackson's FotR maintains the spirit of the book and economizes the storytelling, without feeling rushed - which is a huge fucking accomplishment for Peter Jackson of all people, who these days never knows when to say when.
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You see the thing is. That's just like, your opinion man. I'd disagree that it represents the spirit of the material as it removes the majority of what the material is to dumb it down or make changes that don't really add anything outside of being silly to those that do know the source material.

I'm not sure if you've read the books and if so the last time you did the movie isn't a good adaptation if it removes a majority of the source material. No one is arguing if it's a good film and simply because it is a good film doesn't mean it's a good adaptation. A good adaptation should at least be mostly faithful and preserve the original. Fellowship of the ring does not and that's okay, because obviously people like it, but I don't and I'm not the only one, it might not be the popular opinion but it's definitely not uncommon.

As for Frodo being chased by Nazgul, it didn't get old in the books so I don't see why it would in the movie. Having a mysterious pursuer or pursuers chase the protagonist(s) throughout the film isn't a new concept to cinema and has been done pretty well in other films, there's absolutely no reason it couldn't have been done here.

As for it not feeling rushed, they condensed something that happened over numerous months and half the book into a single night. Yeah sorry that feels incredibly rushed.

I understand that you like the film and think its entertaining, but it's neither a good nor faithful adaptation to the book.

Make whatever argument you want to the contrary but if J.R.R Tolkien's family feels the same way then obviously one opinion has more weight than the other.
 
S

sohois

Member
Remember liking this book well enough when I was younger, though I never got round to reading any of the sequels.
 
A

Atrophis

Member
Awesome. I love the first book. Never got round to the sequels but its a cool setting and quite brutal for YA fiction.
 
C

CaviarMeths

Member
The big secret is that there's really no such thing as a good movie, bad adaptation. Either a story works or it doesn't. And indeed Fellowship is one of the best movies ever made.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
CaviarMeths said:
The big secret is that there's really no such thing as a good movie, bad adaptation. Either a story works or it doesn't. And indeed Fellowship is one of the best movies ever made.
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Christopher Tolkien said:
Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time," Christopher Tolkien observes sadly. "The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away."

"They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25," Christopher says regretfully. "And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film."
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Well, when your father writes LOTR and you complete his legacy you can tell me otherwise. Until then, I'm just going to respectfully disagree.
 
D

dapperbandit

Banned
It'd be interesting to see the tone they go for with this. The first book was much more kid friendly than the sequels.

I also think capturing the scale of the cities as essentially giant tanks could be difficult.

Casting of the main characters would also be super important.
 
Z

ZackieChan

Member
Killer Queen said:
Disagree, im not a fan of the changes he made to the source material. You're free to think it's a good movie, and its decent, its just a poor adaptation which is a shame because it had great casting. I'm no director but I can think of plenty of ways it could've been better; and its not like this Is an uncommon or unpopular opinion as it's shared by plenty others including the Tolkien estate, which is why he's never allowed to touch the Simarilion, whether he wants to or not.

I don't think it's a bad movie. Just not a very good adaptation
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Had to check the date of your post to make sure it wasn't necrobumped from a TheOneRing.net post from 2001.

On topic, I saw Christian speak with Barry Osborne in 1999(?) in NYC before FoTR came out. He seemed like a really good guy and I'm happy to see him coming into his own. Hopefully this isn't terrible, but that summary isn't doing it any favors.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
ZackieChan said:
Had to check the date of your post to make sure it wasn't necrobumped from a TheOneRing.net post from 2001.

.
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Not really sure what you're attempting to imply. I'm no LOTR megafan as I've only gotten through the hobbit and the first book despite owning them all in addition to the simarilion and watched the film right after, it was well done in what it chose to do outside of the Nazgul and Gandalf/Saruman. I just don't like his choice of what to portray and what not to. I've explained my stance fairly thoroughly and respectfully, don't see why that's worthy of drive by pot shots.
 
Lord Panda

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Peru said:
Don't insult the screenwriters behind such classic lines as "That's my mother you're pissing on."
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"The Age of Men is over. The Time of the Orc has come."

"Meat's back on the menu, boys!" (I kinda love this line because of how ridiculous it is)
 
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