Elric Movie

[Anonymous]

Production Studio

O.K. so we narrowed down the lead role to Betthany or Cassel. Now we need a kick butt production crew and special effects team. So how's about the producers of the movie THE CELL? Certainly it was very Elricish at times. Gothic, gorry,...especially when the villain sat upon the throne. So they can do Elric right but its all up to Mikey...(hint hint)

FOR ASHNAR!!!!

[bob-e-bane]

Paul Bettany!

I love the idea of Paul Bettany playing the Elric role. Even Jude Law would do great. All this talk of Edgar Winter and Jeremy Irons ? Acting is a discriminating business. What are these guys? 60? To even mention them seems asinine. Plastic surgery or albinoism? Completely unnecassary. Good old Hollywood magic and a strong performance will suffice.
I love Christopher Walken as an actor, but Arioch (in one of his forms) was youthful and beautiful much like the Italian Actress that played Satan in �Passion of the Christ.’ God’s most beautiful angel. Hard to look at, and even a bit androgynous.

[Anonymous]

THE ELRIC MOVIE

I'M glad to see that the role of ELRIC might be going to PAUL BETTANY.Though, I wonder what type of movie rating is MR. MOORCOCK shooting for? PG-13 or RATED R. This will dictate what we will see on the screen.For me,PAUL as ELRIC, JOHNNY DEPP or JUDE LAW as the cousin.And possiable two to one actors, as ARIOCH.Maybe TIM ROTH or someone of differant acting ranges.Keep in mind,who will be loyal to stick it out for three movies.No multiple BATMEN! PLEASE.

[Doc]

I was a lot more in sympathy with the Winters before they got into Scientology and then later tried to sue Joe Lansdale for his homage to them in a graphic novel. Uncool, to say the least. I can't play my Winters records any more. I just get depressed.

I didn't know about this. This seems especially bad because I've always heard that Lansdale is one of the really good guys in the business.

[Pietro_Mercurios]

I must admit, I didn't know about the Winters and Scientology. I don't know what's worse, people giving up the struggle for mental and spiritual freedom by becoming 'Born Again', or by trying for 'Operating Thetan'?

I was first stuck by Johnny Winter's striking resemblance to Elric (the Elric in my mind's eye, anyway), watching an 'Old Grey Whistle Test' session, and that first impression has stayed fresh with me some twenty years later.


...

As to which rating the film should have, the film makers would be mad not to produce both US and European (or, at least DVD special edition) versions. The US version, could be aimed at the valuable 12-13 target audience that 95% of all US films are made for and the European/DVD version could contain more mature content. There might even be the possibility of two bites of the cherry as people go to see the movie in the cinemas and then decide they want also want to see the 'full' version, to see what they've been missing.

Some nice marketing possibilities there I think. :)

[Kalessin]

*Gasps for breath after racing through 51 pages of posts in order to be able to reply with a clear conscience*

Wow! Absolutely fantastic to hear that my all-time fave fantasy world (all my RPs tend to be littered with Melnibone references ;) ) might now be brought to life. Equally great to see that one of the only three post-war fantasy writers actually worth reading (imo) - with the other two being Robin Hobb and (sorry MM) Tolkien - is so willing to actively engage in dialogue with his fans on this forum.

Ok, mildly sycophantic opener, check. Now to add my own 2p to the 'great debate' (Mr Moorcock - if you're reading this and get bored of my waffling, it'd be great if you could glance at the last couple of paras before moving onto the next post!).

I'll agree with our host that Jack Ryder looks perfect for the part of Elric, but having seen him in Eastenders, I refuse to believe that his acting skills are up to the task. Dunno about Bettany and Law - both seem just about ok, but I'm still a bit dubious, both because they're getting a teeny bit too well-known (especially Law), and because their faces aren't quite aquiline enough. Damn, why does Richard E. Grant have to be so old? A few years ago he'd have been perfect! James Marsters could probably pull it off pretty effectively, but as a cult-TV character, too many viewers would probably struggle to disassociate him from Spike. One chap who I feel could play the role that hasn't been mentioned thus far (that I've seen) is Ioan Gruffud - methinks that he'd probably do a pretty decent job, though still not ideal. My personal conclusion would be that Mike's idea of scouting out the theatre scene is probably the right move. There must be at least one completely unknown top-rate young Shakespearian actor with suitable aquiline features out there! Just don't let Pitt near it at any cost! He was godawful in Troy.

Theleb Kaarna - has to be Gary Oldman

Smiorgan Baldhead - I'm struggling to see how he's being cut out - I can easily see his part being cut down to 'undeveloped sealord', but without using him at all, who's going to lead the fleet? For that matter, without Smiorgan, the who idea of Stormbringer always killing Elric's close friends will be weakened. Ah well, I assume Messers Moorcock, Weitz and Weitz know what they're doing! Shame though - he'd be perfect for Brian Blessed!

Cymoril - I've always pictured her as looking very young and innocent, while being quite a bit older. Someone almost ethereal, as if a strong breeze could lift her up and carry her away....

Arioch - I originally thought of Jeremy Irons, but Bowie is perfect!

All the Melnibonean nobles should be English Shakespearean actors, imo, and the same goes for the people of Quarzhasaat - just for the 'old-kingdomer' feel.

Jean Reno would be a great catch methinks - a truly top-rate actor. Dunno who he could play though.

Moonglum is...tricky. Can't think on anyone who'd be even vaguely suitable right now, him being the slightly deformed lunatic he is.

Soundtrack's going to be awfully important. If you look through the list of popular action flicks, most have great soundtracks. The Rock and Gladiator are both pretty mediocre in many ways - and both are really made by their soundtracks. I certainly don't think heavy metal is the way to go - although it would be a great opportunity to re-release all that old Hawkwind stuff! Pure instrumental is deffo the way forward, but it should sound really... alien, especially for the Imrryr stuff, rather than apeing traditional Classical music.

Can't wait to see Elric in action! I can already see it in my mind - a shot of the sword moaning in anticipation, then Elric's eyes blaze, and the sword croons in delight as he attacks. We see the first few die, and then the shot pans out to overlook the whole battlefield, with Elric a whirlpool of destruction in the centre, before the camera pans in to see the raw horror in the eyes of the dying, as their souls are sucked into Stormbringer's raving maw. Fantastic!

Ahem, got carried away there. One thing that rather perturbs me though is how on earth you're going to represent the various languages. If you'll excuse a quotation:

Dyvim Tvar was no stranger to the High Speech - as a Melnibonean noble he had been taught it as a matter of course - but the words seemed nontheless strange to him, for Elric used peculiar inflections and emphases, giving the words a special and secret weight and chanting them in a voice which ranged from bass groan to falsetto shriek. It was not pleasant to listen to such noises coming from a mortal throat...

Good luck to the actor who has to do that!

Actually...thinking of that scene...aha! Brian Blessed as Straasha!


Oh, just leaving the film proper for a moment, once the film emerges (assuming it does), there will be an opening for a miniature line/wargame to go with it. Pleeeease don't give the rights to those bastards Games Workshop, like you did first time round! (I hope they're still paying plenty of royalties for all the 8-pointed stars on those Chaos figures!)

For probably the best place to get an overview of the state of the fantasy miniatures market, see here:

http://marbles.frothersunite.com/

Oh - one more thing, Mike, if you're reading this (and haven't gone to sleep in all my waffle), since you're putting down your mainstream fantasy pen, can we hope for some more comic fiction? Dancers at the End of Time is probably the funniest thing I've read in years - more on those sort of lines would be fantastic!

Endless post over.

[TheEighthSon]

(I hope they're still paying plenty of royalties for all the 8-pointed stars on those Chaos figures!)

Take a little look-see at this one, mate...
[link expired]
GW copyrighted it a long time back, since Mr M didn't.

Then again, why would they pay MM royalties? No one else does... 8O

[Anonymous]

So many ideas covering so much time, and it still seems like there has been so little progress. I am assured by this that there is no doubt that the movie will be amazingly well done. Detail will be paid attention to it seems.

I just thought I'd add in a bit and say that while Arioch appears in many different guises he shouldn't be played by a single actor, but it sure would be awesome for one of his forms to be played by Christopher Walkin. I can't get over that guy. The voice, the look, the attitude. Lets not forget his role as the Headless Horseman, maybe he could be a cool villian. Unfortunately I've been spending my time with the rest of the eternal champion series so I'm not as fresh with all the characters in Elric's saga.

[Anonymous]

The Perfect Actor

I've seen a good number of suggestions for a some famous actor or other, being chosen to play the role of Elric. But what none of the people who have made previous suggestions have taken into account is that the person chosen to play Elric should actually fit the role!
That isn't to say that the sorry excuse for a pirate captian, from a movie based off of theme-park ride, isn't a good actor. Its just that, Jhony is not cut out for the part of the brooding hero. I personally recomend the star actor of the film Nicholes Nickelbye as the perfect choice to play someone like Elric. After all, Elric was described as man who was more beutiful than he was handsome. I'm sorry to say, in the case of Jack sparrow, rugged is no where in that description.

[Whiskers]

Some nice marketing possibilities there I think. :)

Basically, the cinema is a place you pay to see the trailer. Nice work. :!:

[Great White Wolf]

What about the Director? I haven't seen any names passed around on this subject. Maybe I missed that post?

[Anonymous]

Director? Already taken care of....I think

It was like I said, the producers of THE CELL and that director...err...what's his name. Kinda appropriate huh?

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Re: Director? Already taken care of....I think

It was like I said, the producers of THE CELL and that director...err...what's his name. Kinda appropriate huh?

Tarsem Singh? Some horror fans and ctitics out there think not:

From: SexGoreMutants: The Cell (2000)
...

Once I started the equally painful exploration of the extras, I began to understand exactly why this ludicrous exercise turned out exactly the way it did. The moment Tarsem Singh says in the audio commentary words to the effect of (explaining motivation to D'Onofrio) "this is NOT a horror film! It's OPERA!" I understood where New Line had gone wrong wholeheartedly. They had employed a visionary with absolutely NO respect for the genre to helm a horror film. Singh's commentary is irritating in the extreme, often pointing to the "ridiculous" and "unbelievable" aspects of Mark Protosevich's script, as well as heartily laughing at the absurd visuals he threw in to put "genre fans" off the scent. Most amusing is his notation with a couple of sequences that he "really fucked that up" (!). Guess what Mr. Singh? You completely fucked the whole thing up! It was one thing to watch this travesty; it was a secondary insult to listen to Tarsem's smarmy condescension of the genre fans his production was intended for. My advice is this: if you didn't want to make a "genre film", piss off and hand the director's chair to somebody that does. I'm sure serious fans wouldn't have minded in the slightest, in fact I would have applauded the move. Before anyone takes me to task on this, I realise that Singh's commentary is meant to be fairly light, but there's an old saying about words spoken in jest…

...

Elric isn't horror, but would it be handled seriously enough as fantasy? Where's the point on the dial where "Opera" becomes just plain "Camp"?

...

Director?
Someone with a real feel for fantasy like, Sam Raimi, or Guillermo del Toro, maybe? Those guys may all ready be booked for other projects these days. My vote would be for Joss Whedon.

What about Joss Whedon? His characters are about as deep and complicated as can be found in fantasy, or any where else these days. Group interplay and interaction are always way up there in importance. Good on shades of gray, rather than plain black&white, good&evil situations. Sardonic humour, witty one liners and a complex (anti)Hero fighting his lot as a reluctant soul thief.

The next trick is going to be in finding the right designer, to capture the visual aspect and the right feel.

[TheEighthSon]

SAM RAIMI!!!

With Ted Raimi as Elric!!! (Everybody sing along...)

Elric the Mighty
Roams through the countryside
He never needs a place to hide
With Moonglum as his sidekick
Fighting with his little stick

Righting wrongs and singing songs
Being mighty all day long
He's Elric! Elric the Mighty!

Elric the Mighty
He's very tidy
Everyone admires him
He's so handsome it's a sin
When things get grim
He'll take it on the chin

If you're in jeopordy
Caused by the enemy
Don't call the calvalry
There's a better remedy
(Although he doesn't work for free)

He's every man's trusty
He's every woman's fantasy
Plus, he's good company
Look out! (Golly, gee)
It's Elric! Elric the Mighty!
Elric! Elric the Mighty!

"Bitter Suite" version
Elric the Mighty
Here to guide you on your way
Stick with me, you'll never stray
If you're in a land that's new
I'm the man who'll get you through
Even when you're slightly nude
I'm Elric! Elric the Mighty!

Bordello version
Trollops:
Elric the Mighty!
Master of virility,
Every woman wants him
He's so sexy it's a sin.
If you want a special tryst
By every measure he's a prize.
Elric:
Just check out my shoe size!
Ha ha!
Trollops:
Captain of debauchery
Never seems to get enough
Of our tantalizing stuff.
If you need some company
With Elric there's a guarantee
Elric:
Of the highest potency!
Trollop:
Heck, I'd even work for free!
All:
He's Elric! Elric the Mighty!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry, as soon as Raimi's name was mentioned I couldn't resist!!!

[Michael Moorcock]

That's what the movie lacks so far -- a good 1950s style theme song.
Stolen Souls ? sung by Rosemary Clooney or Frankie Laine.

Who directed The Brotherhood of the Wolf ? I really like the atmosphere some of those French directors bring both to fantastic and to historical fiction. Often the historical pictures are crap, but the depth of set and the photography are gorgeous. Given how much existentialism went into my early conception of Elric, it would seem only fair if a French director were involved.