The Dark is Rising ...

I suppose it was only a matter of time before they messed up another good book ...

When Harry Potter became a hit and the movies came out, I wondered why no one was raving about Diana Wynne Jones and Susan Cooper, or wanted to make any of their books into movies.

Since then Hayao Miyazaki has turned DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle into an anime, and I've just found out that Walden Pictures has bought the movie rights for Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence. A film based on the second book (The Dark is Rising) is due out later this year.

Of course, I usually really dislike movie adaptations of my favourite books. Although I'm a Miyazaki fan, I was disappointed with his version of Howl. And just the synopsis on IMDB made me cringe.

Online, there's talk about how the Stantons (Will's family) are American in the movie, he and his dad are "emotionally distant" and he doesn't get on with his brothers either. This is just so not Will nor his family. Ian McShane as Merriman Lyon is also a dodgy bit of casting, IMO!

Shudder!

Will Stanton is described as a warrior is some of the online synopses. Will he have a sword? Will his powers as an One One be released through his fingers as a stream of blue lights?

P. S. Here's a rather cool interview with Susan Cooper.

P.P.S. The books in the sequence are Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King and Silver on the Tree.

Comments

[mokie]

I can usually make peace with movie adaptations. What works in print doesn't always work on film, or with budget and time constraints, etc.

But this just sounds wrong on all levels.

Is there still time to track the screenwriter down and beat him with a hardcover copy of the book?

[Gary]

"The Dark Is Rising" - A book i'll never forget. Read it when i'm in Form 3. and it's thrilling and all the exitement goes on in the widest screen of all, my imagination. So thinking of making it into a movie makes me had a twitch in the guts. I hope they didn't screw up the whole thing.