Starz' "American Gods" (Season 2)

[WyldeMan45]

As HBO prepares to unveil its epic-sized series adaptation of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones this Sunday, the payweb has begun talks to acquire the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods to be developed into another fantasy series. The project was brought to HBO by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and it was brought to them by Robert Richardson. The plan is for Richardson and Gaiman to write the pilot together.

Richardson is the renowned cinematographer who just completed Hugo Cabret and whose recent credits include Shutter Island, Inglourious Basterds and Kill Bill. He is a regular collaborator with directors that include Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone and has won Oscars for The Aviator and JFK. It is his first significant scripting effort. He'll do it in collaboration with Gaiman, a fanboy god for works like The Sandman, whose script work includes Beowulf. His novels Stardust and Coraline have been turned into films, and Neil Jordan is directing an adaption of Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

American Gods, the 2002 book that won both the Stoker and Hugo Award among other prizes, lays out a battle between two sets of gods. One consists of the traditional gods and mythological creatures who got their power because people throughout history believed in them. They are losing steam as people's beliefs wane and are in danger of being supplanted by a new set of gods who reflect America's preoccupation with technological advancements and obsessions with media, celebrity, technology and drugs. The protagonist is an ex-con who becomes the traveling partner of a conman who turns out to be one of the older gods trying to recruit troops to battle the upstart deities.

Playtone just completed its run of the HBO series Big Love, and generated the miniseries The Pacific, John Adams, Band of Brothers and From The Earth To The Moon for the network.

[detective392]

Sounds good and hope they can get everything together and make this series.

[biglou114]

I'd definitely would be up for a 10-13 part series.

[Walts Ghost]

Very cool! I hope this comes together because it's a great book and could make a great series if done right.

[SpaceDog]

There is some seriously odd stuff going on in this book and it's sequel. I'd love to see it adapted - but only FAITHFULLY. I'm still bitter about STARDUST.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

There is some seriously odd stuff going on in this book and it's sequel. I'd love to see it adapted - but only FAITHFULLY. I'm still bitter about STARDUST.

If it does well, maybe we'll see a really faithful adaption of Neverwhere as well....

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

If it does well, maybe we'll see a really faithful adaption of Neverwhere as well....

How can the BBC series NEVERWHERE be unfaithful? It was the original. The novel is an adaptation of the same.
Bigger budget perhaps - or an adaptation of the adaptation - but not "more faithful".
<--- Neil Gaiman nerd.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

How can the BBC series NEVERWHERE be unfaithful? It was the original. The novel is an adaptation of the same.
Bigger budget perhaps - or an adaptation of the adaptation - but not "more faithful".
<--- Neil Gaiman nerd.

True. I guess what I mean is a bigger budgeted adaption. And maybe if they do it, we'll finally get the sequel book, The Seven Sisters.

[detective392]

Tom Hanks Set To Produce Neil Gaiman's American Gods TV Series For HBO

Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions(along with partner Gary Goetzman) will be in charge of bringing American Gods to our TV screens in an open ended, six season adaptation for HBO.


From THR..

The series-in-development, revolving around the question “are you a god if no one believes in you?” is executive produced by Goetzman and Hanks, with Bob Richardson, and Gaiman on board as executive producer and writer.
Each of the six seasons will be of 10-12, hour-long episodes with a budget of around $35-40 million per season, targeted to debut on the cable powerhouse in 2013 at the earliest.


The story ties in to Gaiman's Sandman mythology in several ways, and includes appearances from some of the same characters. According to Goetzman, we could be in for a first for TV..

“There are some crazy things in there. We’ll probably be doing more effects in there than it’s been done on a television series."


Well, if they handle it even half as well as Game Of Thrones I will be very happy indeed. For those of you unfamiliar with the novel, it's great, go read it. Need a bit more? ok..

Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming — a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/r.../news/?a=39238

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by detective392

Tom Hanks Set To Produce Neil Gaiman's American Gods TV Series For HBO

http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/r.../news/?a=39238

That is great news! This is getting better and better.

[detective392]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

That is great news! This is getting better and better.

Can't believe they want 6 seasons though as if it get's all 6 it will end in 2018 assuming it airs in 2013 and HBO sticks to their one season a year route.

Really looking forward to this though and can't wait for it to start.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by detective392

Can't believe they want 6 seasons though as if it get's all 6 it will end in 2018 assuming it airs in 2013 and HBO sticks to their one season a year route.

Really looking forward to this though and can't wait for it to start.

Hey, if they're willing to commit to six seasons this early, I'm all for it. It'll be nice not having to worry about it getting cancelled.

[SpaceDog]

I'll be most interested if they keep Gaiman involved as much as possible. If they intend to make multiple seasons work, his involvement in making that happen is paramount.

[detective392]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

I'll be most interested if they keep Gaiman involved as much as possible. If they intend to make multiple seasons work, his involvement in making that happen is paramount.

I'm sure Gaiman will be involved as much as possible and will play a big part in thid adaption one way or another. More then most Authors would I assume.

[Walts Ghost]

He's heavily involved I believe. So involved he's writing another book so the series can last six seasons.

[biglou114]

According to Gaiman:

“The overall plan right now is that the first season would essentially be the first book, with a few interesting divergences,” Gaiman said of the television series. “You don’t want people who’ve read the book to be able to go, ‘I know everything that’s going to be happening here.’ They will know a lot more than anybody who’s starting from here, but we will do things that will surprise them too.”
“After that, there was always so much more plot for ‘American Gods’ on what happens to Shadow, and what happens in the fallout of the events of ‘American Gods,’ so we’re just going to follow it along,” he added.

http://www.castnews.us/neil-gaiman-o...-series-15428/

I think that this would actually be great. They'll defiantly be able to explore the universe is great detail, which I'm sure will keep Neil interested.

[Wyndam]

Wow I love the idea of taking the show past the book. It's very rare to see something like that happen.

[chris_sc77]

by Alisha Grauso 2 days ago 378
HBO's 'American Gods' is moving forward, inching closer to airing
"
There have been two novel adaptations rumored to be in the works that have caused me to lose my mind (in a good way) over the past year. One has been the thus far ill-fated Ron Howard and Stephen King collaboration for The Dark Tower FOLLOW project. The other, which gives me more hope we’ll see it on a screen, is HBO’s American Gods adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name.

But all has been fairly quiet regarding the American Gods project for a while, with Gaiman giving occasional updates but virtually nothing coming from the HBO camp. But the incredibly social media-savvy Gaiman recently took over the official Twitter feed for the Cambridge International Student Film Festival and dropped a few new details about the project. Namely that yes, it is still happening:

-The premiere episode of American Gods will be a lot like the opening chapters of the book, but will also contain new elements and details.
-The first two seasons of the show will consist of the book. By then Gaiman hopes to have the American Gods sequel novel written and headed for release.
-American Gods will debut this year if Gaiman can get the pilot script done in time to HBOs satisfaction.
So basically, it looks like a matter of Gaiman having to retweak some things regarding the original novel in order for it to be a workable pilot for the small screen.

In any case, it’s happening, you guys. IT’S HAPPENING. And with the group behind the amazing Game of Thrones FOLLOW backing it, it can only be another great fantasy series offering for television."

http://moviepilot.com/stories/926857...dary-directors

[theusher]

I doubt it will debut this year ... Boardwalk Empire which premieres in the fall already begun shooting.

[theusher]

Update: This just moved to Starz with Bryan Fuller writing the pilot (HBO passed on the project last month)

Starz Developing Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Starz has announced a script to series development of FremantleMedia North America's (FMNA) adaptation of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed urban fantasy novel "American Gods." The pilot script will be penned by Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal," "Pushing Daisies," "Heroes") and Michael Green ("The River," "Kings," "Heroes"), who will also showrun the series. They will executive produce along with Gaiman. FremantleMedia North America will produce the series.

Starz Managing Director Carmi Zlotnik said, "'American Gods' is a project that deserves to be made. With our partners at FremantleMedia and with Bryan, Michael and Neil, we believe we can create a series that honors the book and does right by the fans and viewers."

Commented Neil Gaiman, "When you create something like 'American Gods,' which attracts fans and obsessives and people who tattoo quotes from it on themselves or each other, and who all, tattooed or not, just care about it deeply, it's really important to pick your team carefully: you don't want to let the fans down, or the people who care and have been casting it online since the dawn of recorded history. What I love most about the team who I trust to take it out to the world, is that they are the same kind of fanatics that 'American Gods' has attracted since the start. I haven't actually checked Bryan Fuller or Michael Green for quote tattoos, but I would not be surprised if they have them. The people at Fremantle are the kinds of people who have copies of 'American Gods' in the bottom of their backpacks after going around the world, and who press them on their friends. And the team at Starz have been quite certain that they wanted to give Shadow, Wednesday and Laura a home since they first heard that the book was out there.I can't wait to see what they do to bring the story to the widest possible audience able to cope with it."

Thom Beers, CEO, FremantleMedia North America said, "Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' is pure genius and we couldn't be more thrilled to bring this classic to life on screen. Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk have put together a dream team with Fuller and Green joining Gaiman on this amazing journey. Coupled with Starz' shared passion for this project, we're confident this combination will raise the bar for drama."

Commented Bryan Fuller, "Neil Gaiman has created the holiest of holy toy boxes with 'American Gods' and filled it with all manner of magical thing, born of new gods and old. Michael Green and I are thrilled to crack this toy box wide open and unleash the fantastical titans of heaven and earth and Neil's vividly prolific imagination."

The 2001 novel has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.

FremantleMedia North America’s Thom Beers, Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk will executive produce the series along with Bryan Fuller, Michael Green and Neil Gaiman. Vice President of Original Programming Ken Segna will be the Starz executive in charge of "American Gods." Starz will retain all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia will distribute the series worldwide.