202 replies to this topic

[Jack T. Chance]

Breaking news, courtesy of ComingSoon.Net...
Actor/Director Peter Berg (director of Friday Night Lights, seen as a supporting actor in season 1 of Alias and in last year's Michael Mann-directed thriller Collateral) has landed the gig to direct the big-screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn, about a Pictish king fighting the invading Roman Empire in ancient Britain!

For more info, check out the announcement HERE.

Edited by Jack T. Chance, 14 July 2005 - 07:08 PM.

[Winterghost]

Great news. Gonna have to cross some more fingers.

[PaulMc]

Breaking news, courtesy of ComingSoon.Net...
Actor/Director Peter Berg (director of Friday Night Lights, seen as a supporting actor in season 1 of Alias and in last year's Michael Mann-directed thriller Collateral) has landed the gig to direct the big-screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn, about a Pictish king fighting the invading Roman Empire in ancient Britain! 

For more info, check out the announcement HERE. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

*crosses fingers* don't screw it up, don't screw it up, don't screw it up..

[Kane]

  don't screw it up,  don't screw it up, don't screw it up..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've just created the mantra that every Howard fan needs to use when hearing that one of his characters is going to put on film.

[PaulMc]

And from www.scriptsales.com
=============================================
Title: Bran Mak Morn
Log Line: A mythical king of ancient Britain forges an alliance with supernatural troops to contest the unstoppable forces of the Roman Empire.
Writer: John Romano
Agent: William Morris Agency
Buyer: Universal Pictures
Price: n/a
Genre: Fantasy Action
Logged: 7/14/05
More: To be adapted from Robert E. Howard's multi-novel series. Working Title Films? Eric Fellner & Tim Bevan, Film 44?s Peter Berg & John Cameron and Wandering Star's Paul Berrow will produce. Sarah Aubrey will executive produce. Peter Berg will also direct.
=====================================================

Well, at least the log line sounds like Bran Mak Morn, as opposed to what they were going to try to do to Solomon Kane.

Of course, it's "multi-story" not "multi-novel", unless they plan on adapting Karl Edward Wagner's Legion from the Shadows.

[Kortoso]

If there is a strategy, it appears to involve producing films for all the non-Conan characters first, in order to maximize the franchise.

[Winterghost]

Well, I've got my hopes up; I really liked Peter Berg's "Rundown."

Okay, should we start playing "Who would you like to see play the role of Bran Mak Morn?"

Or should we just move the names over from the "Who would you like to see play the role of Conan" list?

[PainBrush]

Well, it ain't Conan, but maybe somebody will finally do 'something' that sticks close to some Howard stories. I just hope everyone involved realises nobody BUT us Howard fans has ever heard of Bran Mak Morn yet & so WE will be the ones stoking the campfires & leading the charge & preparing to storm the theaters !

[Strom]

Read Friday Night Lights (great book) and saw the movie - it stuck fairly close to the book. Let's hope Berg continues that in Bran Mak Morn - The Movie!

I like the sound of that...

[Swiftsteel]

I'll vote first: Daniel Day Lewis as Bran Mak Morn.

Edited by Swiftsteel, 16 July 2005 - 05:42 AM.

[Primeval]

It sounds like "Worms of the Earth" is what they are working with from that blurb. I wonder if they will try to flesh that out into a full movie or tie several stories together?

[PaulMc]

I'll vote first: Daniel Day Lewis as Bran Mak Morn.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah. I think DD Lewis would have made a great Solomon Kane. I don't think he's the right physical build for Bran Mak Morn.

Going by looks alone - don't kill me for the acting talent - I'd vote for ... yes .. the Rock.

Who knows, maybe he could get his acting chops in order well enough to pull it off. I'm really curious to see how he does as the Hawaiian King, Kemehameha.

Edited by PaulMc, 16 July 2005 - 02:54 PM.

[Swiftsteel]

The Rock is playing Kamehameha!?! Cool. That's actually really great casting. And I fully agree - DDL is also a top choice of mine for Kane as well! For what it's worth I think Viggo Mortensen would be perfect for Cormac Mac Art.

I always pictured Bran as much smaller in build though than someone like The Rock. Lithe. Lean. Pantherish. He has to have a certain sort of 'darkly exotic' appearance. Regal even. Like a survivor of the purest, most untainted line of a race that is almost extinct, as per Howard's own descriptions of the character. But also somewhat sinister and full of pent-up cerebral strength and fury. Bran was - for lack of a better term - one of Howard's more 'classically literary' characters if you know what I mean(???). More Hamlet than Beowulf! Bran was always written as brooding, melancholy, darkly poetic, and given to lengthy dialogue. Far more so than say, a Conan who was - let's face it - more about brute strength, action, and few words. For Bran you need someone who can really act.

If not DDL, IMO other reasonable choices could include:

Johnny Depp (Really...laugh first, but then stop and think about it.)
Mark Dacascos (TV's The Crow, and Mani from Brotherhood Of the Wolf)
Christian Bale (I know, I know...he's Batman now...but seriously, he could do it.)

Any other suggestions!?!

Edited by Swiftsteel, 17 July 2005 - 04:18 AM.

[Jack T. Chance]

I just have one suggestion: If you can get your hands on a copy of the superb art book Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy by master painter Wayne Douglas Barlowe, you'll find within it Barlowe's portrait of Bran Mak Morn. It gives an accurate representation of the character based on REH's written descriptions.

I'm going to have to think it over for a bit before I can decide what actor(s) might be good for the role.

Edited by Jack T. Chance, 18 July 2005 - 07:29 AM.

[alex]

OUTSTANDING!

Thanks Jack T. Chance, for the best news I've heard all day!

[Nial_the_Smith]

Hope it pans out.

Dont screw it up, dont screw it up, dont screw it up.

People will finally realize who Bran Mak Morn is.

[Primeval]

I noticed at the bottom of the article that a Kull movie is planned as well!

One good thing for the Bran Mak Morn movie is they have someone from Wandering Star on board. Hopefully that will keep things on the right track.

[dr Bo]

Hope it'll work.
With the coming back of the Sword and Sandal adventure since Gladiator and the post Lord of the Ring momentum, guess a fantasy piece pitting fantasy Pict hero agains't the Roman Empire can be a pretty viable project even outside the hardcore heroic fantasy and Howard buff.

It could very well open the door to other great Howard and Fantasy piece adaptation.

For my part I just brought the REH's Bran Mak Morn paperback, that way I will be able to read it before and made my own image about it before the film come out. I like the whole concept and just finished the De Camp/Carter run of Conan, so it a perfect pretext to read on the exploit of this other REh hero.

[Kortoso]

Here you go:
IMDB entry for Bran Mak Morn

[Lionmane]

If I remember correctly , what I heard at Howard Days from Marcelo Anciano from Wandering Star is that the film will be based on the stories"Worms of the Earth" and "Kings of the Night"....that's the one with Kull, people!!! Let's hope they don't screw it up...this could be a great film....keep your fingers crossed, brothers and sisters.