Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Scott Lynch hits Hollywood

Well, I tell ya, Val Landi's gonna love this one. It doesn't quite fit his template for the way things will happen in the future, but it comes close. And it will excite a few excitable people.

Back in April 2005, and again in November, I reported that Simon Spanton, of UK Gollancz, had read part of Scott Lynch's novel The Lies of Locke Lamora, on a blog, and had promptly signed the author to a multi-book contract.

I was initially sceptical about the way things might go, but rights were quickly sold in a number of countries, and now the film rights have been snaffled by some serious Hollywood big-timers. Publishers Weekly tells the tale in true Hollywood hyped-up fashion:
Perhaps already preparing for its next fantasy epic post-Potter, Warner Bros. has just nabbed the rights to Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, coming from Spectra [but from UK Gollancz first, please note] this June... for producers Michael De Luca (Zathura) and Julie Yorn (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) in a "high-end" deal. Described as "a gritty fantasy crime thriller" replete with sorcery, skullduggery and abandoned towers of alien-forged glass, the proposed seven-book series details the adventures of the titular con artist/hero as he navigates a Venice-like city-state called Camorr. The project was flooded with offers before the holiday break, until the WB's Kevin McCormick staked his claim. Lynch is repped by The Firm's Alan Nevins.
Crumbs. So you can go on dreaming then. Just think, it could happen to you. Or possibly not; depending, as I said somewhere else recently, on how much faith you have.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Michael: Thank you...as Schopenhauer once observed, “All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third it is accepted as self evident." ;)Val