Films

Terry Pratchett’s Truckers is alive! Again! Maybe!

31 March 2009 (21:18) 2 Comments

An animated adaptation of Truckers, Terry Pratchett’s children’s novel about tiny nomes whose entire world (that is, a department store) is ending, has apparently found a new writer: Slumdog Millionaire’s Simon Beaufoy.

This comes after a flurry of rumors in the past couple of days that Beaufoy would be writing a Wolverine sequel.

Are we right in assuming this means the animated adaptation of Truckers is once again alive? Hopefully. The film has been in development since at least 2001, but has suffered some false starts–Frank Cotrell Boyce’s name has previously been attached to the project as writer.

This January, planned director Danny Boyle (also of Slumdog Millionaire fame) seemingly definitively said the Truckers adaptation was dead: “It’s fallen apart. Frank Cotrell Boyce (Millions) and I were going to do it for DreamWorks but sadly no longer.”

But after Slumdog Millionaire’s awards sweep this year, Boyle and Beaufoy have chosen to start working on an animated Truckers, for Dreamworks.

Links:
Ready2Beat
AceShowBiz
The Playlist
Slash Film

Colour Of Magic theatrical run in New York

2 February 2009 (13:54) 1 Comment

As reported by the New York Times, the Colour Of Magic adaptation is being screened in New York at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street until February 5.

The screening opened January 30. To quote the review:

Originally broadcast on British television and now receiving a limited theatrical run here, “The Color of Magic” mashes together a pair of comedic fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett into one long, rambling saga. Directed by Vadim Jean, who adapted the books with help from Mr. Pratchett, it is by and large a droll, ingratiating affair, albeit one whose rickety effects and lackadaisical pacing are decidedly more suited to the small screen than to the large.

What’s refreshing here (aside from the inimitably British mock-epic tone) is precisely this sense of an immense fantasy played out in a diminished scale. Where even the quietest moments of the “Harry Potter” films bludgeon the viewer with the immensity and expense of their production, “Magic” has a charmingly modest, artisanal feel about it.

Living With Alzheimer’s airs early February

21 January 2009 (20:13) Comment!

The official airing dates for the TV documentary Living With Alzheimer’s have been finalized. Part 1 will air on BBC2 on Wednesday, February 4 at 21:00 GMT, and Part 2 will air exactly a week later on Wednesday, February 11 at 21:00 GMT.

Both parts of the documentary, which follows Terry Pratchett for the better part of 2008 as he deals with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, are an hour long.

The documentary is produced by IWC Media and BBC2, and will air as part of a documentary series about mental health and mental health related issues.

Colour Of Magic filming location featured by British Waterways

13 January 2009 (18:12) Comment!

WaterScape.com reports that British Waterways, also known as BW, has mapped the filming locations of iconic films and TV series along the U.K.’s network of canals and rivers. The map includes a filming location from The Colour Of Magic alongside filming locations from Coronation Street, The Full Monty, and 28 Weeks Later.

Of the project, British Waterways marketing director Simon Salem said, “If you only see Britain’s canals and rivers on screen, you might be forgiven for thinking the waterways are mostly frequented by criminals, zombies and creatures from the pages of fantasy novels - but the truth is very different.”

Danny Boyle confirms once more that Truckers is not happening

8 January 2009 (18:12) Comment!

In a Q&A with Empire, Danny Boyle stated again that the proposed animated film based on Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad trilogy is not happening.

He was asked, “Is there any news regarding Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad Trilogy which you were mooted to be involved with?”

His response? “Oh God, yeah. It’s fallen apart. Frank Cotrell Boyce (Millions) and I were going to do it for DreamWorks but sadly no longer. Sorry about that – wonderful novel(s).”

Retro News: Pratchett’s fan updates October-December 2008; health “stable”; documentary “looks pretty good”; Unseen Academicals finished by May?

1 January 2009 (15:02) Comment!

Since October, Terry Pratchett has posted three updates on PJSMPrints, all of which contain a wealth of information about his writing progress, the media interest in Terry Pratchett The Alzheimer’s Patient, the documentary Living With Alzheimer’s, and so on.

To quote Pratchett’s October update (scroll down at the link):

At last some progress is being made on Unseen Academicals since we got through the making of the BBC2 documentary and all the alternative calls on my time that seemed to have filled the past year. Today, for example, I have nothing to do but write and Rob and I were just mentioning how odd it is to have a day which does not involve some kind of travel, meeting, or interview. In fact Rob is about to interview me right now:

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Living With Alzheimer’s to air in February?

1 January 2009 (14:28) Comment!

Despite our previous report that Living With Alzheimer’s would air in January, Sandra Kidby of PJSMPrints announced that the documentary time slot is “almost certainly going to be Wednesday 4th February at 9 p.m., with part two following a week later.”

The documentary consists of two hour-long parts, and follows Terry Pratchett as he learns about the disease and deals with the “embuggerance.”

Living With Alzheimer’s is produced by IWC Media and BBC2, and will air as part of a documentary series about mental health and mental health related issues.

Living With Alzheimer’s to air in January; more information about Alzheimer’s documentary

28 December 2008 (20:15) Comment!

After hearing about the Alzheimer’s documentary (full title Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer’s) off-and-on for almost a year, MedicalNewsToday.com has lots of information as to when the documentary will be aired and what it will contain.

The IWC Media-produced documentary will be aired in January on BBC Two, UK, as part of a documentary series focused on mental health called BBC Headroom.
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Retro News: Pratchett interview, in which he actually talks about things other than Alzheimer’s (29 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (19:57) Comment!

Deborah Orr at the Independent.co.uk interviewed Terry Pratchett late in November, and in doing so provides some insight into Terry Pratchett’s writing process.

The article gets the requisite Alzheimer’s questions done early. Terry Pratchett summed up the effect of his very public diagnosis:
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Retro News: Pratchett interview (08 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (18:07) Comment!

In a Daily Mail interview titled I’m not beaten yet: Terry Prachett on the frustration and fury of Alzheimer’s, Terry Pratchett shared with the interviewer some more about his attitude towards the “embuggerance” of Alzheimer’s. To quote the article:

Although he calls it a ‘wretched disease’, since disclosing that he has it, he has retained his dark sense of comedy. He began an address to his latest convention of fans by cracking a joke. ‘I said, “Hello my name is…” Then I retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and read out my name,’ he recalls.

The audience laughed because Terry, afflicted by an illness that steals both memory and identity, was permitting them to do so.

(more…)

Danny Boyle: Truckers film “a victim of this economic crisis”

28 December 2008 (12:31) Comment!

Several sources are reporting that Danny Boyle, who had previously planned to direct Truckers, has said that the project has been canceled. In a Q & A with SeattlePi.com, Danny Boyle said, “I’ve been developing a film based on the first book of Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad Trilogy. But the project seems to have fallen apart — a victim of this economic crisis that’s not supposed to be affecting the movie business.”

Vadim Jean speaks: “It helps that I am a fan.”

25 December 2008 (18:02) Comment!

A University Of Warwick podcast released on September 17, 2008 interviews Colour Of Magic director and screen-writer Vadim Jean.

Jean adapted and directed the first live-action film based on the Discworld novels, Hogfather, and subsequently adapted the first two Discworld novels into another made-for-TV film, titled The Colour Of Magic. The next
planned adaptation is Going Postal, based on the book of the same name.

To quote the podcast:
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Retro News: Sir David Jason on Colour Of Magic (18 March 2008)

16 December 2008 (20:24) Comment!

NewsShopper.co.uk posted an article soon after the Colour Of Magic premiere, reporting on some of the things David Jason said about the movie, both at the premiere Q&A and elsewhere. He reflects on the relationship between Rincewind and Twoflower:

The central thrust of most comedy in a two-character relationship is one knowing fool and one unknowing fool…. You must have a balance, an opposite, like a ying and a yang. Where Rincewind and Twoflower succeed is where Twoflower is a totally naive tourist and Rincewind is very streetwise.

And he talks about the stuntwork for the upside-down swordfighting scene between his character and Karen David’s:

In my innocence, I thought ‘We’ll do [the swordfighting scene] standing up, have a swordfight, and they’ll comb your hair back and make it stand on end and then they’ll reverse the film. Then it’ll look like you’re upside-down’, That’s not what happened.

It’s not a nice experience…. being hung upside-down like the last chicken at Sainsbury’s. I wouldn’t do that again in a hurry.

He sums up:

If you haven’t read The Colour Of Magic it’s going to be much easier to follow than Hogfather. It’s much more fun, it’s more of a road movie.

As always, check out our Colour Of Magic page for more information on the miniseries, including more quotes from David Jason.

Retro News: Pratchett interview post-Alzheimer’s diagnosis, pre-Colour Of Magic airing (18 March 2008)

16 December 2008 (0:08) Comment!

An old interview from the Guardian provides some insight into Pratchett’s attitude towards Alzheimer’s three months after announcing the diagnosis. He says, “I’m nearly 60 and I’ve never been nearly 60 before so I’m not sure if some of the things happening to me are Alzheimer’s or getting older. Nor is anyone else. If I say, ‘I keep losing my keys,’ someone will say, ‘That’s me!’ And, again, sometimes, I do find days really hard. If you have a really complex day with lots of fans ringing up or emailing, lots of meetings, by the end of it I just want to go and sit down quietly. But that in itself is not an Alzheimer’s thing. Everyone feels like that after a difficult day.”

To explain his decision to campaign for Alzheimer’s awareness, Pratchett said, “If you’re in a plane that’s crashing and you’re on the phone, what you do is keep talking all the way down.”

He also shared this poignant story from his days as a young reporter:

When I was a young reporter covering, as one did, the police stations on New Year’s Day, there was a story about a minibus and a car colliding. Six kids had been killed. I thought: ‘This is a great story. It’s going on page one.’ Then I got back to the office and the other trainee reporter was explaining why he was late, how he had had to console his mother because his sister hadn’t come back home.

So I looked at the names in my notebook, and her name - which wasn’t very common - was there. I ringed the name and handed my notebook to the news editor and went to the toilet. I went into a cubicle and locked the door. And then I laughed…. I laughed, but I wanted to scream. There was a lot of that sort of thing, and ultimately I didn’t want to do it.

Danny Boyle to direct Truckers?

20 September 2008 (22:51) Comment!

Coming Soon reports that Danny Boyle wants to direct an animated Truckers movie based on Terry Pratchett’s children’s book.

“You’re more like a ringmaster,” 28 Days Later director Boyle said of directing an animated feature, “[You’re] kind of organizing this huge army of illustrators who can change the movie. It’s really weird.”

Boyle tentatively hopes to work with screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who has called Truckers his favorite book.

“Part of me thought: brilliant,” Boyce said of hearing Truckers would be adapted for the screen. “That’ll be a great film. But another part of me felt mugged. Truckers was my secret, a blessing I bestowed on the people I most liked.”

Danny Boyle has also directed Sunshine, Trainspotting, and Slumdog Millionaire, and hopes to work with Dreamworks on Truckers.

The Discworld Convention 2008

3 September 2008 (8:29) 3 Comments

Many of you were lucky enough to go to the convention–but many more weren’t so lucky (including the admin of this site, a.k.a. me).  Fortunately for us, demdike from The Cunning Artificer’s forum was nice enough to be our scribe and write a convention report, in which we learn a bit about Nation, slightly more about Going Postal and other future film adaptations, and a lot about our favorite fandom:

The First Day: Friday, August 22, 2008

[The convention] started (officially) with the Opening Ceremony. There were voice-over messages asking for the stage to be cleared of party debris and on came Lu Tze with his broom. After telling everyone to go home–the Con had been and gone, and the disruption in the Number 7 procrastinator was blamed–the Men in Saffron (1 of the 2 was me) were called in to rewind 72 hours.  Cue stone grinding and Tardis noises, the lights went up and Lu Tze and the Men in Saffron had been replaced by Terry.

After briefly touching on his illness (most of which has already been printed online in most places) he spoke about the last year which has propelled him from relative media obscurity to celebrity status.

The evening ended with Terry’s bedtime stories, where the usual nutters turned up in their nightwear clutching their various bed companions (mostly furry).  Terry then read from Nation. I had to leave after an hour and a half so I apparently missed the lighter passages.  Definitely a darker book than any previously written.

The Second Day: Saturday, August 23, 2008

[Saturday] was spent trying to familiarize myself with the Hotel. Although the standard of the rooms was very high, it lacked the atmosphere of previous venues. The rooms were at the end of very long corridors. There was no one place to congregate, [the hotel] having a number of bars and eating places, so I never saw some people I knew were attending, and some I saw briefly in passing and never again.  Although the lectures and workshops were very well attended, quite a lot were scheduled for the same time. In fact the lady running the candle workshop came down the corridor wondering what the queue was for and was quite horrified to find out it was waiting for her. Previously she had had around a dozen people attend and this time it was 60!  She had only brought the materials for 60 candles, so had to turn people away.

The Masquerade I shall have to leave others to describe as I took part and was locked up in the ‘Green room’ with the other participants for all of it, but I can say that during the acts the Ankh-Morpork street refuse collector was called and the anonymous disgusting gnoll that came to clear up was none other than our own Pam Gower, and the fact that she was unrecognised pleased her no end, and of course the costume was all her own work as usual.  In fact, off stage I didn’t recognise her myself until I overheard her speaking.

The Third Day: Sunday, August 24, 2008

I attended the “2008 Is Wallace Year” lecture given by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, which was both entertaining and informative and as usual showed that the Roundworld can be as wierd and wonderful as the Discworld, with many similarities.

Pat had made the great error of describing his audience as sitting ducks–bad move as most of the auction (and every other appearance he made) was punctuated by duck calls.  The Octavo made an extremely impressive centrepiece and I had to leave before it came up, because it never would have fitted in the car.

The evening was rounded off by the Gala Dinner and Dragon racing.  The meal was very enjoyable except for the fact that I went out for a nicotine fix between courses and someone replaced my pudding with 2 grapes on a plate!

Terry gave a speech mentioning that for half the attendees it was their very first convention, which does raise the question of what has happened to half of the regulars?  The last speech was given by Lord Vetinari and his statement of one man one vote and he had it was interrupted by Terry begging to differ. Terry also said that he wasn’t bad–he was just written that way, which amused everyone.

The Dragon racing was enjoyable with a Tote using our free money and despite numerous stewards enquiries, photo finishes and one dragon being lifted and ‘helped’ to the finishing post by Nac Mac Feegles went off very well.

The Fourth Day: Monday, August 25, 2008

[Monday] was spent mostly packing, saying goodbye to friends old and new.  The Mob had brought David Jason’s Rincewind hat (the one that had fallen in the water, so suitably snotted), Kring the magical sword, and the Bafta, which Stephen Briggs managed to photograph it held by many people.

During the Meet the Mob presentation it was mentioned that the order of the next films will be Going Postal, Making Money, then Sourcery.  Unfortunately there may be limited fan involvement as the next two will be filmed in Hungary due to a lack of suitable buildings here and that most of the action is set amongst architecture.

The Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was the usual mix of sadness and joy.

Joy because the prizes were given out, and we were all able to fit into the room together as at the Opening ceremony, but also sadness as one of the prizes for the Guild member who remained in charactor for the whole convention and who had contributed greatly to their guild and in promoting other peoples enjoyment was given an award named for Ewan the young assassin who captured everyone’s heart at the 2006 convention and who died shortly afterwards.

At the very end when the guests and con committee had left the stage there was the voice overs asking for someone to clear the stage of the mess and on came Lu Tze and despite being told we had only just got there, was adamant that we only got one time turn and this time really had to go home, so we did.

Home again, Wadfest next weekend, then the frantic saving for Hogswatch and Nadcon in Arizona.

Many many thanks to demdike for the report!

Would anyone else like to share their experiences? And for those who couldn’t go, how jealous are you?

An update from Terry Pratchett

4 August 2008 (8:58) 2 Comments

www.PJSMPrints.com has another update from Terry Pratchett. Here it is in full:

Folks,

To those that want to know, it would be true to say that my life right now is occasional short periods of writing interspersed and interrupted with requests for interviews.  As my UK readers will know, merely catching a variant of Alzheimer’s has propelled me onto more prestigious chat show sofas than I have ever seen in 25 years of quietly writing the Discworld series. 

My general health is good.  The most recent test by my specialist indicates, in effect, that I am no worse now, and possibly slightly better than I was at the back end of November.  I have no idea when Unseen Academicals will be finished, simply because of the amount of media interest that continues to be generated by recent developments in the treatment of AD.  Frankly, and with the agreement of my publishers, I feel that this is something that I should give priority to.

In a week’s time we are flying to the States to talk to a number of specialists in AD research and, incidentally, go out with the LAPD officers who are tasked with – and I am not kidding – locating and bringing home those elderly joggers with memory difficulties who have jogged five miles and can’t remember where they live.  I thought this was an urban myth, but apparently it is true.  We will, obviously, be back in time for UK convention, which I would not miss for root canal surgery.

The bad news is that it looks as if, for various reasons, Going Postal The Movie will be delayed and shooting will not begin until the start of next year. However, the guys from Mob turned up this morning and filmed my sequence for the Colour of Magic DVD which will be released in October.

Colour Of Magic DVD to be released October 2008 in U.K.

29 July 2008 (22:03) 11 Comments

Despite rumors that the The Colour Of Magic DVD would not be released, PJSM Prints has confirmed that the DVD will be released this October in the U.K. by Twentieth Century Fox. There is no information available about DVD extras, though entertaining “Tourist Guides” and other video extras can be found on Sky One’s official site.

The Colour Of Magic adaptation, starring David Jason as Rincewind and Sean Astin as Twoflower, aired as a two-part miniseries on Sky One this Easter, and is based on events from the first two books in the Discworld series.  Terry Pratchett also appears in a cameo part.

There is no information pertaining to a U.S. airing of the film.

Update: More up-to-date information can be found on our Colour Of Magic Release/Airing Dates and Information page.