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Neil Gaiman and Penn Jillette Adapting The Road to Endor

November 11, 2008
Source: MTV
by Alex Billington

Neil Gaiman and Penn Jillette

I know what you're thinking - they're making another Ewoks movie?! No, this time the Endor in question is that of a Canaanite village from the Hebrew Bible, not the planet from Star Wars. "The Road to Endor" is a book written in 1920 by E.H. Jones that tells the true story of two World War I prisoners who trick their guards into believing they are in touch with the spirit world in order to escape from a Turkish prison camp. MTV has discovered that famed comic book author Neil Gaiman (seen above left) and Penn Jillette (right, of Penn and Teller fame) are adapting the story into a feature film. They do have a producer (E.H. Jones' granddaughter Hilary Bevan Jones), but don't have a director attached on the project just yet.

Here's where things get awesome. One of the prisoners was an amateur magician, so the two used gimmicks like Ouija boards, séances, mentalist scams, poltergeist effects, and fake suicides to even convince the Camp Commander that they were in touch with the spirit world. Gaiman explains, "it's more fun to adapt someone else's work into a movie than my own, because then I can do the horrible violence to it that you might have to do, that I wouldn’t dare do to mine." Don't worry, he's only talking about the violence of adapting the story, cutting certain elements, and tweaking it to make it work on the big screen. Whatever Gaiman and Jillette end up doing, I already love the idea - so bring it on, because I want to see it!

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Reader Feedback - 5 Comments »

1

sounds like a winner, sort of.

Scott McHenry on Nov 11, 2008

2

wow this could really be amazing plus Gaiman is a master writer and Penn will bring a fun view to it…I want to get this book

Maxx on Nov 11, 2008

3

Nice to hear there is still something fresh out there to be done. This sounds very interesting.

tct on Nov 12, 2008

4

Both amazing writers..a humorous premise..I see this as being really really good…

Kyle A. Koyote on Nov 12, 2008

5

I dunno, I LOVE Neil Gaiman as an author, but not so much as a screenwriter. With Mirrormask and Beowulf, the story was the weakest part. Dont get me wrong, I love when his novels are adapted, but when he writes the screenplay, something seems to be lacking. And I dont know of any narratives that Penn's written

Serafina on Nov 12, 2008

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