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Tomas Alfredson Gets Rights to Adapt 'The Brothers Lionheart' Fantasy
by Ethan Anderton
May 30, 2012
Though his name was in the running to inherit directing duties on the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which is starting the casting process with a shortlist of big names for a pivotal new role in the sequel), director Tomas Alfredson has been pretty low key following his award worthy work on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Now ScreenDaily (via The Playlist) says Alfredson has lined up another adaptation with his producer Peter Pjodor Gustafsson by landing the rights to Astrid Lindgren's 1973 children's fantasy novel The Brothers Lionheart. However, this isn't going to be a big family film with only a $30 million budget.
Here's the official synopsis of the book, which sounds like something different for Alfredson:
There's no one Karl Lion loves more than his older brother, Jonathan, who is brave, strong, and handsome - everything Karl believes he is not. Karl never wants to be parted from him. But Karl is sick, and knows he's going to die. To comfort him, Jonathan tells him stories of Nangiyala, the wonderful place he'll be going to when he dies, and where he will wait until Jonathan is ready to join him there. Then the unthinkable happens …Jonathan is killed in an accident. Heartbroken, Karl longs for the day he'll be reunited with his brother. When the time comes, he finds Nangiyala just as wonderful as he'd imagined. However, Nangiyala is under threat. A cruel tyrant is determined to claim it as his own, and at his command is a terrible beast that is feared throughout the land. Karl must summon all of his courage to help his brother prepare for the battle that lies ahead.
Right now it's not clear if Alfredson intends to direct the film or if he'll merely produce the adaptation, but when a filmmaker picks up the rights to a book on their own, it means they're usually pretty passionate about the source material. This would be the first time Alfredson would tackle a film like this, so it will be interesting to see how the director fairs with fantasy material, especially after seeing how he handled horror with children as the main characters in Let the Right One In. Of course, this project is just now starting development and still needs funds to get off the ground so stay tuned.
5 Comments
1
He picture Cold scenes beautifully, Let Right One In was astonishing Odd Decision
Ehsan Davodi on May 30, 2012
2
that book is one of the most beautiful, most horrifying kids stories ever told! I really hope someone does it justice...
wladimzappo on May 30, 2012
3
err, this book has been made into a movie before, so technically this would be a reboot 😛
Odball75 on May 30, 2012
4
Will it be in Swedish? The first movie based on this book has aged rather porly but this could be great
Loser on May 30, 2012
5
This is a stock favorite children's book in Sweden. Nice to see that he's sticking to his roots. There is a famous Swedish language version of the film from the 70s. Whilst Astrid Lingren's book have been universally accepted, the movie stuff really didn't get much traction outside Northern Europe. Good luck to all involved
EtoileBrilliant on May 30, 2012
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