So his adaptation of The Golden Compass is already being hyped by studio New Line as the new Lord Of The Rings (rather inaccurately if you ask us, since the books share little in common). But that’s not enough fantasy limelight for the guy who, up until now, was best known for small-scale comedies like American Pie and About A Boy. Nope, along with his brother and former co-director Paul, Chris Weitz is going to take on the biggest fantasty-literature property as yet untouched by movieland: Michael Moorcock’s Elric saga.
Elric of Melniboné, aka Elric Kinslayer, aka The White Wolf first appeared in print in 1961, and is the anti-hero of more than a dozen books. A physically weak, perpetually sickly albino who’s the outcast Emperor of a race of cruel, ancient decadent people, he’s no musclebound Conan-type, instead drawing his power from the spirit-sucking runesword Stormbringer, an evil entity with whom he struggles for his own soul. And he’s frankly one of the greatest fantasy characters out there – albeit one who’s going to be fiendishly hard to make work on screen.
“Of the great classic fantasy series it’s the one that hasn’t been done yet,” Weitz tells Empire online. “My brother Paul and I liked those books growing up and we’ve met Michael Moorcock and he trusts us to take those books forward.” The Weitz’s Depth Of Field production company will be behind the adaptation, although no director is yet attached. Weitz does have one in mind, though: “I’d really like it if my brother directed them,” he says.