You Can Make Good Omens! Gaiman and Gilliam need your dollars...
How much do you like Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Terry Gilliam? About £35 worth of like we hope, because that's how much it's going to take a million of you to cough up in order to get a Good Omens adaptation on screen.
Speaking to Empire at last night's Stardust premiere, writer Neil Gaiman (for the uninitiated, the comics mastermind behind the legendary Sandman, a series of such popularity that it's Gaiman's name which pops up first when you google 'Neil') named his first choice for director should an adaptation of Sandman ever end up on screen, which is where news came that, if Empire's reaction is anything to go by, will have fans of the former in quite a lather.
"I would always give anything to Terry Gilliam, forever, so if Terry Gilliam ever wants to do Sandman then as far as I’m concerned Terry Gilliam should do Sandman," said Gaiman. "But Terry’s busy trying to get Good Omens made that Terry Pratchett and I wrote. He needs someone to give him $70m. If you or any of your readers have a spare 70 million dollars you are not doing it with then send it to T Gilliam, care of the London Pipe Organisation."
While we advise against sending it to that address for obvious reasons, the idea of funding an adaptation of one of the finest and funniest books of recent years is too tempting to leave alone. Paypal, anyone?
Combining the best of both Pratchett and Gaiman's writing styles, Good Omens is by turns dark, philosophical and barkingly funny. Angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley have got rather fond of Earth and are thusly annoyed to discover that the Antichrist is going to show up and bring it to an end. Their ensuing partnership is one of the finest ever committed to print, besides which it's ridiculously funny and cleverly plotted.
"I hope that if we ever see Sandman made into a film that it will be made by someone who has the same love for the material that Peter Jackson had for Lord of the Rings and Sam Raimi had for Spider-Man," Gaiman continued. "Zach Snyder's doing Watchmen (by fellow comic genius Alan Moore) at the moment and he knows what he's doing and I hope it's good."
But, as Gaiman points out, Watchmen is a lot shorter than Sandman. About 1500 pages shorter, to be exact. "It’s hard to adapt (Sandman) without destroying its ardour," said Gaiman, "and I hope if ever it happens, then it’s done with integrity and passion. I would rather have no Sandman movie than a bad Sandman movie."
Let's raise $70m for Good Omens first and then maybe start Bring and Buy sales for Sandman.
I'm not a fan of Terry Pratchett at all, but I really loved this book and much prefer Gaiman's work. And I'm a huge fan of Gilliam - I just hope his streak of bad luck doesn't carry over to this film.
I wonder who will play Crowley and Aziraphale? ... Read More
Are there any hedge fund managers out there reading this? As far as I can work out, you are the most likley people to be able to raise £35 milion, and you can convince them that it's a good idea!. Everyone who has ever read the book loves it, and it sold quite well (okay, so I am making an assumption, but due diligence is what you types do), so it has a built in audience. Your clients will get all the tax breaks that make British films so tempting to invest in. And I'll watch it at leas... Read More
"While we advise against sending it to that address for obvious reasons, the idea of funding an adaptation of one of the finest and funniest books of the last decade is too tempting to leave alone."
As much as I hat to dampen this (quite worthwhile) campaign, I feel it is in the interests of nitpickery to point out that Good Omens is about 17 years old, which only counts as being "of the last decade" if you cheat a lot. :-) ... Read More
