Neil Gaiman May Direct 'Death: The High Cost of Living'
Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
I suppose the more cynical among you could file this one away in the "unsubstantiated rumor" category. But what the heck, this a film blog, not the New York Times. So, in the interest of giving you, the important Cinematical reader, information about upcoming films as soon as we possibly can, here we go: according to a source, Neil Gaiman is apparently now set to make his feature film directorial debut later this year when he takes the reigns of a film adapted from his graphic novel Death: The High Cost of Living.Film Ick says that Gaiman will be adapting his graphic novel for the screen and directing with production to start sometime in late Autumn in the U.K. -- even though, as the article states, the graphic novel takes place mainly in the U.S. At the site there's also several other bits and pieces of information, including that Gaiman will be including new story items in the film -- particularly an arc about roving Buddhist Monks -- that were not in the original graphic novel, some rumors about the potential casting of soon-to-be-everywhere Shia LaBeouf as male lead Sexton Funival and, of course, the big question of who will play the title character: Death herself.
As a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and everything he does, this graphic novel and its variations are of particular interest to me. Over the years, I've often thought about who I would like to see in a movie adaptation if one was ever made. Although I wasn't hugely impressed by what LaBeouf did with Chas Kramer in Constantine (much like a commenter at the Film Ick site) I do think he fits the part of Funival pretty well. As for Death, I would like to see Natalie Portman take on the role. What do you guys think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2007 @ 9:03PM
Rickmeister said...
Natalie Portman?!?! I think we want people to actually want to watch this movie. My vote goes to Zooey Deschanel.
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6-01-2007 @ 5:13AM
Beth said...
Natalie Portman is an excellent idea. She's done fantastic work lately! Deschanel? Same performance in every film, and she has no draw. (And frankly, I find her 'duh' voice annoying.)
Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of Shia LaBeouf.
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6-01-2007 @ 11:18AM
snesgirl said...
for the last three years I have attended Neil G's talks in London and he ALWAYS gets asked about the Sandman and Death movies.
He's given up on them getting made the way he wants to and so I'd be very very surprised if he has any involvement ( other than script) reagrds Death as a live actaoin movie. There was talk of a Death stop motion animation , but I Aint' holding my breath. Also Directing isn't something NG wants to branch out into he's ahppy letting his more expereinced friends ( sduch as Terry Gilliam and Robert Zemeckis) do that sort of thing with his works.
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6-01-2007 @ 11:50PM
jim said...
I think a gothed up Parker Posey might make a good Death.
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6-04-2007 @ 10:20AM
Angela said...
I think Mia Kirshner would be interesting.
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7-18-2007 @ 1:45PM
Amanda said...
As to weather or not he may be directing the movie, I'd like to point ppl to an interview:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue385/interview.html
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7-29-2007 @ 3:40PM
Jimbob said...
Is Dakota Fanning old enough yet ...?
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7-21-2007 @ 4:27AM
commonjack said...
hey - i'm a new fan of Neil Gaiman from Malaysia. haven't read all his stuff yet. in the middle of the Sandman series. i love Death. been wanting to get my hands on a copy of High Cost of Living - but haven't yet. Very excited abt the prospect of it being made into a movie!
I think Christina Ricci would make a good 'Death'.
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