JordanAinsley Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Fox Pits 'Gladiator' Writer Against Their Vampiric 'Passage'
Filed under: Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Scripts », 20th Century Fox »
I wish vampires were real. Not because I have any interest in seeing the world devolve into "True Blood" coming-out-of-the-coffin antics, but because I'm curious if their still blood boils at the thought of how Hollywood has been capitalizing on their image of late. Just when you thought the newly rekindled global studio lust for all things fanged could not possibly become any more saturated, along comes Fox to drop another title in the seemingly bottomless bucket of bloodsuckers: The Passage, an unpublished novel written by Justin Cronin under the pseudonym Jordan Ainsley.Considering the seven-figures Variety reports Fox 2000 has already poured into the rights to turn the work into a film (news you should recall from Weinberg's article here), it's no surprise they're now breaking out an Oscar nominated screenwriting gun to help differentiate their vampire world from the rising cacophony of films it will be joining in the next year or two. In a secondary seven-figure deal, Fox 2000 has entrusted scripting duties to The Aviator, The Last Samurai, Sweeney Todd, and Gladiator screenwriter John Logan, with the ultimate intention of handing directorial duties to Gladiator helmer Ridley Scott. Though considering the log-jam of films Scott has in his 'maybe pile' at this point, I wouldn't hold your breath for that last part to see fruition.
Fox and Ridley Scott Warm Up to Vampire Trilogy
Filed under: Horror », Deals », 20th Century Fox », Newsstand »
Fox 2000 and Ridley Scott's production company have snagged the (pricey) rights to Jordan Ainsley's as-yet-unpublished vampire trilogy -- but the concept sounds pretty dang cool. Described by Variety as a cross between 28 Weeks Later and The Stand, Ainsley's The Passage won't hit book stores until next year -- but that hasn't stopped the studios from mounting a hefty bidding war for the three-part property.Seems that Mr. Ainsley (who is actually the award-winning author Justin Cronin) received about $3.5 million for film rights on his three books. And get this: That paycheck was based only on a partial manuscript and an outline! Here's how the trade paper describes the story: "When terminally ill cancer patients get healthy after being bitten by bats in South America, the government conducts secret tests with human subjects to see if a virus can cure illness. Instead, it unleashes a swarm of bloodthirsty vampires out of the test subjects, which include death row inmates."
Awww yeahhh. Now that sounds like a book I'll want to read before seeing the movie. (Usually I wait till after. I know. I'm weird that way.) Although the project will be guided to the screen by Fox 2K and Scott Free Productions, it's not yet clear if Ridley (or Tony) will direct the first film. Although as a huge Ridley Scott fan, I really hope he does. That way it'll be a hardcore horror epic that's made for grown-ups. Plus it'll look real neat. Sir Ridley's good that way. As mentioned earlier, The Passage won't hit book stores until next summer ... but I'll be waiting.
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