RawsonThurber Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Now here's some old school fantasy! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wendy and Richard Pini's cult comic book series Elfquest has just been optioned by Warner Bros. Rawson Thurber (of Dodgeball fame) is set to write, direct, and produce, and there's no word yet on whether it will be animation or live action. Hollywood has been toying with an adaptation for a long time, but have only managed a few animated attempts.

Elfquest really belongs to that 70's and 80's style of fantasy -- Tolkien inspired, but with more sex and magic powers. It's all about a tribe of elves called the Wolfriders, who fight for survival on an alien world called Abode. There they war with trolls, encounter primitive humans, and discover that they aren't the only elf tribe on the planet.

An underground comic in its day, Elfquest was pretty notable for the sex, war, and the fact that Wendy Pini played such a huge part in its inception. (A chick writing and drawing a comic book? The world nearly ended.) You can read the mythology, and a bunch of free issues over on Elfquest's official website.

Despite my medieval/fantasy nerd reputation here on Cinematical, this is actually the first time I've known what Elfquest is all about. It's one of those things I have only encountered in passing. As I explore the website, I'm beginning to realize that some of the very skimpily clad attendees at my Renaissance Faire are, in fact, Wolfriders. And now with a movie on the horizon, there will be even more of them! It certainly takes all kinds to make a world, doesn't it?

But now the big question still remains: Will he get to take his shirt off? According to Entertainment Weekly, Matthew McConaughey was offered the leading role of Thomas Magnum in Universal Pictures' adaptation of Magnum P.I. In fact, right this very second (and possibly shirtless) McConaughey is said to be reading over the script from writer-director Rawson Thurber (Dodgeball); trying to decide whether or not he'd be a good fit. For those youngsters in the crowd, Magnum P.I. was a boss '80s TV show about a Navy Seal-turned-detective who liked Hawaiian shirts and big, porn mustaches.

This isn't the first we've heard of McConaughey and Magnum P.I. All the way back in January of 2007, he was rumored to be up for the part -- a role that, at one point, was going to Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Vince Vaughn. And ... what about Tom Selleck? Will he get to play a part? Probably not. Back in 2006 (oh yes, this project has been lingering in the halls of Hollywood detention for quite some time), Selleck called the movie idea "stupid" and said he'd take no part in it. Heck yeah, Tom! Tell it like it is. But if they were to move ahead on this, I like McConaughey out of everyone. Keep in mind, they'll update it to a point where the only traces from the old TV show come in character names and cheesy Hawaiian shirts.

What do you think about a Magnum P.I. movie? Keep it or kill it?