Two years after his
last project, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Peter Jackson returns,
albeit in a non-directorial capacity. The multiple award-winning filmmaker is teaming-up
once again with his Lord of the Rings and Hobbit colleagues, Philippa Boyens
and Fran Walsh, to together write an adaptation of author Philip Reeve's
sci-fi/fantasy novel Mortal Engines.
The project, which is
being developed at MRC and Universal, will be directed by Christian Rivers, a
visual effects supervisor turned director who previously worked with Jackson as
a storyboard artist on the filmmaker's Dead Alive and Heavenly Creatures,
before serving as visual effects art director on Jackson's Lord of the Rings
franchise, and splinter unit director on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,
and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armie. Most recently, Rivers worked as a
second unit director on David Lowery's Pete's Dragon for Disney.
"Christian
is one of my closest collaborators," says Jackson in a statement.
"The combination of emotion and jaw-dropping visuals in Mortal Engines makes
this the perfect movie for his move into feature directing. What Christian
intends to do with Philip Reeve’s terrific story is going to result in an
original and spectacular movie. I
wish I could see it tomorrow!"
Planned as a feature
film franchise, Mortal Engines takes place in a world deployed of natural
resources, where Earth's cities roam the globe on gargantuan rolling tracks to
hunt for smaller cities in order to acquire whatever resources and technology they still
possess. On day, the story's hero, Tom Natsworthy, comes across a mysterious woman, thus kicking off his, hers, and ours, adventure.
"Mortal Engines is one of those stories that was made
for the big screen. A fantastical, futuristic world that has to be seen to be
believed. At its heart though, it’s a beautiful love story and a richly complex
character driven adventure. To be the director who gets to bring Philip Reeve’s
incredible universe to life is a dream come true," said Rivers.
Jackson and Walsh will produce Mortal Engines, while Boyens will co-produce.
As for Jackson, at this time it is unclear what his directorial step will be. We know that he is developing a secret project over at Amblin Entertainment, and that the Tintin sequel is still very much alive.
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