Coming off the news that HBO has officially greenlit the series based on George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel A Game of Thrones, EW.com just received word that the Ian McShane-starring miniseries adaptation of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth (produced by Tony and Ridley Scott) has been picked up by Starz.
I smell a trend! Can the sexy-violence Showtime production of Le Morte d’Arthur, the psycho-minimalist AMC adaptation of The Tale of Genji, and the terrible Syfy version of The Wheel of Time be far behind? (Answer: yes, yes, and hopefully yes.)
Let’s really appreciate the gravity of the situation, here. If you’re a TV executive, it makes no sense at all to greenlight an ancient-epic TV series. You’ll never make back the astronomical production cost, even with all the tax breaks you get for filming in some remote corner of Eastern Europe. If you sacrifice historical accuracy in favor of movie-style drama, you’ll wind up with a terrible series like Empire that nobody wants to watch. If you flip the equation, sacrificing easy melodrama in favor of historical accuracy, you’ll wind up with an awesome series like Rome…that nobody wants to watch.
The only reason to bankroll a TV ancient-epic –- a genre inextricably linked to the cinema, from Intolerance to Ben-Hur to The Lord of the Rings –- is pride. Specifically, the pride that comes from beating movie people at their own game and from demonstrating how ancient epics can be about more than big battle scenes and British accents. (The next time you watch Gladiator, ask yourself: Is it really possible that everyone in the Roman Empire just stopped what they were doing to go watch the gladiators for a couple months?)
Starz is clearly looking to build on the buzz of Spartacus: Blood and Sand with its acquisition of Pillars. I haven’t read the book, and I’m skeptical of any miniseries that’s not about Steven Spielberg’s version of World War II, but as everyone knows, Ian McShane can make the phone book sound awesomely apocalyptic. Meanwhile, I am a complete George R. R. Martin freak-fan, and as if the cast weren’t perfect enough (Sean Bean! Peter Dinklage!), the behind-the-scenes talent includes the brilliant director Tom McCarthy and David Benioff, who wrote two of the best novels of the 2000s: The 25th Hour and City of Thieves. (Of course, he also wrote Troy, which is an often overlooked contender for the prize of “Most Resoundingly Mediocre Film Ever.”)
Ever since Gladiator and The Lord of the Rings tore up the screen, it seems like every summer has brought a new budget-breaking epic that hits theaters. And personally, I’m starting to feel like I prefer the particular pleasures of Ancient-Epic TV to the loud assault of Ancient-Epic cinema. On TV, you get fascinatingly devious backroom plotting instead of lame speechifying. You get great moments in historically accurate absurdity, like when the newsreader on Rome hawked products in between his announcements. And, of course, you also get all the violence and nudity that’s fit for premium cable.
What do you think of all the Epic news, PopWatchers? Do you think that books like Pillars of the Earth belong on the big screen with a $200 million budget? Or do you prefer shows like Rome or The Tudors, which give you time to really explore the ancient world? And most importantly of all: Will you watch these TV shows?
So excited about games of thrones!!!
TV definitely opens the doors farther than the cinema does. Pay cable TV even further.
The Pillars of the Earth (by Ken Follett) is hands down my favorite book… I’ve read it three times and it’s sequel twice. From the very first time I read Pillars I’ve hoped and prayed for a movie… and given how realistic and gritty and violent the book can be at points I’m glad to see Starz is behind production. Hopefully it gets a similar style to Spartacus.
Pillars of the Earth was a good book. I’ll give it a shot if they make a miniseries.
You have to read Pillars of the Earth! It’s wonderful and I’m looking forward to the mini-series.
Wow, I will totally watch Pillars of the Earth. Awesome book. But you’ve made me cringe with the thought of a Wheel of Time adaptation. How on earth would they even do that? It’s so bloated and meandering, I wonder if it would even be *possible* to put on screen.
I also twitched at the thought of a WoT adaptation. Wheel of Time is the most overrated fantasy series out there. I made it to book 5 and realized I hated every single character and couldn’t find redeeming qualities in any of them. And 600 pages of Rand gibbering to himself does not good reading make.
While I’d love to see a Deverry adaptation, I don’t think it would be possible to film. The jumping back and forth between the years and incarnations might be a problem. I’d be interested in seeing a Kushiel or Green Rider adaptation.
It seems like I have been waiting forever on the Game of Thrones greenlight since the first rumors started almost two years ago and I couldn’t be more excited. I do not have HBO now but sometime next spring I guarantee that will change. All of the talent involved in this production would have piqued my interest by itself but the fact that the source material is, thus far considering it is at least three books shy of completion, the finest work of fantasy i have ever read (yes including Lord of the Rings) seals it. The news about “Pillars” is also of interest. The book is excellent and McShane along with those wacky Scott boys point to it being all kinds of good.
You had me at Sean Bean.
I think it’s best to do it as a show. I love the Tudors
I’ve been following Pillars’ production since Matthew Macfadyen was cast as Prior Phillip. The whole cast is fantastic – Donald Sutherland, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Redmayne, Sarah Parish, Hayley Atwell. I’m getting Starz just so I can watch it.
I do have doubts about airing it in July, though. Odd timing.
Incidentally, IMHO, they made the right decision to make it a mini-series. No way you could distill that down to a 2 hour movie and make anyone happy.
“you’ll wind up with an awesome series like Rome…that nobody wants to watch.”
What. Rome *was* awesome, and 3 million viewers is nothing to sneeze at. It was too expensive to continue, so it got clipped after season 2.
i f-in LOVED rome!
I never thought about Pillars of the Earth as a regular running show like The Tudors…..I think that would be great! But a mini-series will probably be equally as awesome, and there’s no way it could all be crammed into a movie.
Can’t wait for A Game of Thrones, and Pillars of the Earth should be fantastic – that is provided they don’t come off like The Legend of the Seeker.