Right optioned for Bartimaeus series

I put nothing past a good creative team.

That said, so much of what was fun about the book was Stroud's writing, particularly in Bartimaeus's POV. Translating that to another medium... like I said, I put nothing past a good creative team. But that presupposes the collecting and retention of said team.

And I agree that comparing it to HP is a bit... simplistic. Maybe not quite apples and oranges, but applesauce and apple pie: some similar ingredients, but two rather different end results.

(pleasepleaseplease no Tim Burton)

Oh man, I loved these books! I really hope it gets the creative talent (and budget) it deserves. I do wonder how they'll translate Bartimaeus' POV and those footnotes. I suppose the actor will inform a lot of that. Ooh, I'd love to see someone like Peter Dinklage in that role.

I know it's been a while since I read them, but I don't see the HP comparison at all. Whatever you have to say to get it funded, I guess, but the tone and voice are just so different

frimble3 said:

(pleasepleaseplease no Tim Burton)

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I echo your prayers.

PyriteFool said:

I know it's been a while since I read them, but I don't see the HP comparison at all. Whatever you have to say to get it funded, I guess, but the tone and voice are just so different

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They're both primarily set in England, and both star a boy learning magic, and both are pitched at MG/YA.

That's about it on comparison. As I said, applesauce and apple pie... but if you want studio funding for a project from execs who know squat about books, you could do far worse than to invoke the HP franchise.

Kjbartolotta said:

This is exactly the direction I hope they don't take. There's whimsy, humor, and lots and lots of cool magic, but there's a certain depressing realism to the setting that I think has to be gotten right. Lotsa transactional politics, and one of the least likable boy wizards I've ever.

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I'm with you. I loved those books, and I really hope they don’t distort Nathaniel into some likeable Harry Potter copy.

Agreeing that I hope Tim Burton stays far, far away... him and Johnny Depp, both.

The boy MC isn't necessarily likable, being ambitious and vengeful and entirely accepting of the iron-fist rule of magicians over the masses, but he is always at least interesting and driven by understandable motives (starting with revenge for humiliation by his master), always with that slight kernel that sets him apart from the others... and he does grow up and manage to redeem himself over the course of the trilogy. He's a decent example of an MC who isn't necessarily a good person, but is better than the opponents he faces. Making him too innocent and kindly and Harry Potter-like would kill much of his story arc and deflate some of the impact of the alternate world; he has to be one of the "bad guys," a believer in the system that elevates and empowers him (and only rewards ruthlessness), before he can do anything about it. It's a trap I could see filmmmakers falling into very easily, though, if they want to appeal to the lucrative lowest common denominator.

Once more, I hope they get (and keep) a good, strong creative team to start it and keep it on track; there are so many ways this could derail, but if they pull it off...