Joe Abercrombie: The Collected Works (and in what order to read them) SPOILERS

[red snow]

5 hours ago, williamjm said:

I get the impression there was a bit of a bidding war for Altered Carbon which (as Joe says above) can mean a lot more money is paid than would normally be the case for a relatively unknown author.

Altered Carbon was out shortly after "The matrix" so you could be right in it being a potentially hot property. Plus, it was back before comics and video games were the go to property (although video games still haven't properly caught on)

[williamjm]

30 minutes ago, red snow said:

Altered Carbon was out shortly after "The matrix" so you could be right in it being a potentially hot property.

If I remember correctly it was one of the producers of The Matrix, Joel Silver, that bought the option for it, so I think there was definitely a hope that it would be the new Matrix.

In retrospect, I think it's maybe for the best that the film fell through at the time because it does seem better suited to a Netflix TV series than a Hollywood blockbuster.

[red snow]

On 09/12/2016 at 11:43 PM, williamjm said:

If I remember correctly it was one of the producers of The Matrix, Joel Silver, that bought the option for it, so I think there was definitely a hope that it would be the new Matrix.

In retrospect, I think it's maybe for the best that the film fell through at the time because it does seem better suited to a Netflix TV series than a Hollywood blockbuster.

It was Silver who cought the original option. I also agree that TV is better suited for the book as it won't be turned into a PG-13 film where there's an environmental mcguffin and Colin Farrel as the lead.

That said, I'm surprised with the success of Game of Thrones that Joe hasn't been chased. I'd think his books would be a fairly obvious choice. I mean Kingkiller has been optioned (but it's more like a Harry Potter TV show), Lawrence's "thorns" books were at least optioned at one point and even Bakker's "2nd Apocalypse" is being looked at. Does TV/film have a blind spot with TFL?

[BigFatCoward]

59 minutes ago, red snow said:

 

That said, I'm surprised with the success of Game of Thrones that Joe hasn't been chased. I'd think his books would be a fairly obvious choice. I mean Kingkiller has been optioned (but it's more like a Harry Potter TV show), Lawrence's "thorns" books were at least optioned at one point and even Bakker's "2nd Apocalypse" is being looked at. Does TV/film have a blind spot with TFL?

In my head it feels expensive to film, if done right.  That is from someone with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of what it costs to make a TV program.  

[red snow]

28 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

In my head it feels expensive to film, if done right.  That is from someone with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of what it costs to make a TV program.  

The set pieces would be expensive if they wanted to do them justice on TV. Although Band of Brothers and Game of Thrones has shown it's possible. The BBC do pretty well with Norrell and strange and War and peace too. Although Band of Brothers was a Spielberg/Hanks undertaking and GOT didn't get to splash out until it was much more successful.

Still, the first book isn't as massive in scale and while I love the action the key to the books are the characters which just requires some decent actors (probably on the cheap from the UK/Australia)

[BigFatCoward]

20 minutes ago, red snow said:

The set pieces would be expensive if they wanted to do them justice on TV. Although Band of Brothers and Game of Thrones has shown it's possible. The BBC do pretty well with Norrell and strange and War and peace too. Although Band of Brothers was a Spielberg/Hanks undertaking and GOT didn't get to splash out until it was much more successful.

Still, the first book isn't as massive in scale and while I love the action the key to the books are the characters which just requires some decent actors (probably on the cheap from the UK/Australia)

Agree, the characters make it, and if it did well then the money would i assume follow for the big set pieces in books 2 and 3.  In fact are there any big set pieces in the first book at all?   The most action i can think of is the chase through town of Logan and Ferro by the practicals. Book one would presumably be pretty cheap to film, and would require only 6-8 episodes.  

[red snow]

33 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Agree, the characters make it, and if it did well then the money would i assume follow for the big set pieces in books 2 and 3.  In fact are there any big set pieces in the first book at all?   The most action i can think of is the chase through town of Logan and Ferro by the practicals. Book one would presumably be pretty cheap to film, and would require only 6-8 episodes.  

That scene and isn't there one with all the "flatheads" attacking Logan and Ferro too where he goes B9 or am I mixing that up with the final scene?

There might be a battle scene with Dogman and the union but I think that doesn't scale up until book 2 either. The first book is actually quite kind to a production team. They'd have to hope it was successful before they reached book 3 though!

[BigFatCoward]

12 minutes ago, red snow said:

That scene and isn't there one with all the "flatheads" attacking Logan and Ferro too where he goes B9 or am I mixing that up with the final scene?

There might be a battle scene with Dogman and the union but I think that doesn't scale up until book 2 either. The first book is actually quite kind to a production team. They'd have to hope it was successful before they reached book 3 though!

The scene with the Flatheads was in book two, in the city which Glustrod destroyed, Aulcus? as far as i can remember. 

[red snow]

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

The scene with the Flatheads was in book two, in the city which Glustrod destroyed, Aulcus? as far as i can remember. 

most likely - my memory is shady. It makes sense as B9 was the big reveal of book 1 so he wouldnt appear twice. I'll definitely be doing a re read before the next trilogy.

[The hairy bear]

Yes, the flatheads are in the second book. The action scenes from the first book would be relatively easy, never involving more than a dozen of actors. The next books would rise the stakes a lot: the second has the scene at Aulcus, the battle in the North and the siege of Dagoska, and the third the battle of the High Places and the massive battle of Adua.

However, I think that the main problem of adapting Joe's trilogy is that the most of the protagonists are not defined by their actions, but by their thoughts. Logen is interesting because you know that he tries to be a better man and refrain from violence. But if you watched it instead of reading it, you'd just see a barbarian who resorts to violence at the first opportunity. And seeing how Glokta tortures prisoner after prisoner without understanding him would be hard to watch. I'm not saying it can't be done, but at least it's a very tall order.

[Mick of House Guinness]

The Lego First Law Movie?

Anybody?

No, just me?

Sigh

[Astromech]

4 hours ago, Mick of House Guinness said:

The Lego First Law Movie?

Anybody?

No, just me?

Sigh

I would say Claymation, but then I remembered this video:

Legos work.

[Darth Richard II]

4 hours ago, Mick of House Guinness said:

The Lego First Law Movie?

Anybody?

No, just me?

Sigh

You had me at LEGO.

[red snow]

21 hours ago, The hairy bear said:

Yes, the flatheads are in the second book. The action scenes from the first book would be relatively easy, never involving more than a dozen of actors. The next books would rise the stakes a lot: the second has the scene at Aulcus, the battle in the North and the siege of Dagoska, and the third the battle of the High Places and the massive battle of Adua.

However, I think that the main problem of adapting Joe's trilogy is that the most of the protagonists are not defined by their actions, but by their thoughts. Logen is interesting because you know that he tries to be a better man and refrain from violence. But if you watched it instead of reading it, you'd just see a barbarian who resorts to violence at the first opportunity. And seeing how Glokta tortures prisoner after prisoner without understanding him would be hard to watch. I'm not saying it can't be done, but at least it's a very tall order.

If that is actually the case then he never was trying very hard to be a better man. All we need to see is his reluctance to get involved in violence. I actually thought some of the best characterisation for Logen was in book 2 during the quest when all the other characters begrudgingly like Logen the most. We didn't need his thoughts to know that but i concede it may have helped to know the other character's thoughts.

Glokta is tricky though to the point where you feel he either needs a sidekick to vent against or he just has to mumble to himself a lot.

But I don't really think it's any more of a challenge than adapting most books which all tend to tell you the inner thoughts of characters as well.

[Consigliere]

40 minutes ago, red snow said:

Glokta is tricky though to the point where you feel he either needs a sidekick to vent against or he just has to mumble to himself a lot.

Barnam's role could be expanded/tweaked in an adaptation where he is not merely a manservant but a confidant of Glokta's as well. Could be a good vehicle in providing more insight into Glokta's character.

[Ded As Ned]

Or the practicals? 

[Consigliere]

@Ded As Ned

Yeah, they're a possibility as well. Still prefer it to be Barnam though as I think Glokta would be more comfortable confiding in someone who is not part of the Inquisition.

[HexMachina]

I think it's quite important Glokta keeps his thoughts to himself, though I think your suggestion is probably the best way of approaching it on screen. I would miss his inner black humour though (which I don't think would work as well said out loud anyway

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Consigliere said:

@Ded As Ned

Yeah, they're a possibility as well. Still prefer it to be Barnam though as I think Glokta would be more comfortable confiding in someone who is not part of the Inquisition.

I think a combination of the two would work. I also think when he's on his own the occasional utterance is ok. I mean, i want to hear Glokta say something about stairs when he confronts them.

[Werthead]

Message from Joe via Twitter: The Circle of the World is basically "the known world". There's more of the planet beyond the edges of the circle, no-one knows how much.