Stop-motion animation director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline) is trying to revive its discarded project The Shadow King.
The film was initially made by Disney, but due to budget issues and creative differences with the studio, the film’s development was halted. Selick has since acquired the rights The Shadow Kingand is moving to develop it as a graphic novel.
Selick shared this news at the Annecy Film Festival and hopes that the graphic novel will spark interest and serve as a proof of concept for an eventual film Selick might offer to another director.
Selick has spoken out before The Shadow Kingsaying, “I got the rights back from Disney and maybe if… [Wendell & Wild] it’s considered a success, maybe I’ll revive The Shadow King… It would be different, it would be like my original story, which they claimed to love, but then changed everything.
He continued: “in my mind it was kind of a darker tone Dumbo. You know, Dumbo gets teased about his big ears and discovers, ‘my God, that elephant can fly’, well this was a child with deformed hands and maybe they weren’t as cute as the big ears and that was their problem, but that It’s a really messed up thing.
“A living shadow girl will teach him how to use those hands to not only create the greatest shadows in the world, but to create shadows that can come to life. I thought it was a great story and I still think it is.”
Selick actually screened five minutes of nearly finished footage that he completed during the film’s production. Variety says: “The first of two sequences featured a bald, white-clad doppelganger for Marvel villain Kingpin answering an urgent call as the shadow he casts takes on malevolent life.”
The second sequence “updated a clip circulating online with astonishing technical sophistication. Both skilfully conveyed the director’s trademark sinister humor, giving the piece an added bittersweet edge.”
While it’s nice to know that Selick is trying to turn this into a graphic novel, I hope Selick eventually gets around to developing it as a feature film.
Source: variety
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
