The starry new version of Alasdair Gray’s book expunges almost all of its Scottish context. Along the writer and artist’s trail through the city, locals let their feelings be known
Alasdair Gray was one of Scotland’s most distinctive talents. A Glaswegian artist and writer, he celebrated his native city in tales that combined fantasy with dark urban realism and in paintings that evoked civic life in vivid detail.
He wrote Lanark, one of the greatest British novels of the 20th century; adorned many of the city’s bars, restaurants and stations with his distinctive murals; and inspired a generation of younger Scottish writers, including Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh.
Alasdair Gray was one of Scotland’s most distinctive talents. A Glaswegian artist and writer, he celebrated his native city in tales that combined fantasy with dark urban realism and in paintings that evoked civic life in vivid detail.
He wrote Lanark, one of the greatest British novels of the 20th century; adorned many of the city’s bars, restaurants and stations with his distinctive murals; and inspired a generation of younger Scottish writers, including Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh.
- 12/30/2023
- by Robin McKie
- The Guardian - Film News
There's no doubt about it: Ncuti Gatwa is having a bit of a moment. 2023 has been a big year for the Rwandan–Scottish actor, with the final season of his breakout hit show "Sex Education" hitting the airwaves right after he appeared alongside A-listers as one of the Kens in "Barbie." Now, he's well on his way to leading-man status, including an upcoming stint as one of the UK's most famous characters. Although his onscreen career is just getting started, he's already starred in a few very recognizable TV shows and movies. Here's everywhere you can catch him so far - and where he'll be appearing next.
Ncuti Gatwa Movies "Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans" (2019)
This historical parody from the beloved "Horrible Histories" team narrates the story of the Roman Empire in Britain - albeit with some comedic historical liberties. Gatwa plays Timidius, a minor Roman character.
"The Last Letter from Your Lover...
Ncuti Gatwa Movies "Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans" (2019)
This historical parody from the beloved "Horrible Histories" team narrates the story of the Roman Empire in Britain - albeit with some comedic historical liberties. Gatwa plays Timidius, a minor Roman character.
"The Last Letter from Your Lover...
- 11/4/2023
- by Amanda Prahl
- Popsugar.com
Jonathan Taplin has had more careers than most folks — Bob Dylan and The Band’s tour manager, film producer (the Last Waltz and Mean Streets) Wall Street entrepreneur, teacher at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. In an exclusive excerpt from his latest book, “The End of Reality: How 4 Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars and Crypto,” Taplin lays out the dangers of becoming complacent in the face of the fantasy worlds offered by the leading technocrats.
Four very powerful billionaires— Elon Musk, Peter Thiel,...
Four very powerful billionaires— Elon Musk, Peter Thiel,...
- 9/24/2023
- by Jonathan Taplin
- Rollingstone.com
The U.K.’s Stigma Films has snapped up TV rights for Jeffrey Boakye’s “I Heard What You Said,” an Amazon Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022.
Told via a series of encounters based on the challenging and outrageous things people have said to him or about him, Boakye, a Black, male English teacher who has had to teach problematic texts, recounts how it feels to be on the margins of the British education system.
The deal was brokered by the Sarah Such Literary Agency.
Stigma’s film credits include “Daddy’s Head,” “T.I.M.,” “The Score,” upcoming Romola Garai project “Monstrous Beauty” and Netflix original “Choose or Die,” starring Asa Butterfield. The acquisition of “I Heard What You Said” follows on from Stigma branching out from feature films to television in the last year. Their first project is Steven Knight/Kudos series, “This Town” for BBC and the company...
Told via a series of encounters based on the challenging and outrageous things people have said to him or about him, Boakye, a Black, male English teacher who has had to teach problematic texts, recounts how it feels to be on the margins of the British education system.
The deal was brokered by the Sarah Such Literary Agency.
Stigma’s film credits include “Daddy’s Head,” “T.I.M.,” “The Score,” upcoming Romola Garai project “Monstrous Beauty” and Netflix original “Choose or Die,” starring Asa Butterfield. The acquisition of “I Heard What You Said” follows on from Stigma branching out from feature films to television in the last year. Their first project is Steven Knight/Kudos series, “This Town” for BBC and the company...
- 6/2/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Writing for New Scientist magazine (paywalled), Christopher Paolini – author of 2002 fantasy novel Eragon, which was adapted for the big screen by 20th Century Fox in 2006 – cites Babylon 5 as a major influence on his new science fiction novel, Fractal Noise.
Fractal Noise is a prequel to Paolini’s first Sf novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which was published in 2020. It is the third book in his Fractalverse series.
Paolini told New Scientist:
Although the CGI is pretty janky, as a result of a number of unfortunate studio choices over the years, the writing and storytelling of this series remain incredibly solid. One of the first TV shows to tackle multi-season arcs… and to make them work. Babylon 5 has some of the greatest characters found in science fiction, and some of the most moving and epic moments.
Can’t argue with that. Paolini has always been open about his influences,...
Fractal Noise is a prequel to Paolini’s first Sf novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which was published in 2020. It is the third book in his Fractalverse series.
Paolini told New Scientist:
Although the CGI is pretty janky, as a result of a number of unfortunate studio choices over the years, the writing and storytelling of this series remain incredibly solid. One of the first TV shows to tackle multi-season arcs… and to make them work. Babylon 5 has some of the greatest characters found in science fiction, and some of the most moving and epic moments.
Can’t argue with that. Paolini has always been open about his influences,...
- 5/17/2023
- by James Hoare
- The Companion
‘T.I.M.’ is directed by Spencer Brown and stars Georgina Campbell.
Producer Matthew James Wilkinson of Stigma Films is attending Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) with the UK premiere of The Score, just one of several projects on his growing slate.
Wilkinson has just wrapped the shoot for T.I.M., Spencer Brown’s contained ‘monster-in-the-house thriller’ which Altitude has pre-sold to a number of territories including the UK.
The cast for the sci-fi, AI-themed thriller features Black Mirror star Georgina Campbell. The film wrapped its shoot in and around London in late July. “It’s a brilliant commercial idea and a well written script,...
Producer Matthew James Wilkinson of Stigma Films is attending Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) with the UK premiere of The Score, just one of several projects on his growing slate.
Wilkinson has just wrapped the shoot for T.I.M., Spencer Brown’s contained ‘monster-in-the-house thriller’ which Altitude has pre-sold to a number of territories including the UK.
The cast for the sci-fi, AI-themed thriller features Black Mirror star Georgina Campbell. The film wrapped its shoot in and around London in late July. “It’s a brilliant commercial idea and a well written script,...
- 8/17/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
The Curtis Brown Group has taken over representation for Iain Banks’ literary estate, including book to film rights.
Curtis Brown’s Luke Speed will act as the literary estate’s dedicated agent for film and TV adaptation and has already unveiled his first deal, for the author’s 1999 thriller “The Business,” which is being adapted for television by Stigma Films (“Yesterday”). Previously, the estate’s book to film rights were handled by Sayle Screen.
Curtis Brown will also take over book rights from the Mic Cheetham Agency and translation rights from the Marsh Agency.
Becky Brown at Curtis Brown Heritage will now handle book rights and Alexander Cochran at Curtis Brown’s sister agency, C&w, will handle the translation rights.
Scottish born-Banks wrote under two names in two different genres: literary fictions (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks). The former sits alongside authors such as...
Curtis Brown’s Luke Speed will act as the literary estate’s dedicated agent for film and TV adaptation and has already unveiled his first deal, for the author’s 1999 thriller “The Business,” which is being adapted for television by Stigma Films (“Yesterday”). Previously, the estate’s book to film rights were handled by Sayle Screen.
Curtis Brown will also take over book rights from the Mic Cheetham Agency and translation rights from the Marsh Agency.
Becky Brown at Curtis Brown Heritage will now handle book rights and Alexander Cochran at Curtis Brown’s sister agency, C&w, will handle the translation rights.
Scottish born-Banks wrote under two names in two different genres: literary fictions (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks). The former sits alongside authors such as...
- 10/14/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Yesterday producer Matthew James Wilkinson is teaming up with Poldark and Endeavour exec producer Tom Mullens on a TV adaptation of Scottish author Iain Banks’ thriller novel The Business.
The project marks the latest foray into TV for Wilkinson’s Stigma Films, which is ramping up a TV slate that also includes Steven Knight’s Two Tone drama in development with Kudos.
The Business follows Kate Telman, a working-class Glaswegian who has risen through the ranks to become a senior executive in a secretive super-corporation, known only as The Business. Telman discovers that The Business is planning to buy a small country in order to secure a seat on the Un and that, despite the benevolent image and democratic structure it presents to the world, the company will stop at nothing to increase its influence. So begins a dangerous personal reckoning as Telman travels the globe from Scotland to the Swiss Alps,...
The project marks the latest foray into TV for Wilkinson’s Stigma Films, which is ramping up a TV slate that also includes Steven Knight’s Two Tone drama in development with Kudos.
The Business follows Kate Telman, a working-class Glaswegian who has risen through the ranks to become a senior executive in a secretive super-corporation, known only as The Business. Telman discovers that The Business is planning to buy a small country in order to secure a seat on the Un and that, despite the benevolent image and democratic structure it presents to the world, the company will stop at nothing to increase its influence. So begins a dangerous personal reckoning as Telman travels the globe from Scotland to the Swiss Alps,...
- 9/23/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
For obvious reasons, it’s been a year for disappointments and delays to much-anticipated TV and film projects. The frequency of bad news though, never makes it sting any less. Unrelated to the global coronavirus pandemic, it’s been confirmed by writer and Utopia creator Dennis Kelly that Amazon Prime’s planned television adaptation of Iain M. Banks’ The Culture novel series is no longer going ahead.
Speaking to Den of Geek about new experimental Sky Atlantic-HBO drama series The Third Day, Kelly revealed his disappointment that the Banks project, first announced in February 2018, is no longer moving forward.
“We’d talked about it for two or three years and it went a certain way along,” says Kelly. “I’d written probably 20-30 pages of the bible, but once I got a sense that it wasn’t going to happen, I had to stop writing because you become emotionally attached to the work.
Speaking to Den of Geek about new experimental Sky Atlantic-HBO drama series The Third Day, Kelly revealed his disappointment that the Banks project, first announced in February 2018, is no longer moving forward.
“We’d talked about it for two or three years and it went a certain way along,” says Kelly. “I’d written probably 20-30 pages of the bible, but once I got a sense that it wasn’t going to happen, I had to stop writing because you become emotionally attached to the work.
- 8/24/2020
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Dennis Kelly to write Consider Phlebas adaptation with Plan B producing.
Amazon Studios has acquired global TV rights to Iain M Banks’ Consider Phlebas and set British writer Dennis Kelly to do a series adaptation of the sci-fi novel.
Kelly, an International Emmy winner for 2013 UK sci-fi series Utopia, will write the planned series for production company Plan B Entertainment, with the estate of Banks, who died in 2013, attached as executive producer.
The acquisition is the latest move in Amazon’s drive to develop large scale genre series with broad global appeal for its Amazon Prime streaming service. Last November, the company signed a deal, reportedly worth $250m, for worldwide TV rights to J R R Tolkien novel The Lord Of The Rings.
Consider Phlebas is the first of nine novels, published between 1987 and 2012, that Scottish author Banks wrote about the Culture, a fictional interstellar utopian society at war with the Idirans, a warlike race intent...
Amazon Studios has acquired global TV rights to Iain M Banks’ Consider Phlebas and set British writer Dennis Kelly to do a series adaptation of the sci-fi novel.
Kelly, an International Emmy winner for 2013 UK sci-fi series Utopia, will write the planned series for production company Plan B Entertainment, with the estate of Banks, who died in 2013, attached as executive producer.
The acquisition is the latest move in Amazon’s drive to develop large scale genre series with broad global appeal for its Amazon Prime streaming service. Last November, the company signed a deal, reportedly worth $250m, for worldwide TV rights to J R R Tolkien novel The Lord Of The Rings.
Consider Phlebas is the first of nine novels, published between 1987 and 2012, that Scottish author Banks wrote about the Culture, a fictional interstellar utopian society at war with the Idirans, a warlike race intent...
- 2/21/2018
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Joseph Baxter Feb 22, 2018
Consider Phlebas, the acclaimed sci-fi novel series by Iain M. Banks, is getting a prestigious TV adaptation...
Amazon’s interminable project backlog of genre-driven peak television offerings just added a major mythology. Amazon Video, the streaming service of the online retail leviathan, has acquired the global rights to a TV adaptation of Consider Phlebas, which was the canonical starting point of author Iain M. Banks’s celebrated books, collectively known as the 'Culture' series.
Consider Phlebas, a sprawling 10-book, epoch-spanning, space-set sci-fi novel series, will serve as the launching point for Amazon’s Culture series TV endeavor. The project has been put into development, arriving as a production of Plan B Entertainment, with the estate of author Iain M. Banks serving as executive producer. The creative stewardship of the project has been placed in the hands of Dennis Kelly, the screenwriter behind the 2013-2014 cult favourite sci-fi series,...
Consider Phlebas, the acclaimed sci-fi novel series by Iain M. Banks, is getting a prestigious TV adaptation...
Amazon’s interminable project backlog of genre-driven peak television offerings just added a major mythology. Amazon Video, the streaming service of the online retail leviathan, has acquired the global rights to a TV adaptation of Consider Phlebas, which was the canonical starting point of author Iain M. Banks’s celebrated books, collectively known as the 'Culture' series.
Consider Phlebas, a sprawling 10-book, epoch-spanning, space-set sci-fi novel series, will serve as the launching point for Amazon’s Culture series TV endeavor. The project has been put into development, arriving as a production of Plan B Entertainment, with the estate of author Iain M. Banks serving as executive producer. The creative stewardship of the project has been placed in the hands of Dennis Kelly, the screenwriter behind the 2013-2014 cult favourite sci-fi series,...
- 2/21/2018
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Iain M. Banks’ classic sci-fi Culture book series is headed to television. Amazon Studios has acquired the global TV rights to the first novel in the series, Consider Phlebas, with Utopia creator Dennis Kelly set to pen the TV adaptation, Plan B Entertainment (World War Z Moonlight) slated to produce and the Estate of Iain Banks attached as executive producer. The book had been pursued by a number of top film and TV producers. The 10-book series by Scottish…...
- 2/21/2018
- Deadline TV
Movies can transport us to sci-fi worlds with immerse viewing experiences. But when the lights come up at the end of the movie, it’s back to the real world. There are some futures that sound like sci-fi now that might be reality soon though. And there are other less likely sci-fi scenarios that we’ll never get to really experience (sorry, everyone with Avatar blues — we’re not going to Pandora). Mars, though, is within reach. But it’s not Mars that the creative minds behind The Martian dream of visiting — especially not Andy Weir, author of the book on which the successful Matt Damon-starring movie is based. At an event today on the 20th Century Fox lot featuring a panel of Weir, director Ridley Scott, and screenwriter Drew Goddard, moderator Adam Savage (MythBusters) brought up the possibility of the The Martian filmmakers traveling to Mars themselves, Weir...
- 2/12/2016
- by Emily Rome
- Hitfix
Railhead by Philip Reeve is a playful space adventure for younger readers with captivating action and a hint of Iain M. Banks...
This is a novel for children and young adults that has already been earmarked to become a film. Deals have been done, and wheels have already been set in motion, which is an apt metaphor since the act of travelling, particularly upon trains, makes up most of the action.
For the trains in Railhead are sentient, and they travel between worlds in a future where creatures known as the Guardians have decided to take over the running of human affairs. Some humans get to travel freely in great comfort across the universe because they are helpful to the Guardians, while others find themselves stuck on backwater planets scraping together a survival. Either way, these star-travelling trains are the key to a better life - but where did they come from?...
This is a novel for children and young adults that has already been earmarked to become a film. Deals have been done, and wheels have already been set in motion, which is an apt metaphor since the act of travelling, particularly upon trains, makes up most of the action.
For the trains in Railhead are sentient, and they travel between worlds in a future where creatures known as the Guardians have decided to take over the running of human affairs. Some humans get to travel freely in great comfort across the universe because they are helpful to the Guardians, while others find themselves stuck on backwater planets scraping together a survival. Either way, these star-travelling trains are the key to a better life - but where did they come from?...
- 9/28/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Our letters page returns! This time around, it's comments, the return of Orphan Black, and a bit of Ant-Man...
And it's back! Our horribly out-of-date, barely interactive letters page is now into its second year, and bizarrely, is still going strong. If you want to get involved, the details for getting in touch are at the bottom. But for now, this is what we found in our mailbag this month...
Ad Block & Disqus
I was just starting to feel accepted and part of this community, but now that my adblock has started hiding the Disqus comments (two or three weeks ago) at the bottom of the articles, I find I am coming here less often, and that makes me very sad. These ads are a massive annoyance and very distracting, I do not watch them on TV at home because they are so annoying, and I should be able to...
And it's back! Our horribly out-of-date, barely interactive letters page is now into its second year, and bizarrely, is still going strong. If you want to get involved, the details for getting in touch are at the bottom. But for now, this is what we found in our mailbag this month...
Ad Block & Disqus
I was just starting to feel accepted and part of this community, but now that my adblock has started hiding the Disqus comments (two or three weeks ago) at the bottom of the articles, I find I am coming here less often, and that makes me very sad. These ads are a massive annoyance and very distracting, I do not watch them on TV at home because they are so annoying, and I should be able to...
- 9/16/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Our latest letters page, where we chat about Ted 2's trailer, the lack of Yonderland, and getting a job here.
Our monthly letters page returns! This is our outmoded, outdated and yet thoroughly regular bit of the site where you write to us, and we reply. Who needs comments, right? Ahem.
Find details of how to contribute below. And in the meantime here's the new round-up of your correspondence...
Where's Yonderland?
Your site is often the only place on the internet for both [redacated] geeky news, reviews and an [redacted] community. So imagine my surprise when, on Tuesday morning, I failed to find a review on Sky 1's great Yonderland. Just wondering, do you guys watch the show and, if you do, what do you think of it?
Don't take this the wrong way, I still [more nice comments about website redacted, as we're still shy]!
Sam
West Yorkshire
Louisa writes: We're big fans of Horrible Histories and the Yonderland gang...
Our monthly letters page returns! This is our outmoded, outdated and yet thoroughly regular bit of the site where you write to us, and we reply. Who needs comments, right? Ahem.
Find details of how to contribute below. And in the meantime here's the new round-up of your correspondence...
Where's Yonderland?
Your site is often the only place on the internet for both [redacated] geeky news, reviews and an [redacted] community. So imagine my surprise when, on Tuesday morning, I failed to find a review on Sky 1's great Yonderland. Just wondering, do you guys watch the show and, if you do, what do you think of it?
Don't take this the wrong way, I still [more nice comments about website redacted, as we're still shy]!
Sam
West Yorkshire
Louisa writes: We're big fans of Horrible Histories and the Yonderland gang...
- 8/6/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Our letters page is back! Game Of Thrones and spoilers, mobile Den Of Geek, and Avengers title joy!
It's back! And there are lots of your letters, in our cunning, non-interactive discussion forum! It is further evidence of us being proudly stuck in the past.
To get your letter included, you'll find contact details down at the bottom there. But before that: our latest round-up of correspondence...
Game Of Thrones, Spoilers & Reviews
This is partially a rant, but also consists of a question regarding post-finale news coverage of Games Of Thrones season five.
Right, I have had a difficult week trying to dodge spoilers for season five of Game Of Thrones. I haven't seen any of season five as I do not have access to a TV channel or legal online source that makes it available to me. I gather it aired on Monday night on Sky? So since Monday morning,...
It's back! And there are lots of your letters, in our cunning, non-interactive discussion forum! It is further evidence of us being proudly stuck in the past.
To get your letter included, you'll find contact details down at the bottom there. But before that: our latest round-up of correspondence...
Game Of Thrones, Spoilers & Reviews
This is partially a rant, but also consists of a question regarding post-finale news coverage of Games Of Thrones season five.
Right, I have had a difficult week trying to dodge spoilers for season five of Game Of Thrones. I haven't seen any of season five as I do not have access to a TV channel or legal online source that makes it available to me. I gather it aired on Monday night on Sky? So since Monday morning,...
- 6/18/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
UK TV ratings roundup - data supplied by Barb
The Big Bang Theory and Big Brother both held relatively steady ratings on Thursday night (June 11), according to overnight data.
However, both shows were down slightly on their respective audiences from last week.
The Big Bang Theory's latest instalment 'The Maternal Combustion' aired to 926k (5.1%) at 8.30pm on E4. Last week's episode had passed the one million mark.
Although Big Brother was down almost 50k on Wednesday night's figures, last night's audience of 952k (4.9%) at 9pm was up slightly against the corresponding overnight figures week-on-week.
Over on BBC One, The One Show, with special guest Pete Waterman, was the top rated programme outside of soaps with 3.38m (21.5%) at 7pm, followed by an audience of 3.16m (17.5%) for Watchdog at 8pm.
The Truth About Your Teeth was down on last week with 2.16m (11.1%) at 9pm, while 2.05m (19.8%) tuned in for David Dimbleby's Question Time at 10.35pm.
The Big Bang Theory and Big Brother both held relatively steady ratings on Thursday night (June 11), according to overnight data.
However, both shows were down slightly on their respective audiences from last week.
The Big Bang Theory's latest instalment 'The Maternal Combustion' aired to 926k (5.1%) at 8.30pm on E4. Last week's episode had passed the one million mark.
Although Big Brother was down almost 50k on Wednesday night's figures, last night's audience of 952k (4.9%) at 9pm was up slightly against the corresponding overnight figures week-on-week.
Over on BBC One, The One Show, with special guest Pete Waterman, was the top rated programme outside of soaps with 3.38m (21.5%) at 7pm, followed by an audience of 3.16m (17.5%) for Watchdog at 8pm.
The Truth About Your Teeth was down on last week with 2.16m (11.1%) at 9pm, while 2.05m (19.8%) tuned in for David Dimbleby's Question Time at 10.35pm.
- 6/12/2015
- Digital Spy
Stonemouth: BBC Two, 9pm
BBC Two's new thriller is an adaptation of Iain Banks's bestseller of the same name, with Christian Cooke taking on the role of London art student Stewart Gilmour.
In the first of two parts, Stewart returns home after two years to find that his best friend has committed suicide, but he is convinced there is something deeper behind his death.
The Tribe: Channel 4, 9pm
Channel 4's groundbreaking documentary series focuses on a rural African tribe living in four mud huts in southern Ethiopia, known as the Ayka Mukos.
Allowing cameras into their homes, the humorous series shows how the large family of three generations carry out tribe duties and take care of everyday problems, which even include wedding planning.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: E4, 9pm (double-bill)
Andy Samberg's hit cop comedy finishes its second season with a double-bill on E4, with...
BBC Two's new thriller is an adaptation of Iain Banks's bestseller of the same name, with Christian Cooke taking on the role of London art student Stewart Gilmour.
In the first of two parts, Stewart returns home after two years to find that his best friend has committed suicide, but he is convinced there is something deeper behind his death.
The Tribe: Channel 4, 9pm
Channel 4's groundbreaking documentary series focuses on a rural African tribe living in four mud huts in southern Ethiopia, known as the Ayka Mukos.
Allowing cameras into their homes, the humorous series shows how the large family of three generations carry out tribe duties and take care of everyday problems, which even include wedding planning.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: E4, 9pm (double-bill)
Andy Samberg's hit cop comedy finishes its second season with a double-bill on E4, with...
- 6/11/2015
- Digital Spy
Joseph Baxter Feb 7, 2019
While David Fincher was to reunite with Brad Pitt to direct World War Z 2, the sequel appears to be (permanently) dead.
World War Z's sequel plans have reportedly been put down by Paramount like a plague-infected zombie.
It appears that the long-mooted World War Z 2 has been taken off the developmental slate by the studio, as The Playlist reports. The reason seems to be a lack of momentum from the studio after years of mysterious production delays. As the report indicates, the sequel – once set for a June 9, 2017 release date – received unenthusiastic treatment by Paramount as planned start dates came and went. Budget was also a key factor, since the studio was looking at what would have been an exorbitant 6-month shoot across five different countries, starting stateside in Atlanta.
It’s quite a turn of events, especially considering how prospects for the World War Z sequel...
While David Fincher was to reunite with Brad Pitt to direct World War Z 2, the sequel appears to be (permanently) dead.
World War Z's sequel plans have reportedly been put down by Paramount like a plague-infected zombie.
It appears that the long-mooted World War Z 2 has been taken off the developmental slate by the studio, as The Playlist reports. The reason seems to be a lack of momentum from the studio after years of mysterious production delays. As the report indicates, the sequel – once set for a June 9, 2017 release date – received unenthusiastic treatment by Paramount as planned start dates came and went. Budget was also a key factor, since the studio was looking at what would have been an exorbitant 6-month shoot across five different countries, starting stateside in Atlanta.
It’s quite a turn of events, especially considering how prospects for the World War Z sequel...
- 5/22/2015
- Den of Geek
Our letters page is back! This time? A mystery film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and flipper DVDs...
It's letters time! The return of our outmoded way of interacting with people, by encouraging you to send us letters which we then reply to. Nearly a year since we started this short-lived ridiculous idea, it's still going. Crikey.
If you want to write in, then the details are at the bottom of this piece. But in the meantime, we've got your latest letters to answer. So we'd best get cracking...
James Bond lookbacks
Long time reader first time emailer. I'm a [nice comment redacted, we remain very shy] of the site, I might not always agree but your opinion and the opinion I read in the comments section is usually very fair.
Anyway I was just writing in about your reviews of all the Bond films but specifically about On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
When I read the...
It's letters time! The return of our outmoded way of interacting with people, by encouraging you to send us letters which we then reply to. Nearly a year since we started this short-lived ridiculous idea, it's still going. Crikey.
If you want to write in, then the details are at the bottom of this piece. But in the meantime, we've got your latest letters to answer. So we'd best get cracking...
James Bond lookbacks
Long time reader first time emailer. I'm a [nice comment redacted, we remain very shy] of the site, I might not always agree but your opinion and the opinion I read in the comments section is usually very fair.
Anyway I was just writing in about your reviews of all the Bond films but specifically about On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
When I read the...
- 5/21/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Our letters page is back! This time: depressing movie news, and the fate of our Under The Dome reviewer...
Cue the introductory waffle! Our letters page is back! Once again, we continue to pursue an apparently-outdated, outmoded way of interacting with people, by encouraging you to send us letters which we then reply to. We figured this wheeze wouldn't stand the test of time and yet, er, we're still going. Crikey.
If you want to write in, then the details are at the bottom of this piece. But in the meantime, we've got your latest letters to answer. So we'd best get cracking...
Depressing News & Busy Times
Greetings,
I regularly check your site for news, reviews and features and some days I just find the geek news depressing. Do you ever feel down when writing headlines such as Treasured 80s Gem to be Remade, or Aborted Franchised being Rebooted?
I...
Cue the introductory waffle! Our letters page is back! Once again, we continue to pursue an apparently-outdated, outmoded way of interacting with people, by encouraging you to send us letters which we then reply to. We figured this wheeze wouldn't stand the test of time and yet, er, we're still going. Crikey.
If you want to write in, then the details are at the bottom of this piece. But in the meantime, we've got your latest letters to answer. So we'd best get cracking...
Depressing News & Busy Times
Greetings,
I regularly check your site for news, reviews and features and some days I just find the geek news depressing. Do you ever feel down when writing headlines such as Treasured 80s Gem to be Remade, or Aborted Franchised being Rebooted?
I...
- 4/15/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Our latest letters round up! Swearing at Den Of Geek, and why on earth do we talk about 50 Shades Of Grey?
Right then! A few weeks have passed, so it must be time for another Den Of Geek Letters Page (Tm). (Actually, we've not trademarked that). We're back to normal here, so we're unlikely to be found in the comments. That said, if you want to write in - the details are at the bottom of the post - then we'll try and get your missive into our next letters round up.
But enough waffle from us! On with the latest batch of correspondence...
Foul Language & Rene Russo
Shit, prick, asshole, fuck, arsehole, bastardised, shit.
Jarring isn't it. Why are DoG articles now seemingly using words such as these?
I appreciate the last 'shit' instance along with the 'fuck' are references to well-known lines in the movie but is this...
Right then! A few weeks have passed, so it must be time for another Den Of Geek Letters Page (Tm). (Actually, we've not trademarked that). We're back to normal here, so we're unlikely to be found in the comments. That said, if you want to write in - the details are at the bottom of the post - then we'll try and get your missive into our next letters round up.
But enough waffle from us! On with the latest batch of correspondence...
Foul Language & Rene Russo
Shit, prick, asshole, fuck, arsehole, bastardised, shit.
Jarring isn't it. Why are DoG articles now seemingly using words such as these?
I appreciate the last 'shit' instance along with the 'fuck' are references to well-known lines in the movie but is this...
- 3/12/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Our final letters page of the year! So: are our Star Trek: The Next Generation lookbacks returning? And do we hate The Mentalist?
Welcome to our final letters page of the year! What started as a bit of a daft idea in the pub - starting a letters page on a website - bizarrely seems to have worked. As such, we shall be retreating to the pub far more often in 2015 to think of more daft ideas. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.
For now? Here's our final selection of your missives for 2014. And thank you for supporting this, one of our daftest ventures to date...
Iain M Banks Books
I'm not much of a bookworm, but when I am, I got a lot of time for Iain M Banks books.
I chanced upon your interview with Dougray Scott from October last year, where it is mentioned that...
Welcome to our final letters page of the year! What started as a bit of a daft idea in the pub - starting a letters page on a website - bizarrely seems to have worked. As such, we shall be retreating to the pub far more often in 2015 to think of more daft ideas. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.
For now? Here's our final selection of your missives for 2014. And thank you for supporting this, one of our daftest ventures to date...
Iain M Banks Books
I'm not much of a bookworm, but when I am, I got a lot of time for Iain M Banks books.
I chanced upon your interview with Dougray Scott from October last year, where it is mentioned that...
- 12/18/2014
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Alex's series looking back at the film careers of actors who've played the Doctor finishes with Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi...
Feature
Read the previous part in this series: the film careers of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, here.
By 2009, the new version of Doctor Who had become not only an integral part of Saturday night television and a huge Christmas ratings winner but also an international success all over again. David Tennant, who had played the Time Lord since 2005 and was, arguably, more popular than any Doctor since the mighty Tom Baker hung up his scarf in 1981, had announced his resignation from the part he loved in October 2008. Many wondered how the incoming showrunner, Steven Moffat, would follow Tennant and what kind of show would emerge.
Tennant spent much of 2009 on stage in Hamlet and was only able to devote small amounts of time to Doctor Who. Occasional specials...
Feature
Read the previous part in this series: the film careers of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, here.
By 2009, the new version of Doctor Who had become not only an integral part of Saturday night television and a huge Christmas ratings winner but also an international success all over again. David Tennant, who had played the Time Lord since 2005 and was, arguably, more popular than any Doctor since the mighty Tom Baker hung up his scarf in 1981, had announced his resignation from the part he loved in October 2008. Many wondered how the incoming showrunner, Steven Moffat, would follow Tennant and what kind of show would emerge.
Tennant spent much of 2009 on stage in Hamlet and was only able to devote small amounts of time to Doctor Who. Occasional specials...
- 6/4/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Interview Andrew Blair 14 Oct 2013 - 06:32
Ahead of the release of his new thriller Last Passenger, we chat to star Dougray Scott about realism, genres, and Iain Banks...
Over the phone, while a very quiet and slightly confused engineer inspected our boiler, Den of Geek chatted to Dougray Scott – former Triffid wrangler, Imf double agent, author of Death Of A Salesman and guest star in Highlander: The TV Series – about his new film Last Passenger.
Set on a quiet, late-night commuter train out of London, the first full-length movie from short-film director Omid Nooshin sees a small group of strangers trapped on the speeding train with no help coming from outside. Think Unstoppable directed by Mike Leigh, and then try not to let your imagination run away with you next time you step on board public transport...
How did you become attached to this project? What was it about...
Ahead of the release of his new thriller Last Passenger, we chat to star Dougray Scott about realism, genres, and Iain Banks...
Over the phone, while a very quiet and slightly confused engineer inspected our boiler, Den of Geek chatted to Dougray Scott – former Triffid wrangler, Imf double agent, author of Death Of A Salesman and guest star in Highlander: The TV Series – about his new film Last Passenger.
Set on a quiet, late-night commuter train out of London, the first full-length movie from short-film director Omid Nooshin sees a small group of strangers trapped on the speeding train with no help coming from outside. Think Unstoppable directed by Mike Leigh, and then try not to let your imagination run away with you next time you step on board public transport...
How did you become attached to this project? What was it about...
- 10/11/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Iain M. Banks has passed, Nigel Lythgoe got fired, and Jason Collins marches in Boston Pride
The Telegraph is reporting that Rory Kinnear, who has appeared in the last two James Bond films, has been offered the role of the new Doctor. Kinnear is the 35-year-old son of Roy Kinnear, an accomplished star.
Edward Snowden, a defense contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, has been revealed as the whistleblower for the Prism spying project. “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions. I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
Every year, a fair reveals a new food that makes us all slightly repulsed, our arteries harden, and then we drool a little. This year’s entry is the Krispy Kream Sloppy Joe. It looks horrifying,...
The Telegraph is reporting that Rory Kinnear, who has appeared in the last two James Bond films, has been offered the role of the new Doctor. Kinnear is the 35-year-old son of Roy Kinnear, an accomplished star.
Edward Snowden, a defense contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, has been revealed as the whistleblower for the Prism spying project. “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions. I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
Every year, a fair reveals a new food that makes us all slightly repulsed, our arteries harden, and then we drool a little. This year’s entry is the Krispy Kream Sloppy Joe. It looks horrifying,...
- 6/10/2013
- by Ed Kennedy
- The Backlot
Scottish author Iain Banks is dead at the age of 59, just two months after announcing he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
According to a report by ABC News, Banks, best known for his novels "The Crow Road" and "The Wasp Factory," was set to publish "The Quarry," based on the last few weeks go his own life as a cancer-struck protagonist.
Banks' publisher released a statement saying, "Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique. He is an irreplaceable part of the literary world."
In addition to his many mainstream novels, Banks published science-fiction books under the name Iain M. Banks. He was presented with a final copy of "The Quarry" three weeks prior to his death.
According to a report by ABC News, Banks, best known for his novels "The Crow Road" and "The Wasp Factory," was set to publish "The Quarry," based on the last few weeks go his own life as a cancer-struck protagonist.
Banks' publisher released a statement saying, "Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique. He is an irreplaceable part of the literary world."
In addition to his many mainstream novels, Banks published science-fiction books under the name Iain M. Banks. He was presented with a final copy of "The Quarry" three weeks prior to his death.
- 6/10/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
We can't disguise it as movie news, but here at Empire we're all deeply saddened by the loss of Iain Banks, who died today from the cancer he first revealed was making him "officially very poorly" in April. The author of 27 novels (roughly half of them sci-fi written as Iain M. Banks), plus a short story collection and a whisky travelogue, he was 59.Banks was born in Fife, to a professional ice skater mother and a father in the British Admiralty. He attributed his early creative spark to being one of the earliest households in the country with a television: his mother had insisted on a set to fill the void left by his father's frequent navy-dictated absences. He completed his first novel at the age of 16 and his second during his time at Stirling University, but wouldn't be published until The Wasp Factory garnered him instant notoriety at the...
- 6/9/2013
- EmpireOnline
The widely acclaimed science fiction writer Iain Banks, whose novel Complicity was made into a film starring Jonny Lee Miller and Brian Cox, has died of cancer at the age of 59. He had been ill for several months and taking chemotherapy in an effort to prolong his life.
Banks sprang to fame in 1984 with The Wasp Factory and went on to write The Crow Road, which became a popular television series, along with numerous other novels, many of which have been considered for films. He created the Culture series, considering how a human-like species might behave in an age of plenty, and he was described by the Times as one of the top 50 writers of the century.
To those of us who had the pleasure of meeting him, he was also a warm, likeable individual, known for his sense of humour. His use of the middle initial 'M'...
Banks sprang to fame in 1984 with The Wasp Factory and went on to write The Crow Road, which became a popular television series, along with numerous other novels, many of which have been considered for films. He created the Culture series, considering how a human-like species might behave in an age of plenty, and he was described by the Times as one of the top 50 writers of the century.
To those of us who had the pleasure of meeting him, he was also a warm, likeable individual, known for his sense of humour. His use of the middle initial 'M'...
- 6/8/2013
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
I really liked Scandal in the first season, but it dropped off my radar, which is evidently a bad thing, because things have been tense between gay power couple Cyrus and James, to the point of Cyrus putting out a hit on his husband. They're back this week after a 10-month time jump, and the relationship is rocky. "On the one hand, there’s something unbelievably normal about their working-couple marriage, and it’s irrelevant that we’re both men. On the other hand, we’ve certainly been pushed to limits that not every couple in America’s had to deal with. Whether testifying against your spouse or lying under oath to protect your spouse, those are things that are pretty heightened."
The National Organization for Marriage's Ruth Institute put out a notice about a fundraiser, with lots of auction items, including some signed Chicago Bears Brian Urlacher jerseys they got via donation,...
The National Organization for Marriage's Ruth Institute put out a notice about a fundraiser, with lots of auction items, including some signed Chicago Bears Brian Urlacher jerseys they got via donation,...
- 4/4/2013
- by lostinmiami
- The Backlot
You could argue that videogames don’t really need stories. After all, the whole medium was built on abstraction mixed with semi-hallucinogenic non sequitur. Pac-Man needs to eat, but colorful ghosts are making his life difficult. Mario is trying to save the princess, but homicidal turtles are making his life difficult. Those Tetris blocks are trying to align themselves efficiently, but gravity is making their life difficult. And there are plenty of modern masterworks that imitate those earlier games’ minimalism: Indie platformers like Braid or Limbo, artsy cult hits like Ico or Dark Souls. These very different games share some...
- 3/6/2012
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
More Dickens and even more Shakespeare, but also new novels from Toni Morrison, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, plus exciting new voices – 2012's literary highlights
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
- 1/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
True fans of Tool will definitely respond to the name of Paul D'Amour – the band's original bass player, who introduced that distinctive bottom end on their debut album Undertow, before leaving in the mid-'90s to found the acclaimed psychedelic rock unit Lusk. Musically adventurous horror buffs should also check out his later work as a composer – especially his moody, unsettling score for Jeff Buhler's 2008 cannibal flick Insanitarium. Paul is tapping into that deep, dark well again for the full-length, self-titled debut of his experimental rock band Feersum Ennjin, which takes its name from the novel by cult sci-fi author Iain Banks (The Wasp Factory). Read on for a review of this heavy musical journey into...
- 11/18/2011
- FEARnet
Solaris Books has announced that it has acquired the sequel to Helix by sci-fi author Eric Brown.
Helix Wars will be delivered in the spring of 2012, for publication in autumn next year. The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK and Us rights.
Published by Solaris in 2007 and reprinted several times since, the space opera Helix revealed the worlds of a vast construct winding around a single sun. The work of an ancient alien race known only as the Builders, the helix resembles a spiral staircase with each twist or circle consisting of well over 10,000 worlds.
Each world has its own unique atmosphere and there are some 6,000 alien races within the colossal structure - all at varying levels of technological accomplishment.
"I'm very excited that Eric is returning to the worlds of Helix," said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. "And it's great to be continuing to work with Eric,...
Helix Wars will be delivered in the spring of 2012, for publication in autumn next year. The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK and Us rights.
Published by Solaris in 2007 and reprinted several times since, the space opera Helix revealed the worlds of a vast construct winding around a single sun. The work of an ancient alien race known only as the Builders, the helix resembles a spiral staircase with each twist or circle consisting of well over 10,000 worlds.
Each world has its own unique atmosphere and there are some 6,000 alien races within the colossal structure - all at varying levels of technological accomplishment.
"I'm very excited that Eric is returning to the worlds of Helix," said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris. "And it's great to be continuing to work with Eric,...
- 11/8/2011
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
When I say that it’s time for us to stop caring so much about Star Wars, I want you to understand: When I was a kid, my obsession with Star Wars was all-encompassing. I had the original trilogy memorized — not just the lines, but the sound effects. I had a massive collection of Star Wars action figures: the Ewok village, the Y-Wing fighters, the Empire Strikes Back-era rendition of Han Solo, when he was wearing that awesome blue jacket. I collected Star Wars comics, Star Wars fan magazines, Star Wars T-shirts. I lost track of how many times I...
- 9/1/2011
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
God how I love Irvine Welsh. Back around the time of Trainspotting I was on a huge Scottish Lit kick and was reading everyone I could get my hands on, Iain Banks, Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and Alan Warner just to name a few. Welsh is one of the best. Reheated Cabbage is a collection of stories from around the time of Trainspotting, pulled together from anthologies and articles that are no longer available in print, plus one new novella, "I Am Miami," that reintroduces us to some familiar characters from Glue.
Welsh gets right into the thick of it right away with "A Fault On the Line." Never try to get between a Scotsman and his footie as one hapless wife finds out on match day. Much like the toilet scene at the beginning of Trainspotting, Welsh isn't afraid to hit you hard with an unexpected, gory and almost...
Welsh gets right into the thick of it right away with "A Fault On the Line." Never try to get between a Scotsman and his footie as one hapless wife finds out on match day. Much like the toilet scene at the beginning of Trainspotting, Welsh isn't afraid to hit you hard with an unexpected, gory and almost...
- 7/16/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
Mass Effect is pure candy for the Ocd gamer. Set in an epically expansive sci-fi universe, the Bioware franchise (two games so far, with a third on the way) allows you to play through a storyline that feels at times like a grown-up version a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Your character, Commander Shepard, can be a man or a woman, and you guide the character in practically infinite directions. You can play through the game several times without ever having the same experience. And it’s a long experience: it took me about 30 hours to beat Mass Effect 1 just once.
- 5/25/2010
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
Yellow Blue Tibia joins a distinguished shortlist for the British Science Fiction Association's best novel award
Tipped as the science fiction novel that would finally win a Booker prize for the genre, Adam Roberts's Yellow Blue Tibia failed to even make the longlist for the UK's most prestigious literary award last year, but has just been shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association's best novel prize alongside some of the biggest names in the genre.
Set in Russia in 1946, Roberts's novel sees a group of Soviet Sf authors concocting a story about aliens poised to invade the earth which, post-Chernobyl, starts to come true. Last summer, acclaimed science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson said it ought to have won the Booker. A professor of 19th-century literature at the Royal Holloway as well as an author, Roberts is shortlisted alongside Ursula K LeGuin for her historical fantasy Lavinia, China Miéville's surreal venture into crime fiction,...
Tipped as the science fiction novel that would finally win a Booker prize for the genre, Adam Roberts's Yellow Blue Tibia failed to even make the longlist for the UK's most prestigious literary award last year, but has just been shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association's best novel prize alongside some of the biggest names in the genre.
Set in Russia in 1946, Roberts's novel sees a group of Soviet Sf authors concocting a story about aliens poised to invade the earth which, post-Chernobyl, starts to come true. Last summer, acclaimed science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson said it ought to have won the Booker. A professor of 19th-century literature at the Royal Holloway as well as an author, Roberts is shortlisted alongside Ursula K LeGuin for her historical fantasy Lavinia, China Miéville's surreal venture into crime fiction,...
- 1/26/2010
- by Alison Flood
- The Guardian - Film News
No longer will you wonder why the cool Culture Sf stories of cult Scots writer Iain M. Banks have yet to make it to the big screen – that little oversight should be rectified in the future with the news that a movie adaptation of a Banks short story is in the works, with Dominic Murphy directing and co-writing the script.
The film, based on the Banks’ story A Gift From The Culture, is being produced by Mass Productions, jointly owned by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor of Film and Music Entertainment together with Murphy, who will be co-writing the screenplay with Shane Smith, the same slick partner Murphy used in his award-winning debut feature, White Lightnin’.
Murphy is obviously enthused about working with Smith. “Our partnership on White Lightnin’ worked out really well,” Murphy told Screen Daily on October 21, 2009. “We made an ambitious film with minimal resources and in tough conditions,...
The film, based on the Banks’ story A Gift From The Culture, is being produced by Mass Productions, jointly owned by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor of Film and Music Entertainment together with Murphy, who will be co-writing the screenplay with Shane Smith, the same slick partner Murphy used in his award-winning debut feature, White Lightnin’.
Murphy is obviously enthused about working with Smith. “Our partnership on White Lightnin’ worked out really well,” Murphy told Screen Daily on October 21, 2009. “We made an ambitious film with minimal resources and in tough conditions,...
- 10/23/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Move over Dune, your time is up. Iain M. Banks' The Culture is finally coming to the big screen. The first of Banks' science fiction novels to portray 'The Culture' was Consider Phlebas, published back in 1987. That was when I was a young teenager and always keen to find the next big thing in genre literature, so having loved Banks' The Wasp Factory, I scooped it up hungrily and was almost instantly sucked into something so much bigger, more complex and awesome than I had dared to expect. The scope of this one novel was extraordinary, introducing readers to a quite incredibly sophisticated portrayal of a socialist-anarchist utopia, but Banks didn't stop there and kept filling out the details of his world in a long running series of short stories and novels that continue to this day. Both gripping reads and astute philosophical and political debates, The Culture stories are,...
- 10/22/2009
- by Brendon Connelly
- Slash Film
The British production company Film and Music Entertainment, in partnership with director Dominic Murphy (White Lightnin'), have just announced several future projects, including an untitled Bronte film (Charlotte? Emily? Anne?) and Jesus Christ Airlines, about a heroic pilot in Biafra. But most tantalising is A Gift From the Culture, based on a short story by Iain M. Banks, originally published in Interzone and collected in Banks' The State of the Art.Murphy is writing the script, which if it sticks to source will be about a refugee from Banks' complex utopia The Culture, living undercover on a world that the anarchist socialist intergalactic colonial empire (yes, it's contradictory, we know) has just noticed, and being blackmailed into a violent act using a Culture-specific weapon.Banks' sci-fi novels (he also writes dark "mainstream" fiction without the M, notably The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road) are fat and full of ideas,...
- 10/22/2009
- EmpireOnline
London -- British helmer Dominic Murphy is hoping to bring one of Scottish author Iain M. Banks' sci-fi series of books -- set in a fictional anarchist, socialistic, and utopian society named "The Culture" -- to the big screen.
Murphy, who teamed with Mike Downey and Sam Taylor's finance-production house Film & Music Entertainment to make projects under the resurrected Mass Productions banner in December last year, is looking to the adaptation as a key project from the resurrected production stable.
The filmmaker, whose debut feature "White Lightnin' " world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is writing a script with "Lightnin' " scribe Shane Smith.
The duo are adapting Banks' "A Gift from the Culture," which details the tale of an ex-citizen of the Culture being blackmailed into using a special Culture-only weapon to shoot down a military starship.
Murphy, Downey and Taylor are also developing an "Untitled Bronte Project" movie...
Murphy, who teamed with Mike Downey and Sam Taylor's finance-production house Film & Music Entertainment to make projects under the resurrected Mass Productions banner in December last year, is looking to the adaptation as a key project from the resurrected production stable.
The filmmaker, whose debut feature "White Lightnin' " world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is writing a script with "Lightnin' " scribe Shane Smith.
The duo are adapting Banks' "A Gift from the Culture," which details the tale of an ex-citizen of the Culture being blackmailed into using a special Culture-only weapon to shoot down a military starship.
Murphy, Downey and Taylor are also developing an "Untitled Bronte Project" movie...
- 10/20/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It seems like theres an iPhone application for everything nowadays and now theres even an official Twilight iPhone application! According to MediaPost Publications a Twilight iPhone application was released today complete with ereader versions of the books. Read below for more detailsnbspLittle Brown Book Group announced Monday that Stephanie Meyers wildly popular Twilight vampire saga will be released as an iPhone App with ereader versions of the books for the smarphone. The app is being created in partnership with ScrollMotion creators of the Iceberg Reader and will be available beginning June 29.Weve seen tremendous demand for Stephenie Meyers books on the iPhone in the Us and were thrilled to be working with Hachette UK to distribute her bestselling titles internationally said Calvin Baker ScrollMotion Chief Content Officer. ScrollMotion has also worked with companies such as CondNast Tribune Company and Lifetime Television.ScrollMotion and Little Brown are in the initial stages...
- 6/30/2009
- twilightersanonymous.com
The BBC spoke recently with 4 prominent science fiction writers as part of National Science and Engineering Week to answer the question: Can science fiction keep up with modern science? Among those asked was Doctor Who scriptwriter, Captain Britain writer and novelist Paul Cornell... Alongside Iain Banks, Ken MacLeod and Ian Watson, Cornell offers his opinion on what science fiction (and we are as much in the science fiction zone with these chaps as we are in the sci-fi zone) is - and in...
- 3/22/2009
- by Christian Cawley info@kasterborous.com
- Kasterborous.com
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