Thomas Ligotti is widely acknowledged as the greatest living author of the weird tale, and a worthy successor to H.P. Lovecraft, but he hasn't faired as well cinematically with Jacob Cooney's The Frolic the only film making it to the big (or small) screen...
Here I have compiled a list of projects Ligotti has mentioned in interviews he has given over the years, all of which can be accessed via the source links. Some of these films are still in development while others are already dead...
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Crampton
(written by Brandon Trenz and Thomas Ligotti)
"...was originally written as an X-Files episode and was later published as a book by David Tibet's Durtro Press."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.eldritch-infernal.com
"...nothing came of those meetings as far as the two screenplays [The Last Feast of Harlequin and Crampton] you mention. They are officially dead."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: theteemingbrain.wordpress.com
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The Frolic
(short)
Production company: Jane Kelly Kosek
Director: Jacob Cooney
Writer: Brandon Trenz and Thomas Ligotti
Cast: Michael Reilly Burke, Maury Sterling and Jennifer Aspen
Plot: Based on the story by Thomas Ligotti...
Release date: 2007
Website: Wonder Entertainment
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997064/
Notes: Watch the teaser here, purchase the DVD here...
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The Frolic
(feature)
Synopsis: A prison psychologist returns home from his last day at work, an early retirement brought about by prolonged exposure to his latest subject, a serial killer known only as John Doe, who preys upon children. Doe is a psychotic Peter Pan who describes his murderous actions or "frolicking" as a way of "freeing" the children from their drab, earthly confines...
"I hope to someday dive into another one of Tom's works and visually explore the dark world of Ligotti the way we all would love to see...possibly in the full length version of The Frolic, which is currently in development."
- Jacob Cooney (director: The Frolic)
source: www.ligotti.net
"The lastest word is from the producer of "The Frolic," Jane Kosek, is that she contacted the head guy at Fox Atomic, and he wants to see the short film as well as an outline for a feature film from Brandon Trenz and me."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: theteemingbrain.wordpress.com
~ ~ ~
In a Foreign Land, In a Foreign Town
About the book: Contains the short stories His shadow shall rise to a higher house, The bells will sound forever, A soft voice whispers nothing and When you hear the singing, you will know it is time...
"...there are negotiations in process to do something for television or film based on In a Foreign Land, In a Foreign town."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.eldritch-infernal.com
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Michigan Basement
(written by Brandon Trenz and Thomas Ligotti and based on The Last Feast of Harlequin)
"Another script, unproduced, is loosely based on my story "The Last Feast of Harlequin" and is titled Michigan Basement."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.eldritch-infernal.com
"...nothing came of those meetings as far as the two screenplays [The Last Feast of Harlequin and Crampton] you mention. They are officially dead."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: theteemingbrain.wordpress.com
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My Work Is Not Yet Done
Synopsis: When junior manager Frank Dominio is suddenly demoted and then sacked it seems there was more than a grain of truth to his persecution fantasies. But as he prepares to even the score with those responsible for his demise, he unwittingly finds an ally in a dark and malevolent force that grants him supernatural powers. Frank takes his revenge in the most ghastly ways imaginable - but there will be a terrible price to pay once his work is done. Destined to be a cult classic, this tale of corporate horror and demonic retribution will strike a chord with anyone who has ever been disgruntled at work...
"...is the most viable thing I've written for the purposes of a movie adaptation. Actually, the story was originally conceived as a film script."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.scifi.com
"...the work of mine that I would most want to see made into a film is my short novel My Work Is Not Yet Done."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.horrorgarage.com
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The Nightmare Factory
About the book: Contains the short stories The Last Feast of Harlequin, Dream of a Mannikin, Dr. Locrian's Asylum, Teatro Grottesco, Gas Station Carnivals, The Clown Puppet, The Chymist and The Sect of the Idiot...
"All of the stories in The Nightmare Factory are part of an exclusive option-to-buy agreement with Fox Atomic."
- Thomas Ligotti
source: www.scifi.com
Note: An animated Nightmare Factory trailer can be found here...
Update: Variety reports that 20th Century Fox may be shutting down Fox Atomic. What this will do to Thomas Ligotti's The Nightmare Factory is unclear, but most likely, the rights and property would revert to 20th Century Fox...
Watch this space for further updates...
(Thanks to the various sources acknowledged above)
Posts
Well, it's always nice to see your screenplays mentioned under the heading "Unfilmable". I hope it's in the "too brilliant for the masses" sense and not the "total crap that nobody would finance" sense.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that most of the projects named here are dead, in that many of them were never really alive to begin with. The screenplays Tom and I wrote together range from painfully amateurish (because we were amateurs when we wrote them) to cool but odd (which isn't a good combination from a studio's point of view). Several of them we probably wouldn't want made as they currently exist even if they were greenlit today--they kind of suck and we know it, so we'd want to rewrite them from scratch.
All that said, a project can go from stone dead to in-production overnight. All it takes is the right kind of attention.
I'd say the best chances for a Ligotti adaptation being made are:
1. An ultra-low-budget adaptation of a non-Nightmare Factory story. (Tom gets requests from filmmakers all the time, and typically is very generous about allowing them to adapt anything of his the rights for which aren't locked up elsewhere.)
2. A "Frolic" feature. (Since we already have a producer, a director, a star and a short film to serve as an advertisement for a longer version. There is no script at this time.)
3. A Fox-produced adaptation of a Nightmare Factory story. (Fox owns the rights to the vast majority of Tom's stories, and has expressed interest in big-screen adaptations. To my knowledge there are no specific plans in the works. What I've seen in the graphic novels seems to approach Tom's stories very literally, which tends to highlight the less-cinematic elements of his stories, so it's possible they haven't fully grasped the potential of the catalog they control. Then again, they might already be in pre-production on several adaptations as we speak. Who knows?)
4. "The Strange Adventures of T.R. Ligotti". (Ron Howard: call me!)
--BT