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If you have
never read
The Saga
of Darren Shan
then you won’t
know what I’m
talking about
here, so let me
fill you in
before we get to
the meat of this
story. The Saga
of Darren Shan
is a series of
twelve childrens
books that tells
the story of the
titular Darren
and his
adventures when
he meets a
mysterious man
called Larten
Crepsley. It
turns out that
Crepsley is a
vampire and he
turns Darren
into a
half-vampire and
makes him his
assistant.
Together they
travel the World
with in the
company of the
Cirque du Freak,
which is a freak
show run by the
equally
mysterious Mr
Tall. As the
story goes on
Darren learns to
accept his new
life and ends up
helping the
vampires in
their battle
with the
Vampaneze, who
are a race of
vampires who
split off from
the others due
to their beliefs
about drinking
blood. The
vampires believe
that you
shouldn’t drain
people totally
while the
vampaneze always
kill when they
feed. And they
are a very good
read and are
pretty popular
and we are now
going to get a
movie version of
the Saga from
director Paul
Weitz (director
of About
A Boy
and
American Dreamz)
and writer Brian
Helgeland
(writer of
Payback
and Man On Fire,
among others),
which according
to the “official
announcement”
from Universal
will adapt “some
of the
storylines of
the novels for
the screen”. And
the 3 main
players, of
Darren Shan, Mr
Crepsley and
Steve Leonard,
in the story
have been cast!
John C. Reilly
as Larten
Crepsley.
Crepsley is
described as a
gaunt man with a
shock of orange
hair and when
the casting of
Reilly was first
announced I
wasn’t
convinced. But
then I saw the
below picture of
him over at the
IMDB and I am
now thinking
that he might
well be a good
fit after all.
Reilly has
starred in
movies like
Talladega Nights,
Dark
Water
and
Gangs of New
York
and I think he
will be pretty
interesting in
the part.
Josh
Hutcherson has
been cast in the
role of Steve
Leonard (I’m not
going to fill
you in on all
the details here
but Leopard is
as important to
the story as
Darren Shan).
He’s starred in
Bridge
To Terabithia
and
Zathura: A Space
Adventure
amongst other
movies.
And newcomer
Chris Kelly has
been cast in the
pivotal central
role as Darren
Shan. Well,
according to
Darren Shan’s
(the author of
the books)
MySpace page
anyway. If you
check out the
IMDB information
for the movie
they have a
Chris Kelly
listed as
starring in the
movie but I’m
thinking it’s
not the right
one as his
IMDB listing
has him starring
in things like a
TV show from
2000 called
So Weird
(never heard of
it) credited as
“Father”. I
think this might
make him a
little too
old to play the
teenage Darren
Shan!
The books,
even though they
were written for
children, are
actually a very
good read. There
are twelve books
in the entire
series but, as
they are pretty
short, I am
going to hazard
a guess that the
first movie will
actually be an
adaption of the
first three
books,
The Cirque du
Freak,
The
Vampires
Assistant
and
Tunnels of Blood.
Of course, I
could be wrong
about this! The
movie is
(supposedly)
going to be
released in 2008
but if this is
the case, with
the writers
strike etc,
remains to be
seen. But I am
looking forward
to this anyway.
http://www.stalepopcorn.co.uk/movie-news/cirque-du-freak-casting-news/ |
