Over the last few years there have been quite a few project announcements that warn of impending movies which would take classic literary characters and cast them under the filter of Disney’s wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise — no matter how inappropriate the choice might be.
Paramount Pictures has officially risen to the top of the absurdity heap with their plans to turn Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame into a action adventure film. Willie Block and Jake Emanuel, two rookie screenwriters, have sold a pitch that takes the framework of the traditional story and mixes in some swashbuckling escapades and humor. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian will produce the film.
The Buzz: News doesn’t get much more ridiculous than this. Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a flat-out depressing tale — with an unhappy ending full of death and suggested necrophilia. In other words, Hugo’s story isn’t exactly the top contender for an action adventure movie — but than again, you wouldn’t have guessed it’d be made into a Disney cartoon either.
I do applaud Block and Emanuel for breaking into the business. I’ll be interested in seeing what they bring to the table — even if the table shouldn’t really exist to begin with. Who knows? Maybe their take on the subject matter will be fun and catchy enough to win over detractors. Before Pirates of the Caribbean was released, nobody really thought well of the idea to turn an amusement park ride into a film. Is it too early to start campaigning for Clint Howard to have his first star making role?
