Neil Gainman's Hansel and Gretel graphic novel is serving as the basis of a new fairytale movie adaptation.
Neil Gaiman is one of the few great artists today who does not think “fairytale” is a dirty word. Oh sure, there are plenty of “fairytale” movies in the works right now, including a still forthcoming sequel to Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, but unlike those recent “post-modern” takes on the material, Gaiman prefers to modernize the fairytales while keeping to their spirit.
Thus it is welcome and intriguing news that Gaiman’s Hansel and Gretel graphic novel is being developed into a film now.
As reported in Variety, The Hundred-Foot Journey producer Juliet Blake, who teamed on that picture with Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, is in the midst of developing an adaptation of the Gaiman re-imagining of the Brothers Grimm classic.
Gaiman said that the original story “reminds us of how paper thin civilization really is. It’s about hunger, and about families.”
This would not be the first adaptation of Gaiman’s work to the big screen. His literary work famously inspired the stop-motion animated Coraline. He also wrote the illustrated book that became the basis of Matthew Vaughn’s charming Stardust. Gaiman is famous for challenging material as well, just ask Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is in the midst of adapting Sandman, but he nevertheless remains an artist that also understands the storybook logic of the classics. Perhaps more big studio projects can follow the bread crumbs home.
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