[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-2016-news-flash-mortal-engines-the-film-is-really-happening":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I’ve been running about on stage at various book festivals and wearing flamboyant costumes with my co-author \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> for several years now. We talk about our books together, but if we invite the audience to ask questions, there’s often one that pops up: \u003Cb>‘Is there any news about Peter Jackson turning Mortal Engines into a film?’\u003C/b> \\r\n\\r\nBut ten years since the film was first discussed, Reeve has a new answer: \u003Cb>\u003Cfont size=\"3\">YES.\u003C/font> Peter Jackson \u003Ci>IS\u003C/i> going to make a Mortal Engines film!\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_mcintyre_bonehill_zpse733ad80-a637e85425.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by Sarah Reeve\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nYou can read Philip's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/the-mortal-engines-movie/\">new blog post about it here\u003C/a>. Cue mega-excitement among long-time fans! And Scholastic UK’s decision to reissue \u003Ca href=\"http://saahub.lanticmedia.com/illustrator/david-frankland/90218\">David Frankland\u003C/a>’s original covers for an \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/mortal-engines/\">anniversary edition\u003C/a> really starts to make sense. From what I understand, it will be shot in New Zealand, with a script by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. \u003Ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0729514/\">Christian Rivers\u003C/a> will be directing, and it's first film but he was an assistant director on \u003Ci>The Lord of the Rings\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>King Kong\u003C/i>, so he'll know his stuff. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/mortal-engines/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/143932_original-ec6aa7ff69.jpg\" alt=\"mortal engines\" title=\"mortal engines\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Covers by David Frankland\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nSome links to breaking news, starting with \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/PeterJacksonNZ\">Peter Jackson's Facebook page\u003C/a>, follewed by:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1/status/790668301353492481\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/155795_original-4328efb543.jpg\" alt=\"deadline_lj.jpg\" title=\"deadline_lj.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/peter-jackson-adapt-ya-sci-fi-fantasy-mortal-engines-940892?utm_source=twitter\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/155478_original-fd51f03dc8.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nI couldn’t be more pleased; those books are so amazing that when I read them, and got to know about Philip and his understanding of illustration, I knew I had to work with this guy. I started by reading the three Mortal Engines prequel books: \u003Ci>Fever Crumb, A Web of Air, \u003C/i>and \u003Ci>Scrivener’s Moon\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/fever-crumb/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/137441_original-276f62ceac.jpg\" alt=\"fever crumb trilogy\" title=\"fever crumb\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd like everyone who loves these books, I knew they’d make terrific film material. I'm very curious to find out who they'll cast as \u003Cb>Hester Shaw\u003C/b>. She's not your standard Hollywood ingenue, but horribly disfigured from a childhood attack, with one eye and no nose. I wonder if the film will be able to be true to that disfigurement or if the film team will feel they need to make her more traditionally pretty for audiences to warm to her.\\r\n\\r\nIt’s been 15 years since Mortal Engines was published, and nearly twenty five years since Philip started writing them. He's written a lot of strong books since then, including \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/here-lies-arthur/\">Here Lies Arthur\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, which won the Carnegie Medal. Many of his books touch on a similar theme, large inhabited things that move from place to place: the planets of \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408800608/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=569136327&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0747594163&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=054A4XAD8V137QN71MX4\">Larklight\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, the Rambling Isles of \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, the ship full of sleeping colonists in \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/cakes-in-space/\">Cakes in Space\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, and now his most recent books, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/railhead/\">Railhead\u003C/a>\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/black-light-express/\">Black Light Express\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, have marvellous trains that travel from world to world. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/railhead/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/144592_original-8f2a0b412e.jpg\" alt=\"Railhead\" title=\"Railhead\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nOne of the characters readers grow most fond of in the Mortal Engines books is a robotically reanimated corpse named \u003Cb>Shrike\u003C/b> (or \u003Cb>Grike\u003C/b> in the USA). That doesn't sound very cuddly, but Philip has a knack for making his robots remarkably sympathetic outsiders. In the Railhead books, my favourite characters are an android named Nova and the sentient trains, with their own voices that travel the full scale of highly amusing to heart-wrenching. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/137920_original-c3c8a6b782.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Railhead artwork by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ianmcque\">Ian McQue\u003C/a>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nOne of the good things about \u003Ci>Mortal Engines\u003C/i> being around for fifteen years without a movie adaptation is that a lot of concept artists and illustration students have been able to use it as an inspiration, producing some magnificent work. Check out Philip's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/tag/mortal-engines/\">blog\u003C/a> for some gorgeous images. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/144908_original-7a62c23996.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Mortal Engines fan art by \u003Ca href=\"http://jaekyungjaguarlee.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/air-haven-from-novel-mortal-engines.html\">Jaguar Lee\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nYou can follow Philip Reeve’s news on his \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/\">website and blog\u003C/a> \\r\nTwitter: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">@philipreeve1\u003C/a> (hashtag \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23MortalEngines&src=typd\">#MortalEngines\u003C/a>)\\r\nPhilip Reeve's \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/philipreeveauthor\">Facebook Author Page\u003C/a>\\r\nReeve & McIntyre's \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/reeveandmcintyre\">Facebook page\u003C/a>","2016-10-24T22:02:00.000Z","2016-news-flash-mortal-engines-the-film-is-really-happening",[],"2016 news flash: mortal engines, the film, is really happening!",1776628728662]