On the multiverse message boards they have multiple “Elric Movie” threads. Here is an index to the threads which currently number five of around six pages each. There is also a “speculative photos page” with photoshopped images of various actors made up as Elric. The one of Depp isn’t bad, but I don’t think it is all that good either.
Enjoy,
Steven
Yoshitaka Amano, an illustrator who’s worked on some animes and video games, has done several Elric illustrations. He also did the character design and illustration for the original Vampire Hunter D anime, if I recall correctly. There are a couple illustrations linked from this page.
Elric has to be physicaly a wimp, but still able to scare you to death. The ideas of a woman playing Elric are quite neat though they would need to do a better job then Orlando at making her a convincing male. I do like the idea of having Bowie as a Melnibonian elder of some sort.
How popular were the Elric novels? Unless they have a broad base, I’m not sure a movie would do well, given the subject matter. Speaking personally, I only read one, said “Yuk” and never picked up one again.
Jackson was able to raise the money for the LOTR as a three-movie extravaganza because there was such a broad base of potential fans/movie-goers; same for Spidey. To do the Elric novels well as a movie would take a fair bit of $$ I’m thinking.
When I first read Elric, I thought it was great. It was back in my Tolkien/Donaldson/Leiber period in my teens. I liked how dark and brooding it was, and the Chaos v. Order battle was quite intriguing rather than the typical Good v. Bad.
Then I reread them about a year ago. I found the stories to be melodramatic tripe, with a worthless, whiny bitch of a protagonist and silly plotlines. And the stories had little to no interesting develop, they were just unfailingly depressing. There was so much more they could have done.
Maybe I’ll reread them in a decade and find I like them again. I hope.
Although I think Paul Bettany would make a good Elric.
I found that I enjoyed the stories more when I read about the other Eternal Champions. Erekose is one of my favorites. The idea that there are these archetypes, the Champion, the Companion of the Champion, the Cosmic Balance, and they are all expressed in different ways in different parts of the multiverse is pretty cool. Corum was a pretty cool champion, and Hawkmoon(Runestaff) was interesting.
The Eternal Champion was an agent of change and a study in destiny. The reluctant champions, like Erekose and Elric, who just wanted to rid themselves of the burden of being the tool of the Cosmic Balance(and destiny) felt more like sympathetic characters after you see a bit more of the lives of the others. After seeing the crap that fate put Corum and Hawkmoon through I can see why just finding Tanelorn and retiring to some semblance of peace was so important to Erekose.
Enjoy,
Steven
Well, there we are, then: Michael Jackson. Problem solved!
I like the idea of it being done anime style.
The story is so episodic, however, that it might be better suited to, say, an HBO original series. That way, each character could get the screen time they deserve (indeed, I think it’s fair to say that the Eternal Champion’s sidekicks are the best of Moorcock’s characters). It could even encompass all of the EC multiverse:
HBO Original Series presents
TANELORN
OK, probably not gonna happen.
I really enjoyed these books when I was in junior high school, so much so that I willingly endured the inevitable response when bringing a book to lunch with the word MOORCOCK emblazoned in large capital letters on the cover.
He’s not tall enough. Elric (in fact, the average Melnibonean, but especially Elric) needs to be at least seven feet tall and weigh no more than 100 pounds.
If they do it at all, they’d better do it animated. The sixth book would be impossible to film live action anyway. (“The producers of Stormbringer would like to thank the Gods of Chaos for allowing us to film on location on a dissolving world…”)
Also I’d like to see them come up with a completly original accent for the Melniboneans. Something faintly germanic maybe.
It’s too bad Klaus Kinski and Rutger Hauer aren’t younger. I’d have nominated them… in that order.
Your right, height wouldn’t be right with Depp, Maybe Crispin Glover the Thin Man from Charlies Angels. Tall thin, and he can sword fight.
Yeah, that’s the ticket… Crispin Glover would be great!