“Quiquern”, for the poor uninitiated, is a short story from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Second Jungle Book”. You can find the complete text here. Spoilers may follow, so read it first or do not proceed. You have been warned.
“Quiquern” plot summary from Wikipedia: A young Inuit hunter and his girlfriend set out across the arctic ice on a desperate hunt for food to save their tribe from starvation, guided by the mysterious animal-spirit Quiquern. But Quiquern may not be what it seems…
I first read TSB about a year ago, and was immediately impressed with “Quiquern”'s cinematic flow. I can’t help but think that a director like Kubrick (or Kubrick’s reanimated corpse) could turn it into a fantastic wilderness film, in the spirit of “Never Cry Wolf” or “March Of The Penguins”. I would think the story would be especially enticing to producers because it contains a strong young female character, whose role has some room for expansion.
The only major filming obstacle I can see is the breaking ice-pack scene at the end, and with modern CGI techniques I’d think they could pull that off fantastically.
What does it take for a story like this to get adapted? What could be holding it up? Aren’t The Jungle Books in the public domain?