The Dark Is Rising
The SCI FI Wire reports that David Cunningham (director of the controversial “The Path to 9/11″) will be directing the film adaptation of Susan Cooper’s classic young adult novel “The Dark Is Rising” (part of the “Dark Is Rising Sequence”). The film which is in pre-production in Romania is slated for a September 2007 release.
Herne the Hunter and Will Stanton
Illustration by Alan E. Cober from the 1973 edition of the book.
“David Cunningham (The Path to 9/11) has been tapped to direct The Dark Is Rising, a fantasy film based on Susan Cooper’s book series, Variety reported. The film is being produced under the co-financing alliance between Walden Media (The Chronicles of Narnia) and 20th Century Fox reached in August. The Dark Is Rising is part of Cooper’s five-book series, focusing on a youth who discovers at age 11 that he’s a Sign Seeker, the last of a group of immortals dedicated to fighting a growing presence of dark forces.”
An interesting twist is the co-production by Walden Media. The media company is owned by conservative Christian billionaire Philip Anschutz. Anschutz has made it plain that Walden is in the business of providing films friendly to a “moral” audience. So far that has translated to films that evangelical Christians would feel comfortable attending. But Cooper’s books are amazingly Pagan-friendly. They feature a wealth of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and Greek mythological figures in a positive “good” light.
One of the climatic scenes from “The Dark is Rising” features a giant stag-horned Herne the Hunter chasing down the forces of darkness. Will these elements be toned down in the movie? If not will Walden’s loyal Christian audience flock to see a film that makes heroes of pre-Christian powers? Either way I’m sure I’ll be lining up to see how it all comes out.
Thanks to Herb McSidhe for tipping me off to this story.
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