It sounds like Patrick Rothfuss’ epic fantasy has sparked a battle! Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Fox, and Universal aren’t just interested in adapting the book for the screen — according to The Hollywood Reporter, they’re “locked in a heated bidding war.”
Much like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Rothfuss’ tale has been growing a rabid audience for years but now the more mainstream citizens of Hollywood are seeing potential profit from tales of magic and swordplay. The interesting thing is that in this post-Harry Potter and Katniss world, top execs are apparently heading to Comic-Con this weekend to court Rothfuss personally.
For those who don’t know the work, The Name of the Wind is the first book of The Kingkiller Chronicles, and tells the story of Kvothe, a talented young magician who grows into the most formidable wizard in the world. Now, for you fans, let’s get this dreamcasting party started! Who’s your perfect Kvothe?
Do we know when the third book is out? Honestly we need someone like Harrison Ford because of the well hum…thing about the character that I suppose is a spoiler. Good thing about these books is the complication of the characters and the story. I worry the movies would miss this or simplifying it…
Wil Wheaton or Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Kote, unknown as young Kvothe. I think WW and JGL have that charm and charisma with just the right hint of smugness and indeterminant age.
Sidebar- can we preempt the ‘but they’re gonna mess it up’ comments? Screen adaptations are different than the original works, it’s okay.
I keep hearing Kevin McKidd’s voice when Kvothe is narrating :)
Oooo…….I can’t wait to hear the outcome!
@2n8love: The problem with your comment is that it’s not clear…but I *think* you mean…can we prevent the comments like that, that do not ADD anything to the discussion/? But some folk who have a concern about what happens, could have valid and analytical things to say.
Let’s be honest, Pat’s work is something deeper and denser than either Hunger Games or SOIAF. We all would hope for how many seasons of episodes to cover everything? With how many flashbacks to show us all the history/stories within stories?
Domhnall Gleeson as Kvothe, please!!!
Yeah I immediately thought of Domnhall Gleason too. Thomas Mann from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl could play a convincing younger version of him too.
I know that changes would be implemented to accomadate a screen adaptation, but the spirit of the story would need to really click With the tone of the show/movie for this to work. I am quite interested to see what happens wth this.
This saddens me in a way. The book contains so many elements that I believe cannot be expressed through a film medium. Yet I know Mr Rothfuss is a man of integrity so I will still follow the news hoping for the best.
I feel like whoever plays Kvothe would have to be a musician themselves, possibly someone acquainted with acoustic or celtic music. I don’t know that I really see Will Wheaton as Kvothe. He has too much confidence and self-assurance. ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles’ are a coming of age story, and whoever plays Kvothe is going to have to have the emotional fluidity to represent him from a socially inexperienced, daring and desperate young man, to the debonair writer who woo’d Lady Lockless, to the battle-weary warrior. We need someone who performs like Gerard Butler, looks like Domhall Gleeson, and whose command of emotional nuance is on par with Claire Danes or Jennifer Lawrence. My biggest fear is that they’ll cast the ‘It’ guy of the month, like Marvel did with ‘Gambit’.
I’m with Jacksaw on this. No way they could do justice to this story in even a Jackson LOTR-length film (unless they want to make each book into its own trilogy). I hope they go the miniseries route, like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Even that show, with 7 hours, did quite a bit of compressing.
@4 srEDIT
Sorry for the ambiguity. Of course people should post whatever they feel adds to the conversation. I just mean I’d like to geek out on people’s dreamcasts.
Edit for length and irony
Ooooh, this is going to be a tricky one. So much of the Kingkiller Chronicles is internal, which puts a great burden on the Kvothe actor and the writers.
Then again, they do have the benefit of having an in-story narrator. Which has its own share of pitfalls.
I hope the bidding war means that the story will end up in competent, caring hands.
Seth Green as Kote/adult Kvothe and unknowns for child and teenaged would probably be best.
Clearly, Eddie Redmane is the only logical choice for Kvothe.
Eddie Redmayne for Kvothe is by far the best choice.
Tom Hiddleston for older Kvothe.
David Tennant as either Bast or Elodin.
I suspect my response to this news is fairly typical of most Rothfuss fans: “Oh, crap! Something else to distract him from writing the third book.” He already has all his charity work and his kids, which seem to take up most of his time. Now this? We may never find out the rest of Kvothe’s story!
@Mantelli16
I had the opposite reaction. Oh, good! Now he’ll *have* to finish the story! (albeit, even more year(s) from now)
It’s been a while since I read these, but I was under the impression that Kvothe-the-narrator is not *that* much older than the Kvothe-of-the-stories. That seems to suggest that the same actor plays both roles.
@@@@@ Scott_MI
I”m not sure about that, Kvothe in the stories is around 16-17 as of the end of Wise Man’s Fear, Kvothe the narrator is in his mid-to-late 20’s. Still young by most measures, but that’s an age period where men change physically quite a bit.
I said this before when it was optioned as a TV series (those rights appear to have expired)…
This is not going to work. The appeal of this series is Rothfuss’ lyrical use of language. This can never be captured in a visual medium. What is left is the series’ plot, which has problems standing on its own.
@20 Walker…
I have the same apprehension. We can only hope for the best. Maybe, just maybe, someone in Hollywood will come up with a way to bring this story to the screen that is different from everything else. Oh wait…this is Hollywood.
Did anyone see Justin’s review on Goodreads of the WMF before he took it down? As well as being totally hilarious I now have Michael Cera burned into my head as Kvothe.
@20 and 21.
I actually think it could be done and done quite well. The only problem is that it would end up being a strange, kind of surrealist film that would only appeal to a certain audience. A bidding war means the studios want a blockbuster so that aint gonna happen.
I can’t help but think Paul Bettany would make an awesome Kvothe.
This is a thing: http://www.untitledrothfuss.com/episodes/14052-an-irreconcilable-ganglion-of-antithetical-factors
n8…Could you transcribe or at least provide highlights for those of us who cannot listen?
srEDIT,
I’d be happy to. Ive been posting from my phone, but I’ll be at my pc tomorrow, where it’ll be much easier. I’ll add it to this post, hopefully tomorrow night, over the weekend if overtime becomes obligatory.
I like Eddie Redmayne, though I’d also thought about Andrew Garfield if he can still convincingly pretend to be a teenager. The really hard bit is young Kvothe–I really think you might need a child actor who is either actually profoundly intellectually gifted or very, very good at pretending to be. It’s a rare and very unusual mental state, and if the actors can’t pull it off then Kvothe might risk being a Gary Stu. Asa Butterfield plays the wrong KIND of gifted, though he does it very well–too logic-oriented, not really aesthetic or intuitive as a primary characteristic in, say Ender’s Game or Hugo. I was really pulling for Jared Gilmore from OUAT, but I think he’s probably aged out by now.
That said, why are we talking only about Kvothe? Emmy Rossum as D. She definitely has the singing voice, she can shift from unearthly vocal beauty to earthy humor, she has the right “beautiful but not quite conventionally so” look, and she looks physically fragile (not just Hollywood skinny), which is important. . .because spoilers. Jordan Gavaris from Orphan Black as Bast. Tobias Menzies as Simmon–watch him in Rome, not GoT. And. . .Andrew Rannells as Ambrose. Watch him as Evil Darren in the last season of How I Met Your Mother. Plus there’s something meta-hilarious about casting an actor who CAN sing and nearly won a Tony in a non-musical role.
Oh, yes! Emmy Rossum…a good Denna, indeed. Rannells has just the right look for Ambrose, handsome but believably evil. Gavaris for Bast . . . I heartily concur. But Menzies for Simmon? He’s over 40. You really think he’d be believable?
From the interview @25 refers to:
Pat says he would take no money from the project if a studio can get Joss to run it.
I would (figuratively) literally die if that happened.
If they find an actor tall enough, they can use him not only for Kvothe but for Rand Al’Thor as well. Bonus! I think a deep basso voice is another requirement.
Mark