Disney has hired Philippa Boyens to write an adaptation of The Merlin Saga, based on the book series by T.A. Barron. Deadline.com reported that it is "a coup for the studio to land Boyens, who hasn't really worked outside her long collaboration with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh," with whom she shared a 2002 adapted screenplay Oscar for The Return of the King. Her resume also includes The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, as well as King Kong and The Lovely Bones. Gil Netter (Life of Pi) is producing.
Disney "now has a writer with a strong grasp of how to launch a franchise in a period fantasy world, and a franchise is certainly a hope for the Merlin movie," Deadline.com wrote.
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Director Lenny Abrahamson and producer Ed Guiney (Room) will make a movie based on Donald McRae's book A Man's World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith. Deadline.com reported that the champion boxer is "best remembered for beating to death Benny 'The Kid' Paret in the ring during a live nationwide TV broadcast. The vicious incident occurred after Paret grabbed the buttock of his opponent and called him a homosexual at the weigh-in. Fact is, Griffith led a secret life as a bisexual man, but in 1962, such a thing was taboo and most especially in the macho culture of boxing." Abrahamson intends to adapt it with a co-writer and direct the film as soon as possible.
"It is so rich that it's hard to know where to start," he said. "As a character study, Griffith is incredibly compelling. There was a gentleness and innocence about him, and he never seemed conflicted about his sexuality; indeed he found joy in it. He inhabited two worlds--the underground gay scene in New York in the '60s and the macho world of boxing. The societal stigma at that time was dreadful and created a crushing pressure on him."
