Jackson fell for the books’ trapping of steampunk, a genre that combines Victorian Age aesthetic and futuristic technologies, with trimmings like airships thrown in. He and Walsh have been quietly working on an adaptation since 2009, when he optioned the rights from Scholastic, and recently his longtime manager, Ken Kamins, brought it to MRC. (Kamins will serve as an executive producer on Mortal Engines.)
“Peter, Fran, Philippa and Christian are all visionary storytellers with the gift of turning their passion projects into beloved blockbusters for a worldwide audience,” Universal Pictures’ Donna Langley said in making the announcement.
The movie will be the first time that Walsh, Boyens and Jackson have written a project that Jackson has not directed. Rivers slides into the chair having spent the majority of his 25-year career working closely with Jackson, beginning as a storyboard artist, moving into supervising visual effects and finally serving as splinter unit director on the Hobbit trilogies, where he was involved in many of the action set pieces. He shared a Oscar for his work on Jackson’s 2005 film King Kong, and recently served as second unit director on the remake of Pete’s Dragon.
“Christian is one of my closest collaborators,” said Jackson, “The combination of emotion and jaw-dropping visuals in Mortal Engines makes this the perfect movie for his move into feature directing. What Christian intends to do with Philip Reeve’s terrific story is going to result in an original and spectacular movie. I wish I could see it tomorrow!”
Said Rivers: “Mortal Engines is one of those stories that was made for the big screen. A fantastical, futuristic world that has to be seen to be believed. At its heart though, it’s a beautiful love story and a richly complex character driven adventure. To be the director who gets to bring Philip Reeve’s incredible universe to life is a dream come true.”
Jackson will produce with Walsh, along with Zane Weiner (LOTR, Hobbit trilogies), Amanda Walker (Hobbit) and Scholastic’s Deborah Forte (The Golden Compass, Goosebumps). Boyens will co-produce.
Guillermo del Toro was lined up to direct Jackson’s Hobbit but he had to leave the series so hopefully they will have more luck this time around with another director helming a Jackson produced movie.
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