The Discworld Movies

[AlfredJ]

Yeah, so, the Douglas Adams-topic got me thinking about the recent Discworld-movies, and I wondered what all of you thought about them. I wanted to ask this simple question in the same topic, but soon realised I wanted to say a lot more, and that I would derail the Adams-topic beyond repair. So, here's what I wanted to say, in a brand new, shiny Pratchett-topic:

 

It'd be like someone other than Terry Pratchett writing a Discworld novel. Or even your Rowling analogy, if someone wrote another Harry Potter book. I can't believe someone had the nerve to do this.

 

Luckily, Pratchett recently said in some interview (in answer to a question about the new Hitchhikers-book) that he has some legal thing in place which prevents other people writing new books after he's gone. Movies and stuff like that can still be made.

 

On a semi-related note, has anyone here seen the Discworld-movies they made recently? When I saw Hogfather for the first time I thought it was excellent, although it would be impossible to follow for non-fans. Brilliant atmosphere, brilliant casting (even though Nobby wasn't nearly ugly enough, the acting made up for it) and it looked beautiful. The only thing I really missed were some more shots of Ankh-Morpork and stuff like that. I'm less happy with the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic-movie, the lead roles (Rincewind & Twoflower) are horribly miscast, the story is just to big for two hours (I don't mind them cutting stuff for the movie, but almost every good joke was gone. They spend a whopping 50 seconds in Death's domain, run through the Wyrmberg and cut every joke from the brilliant Troll (and mushroom)-bit, only to leave us with a dodgy action-sequence. I have a feeling they went to one of the bigger stories (both in what happens and regarding special effects) a bit too fast, considering the budget and time they have to make these movies. There were good bits (Rincewind meeting Vetinari is perfect), but most of it is a bit of a mess. My personal biggest problem: I know the budget is thight, so I don't mind the occasional dodgy bit of CGI and stuff like that, and I fully understand why the librarian is in human form for most of the movie (played extremely well by the way, by the same actor who plays Nobby Nobbs, but his biggest place to shine is in the 'Tourist Guide'-documentary's on the official website and the DVD. Those little movies have more charm and silly humour than the movie itself), but the crappy monkey-costume they give him at the end of the movie...Urgh....That was one step too far.

 

They are going to start filming Going Postal in a month or so. The same company is behind it, but with new script-writers and a new director (Vadim Jean is no longer connected to the project). After that they are planning to make Making Money (which definitaly is one of the weaker books, but I understand why they chose it), and after that David Jason will return as Rincewind in Sourcery. Even though Colour of Magic was a major dissapointment, I'm looking forward to Going Postal. The book is brilliant (better than Hogfather and Colour of Magic), and a new director might just be what the movies need. If they manage to make it more like Hogfather and less like Colour of Magic, I'll be a happy man.

 

But, yeah, what do you guys think?

 

EDIT: For those that haven't seen the movie and are wondering what was wrong with the librarian in Colour of Magic, behold:

 

You can also see David Jason as Rincewind. Yes, he's older, but that doesn't bother me, his looks are Rincewindy enough for me. There are even a couple of scenes where he manages to act like Rincewind (fleeing the city and meeting the patrician come to mind), but mostly it's just David Jason with a silly hat. On pretty much the same note, I don't mind that Twoflower isn't asian, it's just that Sean Astin is a terrible actor. Thinking about it, most scenes where I had a problem with Rincewind were those where he had to interact with Twoflower. Maybe he will be better in Sourcery, where he's mostly on his own.

 

For those interested after my (way too long) post, here's Jeremy Irons as the Patrician, who was amazing. He will play the same role again in Going Postal (the only casting decision known so far, everything else you read can be considered a big fat rumour):

 

 

Oh yes. He was good. Oh yes.

[Jeopando]

I've only seen the first part but that's because I...haven't read Light Fantastic yet... *sigh*. I don't want it to spoil the book for me.

 

I thought the film was...okay. Still haven't quite made up my mind about it but it wasn't horribly bad or terribly good. I have to agree that it was a bit of a messy film and it was good mostly because the book was good. It wasn't adapted that well and probably doesn't work that nicely for someone who hasn't read the book. I always find it hard to concentrate on the movie itself when it's based on something I already know. I really would've loved to see Eric Idle play Rincewind like he did in the games. The older Rincewind didn't work for me that well but I got over it. Almost.

 

As for the special effects, they didn't really bother me. Sure they could've been better but I didn't let myself to be distracted by them.

[AlfredJ]

I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but there were only two bits that really had a problem with the special effects, and both of them are near the end of the second part (on of which is the librarian I already mentioned). I don't really know if I would have been happier with Eric Idle. Sure, thanks to the games I hear his voice when I read the books, but he's quite a bit older now, and I'm scared the movie would quickly turn into Eric Idle's Wizard-jokes, if you know what I mean. In Hogfather (which is by far the better movie as far as I'm concerned, lighter on jokes but a lot more charm) they gave the lead role to a relatively unknown actress (Michelle Dochery as Susan Sto Helit) and that worked brilliantly. In a perfect universe they would have found an awesome young actor who looked just like the Paul Kidby-art, or Rincewind would be played by either Simon Pegg or a younger Eric Idle.

 

Christopher Lee does the voice of Death again though, which he previously did in the two cartoons (not Hogfather). That's some perfect casting right there. It's a shame he doesn't really have a lot to do in the movie.

[Jeopando]

I have to confess that I really don't know that much about Discworld. I've only read Colour of Magic and played the first game a bit but I'm just getting started. The series seems great.

 

Eric Idle is a bit older now but it really is the voice that matters. Not that I had any huge problems with David Jason.

 

I was a bit disappointed about Death. They just didn't show a whole lot of him in the film or even explain him. He just was there. He was such a fun character in the book and Christopher Lee really fits the part.

[Gabez]

I haven't seen any of the films, but I did recently watch a play version of Weird Sisters, which was very brilliant. I haven't read the book, so maybe they changed the story, but it worked very well as a play, having a play within it, and being self-aware of theatrical principles.

 

I like David Jason but I can't see him as Rincewind. I'd have to watch the films, though.

 

Weren't there some cartoon movies of Discworld? Animation looks like it would fit Discworld better than life-action... all the shots I've seen from the live action DW movies look weird and wrong, like when they've tried to do Tintin or Asterix in the same way.

[Haggis]

I've got the two animation movies on DVD, but I've only watched Wyrd Sisters... I haven't read Soul Music yet, so I don't want the movie to spoil it for me. I thought the cartoon was pretty good, though not particularly memorable - I actually preferred the only Discworld game I played (the first one). I'm hoping to see these new films some day though.

[Gabez]

I've played Discworld Noir, and can definitely recommend it. It's it my top 5 of adventure games in fact. The only trouble is getting it to work on XP-Vista -- I've heard it has some issues.

[AlfredJ]

There were two cartoons (Wyrd Sisters, Soul Music and, as a sort of pilot, the intro of Reaper Man), but they're extremely low-budget, and not that interesting. They had this really weird art-style, which I thought didn't really fit the series. But yeah, a cartoon-series (either 2D or 3D) would work really well. I have to say though, the live action-movies look a lot better in motion. With something like Asterix you have the problem that all the characters just don't look really human, with big noses, weird mustaches and stuff like that. When you make an actor look like that, it just looks funky. Discworld is all in your head, so it depends on how you see the characters and the world yourself. I always thought of Discworld as human and real than something like LOTR, and that was were a lot of the humour came from for me. I never really thought of the early covers or the games when reading the books.

 

But like I said, while the costumes look a bit weird in still pictures, it won't really bug you (at least, it didn't bug me) when you see it in motion. Especially Hogfather, which takes places in a bit of a victorian-like setting. Here's the trailer for Colour of Magic, if you want to see how it looks in the movies for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agl0vZrAUJw

 

Btw, David Jason played Albert, Death's manservant, in Hogfather, so it was a bit weird to see him again in a part so completely different. I thought he was better as Albert.

 

Oh, and yeah, Discworld Noir is excellent. The first two games were funny, but they only really touched on the wacky Python-like jokes of Discworld. Noir managed to have an interesting and compelling story, just like you would find in the better books.

[Gabez]

Yeah, I can really see him making a perfect Albert. But from that trailer it looks like he does Rincewind well as well.

 

No doubt there'll be a Hollywood version of some Pratchett at some point...

 

Oh, that reminds me, I have seen a TV movie version of Johny and The Bomb, one of Pratchett's childrens books. It was really good. Much easier to do than DW though.

[MJ]

I had some problems with both Hogfather and Colour of Magic, but I'd say that's because I like the books so much. They weren't perfect, but you know what? They're good.

 

I've been trying to get a copy of Colour of Magic on dvd for a while now, but amazon.co.uk won't send it to Australia for some reason.

 

As for the dodgy special effects, the only part I really didn't like was Rincewind riding the horse. Does no one remember it? It was the most painful green screen shot I have ever seen. That's clearly the point that they ran out of money.

 

So yes, I'm looking forward to Going Postal (even though I don't think the book was all that good) but I'd much rather see some City Watch movies. I get the impression they might be a bit too scared to approach that.

 

Oh, and Masi Oka would have made a brilliant Two Flower.

[neon_git]

I watched Colour of Magic and thought it was rubbish so I haven't bothered with The Hogfather. My main problem was with all the gurning and nudge winkery. The humour should come from the juxtaposition of the absurd situations and all the actors playing it straight but, Irons aside, it was irritatingly hammy throughout.

[Ascovel]

I never heard of these movies. Very interesting. I'm going to look for The Hogfather.

[antstorm]

I had some problems with both Hogfather and Colour of Magic, but I'd say that's because I like the books so much. They weren't perfect, but you know what? They're good.

 

I've been trying to get a copy of Colour of Magic on dvd for a while now, but amazon.co.uk won't send it to Australia for some reason.

.

 

thats strange , since amazon uk is where i got all 4 of the discworld movies from

[LordTrilobite]

I've seen the Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic. But only read the Colour of Magic.

 

At first I was like, meh. But after a while I got accustomed to it, and I enjoyed the second part a lot more since I didn't compare it all the time with the book.

 

In general, okay, but I disagree with the style they've gone for, it needed to be a little more serious, and Death didn't look very good. his subtext was also not in caps, but that's a nitpick.

The cast wasn't bad at all, but I've seen them acting better elsewhere.

 

And also, the actual colour of magic, is not something to can really film, since the colour doesn't exist. Sparkly purple just doesn't do the trick.

[AlfredJ]

Just to get your minds of Monkeys:

 

So, yeah, whatever I thought of the previous Discworld-movies, I'm still looking forward to the next one - Going Postal. The movie has a different director (Jon Jones replaces Vadim Jean), and that might be just what the movies need.

 

Anyway, the reason for bumping this thread is that there's a lot of new information released, like a release date and a cast-list, and our first look at Moist. Here we go:

 

Produced by The Mob film company, GOING POSTAL will be broadcast on Sky1 HD and Sky1 Easter 2010.(2 x 120 minutes)

 

Richard Coyle as Moist von Lipwig in Sky1's new adaptation of Going Postal

 

An drawing of a mountain clacks tower in SKY1's new adaptation of Going Postal.

 

The latest cast list is as follows:

 

Richard Coyle – Moist Von Lipwig

David Suchet – Reacher Gilt

Charles Dance – Lord Vetinari

Claire Foy – Adora Belle Dearheart

Andrew Sachs – Tolliver Groat

Tamsin Greig – Miss Cripslock

Steve Pemberton – Rufus Drumknott

John Henshaw – Mr Pony

Madhav Sharma – Horsefry

Jimmy Yuill – Mr Spools

Ian Bonar – Stanley

Paul Barber – Dave

Adrian Schiller – Gryle

Daniel Cerquiera – Trooper

Ingrid BolsØ Berdal – Sergeant Angua

Kerry Shale – Mr Pump (voice)

Ben Crompton – Mad Al

Asif Khan – Sane Alex

Alex Parks – Roger

Sheila Shand Ginns – Old Lady

 

Vimes seems to be missing, but I think I remember Terry saying in some interview some time ago that he will be in the movie (Vimes, not Terry, although that's not impossible after the first two movies). Also not that Vetinari is no longer Jeremy Irons, even though they said he would be Vetinari in every Discworld-movie. No reason for the change is given, but looking at Colour of Magic, I can understand his decision for not participating anymore.

 

Anyway, I'm mildly optimistic about this. I think I'm just going to ignore all the new information, and just watch the movie next Easter. This way I'll hopefully avoid the crushing dissapointement of CoM after months of hype.

[SyntheticGerbil]

I need to see The Colour of Magic, but I'm waiting an a blu-ray release here in the States.

 

I did not watch Hogfather or Soul Music (the ugly cartoon) because I want to read the books first.

 

So far I've only read 10 Discworld books, finished Eric last. The rest of my familiarity comes with having read all of the comics and played all of the games. I definitely don't spend enough time reading to catch up with what's going on in the Discworld universe, but I'll probably make an effort to change that soon.