Weitz Mulls Elric Anew

Weitz Mulls  Elric Anew

Chris Weitz said that his experience directing the visual-effects-heavy fantasy film The Golden Compass has opened the way for him and his brother, Paul, to take on their long-planned film version of Michael Moorcock's  Elric Saga fantasy franchise. 

"I think it's made Elric possible, really, because now I understand both the size of the challenge and the nature of the visual-effects film, whereas before I simply didn't," Chris Weitz said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Nov. 29. "And so, although we've made Michael Moorcock wait a long time, and we appreciate his patience, I think we'll really be able to execute that properly now. Because that, too, has a kind of grand scope, and we'd be doing it a disservice if it didn't feel that way." 

The Weitz brothers, through their production company Depth of Field, optioned The Elric Saga with Universal Pictures back in 2003. The saga, which began with 1972's Elric of Melnibone, is a multipart, Tolkien-esque fantasy series. The novels center on Elric, an albino warrior. 

Chris Weitz said that he and his brother plan to produce but not direct the film, envisioned as the first in a trilogy. "You've got to find the right director who can appreciate kind of the tone of it, which is a sort of interesting, kind of nihilistic yet very rich tone," Weitz said. "I think my mind would break if I ended up doing two different fantasy franchises, ... but now that I'm kind of one of this weird priesthood of directors who have this much experience with visual effects, I'll sort of be able to help with the producing element of that."  The Golden Compass opens Dec. 7. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) Patrick Lee, News Editor