Whilst making the press rounds this morning for CORALINE, Neil Gaiman revealed that the film adaptation of his Newbery Award-winning tome, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, has finally landed a director. And it's not, as previously assumed/hoped, Henry Selick.
No, it's Neil Jordan, who once upon a time spun an elegant retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" called THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. Though that film was much darker and far more sensual than Gaiman's kid-skewing yarn, it shows you how seriously Jordan takes his fairy tales. And, along with INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (as well as passages of the flawed-but-fascinating IN DREAMS), it also gives you an idea of how perfectly suited he is to this material. There will be no dulling of edges under Jordan's watch.
If you haven't read Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, it's a rather inventive variation on THE JUNGLE BOOK, with the protagonist being raised by ghosts instead of animals. I'm thrilled that it won the Newbery, and can't wait to see what Jordan does with it.
