Holy Deacon Frost - Stephen Dorff to star in Blade prequel

Stephen Norrington directed the original Blade. That was a really good film, with some fine action sequences. Since then his career has been a bit hit and miss - He directed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (check out my review to see what I thought of that).

No Norrington has spoken to Mania.com exclusively about the fact that he is planning a return to the Blade franchise following his work on the reboot of The Crow.

His leading man of choice is Stephen Dorff, who co-starred as the megalomaniacal Deacon Frost in the film. Of course, Frost apparently died at the end of the first movie as Blade cut him down just as he was about to transform into a vampire god.

Dorff told UK's The Sunday Mail that the new movie would be "a prequel to the Blade movies, Deacon's story. It's a new trilogy the director has created. It will [be] cool."

Norrington confirmed the news although said the movie is "not exactly how the article describes but close."

The director credits Dorff with coming up with the idea for the new project, which "has evolved into a very interesting story."

While that evolution may have carried it away from the source material, Norrington tells us the film is definitely envisioned as part of the existing mythology. "The linkage to 'Blade' is still big in the equation."

Presently Dorff is occupied filming Sofia Coppola's 'Somewhere'. Earlier this year, the actor starred in the comic-based TV mini-series 'XIII'. He can be seen on screen now in 'Public Enemies'.

Not sure about this one. Deacon Frost was a good character, but can he carry a trilogy? Also Blade: Trinity pretty much killed off the franchise. Can you see a prequel being succesful? What would you want to see in it?

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XIII - News on the Val Kilmer, Stephen Dorff mini-series

The controversial Belgian comic book “XIII” by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance is coming to American television in February, courtesy of Prodigy Pictures and Cipango. The four-hour television miniseries starring Stephen Dorff as the amnesiac assassin code named XIII will be broadcast on NBC February 8 and 15. Val Kilmer also appears as the Mongoose, an agent of a secret organization staging a coup from within the American government. CBR News spoke with producer Jay Firestone of Prodigy Pictures about bringing the renowned comic book to TV.

"It's a bit ‘Bourne Identity,’ it's a bit ‘Manchurian Candidate,’" Firestone told CBR. The television miniseries begins with the assassination of Sally Sheridan, the first female president of the United States. A man tattooed with the roman numeral XIII appears to have pulled the trigger, but he has no memory of this event or anything else about his life. On the run from both the U.S. government and those behind the conspiracy of which he may or may not be a part, XIII must uncover the truth about his own identity to save America from a much greater threat.

The television version of "XIII" is co-produced by Firestone's Prodigy Pictures, which is based in Canada, and Cipango, a French company. The series premiered in France late last year. "The French love American stories," Firestone said. "There's actually a trend more and more toward American stories being more successful in Europe. There were a few years there where countries wanted domestic programming, and were doing very domestic shows, but were not getting the audiences that top American shows did. In this case, we had a combination of the two: we had a well-known Belgian story but with an American storyline.

"We brought in some writers and producers who had worked on a lot of American shows, ‘CSI,’ and ‘24,’ and sort of knew the genre, and they all got inspired by it, as well. We spent a couple years developing a great script, and once we had that we had everybody excited."
As with any adaptation from one medium to another, Firestone and his team found themselves changing some aspects of the original comic book story to fit the four-hour miniseries format. One notable change, though, was casting the American president, whose assassination kicks off the story. In the comics, the President was a man. In the “XIII” TV miniseries, the President is a woman. With the recent inauguration of America's first African-American president, it may be easy to forget that very recently it would have seemed more likely that the country would instead be marking the election of its first female commander-in-chief. But Firestone said that while many aspects of "XIII" do reflect the current political culture, the inclusion of a female president was merely a matter of "updating the concept.” "We just thought it was a fun idea," the producer said.

Firestone did note, though, that "XIII" fits very well with the current international attention on the American political stage, and with a lot of perceptions about the country's standing in the world. "It's incredibly timely. A lot of people actually believe that things that are significant elements of our story are actually going on. We're not speculating on whether they're true or not," he laughed. "But a lot of people believe it."

CBR have lots more on this along with many photos.

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XIII coming to the small screen - Will it be Bourne-lite?

MTV have the news: NBC has announced this morning that they will be adapting the classic Belgian political thriller, “XIII” for a two-part television mini-series, scheduled to air February 8 and 15. The television event will pack a powerhouse of geek-credible actors, including former Batman Val Kilmer, Stephen Dorff from “Blade,” Stephen McHattie from “Watchmen” and Jessalyn Gilsig from “Heroes.”

“XIII” follows the adventures of an amnesiac assassin, who is being hunted down for questioning in the murder of the first female President of the United States. There have been several attempts by American publishers to adapt the comic stateside — most recently by the Dabel Bros. and Marvel — but none have been as successful as the popular video game adaptation

XIII was created by Van Hamme, but I only know it through the game which was pretty cool and had great cell shaded graphics. The basic plot has always reminded me of the Bourne scenario (guy wakes up on a beach with no memory, realises he can beat the crap out of pretty much anyone and he has a XIII tattoo) so this could well end up with a Bourne kind of vibe to it. This is no bad thing for a TV show in my opinion. Will we get fat Kilmer or thin Kilmer for the show? Which one of the actors mentioned will play the assassin? Also will it be set in the 60s like the comic or have a modern day setting?

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