‘Dark Shadows’ Gets New Blood With Sequel Series In
the Works At the CW From Writer Mark B. Perry
Co-Editor-in-Chief,
Film
September 9, 2019 2:47pm
ABC
EXCLUSIVE: The CW and Warner Bros Television
have made a deal to develop Dark Shadows: Reincarnation, an hourlong
gothic horror drama based on the 1966 Dan Curtis-created
cult classic TV soap opera. The pilot will be written by Mark B.
Perry, whose credits include Revenge, Ghost Whisperer and
Brothers & Sisters. He will be exec producer along with Amasia
Entertainment’s Michael Helfant, Bradley
Gallo and Tracy Mercer, along with Tracy
Curtis and Cathy Curtis.
The re-imagined show
will be a modern-day continuation of the strange, terrifying, and sexy saga of
the Collins family of Collinsport, Maine — a mysterious, influential,
publicity-shy group hiding a ghastly secret: For the past 400 years, they’ve
lived under a curse that bedevils their blue blood with every imaginable
supernatural creature and horror. The intention here is to harken back to the
original, which was so popular it actually saw Shakespearean actor Jonathan
Frid become as popular in the teen magazines as the young
heartthrobs of the moment, for his role as the vampire Barnabas Collins.
As a kid, Perry ran
home from school to catch the gothic soap — it aired each weekday after school
— and for the past two years had been aggressively pursuing the rights.
Said Perry: “As a
first-generation fan, it’s been a dream of mine to give Dark Shadows the
Star Trek treatment since way back in the ’80s when Next Generation
was announced, so I’m beyond thrilled and humbled to be entrusted with this
resurrection. And while I could never hope to fill Dan Curtis’ very large
shoes, I do aspire to carry them a little farther into the future. I also want
to reassure the fans of the original that this version will treat the show’s
mythology with the same reverence given to Star Trek, but will also make
the show accessible for audiences who aren’t yet familiar with the macabre
world of the Collinses. My plan is to take as few liberties as possible with
the Dark Shadows canon, while bearing in mind a quote from a 1970s
episode delivered by the inimitable Oscar-nominee Grayson Hall as Dr. Julia
Hoffman: ‘The Collins family history is not particularly famous for its
accuracy.’”
Curtis’ daughters
Tracy and Cathy Curtis brought the iconic property to Amasia’s Mercer, with the
hope of revitalizing and introducing their father’s legacy to a new generation.
The two Tracys met when they worked together on CBS’s hit drama, Madam
Secretary, where Mercer was a producer and Curtis was an editor. “I knew
Tracy was a die-hard fan of my father’s work and would protect his vision by
bringing on someone who understood how special this property is,” Tracy Curtis
said. “My expectations were surpassed when she introduced us to Mark and I
heard his incredible take. I felt my father was watching from above and smiling
down on us. Tracy and I couldn’t be happier to have Mark take viewers back to
Collinwood. Mark has opened up our father’s universe with fresh storylines and
new characters that will delight original fans even as they thrill younger
viewers.”
Mercer added, “Mark’s
talent, unique take, and absolute fanboy love for Dark Shadows made him
our ideal showrunner.” Helfant, also a first-generation fan, said, “We were
thrilled to be in a competitive situation with the pitch for DSR. Gaye Hirsch
and her team have a stellar track record with smart genre programming, so The
CW makes total sense for this new incarnation of the godfather of horror TV.”
Amasia Entertainment
is in pre-production on John Patrick Shanley’s Irish romance feature film, Wild
Mountain Thyme, starring Emily Blunt, Jon Hamm, Jamie Dornan and
Christopher Walken. Their Sundance thriller, Them That Follow starring
Olivia Colman, Walton Goggins, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert and Jim Gaffigan,
is currently in theaters. The company is also developing a film from the Emil
Ferris graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, and has at CBS
Studios an untitled Hartley Voss (Orange is the New Black) created
political drama with Ted Humphrey the show runner.
Curtis himself took a
couple of cracks at reviving Dark Shadows in a 1995 (sic) series and 2005
telepic (sic), and Tim Burton directed a campy feature on the subject.
***
Here's a link to the article: https://deadline.com/2019/09/dark-shadows-cw-warner-bros-television-barnabas-collins-mark-b-perry-dan-curtis-1202729676/
No comments:
Post a Comment