Remember that BIG news I mentioned last week? Well, here it is!!!!

It's been a long time coming, but I'm delighted to be able to announce that the Cirque Du Freak movie is due to begin filming in February 2008!!! This is the official announcement from Universal, the company making the film:

"Cirque du Freak" by Darren Shan – Movie Announcement

The "Cirque du Freak" series of bestselling children's novels by Irish author Darren Shan has been acquired by Universal Pictures and will be adapted for a motion picture of the same name.  The film is due to begin shooting in February 2008 in New Orleans under the direction of Paul Weitz (About A Boy, In Good Company), and will star John C. Reilly (Gangs of New York, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) as Larten Crepsley; Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia) as Steve Leonard; and newcomer Chris Kelly as Darren Shan. Weitz is adapting some of the storylines from the novels for the screen.  He and Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men) will produce for their production companies, Depth of Field and The Donner's Company.

There's not much more for me to add, except -- whoopee!!!! There's no telling how the film will turn out, but I think it's in very safe, capable hands, and I'm really excited about the cast so far. I've seen Josh Hutcherson in a number of films (most recently R.V. with Robin Williams), and I've been a BIG John C Reilly fan since I saw him in Boogie Nights -- he never seems to put in anything but an excellent performance.

No release date has yet been set for the movie, so ignore any online rumours you might come across. As soon as I know anything more about that, and about other cast members, I'll include the info in the Shanville Monthly -- I plan to keep fans regularly updated over the next few months. You can also look up Cirque Du Freak on IMDB -- that's where you'll be able to find details about the crew.

I know a lot of you have been dreaming of a Cirque Du Freak movie for a number of years -- I've received emails and letters about it virtually every day since the first book was published back in January 2000! Now, at last, the dream is poised to become a reality -- hurrah!!!!! I hope you're all as psyched about the news as I am!

Of course I know, equally, that some of you aren't keen on a movie adaptation at all! All I have to say to you guys is -- tough!!!! Naw, seriously, my attitude to movie adaptations is the same as Stephen King's -- sell the rights to your stories freely, keep out of the movie side of things once you sell the rights, and keep your fingers crossed!!! King's books have probably been the source material for more bad movies than any other writer's -- but at the same time there's been The Shining, the original version of Salem's Lot, Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. If I was Stephen King, I'd happily put up with a dozen stinkers if it meant being able to be associated with any one of those four films.

You never know how a movie adptation will fare. Lots of great books have been turned into terrible films, and likewise some bad books have been turned into great movies. It's a lottery. But as someone who loves films, I think it's worth taking the risk. If Cirque Du Freak becomes a great movie, I'll be there in a cinema with the rest of you, lapping it up. I love seeing my stories get to places I never thought they were, and seeing other creative minds play about with them. In Japan the manga adaptation has far surpassed my expectations, and I get a great buzz when I read each new episode, seeing my story re-interpreted and served back to me as something new. In a way, because I never actually read any of my books once they see print, reading the manga is the first time I've been able to experience the story the same way you guys have, as something fresh and surprising.

I'm hoping the movie will go as well as the manga, that they'll produce something that does the books justice, that recreates the story in a different way. It will be VERY different to the books in terms of structure and pace, but that's fine -- a good film SHOULD reinterpret and add something new to the mix. I see no point in making a film that JUST does what the book does -- in that case, nothing new is brought into the world. I WANT Universal to play around with the books and find a new way to tell the story. You never know -- they might find a BETTER way!!!! And if they don't? If the movie disappoints? If it goes the way of Eragon or The Dark Is Rising? Well, what if it does?!? I don't subscribe to the "A bad movie ruins a good book" theory -- that's just childish nonsense!!!! Raymond Chandler was once asked if he thought a bad movie had ruined his book -- he laughed, pointed to a copy of the book on his shelf, and said "The book's right there. It hasn't changed in the slightest. It's just as good as it always was."

And Chandler was right. The movie is something different, an aside, a project in a separate medium. I'll be watching developments with interest, hoping for the best, but I'm not overly concerned because, no matter what happens with it, THE BOOKS ARE STILL THERE. I know some fans don't make that distinction, that they can turn against a book if a bad film comes along. But to me that's like turning against a good song just because some crap band covers it. The Beatles have been covered by loads of awful bands over the decades, but that doesn't spoil the original songs, not as far as I'm concerned. Those songs will always be special -- if you don't like a particular cover, you simply ignore it. I take the same view with books and movies -- if someone comes along and makes a bad film out of a book I love, that doesn't turn me against the book -- I simply ignore the film!!

But hopefully I won't have to ignore Cirque Du Freak. I'm impressed by the quality of the people involved with it, and I know they're talking to other actors of a very high quality, so I've got a pretty good feeling about it. I think it could turn out to be something special. We won't know for sure until it's released, but I'm feeling a lot more positive than I might have been. The more I think about what John C Reilly might do with Mr C, the more intrigued I become. He might not be what a lot of you were expecting, but then a good movie always throws out a few surprises -- back in the early 1970s, most movie folks thought Al Pacino was completely wrong for the main lead in The Godfather -- but I don't hear too many people moaning about him now!!!!!

Oh, one final thing, to those who have been complaining about the movie being set in America. Why shouldn't it be?!? Cirque Du Freak was NEVER set anywhere specific. Some people have been saying it should be filmed in Britain -- but that's only because in their imaginations the books were set there. When I wrote CDF, I wanted it to work for readers all around the world -- if it became successful, I wanted it to be a book that ANYONE could read and relate to, ANYWHERE in the world. That's why I kept it vague, and never mentioned any country or city names. I've always been happy for publishers in different countries to give it their own slant, to use their own slang phrases, currencies, etc, to make it seem as if the story is set in THEIR country. It sounds corny, but I wanted the books to "belong" to the world. With the movie, that level of vagueness wasn't a possibility -- it HAD to be set SOMEWHERE. Even if they didn't give the places a name, people would be able to identify the setting by the accents. I know Universal considered using actors from other countries, and still are for many of the parts, but I wasn't surprised or disappointed when they opted to film it in the States and chose Americans for the leads -- I think that was always going to be the case.

Anyway, as I've said, I'm VERY excited about this, and I'll be keenly following the progress of filming (and reporting back to you lot as often as I can) over the coming months. We're moving into a whole new field with this, and for better or worse, I think it's going to be an interesting experience for all of us ...