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Francis Lawrence says Red Rising movie is a priority at Paramount
ReFrancis Lawrence says Red Rising movie is a priority at Paramount
Director Francis Lawrence says the long-delayed Red Rising film adaptation is now moving forward at Paramount after its earlier Netflix series plans collapsed.
Director Francis Lawrence says the film adaptation of Pierce Brown's sci-fi series Red Rising is now a priority at Paramount, nearly a decade after he first became attached to the project. Lawrence, best known for directing almost every film in the Hunger Games series, told IGN that the book-to-screen project has finally found a stable home after years of setbacks. He is also currently working on the next Hunger Games film, Sunrise on the Reaping, which is scheduled for release in November.
Lawrence said the project was originally developed as a series for Netflix, where two pilots were written. However, he described a period of shifting priorities at the streamer, with regimes changing and the project being moved back and forth between departments focused on big-budget "tentpole" films and young adult titles. "It was getting bounced around, and it's not a cheap [project] to make and to do it right," he said. "They never got the guts to pull the trigger on it." Once the Netflix plans stalled, the rights reverted to Brown, who then took the project to Paramount.
Lawrence said he was pleased by the move because he prefers a theatrical release for Red Rising over streaming, arguing that the story deserves a big-screen experience including IMAX. He said a writer the team likes has started work on a script and that he hopes it can be put together quickly. He described the project as seemingly a priority at Paramount and said he is excited about where it now stands.
Lawrence has been involved with the material since his longtime producing partner Cam MacConomy, who has worked with him since 2010, found the novels and brought them to him. Lawrence said he fell in love with the books, as did MacConomy, and that together they met with Brown and took the project to market. He also said he and Brown have become friends over the course of the process. Lawrence noted that he had been attached to Red Rising for about eight years before the Paramount move became public, which came only two weeks before the interview was published.
The adaptation is one of several long-awaited book and game projects moving forward in Hollywood after years of production complications. Lawrence also discussed the forthcoming BioShock film during the same interview, saying he is faithful to the source material as a gamer and is working to honor the original games. Lawrence's current slate, including The Long Walk and Sunrise on the Reaping, highlights the strength of his track record with young adult and sci-fi adaptations, which is why fans of the Red Rising novels have been closely watching the project's progress.
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