Could KAVALIER & CLAY become an HBO Miniseries?
We finally have some news on the long-gestating Kavalier & Clay project that Scott Rudin bought the rights to ten years ago. Stephen Daldry recently did an interview with Collider, and he revealed that he has not forgotten about the project and that he has plans to bring the story to life.
The project is based on Michael Chabon‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The story is set mostly in the 30’s and 40’s and follows the lives of two cousins — Brooklynite Sam Clay and Czech refugee Joe Kavalier — who find fame and fortune in the Golden Age of the comic book industry. At one point Sydney Pollack and Jude Law were involved The project has seen a number of other stars come and go, including Tobey Maguire, Jamie Bell, Natalie Portman, Andrew Garfield, and Ryan Gosling. The project has never gotten the traction it needed to move forward.
Daldry stepped into replace Pollack in 2004, yet the project has not gotten closer to becoming a reality. In the interview, Daldry stated that he thinks the project would be better suited for an HBO Miniseries:
The project is based on Michael Chabon‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The story is set mostly in the 30’s and 40’s and follows the lives of two cousins — Brooklynite Sam Clay and Czech refugee Joe Kavalier — who find fame and fortune in the Golden Age of the comic book industry. At one point Sydney Pollack and Jude Law were involved The project has seen a number of other stars come and go, including Tobey Maguire, Jamie Bell, Natalie Portman, Andrew Garfield, and Ryan Gosling. The project has never gotten the traction it needed to move forward.
Daldry stepped into replace Pollack in 2004, yet the project has not gotten closer to becoming a reality. In the interview, Daldry stated that he thinks the project would be better suited for an HBO Miniseries:
I wanna do Kavalier & Clay on HBO as an eight-parter… It’ll be so much better as a series, honestly. If you could put that in the article and ring up HBO and tell them that’s what I wanna do, I’d really appreciate it.
At this point the project is only in the idea phase and is not officially moving forward. Here is what he had to say when asked if he’s actually got the rights to make the HBO series happen:
What a good question. Well, I spent a year working on it with Michael Chabon, so we’re pretty close. And the rights, good question. Will Paramount give them to me? I don’t know.
The book is 600+ pages, which causes a bit of a problem when trying to cram it into a two or three-hour movie. Rudin even rejected drafts from Chabon that he felt cut out too much of the story. I think that a miniseries at HBO could be the perfect place to tell this story properly. Chabon has a relationship with the network since he is currently working on Hobgoblin.
What are your thoughts on turning Kavalier & Clay into a miniseries?
What are your thoughts on turning Kavalier & Clay into a miniseries?