Boom! Studios’ Talent, the latest mini-series from Christopher
Golden and Tom Sniegoski, has just been optioned by Universal Studios for the
film production right to the supernatural thriller.

Talent
follows Nicolas Dane, the sole survivor of a plane crash who, after the crash,
gains all of the talents of the passengers of the plane who didn’t survive.

“I think comic book fans are responding to the idea that Nicolas
Dane is a character who’s a tabula rasa, someone who doesn’t have a lot of stuff
going on in his life,” said Ross Richie, Publisher at Boom! Studios.
“He’s a man, really, with no life at all… who then discovers he can
channel the talents of 147 other people!”

The concept was so
appealing to Hollywood, that after only one-issue, a bidding war began for the
film option. At one point, five separate studios were vying for the rights, but
in the end, Universal won out.

We recently had a chance to sit down with
Christopher Golden to talk about the process getting a film
option:

Scoop: How did you guys get into the “bidding
war” for the film option for Talent after just one issue? Was the
concept originally designed for television or film before it was slated as a
comic series?

Christopher Golden (CG): Tom [Sniegoski] and I
dreamed this thing up a long time ago. Frankly, it shows the power of the comic
book medium to fire the imagination. We’d written a script version that we kept
shelving for various reasons, including concerns about the plane explosion after
9/11. Finally, we decided to try the comic route first and talked to Ross Richie
about it. I’ve known Ross for maybe fourteen years. A long time. Once the first
issue’s reviews started to hit the Internet, the heat was on. The reviews were
just incredible. Originally, the plan had been for Ross and his producing
partner Andy Cosby to package Talent and take it out to the studios…
but that plan was tossed aside when the studios started coming to us. It was
crazy. We had several of the biggest directors and producers in Hollywood firing
up the studios to pick up the rights to Talent. The word travels fast in
the film industry. So that’s how the bidding war got started. While Tom and I
would have loved to be in business with any of the studios and fantastic
filmmakers who expressed an interest and bid on Talent, we’re very
pleased to have ended up with Marc Platt at Universal, which is also the home
for Outcast, the fantasy film in development there based on our young
adult book series of the same name.

Scoop: Since Universal
now has the option, what’s the next step to get Talent onto the silver
screen? Do you finish up the mini-series and see how fans respond or it the film
eminent?

CG: The producers aren’t wasting a moment. They’re
already talking to screenwriters, directors, and major actors about
Talent. Now, anyone will tell you that in any business, nothing’s real
until you can hold it in your hands. Hollywood is the perfect example. Until you
can go and sit in the theater and see the movie, you can’t assume there’s ever
going to be a movie. That’s just the way it is. That said, though, with this
group of people and the enthusiasm and passion they have for this project, I
believe it’ll get made. Of course the comic book miniseries will continue. The
third issue is being finished up at the moment, art-wise, and we’re about to
deliver the script for issue four. As to whether there will be future
miniseries, there are a lot of variables. Of course we hope
so.

Scoop: Who would you like to see cast as the lead roles
in the film? Would you like to see someone with “star power” come to
the lead or would you rather have an unknown take the role and let the story
sell itself?

CG: Don’t you think they should cast me?[Laughs] I don’t think it matters if it’s a superstar or an unknown.
What matters in the case of playing Nicholas Dane is that they need someone with
real talent. A one note actor isn’t going to work in this role. It requires a
rare versatility to play one character, while letting the audience see that
there are other personas existing inside you, showing that through mostly
physical and facial, non-verbal ways. It requires someone subtle, and let’s face
it, acting is all too often Not a subtle profession. Fortunately, there are some
major superstars who’d fit the bill perfectly. Fingers crossed.