April 27, 2009

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions on our movie and video game projects. We love the creative thinking and diversity of opinion that everyone brings to the dialogue.

I would like to contribute a couple of my own comments to the discussion. First, while we all can find parallels in The Wheel of Time to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, I believe that a film adapted from Robert Jordan's epic will justifiably stand on its own. While in LOTR, Frodo ends his quest with the destruction of ring in the fires of Mount Doom, in The Wheel of Time, our heroes end their quest at The Eye of the World; but that is just where Jordan's story really begins. In The Wheel of Time, the reader is presented with a world fixed both in our future and our past, where mankind has nearly been annihilated several times in the prior millennia, and where new civilizations have risen from the ashes that co-exist alongside the relics of our distant future. Toss in the One Power, an ensemble cast of uncertain heroes and villains, and a cadre of bad-ass Forsaken, and you have mental picture of a world that I believe is without peer in the fantasy genre. With all this (and much, much more) to work with, if we make a motion picture than anyone could possibly confuse with Lord of the Rings, shame on us.

Yes, we will have our fair share of challenges in making a movie based upon The Wheel of Time. Much has been said about the possibilities for visualizing channeling, given the fundamental gender differences men and women have in wielding Saidin and Saidar (Aran'gar notwithstanding), and certainly we would want our Fades, Trollocs, Ogier and Nym to look striking and unique from prior films in the fantasy genre. But, while we recognize the care with which we will need to handle each of these aspects of the film, we are yet a long way off from beginning production. As for now, all of our thoughts and energy are being invested into how we can adapt RJ’s work into a screenplay that is truly magical. For me, this is where the real fun starts in making a picture based upon The Wheel of Time.

Finally, in my view, way too much is being said about how many movies might be made, or even whether a television series may be in the future. In a nutshell, all possibilities are on the table, but no one involved with the production can look any farther than the first film release. If we do the story justice in the adaptation to a screenplay, deliver on the expectations of MOST fans of the series (O.K., even Peter Jackson didn't please everyone), and capture the hearts and minds of a global audience who may (cough, cough!!) have never before heard of Robert Jordan and The Wheel of Time, I think we stand a good chance of being able to do it all over again. But for now we will remain focused like a beam of balefire on this first movie project only, to the exclusion of anything else further down the road. After the first film is released, we’ll have to see what happens….

After all, “the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.”

Best to all,

Larry Mondragon

P.S. I had a wonderful time at the recent inaugural JordanCon event held in Atlanta. I want to give a shout-out to Jennifer and all of the other organizers of this remarkable gathering. I plan on coming again next year, so I hope to see some of you there!