Unfinished Last Express Prequel
Browsing through my storage room in an attempt to avoid working on my current project, I stumbled across this printout of an unfinished screenplay I’d started, then abandoned, back in 2002.
Entitled Red Serpent, and set in 1904 Paris, ten years before the events of The Last Express, it would have been an early adventure of Robert Cath (still in medical school) and his best/worst friend Tyler Whitney (upgraded in this version to Cath’s half-brother — a change I don’t think I’d make today).
The plot bears a more-than-slight resemblance to The Da Vinci Code, which would be published the following year. No plagiarism was involved. I’d guess that Dan Brown and I had been reading the same pseudo-historical “research,” including Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Baigent and Leigh (who did, in fact, sue Brown for plagiarism, and lost). Whereas Brown treated their theory seriously, my approach was more tongue-in-cheek.
I’ve posted it here in case it interests anyone — as a glimpse into the early, rough-first-draft stages of the creative process. Mostly, the stories we read are ones that survive all the way to completion. This one, for many reasons, didn’t.
Rereading the screenplay fragment today, I can see why I abandoned it. There are things in it that I like, but it’s not really of a piece with The Last Express. It’s more fluffy and lightweight. It can’t quite decide whether it wants to be a movie in the Indiana Jones/Da Vinci Code spirit, or a spoof of that kind of movie. And, while I enjoyed the two main characters, I can’t quite see them growing up to be Cath and Tyler as Tomi Pierce and I originally conceived them.
Also, in 2002, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the game) was gearing up production at Ubisoft Montreal, and my excitement for that project was growing while my sense of conviction on this one was dwindling. Ultimately, I dropped Red Serpent to give me more time for POP. It was the right decision.
The wilderness of childhood
This essay by Michael Chabon is so true, I just had to link to it.
Prince of Persia panel at Comic-Con
I’ll be in San Diego next Friday for an 11:30 am Q&A panel about the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time graphic novel anthology I’m writing for Disney, with artists Todd McFarlane, Cameron Stewart, Bernard Chang, Tommy Lee Edwards, Josh Middleton, and Niko Henrichon, many of whom will be on the panel as well. (Check the Comic-Con schedule for updated details.)
It’s been a very cool project and one I’ve had a lot of fun doing. The book is a prequel to the movie (I use the word “prequel” advisedly, for those who think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction), with each chapter drawn by a different artist in a different style. It’ll be published next April as part of the Prince of Persia movie pre-launch.
This is the second Prince of Persia graphic novel I’ve been involved with — the first, written by A.B. Sina and illustrated by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland, was published last year by First Second Books — and they’re very different projects. Whereas the First Second book is deliberately separate from the games and movie — linked thematically, rather than through plot and characters — the Disney book is firmly in the universe of the movie. It offered a chance to establish, and expand on, the characters’ world and back stories beyond what’s in the film.
Most enjoyably, it’s given me an opportunity to revisit the story and characters of the original game for the first time in two decades — though in a way that’s kind of hard to explain, until you read the book.
Hope to see you next Friday, those of you who can make it!
Sketchcrawling in LA
My friend Alex Puvilland tipped me off to the 23rd International Sketchcrawl happening today in many cities around the world, including L.A. Basically, the idea is for a bunch of people to get together and spend the day sketching what they see, and post the results.
So I made my way down to Echo Park to brave the summer heat with a dozen or so like-minded souls. I’m looking forward to seeing their sketches. Here are some of mine:
View from Angelus Temple steps
Fellow sketchcrawlers
Not too surprisingly, most everyone I met today is planning to attend San Diego Comic-Con in two weeks.
