Gaiman to Script Monkey King Films

Neil Gaiman, whose fantasy novels have been well adapted to the screen by others (Stardust, Coraline) and who's also been gaining some experience writing for the screen himself (including Beowulf and a story for season 6 of Doctor Who), has signed on to script the English screenplays for a major multi-film 3D adaptation of Journey to the West, China's classic epic featuring the legendary Monkey King, for top Chinese TV producer Zhang Jizhong.

Journey to the West, one of the classic Chinese mythological novels, is both an adventure tale and a series of extended spiritual metaphors. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century, during the Ming Dynasty, based on traditional folktales. The full collection contains both the story of Sun Wukong, the trickster hero who masters great abilities but whose hubris causes him to be imprisoned under a mountain at the behest of the Jade Emperor (some of this story figures in the internationally successful Jackie Jan/Jet Li film Forbidden Kingdom), and that of the titular pilgrimage to India of the monk Xuanzang and his disciples, in the course of which they encounter monsters, demons, and human enemies.

A terrifically complex medieval allegory, deeply ingrained into the Chinese cultural consciousness, will not be a snap to distill into a handful of screenplays, but Gaiman, who grew up reading the stories and had been stalled most of the way through his own novelization of the material, seems to relish the challenge.

"We have to do what Peter Jackson did with Lord of The Rings," Gaiman told THR. "We have to make it filmic, non-episodic. This story is in the DNA of 1.5 billion people."

With the Monkey King so close to the hearts of the nation it's not surprising the Chinese government might be keeping a close eye on the project, but Gaiman shrugged off concerns that the stories might be curbed somehow by authorities, suggesting that everyone knows better than to try to tamper with this seminal figure. "Monkey is irrepressible," he said. "The moment that you try to censor Monkey, he's not Monkey anymore."

As for overseas appeal? "To the West, there's nothing inherently not interesting about Journey to the West," Gaiman said. "It has the best bad guys. That's absolutely universal."

Zhang, who's already done a small-screen version of Journey as part of set of adaptations of the Four Great Classical Novels for Chinese TV, is looking to put together a mixed Chinese and Western cast under a top director, supported by a crack CGI team to create an international 3D cinema event. He'd previously estimated a $300-million price tag.

Follow me on Twitter  |  Follow me on Facebook