Source:
Collider [follow link for complete interview]
COLLIDER: Director Nick Willing NEVERLAND Interview
by
Christina Radish
November 30th, 2011
Much like he did with Oz in
Tin Man and Wonderland in
Alice, writer/director
Nick Willing is bringing
Neverland to life, in a two-part original movie for SyFy, premiering on December 4th and 5th. An original prequel story to author
J.M. Barrie’s classic
Peter Pan, Peter (
Charlie Rowe) and his young pickpocket pals are rounded up by their mentor Jimmy Hook (
Rhys Ifans) to steal a magical orb, which inadvertently transports them all to another world, known as
Neverland. Once there, they encounter power-mad pirates, led by the seductive Elizabeth Bonny (
Anna Friel), a Native American tribe and a colony of tree spirits that possess a magical mineral dust that enables the pure of heart to fly. As the fight to protect and save this beautiful world escalates, Peter must decide whether growing old somewhere in time is more important than defending the place where he will never grow up.
During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, writer/director
Nick Willing talked about what made him choose to go with a prequel to the
Peter Pan story, the importance of remaining faithful to the tone of the book, how he would have loved to have been able to talk to
Barrie about his work, assembling such a talented cast for the film, the challenges of bringing a fantasy world to life on a TV budget, and why he always finds himself pulled back to the fantasy genre. He also talked about already working on creating his next SyFy movie about another known fantasy world (he can’t reveal what it is because SyFy has not made the announcement yet), and that he is also creating his own world as a television series, set a little bit in the future...
Bob Hoskins and Anna Friel
...
Collider: Having explored Oz, Wonderland and Neverland, are there more fantasy worlds that you would like to explore, or would you also like to create one of your own?
WILLING: "
I am writing something else, at the moment, that is a fantasy world, but I can’t tell you what it is, or I’d have to kill you. It is another fantasy world that is known, and it is for SyFy, but I’m not allowed to tell you what that is because they’re supposed to announce it, if it gets going. And, I am also working on creating my own world, which is set a little bit in the future. That’s a show that I’ve been writing, on and off, for awhile. That’s a series for television that could run and run. It’s something that I’m very excited about. I don’t want to jinx it, by saying the title out loud, but it is my own invention, although it’s very similar to things that we all know and understand..."
