...Early November 2005 saw the release of news from Queso Grande Productions of Seraphim's involvement in this projected examination of the
dark side of a teenage girl's relationships...
[ ] : "Queso Grande Productions proudly announces it has joined with Seraphim Films and Aint It Cool Productions to produce 2gether
4ever later this year. Written by W. Boyd Ford (Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat), the film will be produced by Harry Knowles of
Aint-It-Cool-News.com, Jacky Lee Morgan (Waiting, Bully, Love Liza) of Queso Grande Productions and Joe Daley and Anthony DiBlasi of
Seraphim. Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Nightbreed) will executive produce. Lastly, Lions Gate Film will be handling the domestic distribution of
2gether 4ever.
"New blood flows as Ford and Morgan join forces to direct the story of a teen girl and her relationship with high school, parents, a ghost and
some ghastly goings-on. The duo previously teamed up on the campier side of horror to write and produce H. G. Lewis’s Blood Feast 2: All U
Can Eat. With 2gether 4ever, Morgan and Ford turn their talents to exploring the darker side of the genre.
"Bestselling author Clive Barker has brought us numerous horrific projects including the iconic Hellraiser series. Seraphim Films is currently
in pre production on Midnight Meat Train and post production on The Plague. Seraphim’s Midnight Picture Show will also be developing
another sinister feature with Queso Grande entitled Scape-Goats based on the short story by Barker."
2Gether 4Ever Press Release
By [ ],
2Gether 4Ever Press Release, 7 November 2005
Harry Knowles : "It was the whole thing. The structure, the tone, the basic theme and the potential I saw in Jacky & Boyd's script.
These two guys have been working behind the scenes for a lot of years. Nicest guys in the world, big dreams, but absolutely egoless.
Basically - the sort of people that you want to see make it. They asked for my help, invited me into their creative circle to see if I could help.
That and... well I really want to make a horror film that hurts. Not just because of gore and on-screen violence, but because you got caught up in
character, the story and the relationships. Plus - I wanted to go the Indie route on one of the films to learn and work in that world. Not because
I'm fed up with studios. I'm actually really enjoying that process (so far) - but there's a speed and an excitement to low budget film that is
viscerally exciting. That - and well - there's something that we've concocted in the film that - well I can't wait to sit at the back of the theater and
watch an audience react to. If it goes the way we think, it could be amazing. Then again, it could just be ass. But there's a lot of folks that'll be
doing this stuff for the right reasons. Just hope the fates smile with us along the way."
What The Hell Is 2gether 4ever And Why Is Clive Barker Associated With It?
By Harry Knowles,
Ain't It Cool News, 7 November 2005 (text online at www.aintitcool.com)
...After the animated, live action and the ILM CGI versions all fell by the Hollywood wayside
(see 'Films That Got Away...'), the project became stuck in limbo. However, new plans
were made for Thief in 2004 - giving growing optimism that a great movie adaptation of this much-loved novel could
finally be made. Following Clive's confirmation that Kelly Asbury, with his impeccable credentials in animation and
illustration, would be both adapting and directing the project, little further was heard for the best part of twelve months.
February 2006, however, sees The Hollwood Reporter sharing the first comment we have seen from Asbury himself which
will encourage those who feared that the project was losing momentum. The movie (being produced by Seraphim for Fox)
will still be live-action, as hoped, and Clive will remain close at hand to produce...
"Thief Of Always is going to be a picture directed by Kelly Asbury, who just did Shrek 2 - who’s an amazing guy."
Barnes and Noble Stage Presentation
By Brein Lopez, LA Festival of Books, 25 April 2004
"There have been many different versions [of Thief], but somehow it never happened, until this past Christmas when I was doing a
book signing with ten other children's authors. Kelly Asbury was sitting next to me and we got to know each other quickly,
because we were having fun drawing for kids. He was just finishing Shrek 2, and said, 'I don't want to do any more CGI; I really
want to direct live action movies for kids.' I said, 'Stay where you are,' and went to the shelf and took a copy of Thief of Always off
the shelf and gave it to him. This was Saturday, and I said, 'Call me when you've read it,' so late afternoon Sunday, he called and
said, 'I want to do this!' Fox bought it, and Kelly has begun writing it, so I think it's finally going to happen."
Entering Abarat
By Joe Nazzaro, Starburst, No 318, January 2005 (note - interview took place 2004)
"I was at an event organised by Storyopolis, which is a really cool children's bookstore and actually art store as well, in the sense
that it sells the artwork from illustrated books - originals, reproductions and so on - it has a little gallery attached. So Storyopolis
arranged a gathering of, I think there were maybe fifteen authors who had also done illustration - maybe that wasn't the theme, maybe
it was just authors. But I happened to be sitting next-door to Kelly Asbury - Kelly, who is an author of books for really young kids, is
both an illustrator and a writer and his name begins with an 'A', and I began with a 'B' so we were sitting next-door to one another, as
everybody's in alphabetical order. And we instantly got on well - there was, it was like we'd been friends a long time, instantly. And he
had, beside his work as a writer and an illustrator, he was also, is also an animator and a director of animation. He directed Spirit,
which is a Dreamworks picture of a couple of years ago. He most recently directed Shrek 2, which I think is now the number five
best, most successful movie, in fiscal terms, ever made - so he's kinda golden around town! Now, Shrek 2 had not come out when
we first met; he was still putting the final touches both to the picture and the sound of the music and was kind of exhausted but
excited by the prospect of it, of the movie's release (and his own release from the movie!). And he said he wanted to make a live-action
movie next and he wanted to make something for a younger crowd. He wanted it to be live-action and I got up from my chair and went
over to the shelves and took out a copy of Thief of Always (paid for it!) brought it back to Kelly and said, 'Here - how about this?' - it
literally worked like that. So, this was on a Saturday; Sunday night he called me and he'd read the book: 'I'm in. I want to make this
movie!' So before I came away with David to England and to Holland, Kelly and Anthony and I made a tour of the major studios and
the mini-majors with the book and with an extraordinary tool which Anthony had created - which was a trailer for the movie which he'd
made up of pieces of other movies - the most extraordinary thing you've ever seen. And it really helped in the selling of the movie;
people instantly got what this movie would do, how to sell it, how to take it into the world. So, we had a bunch of offers...
"I promised Kelly that I would be there for him in this process because we've become friends; I like him
immensely and the project has always been important to me... Kelly respects my vision and I respect his, so we kinda make a good
team. And I think it's been great weaving Anthony into all of this, because he's also brought his own gifts to this process -
this trailer has been a revelation to me. He brought it over to me on DVD, he'd burned it onto DVD, I hadn't seen any of it, 'though I
suggested some movies he might like to excerpt from. I had seen nothing and I put it in and he was sitting on the sofa and I was
sitting on the sofa and we're watching it and there's tears pouring down my face at the end of it and I turned to him and I said, 'You
son of a bitch - how dare you make me weep about my own fucking story!' And I'm not the only one it had that effect on. He did a
remarkable thing."
In Anticipation Of The Deluge: A Moment At The River's Edge
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
1 and 12 July 2004 (note - full text here)
"The Thief of Always, written and directed by Kelly Asbury, is high on the list, because Fox is very passionate about making that
work. I’m really pleased, because Kelly is a very smart man, and the notion of him writing and directing this is just perfect. It’s
been agonizing to see the many versions of Thief of Always - at one point with Bernard Rose and then various screenplays, and
then on to the animated version but somehow never settling. I have great faith that with Kelly at the helm, it will finally come to
fruition.
"The interesting thing is that in the 10 years that I’ve been developing Thief of Always, the technology has caught up with the way
to do it now, so we can really make all the seasons arrive in one day. We can watch an entire environment turn into
Halloween-time in a heartbeat. We can see an entire house come to life, which would have been much harder to do 10 years ago,
so in many ways, it’s all to the good. It may have taken a while, but we got there."
Clive Barker’s Dark Plans
By Joe Nazzaro, www.fangoria.com, 2 December 2004
"Thief of Always is coming on amazingly well - I'm producing that - we're turning the script into Fox next week, which is very exciting and
there is great enthusiasm at Fox for that."
There And Back Again: Touring The Abarat
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
30 November 2004 (note - full text here)
"The town is fantasy crazy, everything is going forward and Kelly Asbury will turn in what I hope will be the shooting script of
Thief of Always in about a month's time. The work he's done is unbelievable, so that's very exciting and there's great enthusiasm
over at Fox about that."
The Hellbound Art : Memory, Fantasy And Filigree
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
10 February 2005 (note - full text here)
"We have the “Thief of Always” which is at 20th Century Fox and Kelly Asbury, who was one of the Co-directors of Shrek 2
is writing and directing that. And it will be a life action movie. And he will turn the script into Fox into a month’s time. I have
very high hopes on the movie. I think Kelly is an incredibly talented man and I think Fox is excited about the project. Well,
they certainly seemed to be."
Clive Barker On The Phone
By [Thomas Hemmerich], That's Clive!, 29 March 2005 (note - full text online at
www.clivebarker.de)
"Thief of Always is at Fox and hopefully we will have that next year."
Jump Tribe Panel
San Diego Comic Con, 14 July 2005
"Thief of Always - I know Kelly is working on what we hope is the final draft. Huge enthusiasm still over at Fox to make this
movie. It's just taking its time and that's where it is."
You Called, He Came...
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
2 and 3 June 2006 (note: full text here)
"Right now, we have The Thief of Always over at Fox and we're doing some final polishes on the script, so we're very much
hoping that they will make the movie. There's no guarantee, but they seem to like us over there, so we'll see whether that
happens."
Weird Fantasy
By Joe Nazzaro,
Starburst, Special No 76, July 2006
Kelly Asbury : "I've worked for a long time in the storyboard process... My experience on 'Thief' so far has been
charmed because the story gets better with each iteration. We've all been really happy with the consensus of ideas and
notes on the script."
Asbury Goes Live Action With 'Thief'
By Sheigh Crabtree, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 February 2006 (note - full text online at www.hollywoodreporter.com)
Joe Daley : "The Thief of Always is still in development at Fox and is going great. Kelly Asbury, who directed Shrek 2, is still on
board but the strike unfortunately put the pin on a lot of our material."
Fear Factory
By [ ], SFX, No 168, April 2008
...Announced mid-September 2000, Barker and Seraphim Films signed
a deal with Disney's Touchstone Pictures to produce a movie inspired by
a 1997 non-fiction article, 'Myths Over Miami', written by Lynda Edwards.
This article documented urban
legends told and retold in the homeless shelters of South Florida, and
was originally published
in the Miami New Times.
Two years on from that deal, after lingering at Touchstone, the movie was
dropped - although Barker insisted that the project
merely needed a more appropriate studio. By the summer of 2003, it looked like a home had been found for the movie with a small
studio and hopes were raised for pre-production to start in 2004, but no sign of it just yet, and the 'Bloody Mary' which was
created as the third in the Urban Legend series was unconnected with the Barker project...
The screenplay, written by Silvio Horta (Urban
Legend) concentrates on one particular urban legend, that of Bloody Mary,
a monstrous, Everglades-based, vengeful bogeywoman who snatches the
souls of children and lives in the supernatural plane between reality
and illusion.
There's nothing new about the legend of Bloody Mary - you
might come across her in the guise of Mary Whales or even Mary
Queen of Scots! The name Mary Worth recurrs fairly often as a character
whose face was so badly scarred that her spirit seeks vengeance by
scratching off the face of her victims.
Like any good urban legend, it moulds itself to it's teller and it's
audience, but many of the tales based on the story of Mary Worth
involve invoking her spirit by calling her name thirteen times before
a mirror - just as in this draft screenplay for Candyman...
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
Billy and Clara regard their reflections in the mirrored door of
the medicine cabinet, arms around each other. They talk in whispers.
CLARA :
You ever heard of the Candyman?
BILLY :
No.
CLARA :
His right hand is sawn off. he has a hook jammed in the bloody stump.
If you look in the mirror and say his name thirteen times, he'll
appear behind you...
(nibbles his ear)
breathing down your neck.
(Billy grins.)
Wanna try it?
BILLY :
OK...Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman,
(he counts them off on his fingers)
Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman,
Candyman,
(the thirteenth time)
Can...
Billy pauses, Clara laughs.
CLARA :
No one ever got past twelve!
By Bernard Rose - May 1991 draft
...The storyline for the planned movie centres on a
young man forced to do community service at a homeless shelter in Miami.
There he befriends a group of children whose visions of demons seeping
up from hell may or may not be real...
"Fantasy works best when it's
working on a lot of levels, [when]
something has you really wondering, 'Is it real, or isn't it?'. These
homeless kids are living in a world that's on that borderline, because
they are living through the reality of social evils and abuse. What I
wanted to do was to use the conventions of urban myth to express our
anxieties about the real world.
"This is not going to be a Hellraiser or a Candyman; as a 48 year-old
man, I just don't make those kinds of pictures anymore. That sort of
in-your-face gore is a young man's game.
"We're not responding to the pressure coming out of Washington. This
is going to be suspenseful and scary, but it's an aesthetic decision
that it not be violent and gory..."
Latest Hollywood Script Deals
By [ ],
Variety, 21 September 2000
"There was an article in the Miami New Times by journalist Lynda Edwards,
called 'Myths Over Miami.' It was about the children of the city,
particularly the homeless and poor, and how their imaginations have
cooked up a curious mixture of urban legend, Catholicism and childhood
lore to create something quite remarkable.
"We went to Silvio Horta with an idea based on the article, and he came
up with an outline that we worked on together. My team, Renee Rosen
and Joe Daley, went out with Silvio last Monday and Tuesday and took
meetings back-to-back, and we sold it by Tuesday evening to Disney...
"It's nice that Disney is allowing me to have my identity as the
frightmeister as well as somebody who's producing PG movies."
The Dark Backward
By Philip Nutman,
Fangoria, No 200, March 2001
"Well, I understand [Phil & Sarah's] concern. It does feel as though
this area of Urban Legends has been looked at rather closely of late.
And one of the things that I've been talking to people about is the
possible change of titles because I think that 'Bloody Mary' signifies
that this project is a little too like other Urban Legends projects.
It isn't. Actually it is very remote from that. A lot closer in tone
to something like 'The Sixth Sense' to something like 'Urban Legend'
or even 'Candyman 3.' There is a level of supernatural for sure, but
really it is a psychological piece...
"It was brought to me by my team, by Joe and Renee. This year has
been an incredibly busy year... And what Renee and Joe are doing is
looking over the proposals we get, the ideas that people, agents, send
to us. Unfortunately we can't deal with unsolicited materials cause
it just would be crazy. We will only go through agents. A lot of
agents come to us especially after our success - my executive producing
in Candyman or Gods and Monsters - and they will say, 'Will you come
and watch over 'x' and 'y'?' So Joe and Renee read through a lot of
stuff and every once in a while they will come to me with a piece that
they liked, and with Bloody Mary I liked it also. There is a lot of
stuff we have in our development file if you will. We are thinking of
doing some stuff that is very, very far from your typical Clive Barker
material: we are looking at doing some cartoons, a bunch of other fun
stuff, but this one is probably closest to regular 'Clive Barker'
material."
Confessions
By Craig Fohr and Kelly Shaw,
Lost Souls, March 2001 (note - interview took place 14 December 2000)
"Bloody Mary has just been turned in to Touchstone and they're very
excited about that - so there's a lot of things on the movie side which
I thought were going to be relatively slow, plodding projects which
have suddenly picked up speed."
Open Roads... What Price Wonderland?
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
3 April 2002 (note - full text here)
"Eventually, we realised that Mary wasn't something we wanted to do
with Touchstone, because it's just too intense. So we're going to find
a new home for it.
"One thing I like about it is that it doesn't have a villain, it has a
villainess, I've always liked that. You can see it all the way back in
the first Hellraiser movie in the character of Julia. And in Saint
Sinner, we have some really cool female demons. But Mary is a very
intense story and it needs somebody who is going to understand a scary,
bloody film. We couldn't find that at Touchstone."
Saint Clive
By Chris Wyatt and Anthony C. Ferrante, Cinescape, Issue 66 and 67,
November / December 2002
"Bloody Mary, we have somebody, this is not a name you would know, a guy who was one of the producers on a bunch of sort of
independent hits over the last couple years. He's going to come on and help us co-produce. We are going to end up getting that
made next year, which is great. Not with a major studio. It's kind of interesting, looking right now at a time when 28 Days Later is up
to 35 million, or something like that, and there is a lot of really wonderful Japanese and Hong Kong horror movies out there on DVD
doing pretty well. I think there's a chance that really really tough scary horror will make a comeback. I think it is incredibly
encouraging that 28 Days Later has done so well."
Confessions
By Craig Fohr, Lost Souls, 1 August 2003 (note - full text online at Lost Souls - see links page)
Lynda Edwards : "One demon is feared even by Satan. In Miami
shelters, children know her by two names: Bloody Mary and La Llorona
(the Crying Woman). She weeps blood or black tears from ghoulish empty
sockets and feeds on children's terror. When a child is killed
accidentally in gang crossfire or is murdered, she croons with joy.
'If you wake at night and see her,' a ten-year-old says softly, 'her
clothes be blowing back, even in a room where there is no wind. And
you know she's marked you for killing.'
"The homeless children's chief ally is a beautiful angel they have
nicknamed the Blue Lady. She has pale blue skin and lives in the ocean,
but she is hobbled by a spell. 'The demons made it so she only has
power if you know her secret name,' says Andre, whose mother has been
through three rehabilitation programs for crack addiction. 'If you and
your friends on a corner on a street when a car comes shooting bullets
and only one child yells out her true name, all will be safe. Even if
bullets tearing your skin, the Blue Lady makes them fall on the ground.
She can talk to us, even without her name. She says: 'Hold on.' ' "
Myths Over Miami
By Lynda Edwards,
Miami New Times, 5 June 1997
...The movie version of Ectokid ?? It may well be that the non-appearance of the much
trumpeted Ectosphere game caused the project to mutate into a full length screenplay.
The end of 1997 saw Fred Vicarel (Silo's scribe - see 'TV that got away...') doing re-writes,
since when the trumpets have gone quiet on this one too, with the
advent of Nickelodeon and Paramount's purchase of Ectokid (see below)
being, perhaps, the final nail in its coffin...
"There's a movie called Ectosphere, which is a dark science fiction movie, which we're
doing with Spelling."
A Graveside Chat With Clive Barker
By Jim Moore,
Deathrealm, Fall 1996 (note: interview took place in 1995)
"When you have superstars with budgets in the tens of millions of
dollars, using the risky imagery of horror films can get diluted. I've
always believed that the best horror movies were scary because they
looked at the world askew, they showed us a risky and dark vision. That
kind of vision can only be put on the screen when you have trusting
and creative partners. Seraphim has found that partnership in the
people at Spelling."
The World of Clive Barker
By [Stephen Dressler and Cheryl Bentzen],
Lost Souls Newsletter, 30th March 1998
...A further attempt to pick up the unfulfilled storylines of the
Razorline 'Barkerverse' looks like it has much going for it so far -
with Nickelodeon Pictures and Paramount picking up both the feature
film and the TV rights to Ectokid. (Details of
the TV project are here.) But is this the reincarnation of
the 'Ectosphere' project which languishes in development hell, or
something completely different? Will the movie try to tackle the
unused storylines of Ectokid meeting James Dean and Janis Joplin? As
ever, time will tell...
...Unlike the TV version, expect Barker to produce the feature with
Don Murphy whilst Joe Daley gets to exec produce. There's no doubt
that the Disney deal has put Seraphim in a great position for selling
Barker's not insubstantial back catalogue...
"But we've got lots going on, as you can hear... Ectokid, the comic,
has just been sold to Nickelodeon, the movie - which I will produce."
Nips And Tucks, Tits And Fucks
By Phil & Sarah Stokes,
10 July 2001 (note - full text here)
"In Ecto-kid, the Other Side is here and now. This other world is our
world - but not. It's everywhere, but nowhere...
"I hope to create a franchisable world for Nickelodeon, but also one
of the great, transcendent beauty; one that reconfigures people's
expectations of what ghosts are, of what comes after death."
Par, Nick Take 'Kid' For Ride
By Claude Brodesser and Cathy Dunkley,
Daily Variety, 13 August 2001
"I've done a 100-page treatment for Ectokid... Nickelodeon is going to
do Ectokid - I think that's a long development process because it's an
elaborate movie, but if they really go for it I think it's going to be
pretty amazing. I think that's two or three years off."
Open Roads... What Price Wonderland?
By Phil and Sarah Stokes,
3 April 2002 (note - full text here)
"We're also doing Ectokid, which was another of those comics from the Razorline series.
We're doing that over at Nickelodeon with Don Murphy, who did From Hell recently
and is doing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he's just about to produce that.
Don and I are going to produce Ectokid. That's going to be fun."
Clive And Kicking
By Mike Watt,
The Dark Side, Issue 101, February/March 2003
Don Murphy (producer) : "I am really excited to bring a master
of suspense like Clive Barker to a new, family audience. It's an
audience that Nickelodeon understands and reaches completely and very
capably."
Par, Nick Take 'Kid' For Ride
By Claude Brodesser and Cathy Dunkley,
Daily Variety, 13 August 2001
