riddick-danish wrote:
But if things weren't going smooth then Nolan wouldn't have said that he is going to shoot the Pilot in few weeks on Larry King Show. I think they are trying to get some big star and is struggling with scheduling issues henceforth the delay. Also lack of Nolan on POI writers meetings so I think that he is working on Westworld right now.
The Larry King interview was filmed in early April, before Almost Human (April 29), Revolution & Believe (May 9) bit the dust. The negotiations with actors (whether they're available or not) would've been done between March & May if they were looking at a June start date. Never mind the lead, the fact that not even a single casting announcement has been made so far (especially if you're looking at a kickoff in June) is a bit troubling.
Not to worry, as these things happen all the time not just with HBO (the aforementioned American Gods, which has now gone to Starz, Masters of the Air {which was a follow up to Band of Brothers & The Pacific}, David Chase's "A Ribbon of Dreams", Criminal Justice {which originally starred the late James Gandolfini, now led by John Turturro}), but with other networks as well. Starz's Incursion (Halo meets Band of Brothers), Netflix's 4 of 5 Marvel projects (only Daredevil is close to production), WGN's Shadow Land, FX's Telemark, Pivot's young Shakespeare drama "Will", possibly's Xbox's Halo series & a shitload of miniseries/docudramas from History & Discovery. Incursion & Will (announced in mid-2012 & early-2013 respectively) are said to be still in play, & that's about it. They're not shelved for good, but there's always a considerable amount of time between when they're first announced, when the cast & crew are signed on, when pilot production begins & when it gets a series order.
To be honest, took a closer look at the photo of the opening writers meeting & think I noticed Jonah in one of the corners (he's either the green sleeve or the purple sleeve). If he's the green, Greg's the purple. Or vice versa.
Showtime's "Shameless" was originally set up at HBO, so there is a possibility for the project to get a new home if things don't work out. Given the surge of so many players as of late developing original content (especially ones like Netflix, Amazon, Xbox & Pivot {the latter two are looking to break in with some pretty diverse stuff from a high-concept front on their developmental slate & the former two have tremendous presentation models & kickass material to boot}), it shouldn't be much of a problem. Even WGN have some cool projects on their developmental program, (which include an adaptation of "Radiant Doors"; which is a sci-fi short story by Michael Swanwick, an adaptation of the Vertigo comic series "Scalped", an adaptation of the Ten Commandments, & the aforementioned Shadow Land; which is a samurai drama set in FUCKING 19TH CENTURY JAPAN) that Westworld could make a nice companion piece with, but its highly unlikely that they'd get the chance to roll with this. Heck, HBO could pass it off to its subsidiary Cinemax, which A LOT of folks would love given the explicit nature of the material as well as the network's penchant for exploring high concepts from different angles (They have a near future drama in the works which is set in the Arctic that also has a Western touch to it).
Bear in mind, these are just worst case scenarios. In no uncertain terms do I feel that it will come to this very soon. Game of Thrones took OVER FOUR YEARS from the novel series option being purchased to the pilot's premiere. In contrast, Starz purchased the rights to the Outlander novel series on July 2012, gave a straight to series order in June 2013 & have a SIXTEEN EPISODE FIRST SEASON ready to premiere by August of this year.
Damon Lindelof recently mentioned that in the early stages of The Leftovers with HBO, their main question is "How much story do you got?". Given the reputation of Jonah's writing, that fact alone makes Westworld viable. The concept stands so strongly on its own, that it will see the light of day, sooner or later. As an added bonus, it would mean Jonah can have his undivided attention on Person of Interest to ensure that things go down the way he envisioned right until it ends.
On a sidenote, to avoid such roadblocks, I read this post a while back which could easily work for this: Abrams launch his own network to ensure prospective Bad Robot shows can have their stories told in entirety. The post actually suggested it be a collaboration with Joss Whedon (given his history of being screwed by the networks). Given how Robert Rodriguez has (somewhat) succeeded at this with "El Rey" (2 shows in their pipe, one's already renewed for season 2, the other'll debut in July), it doesn't seem like such an outrageous idea now (though Bad Robot/Mutant Enemy productions tend to aim bigger in terms of concepts).
. Was wondering if I went overload with the infodump.