THE TALISMAN Has Budget Concerns

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2007
Source: Hollywood Reporter

The long awaited adaptation of the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel will have to wait just a little bit longer, says Hollywood Reporter. Executive producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy & TNT have hit some big budget concerns after the TALISMAN scripts for the six hour mini series were turned in. This mini-series adaptation of the hit book was set for a summer 2008 release on TNT but after reading the finalized scripts involving some heavy and elaborate special effects involving the "Territories" (same complex universe in which King sets many of his novels), TNT and Dreamworks TV are now allocating more financial resources to continue the project.

Plot Concept: Center on a boy's quest through this world and a parallel world known as the Territories to find a talisman that will save his mother, the same parallel world where other King characters reside.

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Comments/Responses

AlpineWoods • Sep 13, 2007, 07:05am •

I like the T.V. versions of King's books a little more than the movie versions. My favorite has always been It. The Stand and Nightmare and Dreamscapes are good, too. The Talisman has been in development for a long time. I was waiting for this one to come out as a movie, but it never did. Whenever it finally makes it T.V., I'll be there to see it.

LittleNell • Sep 13, 2007, 07:18am •

I started to read the Talisman, but lost interest, and I've been putting off reading the Dark Tower series (I wanted to wait until the series was finished.)

Can someone explain what they mean by the "same parallel world where other King characters reside"? By that, do they mean it's the "Dark Tower" universe? From descriptions in first few chapters of Talisman and the first book of Dark Tower, they don't seem the same.... Just curious.

gutsmgee • Sep 13, 2007, 07:35am •

The answer is yes.....and no.....The Dark Tower is a nexus of time.....its the place where time and dimensions and worlds all rotate on one giant axis...more or less...Read the books, Best sci-fi-adventure series ever IMHO.

Sanity • Sep 13, 2007, 08:02am •

gutsmgee - I'd have to argue it as the second best series behind Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" (yes, ASoIaF is a fantasy series, but TDT is much more fantasy than sci-fi). I'd highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. And I'm in no way trying to downplay TDT - it's frickin great. ...Up until the last few chapters.

LittleNell - You should definitely finish the Talisman. It's an excellent book. Black House is its sequel, but I wouldn't read that one until you've finished most of The Dark Tower series.

teabagging2000 • Sep 13, 2007, 08:23am •

Wow, after I read the article's caption I fully expected something along the lines of "Due to budget contraints the project has been scrapped" or ""The project will continue on with its inadequate budget". Good for them for not being scared of adding some money. They're right, they're going to need some serious cash to pull this one off.
I have to add though that the DT books encompass the other universes/ books. The DT is usually just alluded to in the other books. Those are must read, you're lucky to not have to wait for years for a conclusion. Read the Dark Tower series, and it will make more sense. In the newer DT books, they actually tell you all the books directly related to the DT series. A nice touch I thought. Can't wait for the the Talisman though, please don't suck , please don't suck!

kaybar • Sep 13, 2007, 09:36am •

Nice shout out to Martin sanity, and yeah i agree with you teabaggin it's nice to hear that the execs at TNT aren't shying away from a little blood, sweat, and tears. I hope HBO takes the same route with Martin's own Song of Ice and Fire series and Goodkind's Sword of Truth series...not that the latter could get any worse though.

gutsmgee • Sep 13, 2007, 11:00am •

I dunno Sanity...It's a fine line between Sci-Fi and fantasy....What makes the Dark Tower Fantasy and say Star Wars sci-fi?....Is is the space setting? is it the technology?....I'm just curious as to what the definitions are...I don't really care, and I'm not putting you down, you just got me thinking. Is Star Wars sci-fi or fantasy? I would have to say fantasy now. Star Trek is definately sci-fi.......anyone? Either way...I'm hoping the JJ Abrams DT project doesn't suck. Although, I do wish they'd just make it into a full series (not a crappy mini series) on the sci-fi network...lol I think thats the only way they could do it and keep the details to make it a truly fleshed out story.

fft5305 • Sep 13, 2007, 12:57pm •

I think by definition, the technology and space setting would lend itself more toward *science* fiction. One could argue that there are remnants of a technological world in TDT from before when the world "moved on" but on the whole, it is more fantasy than sci-fi.

Wasn't The Talisman supposed to be headed for the big screen? When did it shift to TNT?

bjjdenver • Sep 13, 2007, 01:14pm •

Not sure what to say. This is conflicting with what I have read on other sites. They are reporting that the project has stalled due to the funds being less than what it will take to produce the series, in other words it is in limbo. Nowhere did I see mention of more money being allocated for this project. Not sure which is correct, but either way it just seems The Talisman is doomed to eternal development Hell.

bjjdenver • Sep 13, 2007, 01:16pm •

And fft5305, this project has had many lives, as far as where it was supposed to end up and when it was going to happen. The involvement of Spielberg gave me hope that it may finally happen.

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