Hey, cool. I remember reading this as a teenager.
I wonder if I'd still consider it balls-out awesome, like I did then? I hope so.
Always loved the idea that there were reverse Necromancers. Makes great sense, too.
Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — WatchYou have a strange idea of comfort, Ori.
Anyway I love reading all three books in a row when I have a free day, along with "Nicolas Sayre and the Creature in the Case". Adventure, zombies, Twenties-Era Britain, lots of pale-skinned brunettes.
My niece borrowed them, though. I can only hope she gets her own copies.
I've read 'em all. I only own a copy of Abhorsen, though.
Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — WatchJackson Rathbone as Mogget? NO.
As for Abhorsen/Terciel (Sabriel's dad), I always got an Alan Rickman vibe from him. What with the mournful appearance and enigmatic nature. It helps that Snape is a Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette.
I'd love to see how they pull off the surcoats and bandoliers. They're fantastic just on the covers.
I have always had a perfect voice in mind for Mogget. Refined, somehow British, with just a touch of pride to show the lingering inferiority complex. Maybe a bit of static for the free magic. If they don't get that right, then I will ragequit the movie.
That said, they need to do the casting very carefully, not based off appearance. The characters are very complex, and to get the emotion right will take a lot of work.
Rule 1: You can be as eccentric as you like, so long as you are excellent as something. What am I excellent at? Being as eccentric as I wantThe old Kingdom is actually a really good candidate for a movie because:
- The setting, while a constructed one, at first appears to be something we know and that's easy to portray through visuals.
- It's pretty well condensed and the book is a good stand alone.
- The magic is entirely visual and auditory, nothing weird is going on inside peoples heads that we can't detect in real life, from the bell peel to the charter magic.
- It doesn't take a lot of explaining about the world to really get.
- It's like a zombie horror already.
There's also the fact that Sabriel fights for her toughness. She's a teenage girl who, up until the events of the book, has led a pretty pedestrian life apart from her morbid powers. It's not until she's pushed that she really becomes hardened, and she reacts to a lot of early events with realistic distress for an inexperienced teenager pushed into a scenario they never expected to handle.
Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — Watch@Leradny- too true XP by the time it gets up and running, she might be too old... also she's going to be filming the Millenium trilogy for the next 80 billion years, and I don't think Sabriel/Lirael has a nipple piercing, or a super awkward haircut.
@Madass Alex- I'm reasonably sure that Rooney Mara could handle the inexperienced, mundane Sabriel as well; she was decent as Erica Albright in the Social Network (Mark Zuckerberg's ex, who dumps him in the beginning of the film), and it seems that most of her other roles were sort of sweet, forgettable teenage girls.
Actually it's mentioned that Sabriel has a 1920s bob somewhere, which would be pretty easy to style from Rooney's current cut. Also, the piercings would be well-hidden by her surcoat and full shirt of special chain-mail most times. Except in the bath scenes, but that could be managed.
What I want to see is how Rooney Mara decides to take on the swordfighting scenes.
There's a wealth of material out there concerning medieval combat styles, and the greater portion of that material is dedicated to the sword. By implication of the book, I'm guessing she didn't learn sport fencing at school — it's by no means compatible with the medieval sword she comes to use — but instead learned a sporting equivalent of a medieval or early Renaissance style.
The book uses the term "longsword", which is taken to mean "a long-bladed single-handed sword" in most people's understanding. In historical manuals, however, the term is used to refer to a lightweight two-handed sword that can be used in one hand if desired — what most term a "bastard sword". This is the kind of sword that has the most material dedicated to it, so it'd be fantastic if the filmmakers took the terminology at historical face value and decided to give her one of those light two-handed swords. It's perfect for someone who doesn't have a shield and needs to travel with a single versatile weapon, which is exactly what Sabriel does.
Here's a somewhat slow example of how the German fighting style plays out:
It's quite photogenic, with all the grace of the original Star Wars lightsaber duels, but none of the technical flaws. It also has none of the excesses you'll find in modern films.
It's a bit of a pipe dream to hope it shows up on film in such completeness, though. Most productions are blind to the existence of this. But it'd be cool, right? Imagine those sword moves taking on the undead.
edited 31st Jan '12 4:57:16 AM by MadassAlex
Swordsman Troper — Reclaiming The Blade — WatchThere are some killer suggestions here. For live action, I'm pretty in love with Emma Watson as Sabriel. What about the lead actress from Sucker Punch and Series of Unfortunate Events? Emily Browning? She'd be great too.
But what about this to blow your minds? Forget live action, someone needs to call Studio Ghibli to hook it up! Can you imagine how amazing a Miyazaki-style anime movie of Sabriel would be? Ill let you ponder that one over. But I also thought they should have done The Golden Compass, and look what mess we got instead.
I'm really terrible with actor/actress names, so I don't think I could really contribute much to that discussion. But I would also just really quietly like to support Emily Browning for the role, partially to give her something to do after the train wreck that was Sucker Punch, and also because I just have a lot of residual good feelings to give her after the A Series of Unfortunate Events adaptation. Euuugh.
I hope that they get moving with the adaptation, it'll be amazing, and then they can get moving on adapting other fabulous books. *coughArtemis Fowl coughBartimaeus cough cough*

I aggree with Leradny about Sean Biggerstaff as Touchstone, and I think Alan Rickman would be good as the voice of Mogget. Maybe Jackson Rathbone as un-bound Mogget?
Chris Hemsworth as Rogirek/Kerrigor.
James Marsters as Terciel/Abhorsen (Sabriels father).
As for Sabriel, I don't know.
edited 13th May '11 7:40:53 AM by AzirAphale001