After spending yet another lengthy amount of time in the world of Middle-Earth with THE HOBBIT trilogy, Peter Jackson is still looking to remain in the realm of fantasy for his next project. Not too long after development began on THE HOBBIT, when it was still to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, Jackson and Fran Walsh began work on adapting Philips Reeve's "Mortal Engines" series. At the time it was thought that Jackson would direct but once Guillermo del Toro dropped out of THE HOBBIT and Jackson had to take over, the development of "Mortal Engines" stalled. Flash forward to the present and it appears that the project has been resurrected, but this time, Peter Jackson will be handing directing duties over to another.
Christian Rivers, Peter Jackson's longtime protege who has worked on each of his films since BRAINDEAD, will be making his feature directorial debut with MORTAL ENGINES which will be scripted by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. In a statement, Jackson said that “Christian is one of my closest collaborators, the combination of emotion and jaw-dropping visuals in Mortal Engines makes this the perfect movie for his move into feature directing. What Christian intends to do with Philip Reeve’s terrific story is going to result in an original and spectacular movie. I wish I could see it tomorrow!" The world of Philip Reeve's series is one which has been devastated ecologically and technologically and certain cities, such as London, run on giant engines and wheels which enable them to prey on other cities for resources. The story centers on a young man named Tom Natsworth who, along with a young woman by the name of Hester Shaw, set out to uncover a mystery which would change the order of their world.
Christian Rivers added that "Mortal Engines is one of those stories that was made for the big screen. A fantastical, futuristic world that has to be seen to be believed. At its heart though, it’s a beautiful love story and a richly complex character driven adventure. To be the director who gets to bring Philip Reeve’s incredible universe to life is a dream come true." Production on MORTAL ENGINES will kick off next spring in, where else, New Zealand.
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