Riding to Columbia

Let me take you back a bit… Just step into my Delorean and we’ll travel way back to July of last year, when we told you about a trio of films being made based on the Yorkshire Ripper. Well since then that trilogy has gotten a name and has been released in miniseries form.

The name is THE RED RIDING TRILOGY and earlier this year it became a three part miniseries over in the UK, with plans to release those three films here in the US later this year. But alas I’m not here to talk about THE RED RIDING TRILOGY, but instead I’m here to talk about RED RIDING. Hope you’re following me…

Variety just dropped word that Columbia Pictures have just scored the rights to remake the UK miniseries. Now here’s the tricky part… the US remake will only be one film. So that’s five plus hours worth of info jammed into a couple hours… Could be quite a task. It seems Columbia may have found the perfect men for the job though: Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian. If all goes according to plan Zaillian will be penning the script with Scott directing. Both men will be producing alongside Revolutionary Films’ Andrew Eaton.

RED RIDING and THE RED RIDING TRILOGY are based on the novels of the RED RIDING QUARTET by David Peace. Those novels, published between 1999 and 2002, are “1974,” “1977,” “1980” and “1983.” THE RED RIDING HOOD TRILOGY adapted the novels “1974,” “1980” and “1983.” No telling if the US remake RED RIDING will be based on all four novels or another combination. The only difference mentioned is that the setting will now be the US in the film instead of Britain.

Here’s the synopsis I gathered up: RED RIDING QUARTET is a study of power and police corruption framed around the investigation of the disappearance of several young girls. Set against a backdrop of serial murders, including the Yorkshire Ripper case, it deals with multi-layered corruption and feature several recurring characters across the four novels. Though real crimes are featured the scripts are fictionalised and dramatised versions of events rather than contemporary factual accounts.

So there you have it. Personally I’ve never heard of the Yorkshire Ripper and nothing about RED RIDING is doing it for me… but then again it’s hard to bet against Ridley Scott. Keep it here as we await more news on RED RIDING, like if Scott and Zaillian officially sign on!