Alan Moore Hated The Idea Of A League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen TV Adaptation
If you’re anything like me, two thoughts rapidly went through your brain when it was announced that Michael Green was writing a TV pilot based on one of comic mastermind Alan Moore’s most intriguing works, the historical mystery mash-up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The first was: What internationally famed actor is going to be inspired to retire after starring in the pilot? And the second was: How big of a shit is Moore going to take on the project?
It turns out there’s no reason to bring out the four-ply toilet paper, as Moore’s response about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series was far more humdrum than rage-addled.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Moore talked about a Kickstarter project more than he does about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen pilot. And why wouldn’t he, since the adaptation-discouraging author clearly won’t have anything to do with it?
When asked if he or co-creator/series artist Kevin O’Neill will be involved at all with the The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series, Moore surprisingly didn’t rear his head back and shoot flames out of his ears while chortling madly.
Instead, he said about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series, “Me and Kevin have been chuckling about that one; we only heard about it the other day. When [DC Comics] did the recent Watchmen prequel comics, I said all sorts of deeply offensive things about the modern entertainment industry clearly having no ideas of its own and having to go through dust bins and spittoons in the dead of night to recycle things.”
I’ve read a lot of people ripping Moore up for this kind of thought, given that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen‘s central cast of characters is pulled from other literary works, but he isn’t the kind of person who creates his products with billion-dollar box office appeal in mind. And I love the visual of studio execs digging around in the dark for movie ideas.
“The announcement that there is a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TV series hasn’t caused me to drastically alter my opinions,” Alan Moore continued.
“Now it seems they are recycling things that have already proven not to work.” When was it proven not to work? Back in 2003, when director Stephen Norrington effectively ended Sean Connery’s career with his completely misguided, over-the-top-yet-still-boring-as-shit adaptation for 20th Century Fox.
Though in the end, Alan Moore didn’t have all that much to worry about. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series never ended up getting off the ground anyway.
