Morgan Gendel options the Dresden Files

Jim shares the following:
“I am pleased to announce that the Dresden Files have been optioned to Morgan Gendel at Cashmere Road Entertainment. Morgan is a Hollywood veteran writer and producer, and wrote the Hugo Award-winning episode of STNG, “The Inner Light.” He has been a co-producer on Law and Order, and has written episodes for DS9, STNG, L&O and a dozen other television series. Most recently, he has written and served as Executive Producer of the animated Spider Man TV series, currently airing on MTV (if I remember correctly) and he is a fan of the Dresden Files.
As of right now, this does not mean that this show is going to be appearing on a television near you. It /does/ mean that an intelligent and capable Hollywood veteran thinks that it has a fair shot of winning a spot as a film or television series of one kind or another. With luck, maybe the books WILL go big screen or little screen. I’ll keep everyone up to date as best I can. My fingers are crossed, and I’m hoping for the best!”

9 thoughts on “Morgan Gendel options the Dresden Files”

  1. If these books were to go big screen I agree with M.G. that they would have a chance at being hugely successful so long as the writer and director were fairly faithful to the source material as Jim has created characters, dynamics, and situations that we love and are enthusiastic about. I find myself contemplating who would best fill Harry’s shoes. Among the big name ticket selling actors that we see on todays stage, my first pick would be Depp. First of all he is passionate about every role he does and makes his characters both believable and approachable. He fits Dresdens sarcasm quite well and as we have seen in PoTC, he can achieve the swagger and arrogance that get Harry into so much trouble. We can see Captain Jack Sparrow punching his Arcane Parole Officer for being an asshole. If Depp was unavailable then someone that can achieve the haughtiness and arrogance of a 18th century British naval captain. Crowe’s portrayal of Jack Aubrey in master and commander leads me to believe he might be able to pull it off. There are probably any number of actors that could pull it off but these two I have mentioned are the ones in the lime-light that could do so and also sell tickets to the uninitiated. I haven’t put much thought into the rest of the cast yet but would love to see Allan Rickman lend his talent to the voice of Bob the skull… Mike Myers could also do this relatively well and it would go a long way in bringing my favor back to him after the mishap that was Cat in the Hat… I will end my rant now but I cannot promise I will leave off of the subject as the possibility of these films is as exciting as the novels themselves were.

  2. These are great prospects! A show with some bite and mystery that doesn’t just appeal to the typical kiddie WB generation. Gripping stories with surprising turns (and talking skulls). I’m in. As for who should play Harry’s part: James Marsters. Big ticket names like Depp or Crowe sound good, but this series needs a fresher face, someone with the right mix of “Spike meets Moulder”, the right mystere, humor, intensity, good looks, and acting talent….well, someone who doesn’t look ridiculous when chased naked by a demon or who captures you when the light hits him ever so mysteriously from the side….yup, that’s James.
    Jim, congratulations on a great series and good luck for the moving pictures!

  3. please keep us informed as the situation develops!
    I would love to see this as a miniseries or an open ended / background story arc tv series (I.E. X-files) I did not know who Jim or Harry was until I attended SheVa Con and picked up the CD’s for my wife, (she is a Marsters Fanatic). on the off chance that she migh be interested in the books, I picked up the whole set. read tham all over a period of a week and and half, and I know I wish I said more than HI when I bumped into Jim in the hall and he introduced himself.
    anyway, I can see this on the TV, jim’s stories have a good rhythm that I think will transfer to television very well. as for actors to play Harry and the rest, Marsters is a good choice, but I think that marsters Might be a little too old to pull off the shy, less than self confident, nice guy behind the tough acting wiseass that harry seems to be. a Marsters Harry wold BE the tough acting wiseass and it might be less than believable that his inner self is shy and unsure of himself. I mean that is part of Harry’s charm his self doubts and his decisions to do the morally right thing and damn the consequences he KNOWS his actions will cause. Depp could easily play an older, more experienced Harry, harry at late 30’s – early 40’s, play him perfectly. in the same thought process Toby Mcguier (I think the spelling is bad) could play a younger shy inner harry very well, but the tough wiseass outer harry might be a bit of a stretch. and to really “love” harry you have to show both parts of him. sean william scott is not my fist choice, but I could see him pull it off, he could show both sides of Harry, neither side as good as some of the other folks I have mentioned, but he could pull it off.
    BOB’s voice could be John Cleese, or Mike Myers, or Seth Macfarlane (he did stewie the baby on the Family guy TV Cartoon) or even Steve Buscemi
    ( he is on the Sopranos now, been in Air Con and Armageddon and Lots of other stuff)
    I cant wait for the next one to come out. good stuff Jim, Thanks for the stories!
    James Pavlik

  4. If Harry is going to be on TV, I think that Ben Browder (John Crichton of Farscape) could pull it off. A good mix of swaggering confidence, and then getting in over his head. Since Farscape was cancelled, he’s probably looking for work. For that matter, Claudia Black, also from Farscape could probably do Susan… Just a thought.

  5. For some reason when I think of the character “Murphy”, as described in Jim’s books, I think of the actress who stars in Cold Case. She is Murphy imo.
    In Harry’s role, I’d like to see someone who’s taller than Depp. I’m not sure who’s a good one for Harry yet.

  6. For anyone who has listened to the audio versions of Storm Front or Fool Moon, there is no doubt that James Marsters IS Harry Dresden. Accept no substitutes.

  7. But what about Herry’s 6′ 6″ or so? I know that it’ll be hard to find a really tall actor like thAT, But that’s one of the things I likle about the series. The question I have is, who’d pull off Murph?

  8. James Marsters would be smart. There is a pretty huge insentive to introduce Jim to the Buffy crowd. And yeah, I agree he is Harry Dresden. Worrying about the height is a little too literal, isn’t it?

  9. Johnny Depp is my very favorite actor. I lovelovelove him. But he doesn’t seem right for Harry. I don’t know why..but not at all. He just doesn’t seem physical enough. I can’t picture him running from a demon. Not at all. But..I think he would make a killer John Marcone.

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