Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, pictured with star Kristen Bell (and not to be confused
with the Matchbox Twenty singer), is planning a feature film follow-up to his beloved series.
Should this go through, Bell is expected to return.
To make this clear - nothing's in active production yet, and there's a chance nothing will ever be in active production. Anybody who loved this show should know that there's nothing substantial to be excited over yet.
But here's what this article by iF Magazine's Carlos Delgado reveals: It's not a case where somebody asked Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, about the possibility of a movie and he responded "Well, if I get the right idea and so-and-so is available, why not?" A choice quote from Thomas:
...my writing the movie is half the battle. Someone else has to pay for it. Joel Silver [the executive producer of the series] does have a certain pile of money. He called on me saying ‘Can we do this now?’ Kristen [Bell, star of the show] wants to do it. Joel wants to do it and I want to do it. For me, that’s the next project.
So it's not "we're in active pre-production", but it's not a non-commital "maybe, we'll see what happens". As for how Thomas will have the time to write this, the article explains that the time was given to him after ABC cut down their order of his new series, Cupid, to 8 episodes.
A different matter is how Silver plans to convince Warner Bros. to go ahead with a Veronica Mars movie, since he made the studio so much money with The Reaping, The Brave One, Fred Claus, Speed Racer, and RocknRolla. Not that the clock is ticking on his time at the WB - he's made them too much money in the past - but this string of recent misfires means he's not going to be able to push Mars into pre-production through reputation alone. That's why I'm still a little pessimistic over this movie's chances at being made: how do you sell a studio on turning a dead TV show into a movie after Serenity failed to set the box office on fire? Granted, it was a huge success on DVD, but fans of Mars don't seem to be organized enough to drag it into the black. Not to mention, season 3 left a bad taste in the mouths of some fans after the CW mandated that it appeal to the Gilmore Girls audience. (Wanna see a Veronica Mars fan turn into a spastic, raging mess? Ask him about the "Aerie Girls".)
We'll see how it goes down throughout the year. In the meantime, the article I linked you to above will tell you more about what Thomas is planning to do (he's figured out about 70% of how the story will unfold) and who he wants to return. If you've been reading this article with a blank look on your face because you have no idea who this Veronica Mars character is, allow me to enlighten you: she's the daughter of a former sheriff turned private investigator who begins to take cases of her own, helping out students and personnel within her own high school (and later college). The structure of the show had her taking on one huge case a year - the murder of her best friend in season 1, a school bus crash in season 2, a serial rapist and a murder in season 3. As you can see, this isn't Nancy Drew. But as dark and depressing at it can get (At one point during the pilot, Veronica voiceovers "You want to know how I lost my virginity? So do I."), it can be surprisingly hilarious and fun to watch unfold, and the series is well worth your time despite some inconsistency in the last two seasons. I've left a link to the season 1 DVDs on Amazon below. If you don't have Netflix, it's worth a blind buy if you're interested in shows like Psych, Burn Notice, or The Mentalist.
(P.S. - Headline is a pun on the title of Episode #2.1 of Veronica Mars, "Normal is the Watchword".)
Comments
you are very pessimist, i simply said "we'll see", but i want to add Joel Silver has the power to make it, the studios will accept, the writing is very good, the acting too : it's movie material. And KB is a good actress but her costars too, don't forget this !
Very true, pau, especially if Thomas and Silver manage to keep the budget manageable to, say, $20-30 million. I can see Warner Brothers taking a chance on that, especially when they have the Harry Potter franchise to fall back on right now.
That said, if I had a nickel for every time somebody in Hollywood said that a movie was going to happen, I wouldn't be as stressed out as I am. Remember: defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory 9 times out of 10 in that town. It's practically an artform over there. So I'm not ready to say that this is happening until it actually happens.
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