Peter Jackson Options Historical Fantasy Series Temeraire

Posted on September 12, 2006

Film director Peter Jackson has taken a great interest in a new novelist's work. Jackson is so taken with the fantasy book series Temeraire by new author Naomi Novik that he has optioned the books using his own funding. The historical fantasy series features an air force of dragons, manned by crews of aviators fighting during the Napoleonic wars.

The plot centres on British naval captain Will Laurence, who seizes a French ship and discovers an unhatched dragon egg - a gift from the emperor of China to Napoleon. When the egg hatches, he is forced to become the dragon's keeper. The monster is called Temeraire (meaning "Daring" in French).
"T�m�raire is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love - fantasy and historical epic," Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. "I can't wait to see Napoleonic battles fought with a squadron of dragons. That's what I go to the movies for." Jackson is also planning to turn T�m�raire into a computer game franchise. "As I was reading these books," adds the New Zealander director, "I could see them coming to life in my mind's eye. These are beautifully written novels, not only fresh, original and fast-paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart."
The book series was written by New York computer-programmer-turned-novelist Naomi Novik."I was warned that whatever happens in Hollywood, you should assume it is 10 degrees below reality," explained Novik. "So if they say Peter Jackson has it, it really means Peter Jackson's assistant's personal trainer has it." "I never took it seriously until [the film rights agent] called myself and [my literary agent] and said, 'Peter wants the book.' There was lot of screaming in my household when I first got the call," she said.

When Peter Jackson want to make your book into a movie so badly that he finances it himself before the studio even sees it, that is definitely the time for some very loud screaming on the part of the author.

In case you missed it, the first book in the series is His Majesty's Dragon (Del Rey).