FX Developing Series Adaptation of "From Hell"

[Sawyer]

http://deadline.com/2014/11/from-he...ipper-graphic-novel-fx-don-murphy-1201286057/

‘From Hell’ Drama Based On Jack the Ripper Graphic Novel In Works At FX
by Nellie Andreeva

FX is developing From Hell, a drama series based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, which was adapted into the 2001 20th Century Fox feature starring Johnny Depp and Robbie Coltrane. Don Murphy, who produced the film, is executive producing the mini. David Arata (Children of Men) will write the adaptation. The Hughes brothers, who directed the movie, are not involved.

From Hell tells the tale of Jack the Ripper with the killer himself as the main character. Detailing the events leading up to the Whitechapel killings and the cover-up that followed, the 572-page graphic novel is a meditation on the mind of a madman whose savagery and violence gave birth to the 20th century.

Because of the graphic book’s length, I hear Murphy, producer of the Transformers franchise, always envisioned it as a TV series. The book’s structure had to be changed to fit into the two-hour movie, which flew somewhat under the radar as it came out a month after 9/11.

When the current resurgence of event series started, Murphy thought that would be a great way to handle the material properly, giving the story time to play out and doing it justice. He reached out to Fox Group chairman Peter Rice who was an executive on the movie. Rice loved the idea and the project was set up at Fox TV Studios whose then-topper David Madden had worked with Murphy in the past. Arata was brought in as writer and the drama was sold to FX, with FX Prods. coming on board to co-produce with FtvS. Don Murphy is executive producing with Susan Montford, via their company Angry Films, along with Arata.

From Hell is considered one of the top ten graphic novels of all time. It came out as a comic book in multiple parts between 1989 and 1996 and was collected in 1999. Despite its size and cost it has never been out of print. What sets From Hell apart from other comics is the fact that it features 46 pages of footnotes in the back that give the story depth and detail. While it is a work of fiction, From Hell is rooted in historic records.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

The original graphic-novel was awesome. The Hughes brothers movie was terrible. It's not only completely different than the GN by Moore, it's different than history! They had the final hooker live. That's not how Jack rolled!

Hopefully this is more true to the original GN…. if it is, I'd be on board.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Do JJJ's undoubted disgust I remember quite enjoying the movie when I saw it at the time, but I always heard it was well below the standard of quality the actual Graphic Novel provided as source material.

A proper 10 ep adaption could be golden!

 

[Marvolo]

I own and enjoy the movie. I never could get into the graphic novel. The art is **** imo, and thats always kept me from reading it. If they ever go back and redo the art and ditch that chicken scratch Ill read it.

Looking forward to the series tho.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I liked the movie when I saw it, but after doing some research on the Ripper murders, I realized just how much of a crock of sh** it was. Still haven't read the GN, but I'm excited about this. Ripperology has always fascinated me.

 

[Tron Bonne]

If you're interested in accuracy to it being a breaking point, you might as well not worry about the GN. It's very accurate to the period and all, but it deviates a lot from any type of "accepted?" Ripper lore pretty early on. I would even go as far to say it's really not a Jack the Ripper story as much as it's a story about the England of the time.

The original graphic-novel was awesome. The Hughes brothers movie was terrible. It's not only completely different than the GN by Moore, it's different than history! They had the final hooker live. That's not how Jack rolled!

Hopefully this is more true to the original GN…. if it is, I'd be on board.

About the most I'll hope for is maybe being of Jack the Ripper's POW in some way, but there's no way something like the latter half of From Hell will be translated to screen. But honestly, I'm okay with it being some type of mystery around Jack like the movie, just better.

I own and enjoy the movie. I never could get into the graphic novel. The art is **** imo, and thats always kept me from reading it. If they ever go back and redo the art and ditch that chicken scratch Ill read it.

Looking forward to the series tho.

Considering how the art is often as praised as the writing, thankfully this will never happen.