James Cameron is finally getting out of Pandora. After living, breathing, and blue-skinning his way through Avatar since 2009 (and with Avatar 5 still due in 2031), the legendary director is taking a brief break from the franchise. His next big-budget passion project could be The Devils, a dark horror fantasy epic based on the new novel by bestselling author Joe Abercrombie.
“How do I describe The Devils?” Cameron says in an official statement posted on Facebook. “A sharply witty horror adventure? An epic battle between good and evil except most of the time you can’t tell which is which? A twisted, stylish, alt-universe middle-ages romp, where your best hope of survival is the monsters themselves?”
Cameron’s company, Lightstorm, has acquired the rights to The Devils, which hit shelves on May 6 and shot to number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list in the UK. It also broke into the New York Times list at #5.
The book’s synopsis:
Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds. Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends. Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.
Cameron has been a long-time Abercrombie fan, but this is the first time he’s pulled the trigger on a project. “I’ve loved Joe’s writing for years,” he says. “Especially Best Served Cold (LOVE IT!) and the Age of Madness trilogy. But the freshness of the world and the characters in The Devils finally got me off my butt to buy one of his books and partner with him.”
The two will co-write the script together. Cameron says the book “writes very visually, almost in scenes, and with a very cinematic structure.”
Abercrombie, for his part, is clearly just as pumped. “James Cameron has been thrilling audiences, including me, by putting the impossible on film for over four decades,” he says. “No one can balance mind-blowing action and spectacle with gut-wrenching personal stakes and story the way he does.”
While Cameron previously announced plans to film Hiroshima before Avatar 4, today’s announcement suggests The Devils might leapfrog the queue. And honestly, after nearly two decades in Avatar‘s Pandora, can you blame him for wanting to do something a little different?
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