Jonathan Swift’s classic tale, Gulliver’s Travels, has been adapted for the big screen many, many times since movies were invented (like the 1939 animated film seen in the image above). But it looks like ol’ Lemuel Gulliver is about to set sail on the small screen, in a new adaptation from the Oscar-nominated Uberto Pasolini. The Italian writer/director/producer is perhaps most well-known for bringing The Full Monty to cinemas, having conceived of the idea that Simon Beaufoy went on to write and Peter Cattaneo then directed. But unlike other, older iterations of the tale, this one is said to lean heavily into the original story’s satirical elements.
According to a new report from Variety, British screenwriter William Ivory (We Want Sex, The Great Escaper) is slated to pen all six episodes of the project, but that Pasolini will serve as showrunner. The series is being billed as a “high-end show,” with an international pedigree to match: Italy’s Roberto Sessa (The Sea Beyond) and Germany’s Jan Wünschmann (The Swarm, Concordia) are both set as producers. It’s also worth noting that the show does not yet have any networks or streaming partners attached, but will allegedly be showcasing the series to broadcasters at an upcoming festival.
Pasolini told Variety that his interest in the project was all about having fun and pushing limits, the way Swift did in his day:
“What Gulliver allows us to do today is to make something really, really fun. But at the same time – very much like Swift did in his time – to talk about the world around us; to talk about politics; to talk about greed; to talk about the place of the Western man in the world as a whole; to talk about the relationship between man and nature. All that stuff was there in the original. And it sort of begs to be re-explored. Swift was having fun with his material, with his politics, with his scatology, with his obsession with the ship and sex and piss and action and all that kind of stuff.”
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Of course, travel is not without its own dramas: there is, apparently, another television adaptation of the public domain story in the works, too. Curious to know more? Keep reading.
There’s Another ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ Television Show in the Works, Too
Though Pasolini’s take will be set back in time, it will have some competition in name recognition and notoriety thanks to Federation Studios’ own television adaptation of the story from Emmy-winning writer Tom Bidwell (My Mad Fat Diary, Watership Down, The Irregulars). Currently titled The Gullivers, Bidwell’s take is said to be a more contemporary re-imagining — not unlike the iteration that starred Jack Black all the way back in 2010, perhaps?
Millennials reading this will no doubt remember the 1996 miniseries iteration that starred Ted Danson. Well, guess what? Pasolini was involved in that 1996 Hallmark production (which went on to win 5 Primetime Emmy Awards, we might add). According to Ferdinand Dohna, who is also involved in the show, “When Uberto first pitched it to me, I thought: ‘This is going to be fun. Something for the whole family, that everyone can enjoy,” before adding that “it’s subversive and kids love subversive stories.”
Now we’ll just have to wait and see who gets to our screens first!
Source:
Release Date
1996 – 1995
Network
NBC
Directors
Charles Sturridge
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Isabelle Huppert
Houyhnhnm Mistress (voice)
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John Gielgud
Professor of Light
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John Standing
Admiral Bolgolam
You can view the original article HERE.
