Nosferatu is out now and is getting big acclaim from those who have ventured out to see it. It is currently on track to make its money back in about five days. Now The Insneider reports that director Robert Eggers is lining up his next project already – a new take on Labyrinth.
The 1986 fantasy adventure was from the Jim Henson Company. George Lucas produced and Monty Python’s Terry Jones wrote the script.
This project is in conjunction with Henson’s company again, and Sony Pictures. The original starred Jennifer Connelly as a teenager who has to save her baby brother who has been kidnapped by the goblin king, played by David Bowie.
Labyrinth started as a collaboration between Jim Henson and designer Brian Froud following their previous collaboration The Dark Crystal (1982). Henson said at the time:
I think what we are trying to do with this film is kind of harken back to a lot of those classic fantasy adventures that a young girl goes into: The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and the works of Maurice Sendak. I don’t mind comparisons. It’s not like we are trying to outdo them. We are simply related; The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland are so much a part of us. This is the fantasy world that she (the Labyrinth heroine) has grown up with. These are the stories that have fascinated her.
Despite a bad reception on release, the years have been kind to Labyrinth and it has become a cult classic. Multiple remake attempts have been made, but all have failed so far.
Juggler Michael Moschen is credited with performing Bowie’s elaborate “crystal-ball manipulation”, which Moschen had created for his stage performances and is now known as contact juggling. He performed the manipulations blind, behind Bowie’s back on set.
What will a filmmaker like Eggers do with this subject matter? The mind boggles.