The Hollywood Reporter says Sam Raimi and a few other people are developing a new TV series based on Spartacus, the slave who led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Romans less than a century before the birth of Christ:
Starz said the story will be “reimagined” it for what it calls a generation of TV viewers raised on graphic novels and cutting-edge production technology.
“This is not going to be at all like the 1960s Kirk Douglas film,” Shelanski said. “We didn’t want your typical sword-and-sandals. It’s going to be fun, fast-moving, full of action and interesting characters and have a little more depth to it than the 1960s film.”
Shelanski added that the show will be produced specifically for a premium cable audience, with “R-rated” action and storytelling. The goal is to accomplish the graphic-novel look and feel of such movies as “300” and “Sin City.” As with “300,” producers also will be looking to cast “Spartacus” with a group of fresh-faced, unknown actors.
Hamm added that “Spartacus” will be one of the first TV series to use an “almost 100% virtual environment,” using live-action actors against virtual sets in the style of “300” and “Sin City.”
The best-known version of this story is, of course, the 1960 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, based on a novel by Howard Fast. That novel was also turned into a 2004 mini-series starring Goran Visnjic, which I have not yet seen, but this new series doesn’t seem to be based on it in any way.
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