Visionary Storyteller Frank Miller, Courtesy of STUDIOCANAL
STUDIOCANAL announce Frank Miller’s CORTO MALTESE based on the graphic novels by Hugo Pratt.
Creator, writer, and executive producer Frank Miller regarded as one of the most influential and visionary storytellers in the entertainment industry today is developing the 6 x 1 hour episode live action-adventure series with STUDIOCANAL, in partnership with CANAL+. Miller is best known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as 300, SIN CITY, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, BATMAN: YEAR ONE and DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN. Earlier this year, Miller launched his new publishing banner, Frank Miller Presents (FMP), where he serves as president and editor-in-chief. The company has comics RONIN: BOOK 2 and ANCIENT ENEMIES debuted on November 23.
Miller shared directing duties with Robert Rodriguez on SIN CITY and SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR also producing the film 300. Most recently, Miller illustrated CURSED – his young adult novel debut with writer Thomas Wheeler and served as co-creator and executive producer of the series adaptation for Netflix.
The series is executive produced by BAFTA award winning Jemma Rodgers (THE RAILWAY CHILDREN RETURN). EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and Executive Managing Director TV Francoise Guyonnet will oversee for STUDIOCANAL.
STUDIOCANAL optioned the rights to CORTO MALTESE and is developing the series attaching Frank Miller as creator, writer and executive producer. Silenn Thomas (300, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR) CEO of his production company, Frank Miller Ink, will also serve as executive producer.
Phil Tippett (The STAR WARS franchise, the JURASSIC PARK franchise, WILLOW, Industrial Light & Magic) is attached to oversee VFX on the highly anticipated series.
Close collaborator of Hugo Pratt Patrizia Zanotti comments “Hugo Pratt appreciated Frank Miller’s work from the very beginning so much so that he published him in the Corto Maltese magazine in 1988. Pratt like Miller are students of American classic cartooning like Milton Caniff with their use of shadows, dramatic inks and bold brush work. Who better to reinterpret Hugo Pratt’s world than Frank Miller after all the characters and worlds the legendary creator has brought to us. Pratt would be thrilled to see his character Corto Maltese revived through an author who has the extraordinary ability to carry on timeless myths introducing iconic characters to new generations. Pratt has said through one of his characters that ‘nothing is written that cannot be rewritten’ I believe that no one else other than Frank Miller could interpret the creative impulse inherent in this phrase “.
Frank Miller adds “I first discovered Corto Maltese reading the books at Forbidden Planet in New York as a young man. Then on my travels, I studied and discovered an edition at a newsstand in Rome. The artwork was so expressive and so bold that it leapt off the newsprint. It swept me away. It was full of magic and romantic adventure. Maltese is a rascal who could talk to the Gods. To me it showed off the power of the comic where language is not much of a barrier. I have been a Corto Maltese fan ever since. This is the hero’s journey in its most classic form, and I couldn’t be more honoured to help bring into this series the romanticism, heroism, and underlying mysticism of Pratt’s creation.”
Executive producer Jemma Rodgers expands “I first encountered Corto Maltese in a beautifully drawn and coloured print. I didn’t know then who this incredibly cool but mysterious character was, but I was totally hooked by his assured presence and standout humour. As I delved into Hugo Pratt’s incredible creation, Corto and his fellow adventurers reeled me in immediately. This pirate rogue with a reluctant golden heart will now get his fantastic adventures bought to life as an ambitious live action TV series by the legendary Frank Miller. Spending time in the world of Corto Maltese will be full on entertainment at its finest”
STUDIOCANAL’s EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and Executive Managing Director TV Francoise Guyonnet STUDIOCANAL conclude “We can vividly recall first seeing the iconic and mysterious images of Corto Maltese in France – in store fronts, galleries, framed on apartment walls…which led us to reading Pratt’s amazing work. Today we are privileged to bring Corto to the world. To his fans and to those who are yet to meet him. It’s an honour to work with the extraordinary genius of Frank Miller. Corto could not be in better creative hands.”
The adventures of Hugo Pratt’s CORTO MALTESE have thrilled millions across Europe for over 40 years. Maltese is a timeless and fearless character whose quests are set in the fantasy reality of the early 20th century where he meets some of the most influential characters from literature and history crossing borders, seas and oceans. A wildly exciting heroic master of his own destiny.
