The long-awaited movie adaptation of Mark Helprin's flying horse novel Winter's Tale is up and shooting again, after Hurricane Sandy halted the production. Which is news to us, because we had no idea the movie was even shooting in New York! The 1983 novel is a cornerstone of magical realism in literature, and we have very high hopes for this movie adaptation.
So we hunted down every single set photo we could find, in hopes of figuring out how director Akiva Goldsman is going to bring this novel to life.
Perhaps the reason Winter's Tale fell a bit under the radar is because it sat in development hell for years until Akiva Goldsman called in a few favors and got Russell Crowe and Will Smith to take supporting roles. Will Smith (who has not yet been snapped on set) is rumored to be playing the Judge.
Crowe has been cast as Pearly Soames, the gangster boss of New York and vicious enemy of the Irish thief and main character Peter Lake.
Peter Lake will be played by Colin Farrell, here's a great shot of him upon his angel horse Athansor.
While trying to break into an Upper Westside home, Lake meets and falls in love with the dying character Beverly Penn (played by Downton Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay).
After the Sandy hiatus, filming has resumed, and the cast was spotted all over, including on January 21st outside of the New York Public Library.
This is Goldsman's first time directing a feature film, but he did direct some episodes of Fringe. He's also got a long list of writing and producing experience, including both excellent (A Beautiful Mind) and not so excellent films (Batman & Robin). Here's hoping the Fringe experience will help Goldman to ground the magic, so it feels authentic to the streets of New York. By the way, this movie is set in both 19th Century NYC and modern day NYC, still with magic which won't be an easy task (but sounds very Fringe-esque doesn't it)?
We'll keep you aware of any updates, or if someone snaps a horse flying through the air in NYC. And just for shits and grins here's a funny video of Hugh Jackman visiting Russell Crowe on set.
Images from Just Jared.
[Thanks for the heads up, Rina!]