It's a very exciting time to be a fan of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere, and the anticipation just keeps mounting. Right now Sanderson is hard at work on the script for Mistborn, the adaptation of his 2006 novel that will serve as the big screen debut for Apple TV's new film and TV universe based on the his works. And that's aside from all the other book-related stuff Sanderson has going on, like the release of his co-authored Cytoverse book Blightfall, the imminent release of the new Cosmere book The Fires of December, and more.
Things are looking very good for the Mistborn script at the moment. Sanderson finished his first draft of the screen treatment in late July and sent it off to the producers at Apple for notes. In his most recent weekly update, he confirmed that he just responded to the notes from that script, with plans to meet up with the powers that be at the studio in the near future to discuss them before he dives into his second draft, which he's referring to as "Mistborn 2.0."
All this is to say, Brandon Sanderson has actually had something of a chance to catch his breath on Mistborn, since bouncing notes with Hollywood studios takes a bit more time than his typical editorial cycle for his novels. That's aligned perfectly with his Blightfall release and a few public appearances, including at the FanX convention in Salt Lake City, Utah in late September.
There, Collider's Maggie Lovitt caught up with Sanderson to conduct an excellent interview discussing some of the different things he's got going on, with Mistborn first and foremost among them. It was a perfect opportunity to reflect on the biggest challenges Sanderson faced when adapting his own work for the screen.
What were Brandon Sanderson's biggest challenges adapting Mistborn?
"The most difficult thing about adapting Mistborn is taking a 200,000 word book down to a 20,000 word script," Sanderson said. "That's not as bad as it sounds, because you can take out all the stage direction, you can take out all the descriptions and things like that. But still, Mistborn in book form can be multiple things."
Sanderson went on to explain that the novel is "one part heist, one part My Fair Lady, one part epic fantasy." And indeed, it does blend those elements fairly seamlessly, which is arguably one of its strengths. Yet while a book can toy with multiple ideas and genres with a bit more freedom, the movie had to be approached differently.
"Really for the film, I had to distill each of those down. And that was the biggest challenge," Sanderson said. "But it was a little easier than I thought because, adapting my own work, I know the soul of the story. I know what can go and what has to stay, I think a little better than I might know if it were someone else's story."
I'm a little anxious to find out more about what Sanderson deemed could be cut from Mistborn. It is a fairly unique position for the author to be able to have all the say in making those calls for a film adaptation, and I have little doubt that whenever Mistborn does make its way to the screen, it's going to be fun to compare and contrast the ways it aligns or deviates from the novel.
What genre will the Mistborn film feel like?
It's also interesting to hear Sanderson break Mistborn down into some of its disparate genre elements like he does here. The book was initially pitched as a fantasy heist novel, centering around the roguish Kelsier and his team of magically-gifted specialists as they attempt to overthrow the oppressive empire that brought the world of Scadrial to the brink.
But there are elements that call to mind Audrey Hepburn's iconic film My Fair Lady, which you might not expect from this sort of action-oriented fantasy book. Vin, a young street thief, is taken in by Kelsier and brought onto the crew when it's discovered she's an extremely powerful magic user known as a Mistborn — meaning she can access all of the different powers of Allomancy instead of just one, like most people. As part of the crew's preparations for their operation, Vin is forced to go to balls and learn how to blend in with the nobility, which absolutely calls to mind the set up from Hepburn's 1964 film, where her character is plucked off the street and taught to rub elbows with the upper class.
Then there's the epic fantasy of it all. While Mistborn may be billed as a heist novel, really by the end, it feels much more like a traditional epic fantasy, with intense magical combat, battles, and a face-to-face confrontation with an immortal god emperor.
It all raises the question: what exactly will the Mistborn film even feel like to actually watch? The Cosmere at large is fantasy through-and-through, but this first book's unique elements stand to make it a tale apart in its own way. Variety can only make the movie stronger, but I'll be very intrigued to see whether Apple and Sanderson orient the marketing for the movie toward all these broader elements, tie it more closely to the heist aspect, or go with a straight post-apocalyptic fantasy feel.
For now, any news about the Mistborn movie is good news. We'll keep our eye peeled for more updates as Sanderson gets into his 2.0 draft for the film.
Add us as a preferred source on Google