Author Neil Gaiman has shot down a rumor that a live action version of his dark fantasy children’s novella Coraline might be getting made. The book follows the adventures of a lonely girl who discovers a doorway into a parallel reality that contains versions of her parents with black buttons for eyes who at first appear more caring and attentive, only for the Other Mother to turn out to be the nightmarish ruler of the Other World who convinces children to stay with her and steals their souls.
The novel was previous adapted in 2009 by director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and animation studio Laika into a stop-motion animation with Dakota Fanning voicing the title character and Teri Hatcher as the Other Mother. It as a hit with audiences and critics, with its box office take doubling its $60 million production budget, and was nominated as Best Animated Film in the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
Neil Gaiman posted to his Twitter to address the rumor of the remake in his typically calm and reserved manner that makes you wonder if he’s actually capable of getting annoyed. He described it as “nonsense” and asked if anyone was able to link him to where it began, following it up by stating that he had seen “literally thousands” of tweets from people reacting negatively to the very concept of the film being remade, and that even if such a proposal had ever been considered, it certainly wouldn’t now.
Although it’s typically difficult to track rumors back to their source once they’ve spread like wildfire across the internet, the consensus for this one is that it originated from some fan casting posted on a since-suspended fan account for Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things’ Nancy) suggesting she would be good for the eponymous role in a potential remake. This quickly mutated into the notion of a live action version coming into fruition, leading to people with fond memories of the comparatively recent film becoming frustrated at the notion of another needless animation to live action retread.
Although the rumor didn’t even begin as such, it’s easy to see how it mutated into one and spread so quickly. The current trend of children’s films – Disney specifically – being given live action remakes that add little to nothing to their originals is becoming increasingly prevalent and so immediately gave subconscious credence to the possibility. Also increasing the perceived likelihood is Gaiman being at the forefront of audiences’ consciousnesses after his excellent adaptation of his and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens, as well as the success of American Gods and news that his seminal comic saga Sandman is being made into a TV series now that those wanting to adapt it have finally realized it can’t work as a film. In the end, it’s probably a good thing that the rumor turned out to be nothing. Selick’s stop motion Coraline was a perfect realization of both the book’s warped fantastical darkness and Gaiman’s eerie comprehension of childhood terrors, and any attempt to remake that, no matter what the medium, would be destined for failure.
Source: Neil Gaiman