Quote Originally Posted by Fangoria Online
Vadim Perelman grabs THE TALISMAN

Long-time commercial/music video director-turned-feature helmer Vadim Perelman will be taking on the long-in-development Stephen King/Peter Straub adaptation THE TALISMAN for DreamWorks following the release of his directorial debut, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG. THE TALISMAN has had a long road to the big screen and was at one time set to be produced by Steven Spielberg and adapted/directed as television miniseries by Mick Garris (who is currently busy directing another King feature project, RIDING THE BULLET), but now looks to shoot next year.

"We're hopefully starting it this coming year and shoot it in the summer," Perelman tells FANGORIA. "Ehren Kruger's adapting and it was already in process. I'm excited about it. My emotional road into this film was literally this 14 year-old boy - the story of the film - it's about this boy who travels across two parallel universes - ours and a parallel universe - in order to save his mother's life."

Perelmen, who was born in Russia and then came to the west with his mother to escape horrific poverty, related to the story on a personal level, which is why he wanted to take it on. "A 14 year-old boy, him and his mother, travels a long distance to save his mother's life...I said, 'Alright, I can get into this,' because the last thing I want to do is sell out," explains Perelman.

As for doing another project for Steven Spielberg, whose company DreamWorks is behind SAND AND FOG and is producing TALISMAN, Perelman couldn't be happier. "They're very hands-off - they're very great," Perelman reports. "They're a wonderful place to be - if they trust you and they know what you're doing. They always take chances on first-time directors. When Steven saw my film, one of his comments was, 'This is why I started this studio - to make films like this.'"
Well, it's about time! The paperback edition of this book had a "Soon to be a major motion picture" blurb on its back cover, and that was more than a decade ago. Guess I'll have to go back and re-read this now, then finally read the sequel, BLACK HOUSE, too.