Studiocanal will bring us a series based on Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese with Frank Miller at the helm

Studiocanal is working on a new live-action series adaptation of Corto Maltese, the graphic novel series by Hugo Pratt. Frank Miller (Sin City, Ronin) will be the shows creator, writer and executive producer. Overseeing VFX is Phil Tippett (Mad God, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Willow). In conjunction with Canal+, Studiocanal will develop six hourlong episodes according to Deadline.

The series features Corto Maltese, an enigmatic sea captain who lives in the first three decades of the 20th century. Born in Valletta on the island of Malta on 10 July 1887, the son of a sailor from Cornwall, and a gypsy from Seville. Corto has often crossed with real historical characters like the American author Jack London and his nurse Virginia Prentiss, the American outlaw Butch Cassidy, the German World War I flying ace Red Baron, and many others.

It is still early days so there is no word on the cast or what adventures it will be adapting, but I am excited that Phil Tippett is involved.

“I first discovered Corto Maltese reading the books at Forbidden Planet in New York as a young man,” Miller said. “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 honored to help bring into this series the romanticism, heroism, and underlying mysticism of Pratt’s creation.”

Patrizia Zanotti, a close collaborator of Pratt, said there was a high level of respect for Miller and his works by the Corto Maltese creator, who died in 1996.

“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″ Zanotti said. “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.”

Jemma Rodgers (The Railway Children Return) will executive produce, along with Silenn Thomas, latter of whom is CEO of Frank Miller Ink. Studiocanal EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and Executive Managing Director TV Francoise Guyonnet will oversee for the studio.

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