Jeremy Irons & Bille August Say Their ‘Count Of Monte Cristo’ Adaptation Could Only Work On The Small Screen – Series Mania
deadline.comJeremy Irons and double-Palme d’Or winner Bille August are gearing up for their highly-anticipated Count of Monte Cristo series but when offered the chance to work on the project, they had certain red lines. “I wouldn’t have taken it if it was a movie, it had to be TV,” Danish director August told Deadline at Series Mania. “The story is so rich and deserves TV.
For this one it was obvious.” Oscar-winner Irons said TV series can do “these great novels justice” in a way that some movies can’t, referencing his breakout work on 1981’s Brideshead Revisited, which was across 13 episodes.
Both stars have skewed towards movies during their decorated careers and Count Of Monte Cristo has never been made for TV. A 2002 movie version saw Richard Harris play Irons’ role. “With TV’s insatiable appetite for material it seemed for this great novel, we needed to give it time and do it over eight to 10 episodes, so I understand the attraction [of TV],” added Irons.
The era of peak TV has been very much in the spotlight at Series Mania and Irons said there has been no real dip in the quality of content, as cinema-going has fallen and audiences have turned to streaming over the past few years. “The quality has always been very mixed,” he added. “When studios were going flat out [with tentpoles] there were terrible B-movies and terrible A-movies.
Read more on deadline.com
