TV series adaptations of the George R. R. Martin stories set in the A Song of Ice and Fire universe have been a big deal for several years now, bringing shows like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon to HBO, with more spin-offs to come. While speaking with WinterIsComing.net, Martin revealed that one of his books that’s set outside of the A Song of Ice and Fire universe that he would be excited to see get a big budget film adaptation is the 1982 vampire novel Fevre Dream – and he’s hoping Guillermo del Toro would be the director of that adaptation!
Martin said, “I love Fevre Dream, and I’ve had numerous meetings. I’ve written a screenplay for Fevre Dream, we did develop it at one point. They didn’t make the screenplay of course, but the rights reverted to me, so I own it. … I’ve had meetings with Guillermo del Toro about Fevre Dream. He loves it, he says he wants to do it…but he doesn’t want to do it now. He always has this project first and that project first, and then this other project. But eventually he’ll do Fevre Dream, if he lives that long and I live that long and movies live that long, I don’t know… I think Fevre Dream would be great.” He added that there’s a major role for a del Toro regular in there as well: “We wanna star Ron Perlman, we’ve even cast it! My friend Ron Perlman as Abner Marsh. Ron wants to do it. Everybody wants to do it, all we need is $100 million.“
As described by Winter Is Coming, Fevre Dream is a vampire novel set along the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s, which dials deep into Martin’s strengths as a horror writer. The story follows a grizzled, down-on-his-luck steamboat captain named Abner Marsh, who’s contracted by a mysterious man named Joshua York to ferry him up and down the river so that he can fulfill a secretive agenda. Marsh unwittingly becomes wrapped up in a wider world of vampiric politics, filled with twists and turns that would make any Song of Ice and Fire reader feel right at home.
Copies of the book are available at THIS LINK. It has the following official description: Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York’s reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh’s concern–no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York’s actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare–and humankind’s most impossible dream.
Have you read Fevre Dream, and would you like to see George R. R. Martin and Guillermo del Toro (along with Ron Perlman) team up for a film adaptation? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.