There has always been great interest in making Luke’s books into films. Over the years more than fifteen screenplays have been written based on THE DICE MAN, the film rights to SEARCH FOR THE DICE MAN have been optioned five times, and all but one of his books have been optioned at one time or another.
This interest has grown much more intense in the last three years.
In 2008 Luke and others made a major effort to buy back from Paramount Pictures the film rights to THE DICE MAN in order to make a major film using Luke’s 2007 screenplay based closely on his novel. In June, Paramount agreed to sell these rights for one million dollars and negotiations began on a contract to complete the transaction. However, after about two weeks of talking, Paramount abruptly announced that it had decided to hold on to the rights. Now, ten months later, and after the financial crisis has changed the situation for everyone, Luke has decided to try to team up with a new group to again approach Paramount to get them to again consider a turnaround. For details: On Making a Film of THE DICE MAN.
Because of the frustration of seeing Paramount stymie those interested in making a film of THE DICE MAN, there has been renewed interest in making a film about Luke Rhinehart based on the novel SEARCH FOR THE DICE MAN. Last year a UK production company signed a Purchase Agreement with Luke to pay close to half a million dollars for the film rights to SEARCH and a SEARCH screenplay. Unfortunately, in their investors’ prospectus, the company merged the film rights of SEARCH with another unrelated project. Their efforts failed and the purchase fell through. Now other companies are close to optioning SEARCH. For details: Moving Forward with SEARCH FOR THE DICE MAN.
Last fall Andrew Bonner-Walter came up with the idea of making a film from Luke’s novel NAKED BEFORE THE WORLD. Luke wrote the script for the film, and the film is already being cast and a budget prepared. For details, go to: NAKED BEFORE THE WORLD.
In 2005 Luke was encouraged to write a screenplay based on his novel WHITE WIND, BLACK RIDER, a book he has always considered the most cinematic of his novels. Working closely with several writing friends he produced what was at that time the best screenplay he had ever written. Although there has been and is much interest in making a film based on the script, the rights are still available. For details: WHITE WIND, BLACK RIDER.
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Copyright © 2009 Luke Rhinehart
