While vampires are immortal, the "Twilight" books are not, and it won't be too long before Summit needs a replacement for Edward and Bella. It might be none other than legendary magician Harry Houdini. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit has optioned William Kalush and Larry Sloman's controversial biography "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero" with an eye to adapting it not as a biopic, but an action movie.
The studio is planning to rewrite Houdini as a character who is part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes, and exciting enough to launch his own franchise, says the report.
Kalush and Sloman's book should provide them with enough material for a thriller or two. Their biography is notorious for its claims that Houdini was a British spy, was invited to be an adviser to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and may have been murdered by all those phony spiritualists he debunked throughout his career. As if the book wasn't sensational enough, the two authors staged a "family" press conference announcing they would be exhuming Houdini's body to examine it for evidence of foul play. When the Houdini family denied all knowledge, it was revealed to be nothing but a publicity stunt for the book.
The idea and its source material are already buzz worthy. Will they be able to turn that into something similar to Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes"? The studio could definitely use a series of action thrillers after all of this immortal romance. But Houdini projects have been set up all over Hollywood for years, with few ever making it to the screen. Will Summit pull off the magic trick that so many others have failed?
MTV Readers, will this be Summit's next big franchise? Would this be as good for them as "Twilight" has been? Do you think it's cheesy or disrespectful to cast a real person like Harry Houdini as a fake action hero?
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