Luca Guadagnino has apparently created another interesting, must-see film with the upcoming “Bones & All,” if you are to believe the hype coming from the Venice Film Festival, where it received an eight-and-a-half-minute standing ovation. But his cannibal love story isn’t the only project Guadagnino is talking about right now, as he also is still beating the drum to get his “Brideshead Revisited” series off the ground.
Speaking to Deadline, Luca Guadagnino talked about the uphill battle he’s facing trying to get his remake of “Brideshead Revisited” on the screen. The 10-episode series seemed to have everything going for it when it was reportedly in development at HBO and BBC. There was an all-star cast, an award-winning filmmaker, and beloved source material. But apparently, the project came to a screeching halt when Guadagnino went to the studios and asked for $110 million.
“I had a great cast and I needed the money and the money I needed was $110 million, $11 million dollars an episode, and there was no way we could put it together,” said Guadagnino. “I said to myself: ‘I cannot compromise. It has to be done the way I want it to be done.’”
When it was announced, Guadagnino’s version of “Brideshead Revisited” was set to star Andrew Garfield, Cate Blanchett, Ralph Fiennes, and Rooney Mara. And even though those are all busy actors, the filmmaker believes he can get them together again, if HBO and BBC are able to greenlight the project with the budget he requested. But Guadagnino also understands that it’s not likely, at this point. Though, he is an optimist.
He added, ”It’s a very dear project. I love this novel. I wrote with Benjamin Walters, the script, so it’s something so close to me. If the miracle would happen I would jump and do it. It’s the question of a miracle right now, probably. I truly believe in miracles”
Though Guadagnino believes in miracles and is still holding out hope that his “Brideshead Revisited” could see the light of day, it really does seem like a non-starter right now. HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is slashing budgets and projects in an attempt to get out of debt. It seems highly unlikely that the studio would greenlight a series about the British upper-class unless it somehow had dragons or Superman in it.
Alas, we’ll just be happy to get whatever else Guadagnino has up his sleeve, including “Bones & All,” which is set to arrive in theaters on November 23.