Potter-maker Heyman to produce Alibaba's Warriors

Harry Potter producer David Heyman gives autographs to fans during an event at the British Embassy in Beijing on Nov 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Harry Potter producer David Heyman will produce Alibaba Pictures' film adaptation of the children's book series Warriors.

The collaboration came about when China's Alibaba Pictures acquired the rights to the British book series about four clans of wild cats. There are 36 books in the main series of the novels, written by a writing team under the name of Erin Hunter and published since 2003, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

The first live-action film with computer-generated characters will be an original story, which follows the path of main character Rusty, a pet cat raised by humans, and his joining a wild cat clan in the forest, Heyman told The Hollywood Reporter in Beijing.

"He's stigmatized, he's an outsider, he is not from the forest, he's lived in the comfort of a human home," said Heyman. "So it's about him getting acclimatized into this place, earning his place in spite of great prejudice against him and ultimately rising up."

Heyman and Alibaba have no idea yet of how many films they will make of the adaptation. "The interesting thing about the books is there are such a lot of narratives. And the books are still being written, so there will be as many films as long as we can keep telling interesting stories and the audience is receptive of it. We'll keep on making them," Heyman said.

Heyman said the first film could be in any language, not necessarily an English-language or Chinese-language film. "The beauty of it is, there are no humans walking around in the stories. What you have is cats... Cats are not specific to any country," said Heyman. "Though I suspect it'd probably be set in a forest in the UK, because the authors are British. We may use actors anywhere. It's too early to tell, but we're open to all possibilities."

The film will be a Chinese-British co-production between Alibaba and Heyman's Heyday Films. "The thing I love about this is that it will be an authentic collaboration between China and England. And there were too many inauthentic collaborations between the US and China, which feel contrived. They are arranged marriages. And this feels so organic, where we can use talent from both countries. And not just the UK and China, it can be from France, from the US, wherever the talent is, we can use it," Heyman said.

The film will not be using motion capture for the cats' performance. "I think motion capture works best when there are humanoid characters－two arms, two legs," said Heyman. "If you're doing a cat, it doesn't work. What we'll do is to film actors for reference, like what we did in Paddington."

Heyman is now trying to find a screenwriter to adapt the books. "There are six books in the first series. It's important that we find a way so that the films don't feel episodic but feel like a unified story," said Heyman.

The budget of the film is not yet set, said Zhang Wei, Alibaba president. "We have to find a screenwriter, and we'll look at the cost of filming and visual effects, to set a budget. What we know is we will use the best resources, the best team," Zhang said.

Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter film series, spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series, Paddington, and The Light Between Oceans, sought out Alibaba Pictures two years ago. "I met with Alibaba, and I learned more about Alibaba and the culture of Alibaba, which was remarkable to me. I felt like I should go work for Alibaba," said Heyman.

"It was such an inspiring meeting, not just because of the brilliance of their business, but because of the human nature of their business. It's about connecting people and community. I think that is what we try and do in films. And I found with the people I met a kindred spirit. It's very surprising, when you meet with people who might finance films, all they care about is money. I understand, it's called the film business. But there is no business unless there is heart."

Bloomberg