Peter Dinklage appears to be having so much fun in the period garb of Game of Thrones that he’ll stay in a distant time period for his next feature, an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s 1849 short story, Hop Frog.
The story revolves around a dwarf who becomes the court jester for a sinister king. When the ruler and his cronies humiliate the dwarf’s close friend, he plans a vicious revenge that involves a deadly fire at a masquerade ball. ScreenDaily, which breaks the story of Dinklage’s involvement in the production, says that Penelope director Mark Palansky will direct the Hop Frog adaptation, which has been penned by newcomer Brian Alan Carr.
“Hop Frog is beautiful and vicious,” said Dinklage. “It has haunted me ever since I read Poe’s original tale of revenge years ago. I can think of no other director than Mark Palansky to bring this new imagining of it vibrantly to life.”
Poe is on a hot streak lately, powering the psychopath who terrorized Kevin Bacon in Fox’s hit television show The Following. At the same time, a recent attempt at making Poe the central character of his own movie (starring John Cusack as the gothic author) fell flat on its face.
But the success of period storytelling like Thrones ought to be able to raise enough interest in Dinklage – and the actor in a dark vengeance thriller – to generate buzz around Hop Frog. Also, producer Adam Schroeder worked on Sleepy Hollow with Tim Burton – as well as The Truman Show and A Simple Plan -- so he recognizes a strong story, particularly one with gothic overtones. We’ll see how this one shapes up.
