WILL CARTER BEAT THE DEVIL ON SCREEN?

For some time now, I have been reporting on the possibility of "Carter Beats the Devil" being made into a film. 

Today, according to Deadline.com,  Warner Bros is giving the Glen David Gold novelCarter Beats the Devil another chance to beat death by development hell. The studio has optioned the novel, and set Michael Gilio to write the script. Jon Shestack will produce, and Ginny Brewer and Jeremy Stein will also be involved as producers. The book weaves a tale around the magician Carter the Great, a murderous rival, the mysterious death of President Warren Harding and Philo Farnsworth's invention of television. The book was a hot property when optioned for high six-figures in 2002 by Paramount for Cruise/Wagner, a time when Tom Cruise was intrigued with playing a magician. It was eclipsed by a different C/W-developed magic book, David Fisher'sThe War Magician. Ultimately, nothing happened on either front.

Neither book got anywhere near the screen, and Gold’s title slipped back into limbo. More recently, US cable channel A&E flirted with the idea of turning it into a series, but dropped it, most likely due to expense.

Cross your fingers and thanks to Robert Gresham for passing on the link to this story. Cheers to our friends at iTricks for finding it as well.