Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Saints Be Praised

After years of failures in trying to bring Leslie Charteris’ Simon Templar--aka The Saint--back to TV screens (from which the character disappeared after a popular 1962-1969 British series), it appears success may finally be at hand. The trailer for a prospective new Saint production, this one starring Adam Rayner and the lovely Eliza Dushku, was posted by Deadline Hollywood, and is embedded below.



“[P]roducers will attempt to sell this pilot to networks internationally,” reports Double O Section blogger Tanner. “Hopefully it sells and we end up with a whole new Saint series!” Tanner, for one, has high hopes for this Simon West-directed project. He writes:
“I love that it uses the familiar Saint theme music. I love that they found a believable way to get the Saint into a dinner jacket in this day and age. I love that there’s a fight on a funicular! I love the international locations and the high productions values. It looks like a very slick production, for sure. And new Simon Templar Adam Rayner, from what I can tell based on these short clips, looks good in the role! (Needs a shave, though.) Eliza Dushku looks great, too, as the Saint’s on-and-off girlfriend from the Leslie Charteris novels, Patricia Holm.
But hey, you know what I really like best? This pilot managed to find noteworthy roles for two men who’ve already played Templar on the small screen, Ian Ogilvy and Roger Moore.

1 comment:

J F Norris said...

I've been following the news about this up and down production since I learned of it on The Saint website. Roger Moore was involved as an executive producer, I think. Great to see it's finally done. But that they really had no place to air it seems extremely odd. Hope it'll get on somewhere either in the UK or US. This pilot is I think the first adaptation that also includes one of Simon Templar's arch enemies from the earliest books - Rayt Marius.