Sony's just completed a deal that brings Robert Rodriguez's dream project — a live action version of Frank Frazetta's Fire and Ice — to the big screen. This is passion project for Rodriguez, who has been trying to make this homage to his friend for years. And it looks like it will finally happen.


Image: Frank Frazetta's Art for Fire and Ice, from Frank Frazetta.net

Sony hopes to make this into a fantasy franchise based on Frazetta's dramatic art. Rodrgiuez announced plans to make this film way back in 2011, when he debuted concept art that he'd already had done. Here's the official synopsis from back when Rodriguez thought he'd be making the film in 2012:

From his stronghold in Ice Peak, the evil Nekron sends forth a wave of deadly glaciers, forcing humanity to retreat to Fire Keep, a kingdom ruled by a generous king. When King Jarol's daughter Teegra is kidnapped, young warrior Larn teams with the mysterious and legendary Dark Wolf, to rescue the princess and the realm from Nekron's evil sorcery.


In August, Rodriguez once again hinted that the film would be produced, telling Comic Book Resources that "soon we'll announce some stuff." He went on to talk about all the things he hoped to accomplish with the adaptation:

You know, I knew [Frazetta] very well, and I grew up with his work on my walls. I understood. I've talked to him at great length about what people did incorrectly when they tried to adapt his work but they didn't get it. He would complain about comics and stuff that were done that were just really violent, and he said, "They didn't really understand my work." So really, I would do it in a way where it was as if he was there with me. I would be watching it from his point of view. I understood his point of view, I think, better than anybody was ever going to try and do a movie. So I would want his spirit there, and I'd be looking out for him in that. I would almost consider giving him a co-directing credit! You know, I'm going to do it like I did with Frank [Miller], so much in just turning his paintings into movies. When you're doing that, you're no longer just adapting and making it your own. You're really trying to do what he did. And unfortunately, he tried do it — he did "Fire and Ice." It didn't get there because the technology, it was never quite what he wanted. I'm trying to help complete that vision for him — like, be that third collaborator, between Ralph Bakshi and him — Ralph's one of the producers on it — to try and use technology to catch us up to finish what they started.

We really hope that this actually happens and actually does live up to Frazetta's utterly amazing/insane art.