Hollywood seizes on Prime-time hit
Hollywood seizes on Prime-time hit
8:58am Thursday 21st May 2009
By David Barnett »
Bradford actor Andrew Lee Potts is waiting for Hollywood to come knocking after it was announced media giant Warner Brothers is to make a big-screen version of hit TV show Primeval.
Andrew, of Wibsey, plays Connor Temple in the series, which is currently coming to the end of its third season on ITV on Saturday nights.
The show - in which Andrew, his real-life and on-screen love Hannah Spearritt, formerly of S Club 7, and a team of scientific adventurers battle beasties from the far future and distant past - has already picked up a following in the US after being screened on BBC America.
Now Warner Bros has signed a multi-million-pound deal to transfer the action to the big screen, with producer Kerry Foster at the helm.
Foster said: “There is a solid mythology to the series, but the movie has the dinosaur element of Jurassic Park and the time-travel element of Lost, and it just feels like the kind of big movie that Warner Bros does well.”
Andrew, 29, has already had small parts in American movies such as 1408, a chiller based on a Stephen King short story, and The Return To The House On Haunted Hill.
He said yesterday that very little was known about the projected movie - including, crucially, who would star in it, and whether Hollywood would be asking him to reprise his role of Connor for the big screen.
He said: “We genuinely know nothing other than what’s been reported at the moment. I know that the producers over here have been in talks with Warner Bros for some time, as well as with companies in other countries about creating Primeval spin-offs.
“I don’t know how it’s going to pan out nor who is going to be involved. But it’s a very exciting time for everybody who’s involved in Primeval at this end, and it’s great for Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges, who produce the series.
“I mean, that’s the dream, isn’t it, having something you make get picked up by Hollywood? It’s a validation of everything they’ve done so far, and a tribute to how popular Primeval is.”