Voices From the Dead
J. Michael Straczynski has sold to Dreamworks an original script called Voices From the Dead, which is based on the actual relationship between author and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and escape maestro/magician Harry Houdini.
Offers The Hollywood Reporter, "Houdini and Doyle, who was a leading Spiritualist at the time, met in 1920 and became friends for a while despite long-running arguments about the existence of the supernatural. Doyle included a chapter in his book The Edge of the Unknown that claimed that Houdini had psychic powers, while Houdini often used his acts to debunk fraudulent claims about the spirit world. Straczynski's script creates a fictional account of the two teaming up with a psychic to solve a set of murders in 1920's New York."
Over at Comic Book Resources, JMS himself commented, "I was doing some research into Houdini when I discovered that he and Doyle were friends. I hadn’t previously been aware of this, and was fascinated by their relationship. I managed to get a lot online about them, and I ordered Houdini’s book where he talks about Doyle, and Doyle’s book where he talks about Houdini … the more I dug the more interesting it became. Whey that friendship broke apart over their different beliefs, the heat was equal to if not greater than the friendship that spawned it. It was a friendship that dominated headlines in the U.S. and Britain … the world’s greatest magician and the creator of the world’s most famous detective. The story that came out in the screenplay is about 60 percent factual and 40 percent fiction.”
Quite a number of years ago Star Trek's William Shatner and Leonard Nimnoy had planned a project that would have brought Houdini and Doyle together as well.
DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from Earth's Mightiest editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their content is in compliance with our Terms of Use. For removal of copyrighted material, please contact us HERE.