Sinatoro, based on the forthcoming Black Mask Studios comic by Morrison and artist Vanesa R. Del Rey, tells of a necronaut who is sent into the afterlife to save Earth from destruction. The story, a modern take on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, has influences from the Western genre, and classic U.S. Route 66 also figures into it.
The deal with Universal Television marks a closing of a circle of sorts as it returns the property to its screen roots: Morrison initially wrote Sinatoro as a screenplay for a movie.
The team intends to partner with a director and then take to buyers with the studio.
“Sinatoro turns American pop culture into a whole new mythology,” said Morrison. “It’s about life, death, sex, romance and everything in between. It’s one of my favorite stories I’ve done! So excited to see it finding a new life as a television series where there’s time to expand the ideas and characters.”
Morrison has been developing the story for over a decade with the idea that different media representations (comics, TV, film, etc.) of the story’s world flow into one another, like seeing the same story through different surfaces of a prism.
Said Pizzolo, “The question was always how to build a canvas big enough to faithfully encompass the brilliant world Grant had envisioned. This has become a shared obsession over years with more and more creative collaborators falling in love with Grant’s vision and diving in to help build it. Bringing on Depth of Field and finding the incredible Adam and Kay were the critical components that finally brought this mad vision into reality.”
Chris Weitz’s recent works include writing credits on Cinderella and the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Paul Weitz is the co-creator of Amazon’s series Mozart in the Jungle.
In addition to American Odyssey, Armus’ and Foster’s credits include writing and producing for such shows as Heroes and The Following.
