Boom! Studios' Talent, the latest mini-series from Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, has just been optioned by Universal Studios for the film production right to the supernatural thriller.

Talent follows Nicolas Dane, the sole survivor of a plane crash who, after the crash, gains all of the talents of the passengers of the plane who didn't survive.

“I think comic book fans are responding to the idea that Nicolas Dane is a character who's a tabula rasa, someone who doesn't have a lot of stuff going on in his life,” said Ross Richie, Publisher at Boom! Studios. “He's a man, really, with no life at all... who then discovers he can channel the talents of 147 other people!”

The concept was so appealing to Hollywood, that after only one-issue, a bidding war began for the film option. At one point, five separate studios were vying for the rights, but in the end, Universal won out.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Christopher Golden to talk about the process getting a film option:

Scoop: How did you guys get into the “bidding war” for the film option for Talent after just one issue? Was the concept originally designed for television or film before it was slated as a comic series?

Christopher Golden (CG): Tom [Sniegoski] and I dreamed this thing up a long time ago. Frankly, it shows the power of the comic book medium to fire the imagination. We'd written a script version that we kept shelving for various reasons, including concerns about the plane explosion after 9/11. Finally, we decided to try the comic route first and talked to Ross Richie about it. I've known Ross for maybe fourteen years. A long time. Once the first issue's reviews started to hit the Internet, the heat was on. The reviews were just incredible. Originally, the plan had been for Ross and his producing partner Andy Cosby to package Talent and take it out to the studios... but that plan was tossed aside when the studios started coming to us. It was crazy. We had several of the biggest directors and producers in Hollywood firing up the studios to pick up the rights to Talent. The word travels fast in the film industry. So that's how the bidding war got started. While Tom and I would have loved to be in business with any of the studios and fantastic filmmakers who expressed an interest and bid on Talent, we're very pleased to have ended up with Marc Platt at Universal, which is also the home for Outcast, the fantasy film in development there based on our young adult book series of the same name.

Scoop: Since Universal now has the option, what's the next step to get Talent onto the silver screen? Do you finish up the mini-series and see how fans respond or it the film eminent?

CG: The producers aren't wasting a moment. They're already talking to screenwriters, directors, and major actors about Talent. Now, anyone will tell you that in any business, nothing's real until you can hold it in your hands. Hollywood is the perfect example. Until you can go and sit in the theater and see the movie, you can't assume there's ever going to be a movie. That's just the way it is. That said, though, with this group of people and the enthusiasm and passion they have for this project, I believe it'll get made. Of course the comic book miniseries will continue. The third issue is being finished up at the moment, art-wise, and we're about to deliver the script for issue four. As to whether there will be future miniseries, there are a lot of variables. Of course we hope so.

Scoop: Who would you like to see cast as the lead roles in the film? Would you like to see someone with “star power” come to the lead or would you rather have an unknown take the role and let the story sell itself?

CG: Don't you think they should cast me? [Laughs] I don't think it matters if it's a superstar or an unknown. What matters in the case of playing Nicholas Dane is that they need someone with real talent. A one note actor isn't going to work in this role. It requires a rare versatility to play one character, while letting the audience see that there are other personas existing inside you, showing that through mostly physical and facial, non-verbal ways. It requires someone subtle, and let's face it, acting is all too often Not a subtle profession. Fortunately, there are some major superstars who'd fit the bill perfectly. Fingers crossed.

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