20/02/2008

Universum Film has bought the film rights to the Doctor Mabuse character from Artur Brauner’s Berlin-based company CCC. The character’s crimes still haunt the memories of those who saw the successful series of films made in the early 1960s.

Christian Becker of Rat Pack Filmproduktion (the company for whom he produced the crime film Der Wixxer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], children’s film Hui Buh – The Goofy Ghost [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and, more recently, The Wave [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dennis Gansel – see news) will oversee screenplay development and production of the film, in collaboration with Universum and CCC.

The film will take the form of a modern thriller and adopt a critical approach to society.

The character of Doctor Mabuse – a criminal genius with many faces and a talent for hypnosis – was created in 1921 by Luxembourg writer Norbert Jacques. One year after the success of the novel Doctor Mabuse, The Gambler, Fritz Lang adapted it for the cinema. This was followed 11 years later, in 1933, by his masterpiece The Testament of Doctor Mabuse.

In 1953, Jacques sold the rights to the Mabuse character to CCC. Between 1960 and 1964, six adventures of the "James Bond of crime" were brought to the big screen, starting with The Thousand Eyes of Doctor Mabuse, which was also directed by Lang.

The new Mabuse film is set to wrap up in 2009/2010.

(Translated from French)