“It’s not TV, it’s … wait, really?“
HBO is developing a drama series about a group of con men and magicians who battle Hitler and the Nazis during WWII. They use their powers of deception to outwit the Third Reich, you see.
Titled Hogoblin, the project is from Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys) and Ayelet Waidman (Bad Mother) and is described as in early development. Can’t think of a joke that isn’t lame or tasteless to end on, so let’s turn just turn this one over to the comment board. What do you think of Hobgoblin? Must see in a cool way, or in a “you’ve got to be kidding me” way?
UPDATE: Truth is stranger — or at least equally — strange as fiction: Wiki reference to Jasper Maskelyne, a British stage magician who did indeed help the Allies during WWII.
The description makes it sound crazy… but if it’s anything like Chabon’s AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY, it’ll be awesome. Count me in.
Sounds supremely cool to me.
Count me in!
This does not sound good. I am wondering if they are going to go with british accents or if they are going to go with bad german accents? This gives me John from Cincinnati vibes.
You have no imagination.
sounded ridiculous until Chabon’s involvement was mentioned. if it has any of the complexity, imagination or character as THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY, this could be ingenious television. well played HBO.
Why do I keep thinking of “It’s Springtime with Hitler in Germany”
This is actually based on the life of Jasper Maskelyne a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. Tom Cruise was once thinking of doing this.
Like Firefly, it sounds bizarre, but in execution, it’s genius. And I’m so there for anything Michael Chabon does.
sounds really awesome to me as well!
You never know…. Stuff like that might have happened. I mean, prostitutes helped fight the Third Reich!
What is offensive is that we still think of the Holocaust as the only genocide worth talking about. There have been worse ones and more recent ones. The fact most of you reading this can’t think of one is sad.
Who’s “we”? Obviously you’ve never heard of SOMETIMES IN APRIL, the HBO film about the Rwandan genocide.
Stuff like this DID happen. Jasper Maskelyne and the Royal Engineers created a host of wartime illusions to fake out Rommel and help Montgomery win the battle of Alamein. With his help, Rommel was never able to take Cairo or the Middle East. Watch “Secrets of War: Spy Games of WWII” (episode 3 Rommel’s Enigma).
I would stab Joseph Goebbels a million times with a dull knife to see this.
Firefly hasn’t been brought back and THIS is being made? Who is getting paid good money to make these decisions?
Two different networks(FOX and HBO, and its been years so get over it)HBO can do shows like this, and Firefly was a western set in space, isn’t that pretty weird? (Not as weird as Magicians fighting Hitler, but still weird)
Have fun watching The Cape you dullard.
People that know better than you apparently. And hey, I’d love to see more Firely myself, but it’s so very, very unlikely.
Not as silly as it seems. There was a guy, Jasper Maskelyne. his life and those of his group were going to be made into a film called “the war magician.” That was several years ago and Tom Cruise was attached at some point, but it was pretty inaccurate in it’s portrayal and got a lot of negative feedback from the history types. I would not call what he did magic though, it was really more illusions
Exactly. Tricks are something a wh&$e does for money. Magicians perform illusions.
Or cocaine.
It reminds me a little of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell which is an excellent thing to sound like. Also, Michael Chabon, in my opinion, has never missed. Well, what’s he’s published. Kavalier and Clay and Yiddish Policeman’s Union are two of my favorite books and Wonder Boys was great and an even better movie.
Michael Chabon is an awesome writer, amazing! I was intrigued by this movie’s concept even before his name was mentioned (think – ‘Twilight’ with WWII era teens from magic performance families).
Regarding genocides, recent book on the eastern Europe atrocities by Hitler and Stalin, ‘Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin’, by Timothy Snyder.
Finally, NEVER ever believe that people don’t think about worse and more recent ones whenever WWII Holocaust is mentioned.
There have long been rumours that religious Witches we involved in creating and holding rituals to try to bring Hitler down, much as I’m sure there were many Christian prayer groups and group from other faith and folk traditions doing likewise in accordance with their own beliefs.
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I think it does have the potential to be a fascinating story, provided they stick more to the “Magick Use” as part of the indigenous British folk traditions rather than presenting them as some kind of “spooky supernatural” gimmick.