Double Vision

Behind the scenes of sci-thriller the city And the city…

- Kevin Harley

 

Halfway through interviews about BBC Two’s four-part adaptation of China Miéville’s 2009 novel The City And The City, both star and screenwriter pause to reflect. Conversation with writer Tony Grisoni has touched on impossible cities, interstitial states and Dante’s Virgil when he quips, “Does this make any sense? I sound like some kind of nutty professor!” David Morrissey’s summation, meanwhile, is nicely on-point. “So,” he offers, invitingly, “it’s trippy.”

That’s one word for Miéville, the ‘New Weird’ author whose mind-warping output includes the gargantuan Bas-Lag trilogy, monster-quest novel Railsea and squid-cult brain-thriller Kraken. In its tireless imaginative reach and bracingly dense literary invention, the British writer’s work would test any screenwriter’s adaptation skills – which might be why no one has adapted him before. Happily, Grisoni’s previous adventures in multi-layered drama/ fantasy include Red Riding, Terry Gilliam’s Tideland and Philip K. Dick series Electric Dreams: all fine practice runs for trips to Miéville’s cities.