Reports that the Veronica Mars movie is in the final stages of rigor mortis have apparently been greatly exaggerated. According to the franchise’s boss, Rob Thomas, there’s still a chance his teen sleuth will be reborn on the big screen.

“It’s not dead,” insists Thomas. “I continue to want to do it. It’s funny, because the rumors go around and around. Kristen Bell had said to somebody that I had written a script, and that wasn’t correct. I did have a treatment and a pitch, with which I went to Warner Bros. and [Mars producer] Joel Silver and said, ‘Here is the fastball version of the movie, the big studio version of the movie that I think we can make.’ And I think they did one of their brand-awareness surveys and were like, ‘We don’t know if we can make money with that.’ So it’s been back-burnered. But I still want to do it. I’m still happy to do it. We’re still looking into it.”

Thomas, whose Starz comedy, Party Down, kicks off its second season on April 23, acknowledges that the project has a built-in expiration date. “There is a bit of a ticking clock [because] Kristen Bell does continue to age,” he concedes of his 29-year-old leading lady. “And doing ‘teen detective’ [is a] dicey proposition. But frankly, I think Veronica Mars as a 30-year-old noir detective at some point in the future would still be interesting to me.

“In sort of the tidal wave and roller coaster of feeling upbeat or downbeat about it,” Thomas concludes, “I’d say I’m feeling in the middle right now.”

source: http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/04/07/veronica-mars-movie-is-not-dead/

In March, show creator Rob Thomas gave an update on the developing Veronica Mars movie, stating that “while the pitch went well and I don’t think the movie’s dead, right now it’s looking depressing.” We haven’t heard anything since, and assumed that it’s fallen into the deep dark depths of development heck.  Ad now the star of the series, Kristen Bell, is finally conceding that a film will probably never happen.

Bell tells EW at the Saturn Awards:

I don’t think it will ever happen, and here’s why: Rob Thomas and I had a powwow, and we were both 100 percent on board. We took our proposal to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver told us that there is no enthusiasm to make a Veronica Mars movie, and that is unfortunately a roadblock we cannot compete with. Maybe if we bombard them with letters? Maybe they will change their tune.

Doesn’t sound good at all. I have a feeling that we haven’t heard the last of this project, and eventually things might come together … but will it be too late? I’ve said this before, but I think this requires repeating: How old could Veronica be before the concept just turns into your typical detective mystery?

Part of the appeal of the show to me was the unique spin of setting the detective story in the world of High School and College. And the only way to bring the story back to the school is to set it at a high school reunion… and I’m not digging that idea. And as much as fans are craving for another fix, I’m not sure the story of a 30-year-old Veronica Mars might be all that interesting. And I say that as a fan of the series. Hey, we’ll always have the DVDs, right?

source:  slashfilm.com

Veronica Mars fans, if you pray, pray hard. And if you don’t, start, because the cult fave’s long-rumored movie version is about to enter the anxiety-producing phase known as do-or-die-time.

“I’m preparing the pitch now — literally now,” Mars‘ main man, Rob Thomas, told me this morning. “I hope to go in and talk to [executive producer] Joel Silver and [Warner Bros.] in the next week or two to see if they’re interested.”

But first, Thomas has to iron out the endgame of the plot, which, as I first reported last fall, focuses on Veronica solving a crime in college rather than as an FBI agent. “I haven’t figured it out yet,” he says of the final act. “That’s what I’m working on now. It’s close. A few key details left to solve.”

Thomas is quick to caution, however, that completing an outline and pitching the studio are just two steps of a much larger, more daunting process. “I have some fear that Veronica Mars fans believe that the chief hurdle in getting the movie made is my writing it,” Thomas confesses. “Unfortunately, that’s only one of several hurdles. I’m going to give it my best shot and let the chips fall where they may.

“It’s entirely possible I won’t have an answer at the end of the pitch,” he continues. “They will want to consider [the pitch], look at some numbers — whatever it is people on the business side do — and then they’ll give me some sort of response. Then, if they want to move forward, there’s the deal-making that’ll need to go on.”

Surprisingly, one of the project’s primary selling points won’t be tagging along to the meeting. “Kristen [Bell] will not be joining me,” he says. “I’m sure she has no desire to see how the sausage is made.” (Source)

THE SKINNY: At the tail end of this winter’s television critic’s event, Rob Thomas, who has resurrected his 1998 TV series CUPID for another go-around on ABC, announced that he’s currently working on a VERONICA MARS feature film (based on his short-lived UPN/CW show), now that his new series order has been reduced from thirteen episodes to eight episodes.

“That means I have time to write the VERONICA MARS movie,” he says. “But my writing the movie is half the battle. Someone else has to pay for it. Joel Silver does have a certain pile of money. He called on me saying ‘Can we do this now?’ Kristen wants to do it. Joel wants to do it and I want to do it. For me, that’s the next project.”

Although he wouldn’t reveal exactly what the story would be, he did tell iF, “it’s 70 percent broken in my head.”

“I’ve been struggling with this one plot point and I’m hopeful to figure that out,” he adds. “I watched the final episode of the series a few weeks ago and there were a lot of gaps and the plotting for the original came to me. I mean for the movie, I’m feeling like I’m on the right track now. But I don’t want to give that away yet.

In terms of cast, Thomas says he’s talked with Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni and Kristen Bell.

“Obviously,” he says with a smile.

And while there were always talks of the character of Veronica Mars ending up at the F.B.I., he says that’s not where the movie will be heading.

“The one thing that I will say is where it will pick up,” says Thomas. “I know we did that F.B.I. ‘what if’ thing, but we would not go to that place. I think it would open just days before the Hearst College Graduation. So Veronica would be sort of at the end of her college career.

[Source]

[07] Stills: 3.07 – Eris Quod Sum
[18] Season 1 Promos Solo
[02] Season 1 Promos Cast
[02] Season 3 Promos Solo
[02] Season 3 Promos Cast