'Most Dangerous Game': Liam Hemsworth series borrows elements from Richard Connell's 1924 novel
The Liam Hemsworth-starrer 'Most Dangerous Game' is one of Quibi's big-name projects and the mention of the dystopian series takes us back to the 1924 short story novel of the same name by Richard Connell. The storylines too are a lot similar except the series is a more modern take. The book follows a hunter from New York City who falls off a yacht and swims to a desolate island in the Caribbean. Except, he's not alone and is hunted by a Russian aristocrat.
The story in the book revolves between big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford and a Russian Cossack, General Zaroff. The latter explains that after being bored with hunting animals, he uses ship-traps and takes the survivors captive. He hunts them for sport and the winners get to leave the island while the ones caught would suffer at the hands of his deaf servant, Ivan, a former official 'knouter' for The Great White Czar. The hunted would have to evade capture for three days and will have with the food, clothing, a knife, and a three-hour head start.
The story ends with Rainsford emerging the winner. The book has seen adaptations on TV and radio. It was made as a feature film in 1932 starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks. A radio episode for CBS was made starring Orson Welles. While the Quibi series definitely seems a bit more different, the plotline looks similar to the novel. And ahead of the film, this 48-page classic is worth the read as it also delves on themes of the hunter becoming the hunted, and the insanity possessed by the aristocrats back in the day.
As far as the series goes, the official synopsis by Quibi reads: "Desperate to take care of his pregnant wife before a terminal illness can take his life, Dodge Tynes (Liam Hemsworth) accepts an offer to participate in a deadly game where he’s the prey. This dystopian action-thriller explores the limits of how far someone would go to fight for their life and their family. Let the games begin."
The series also stars Christoph Waltz, Sarah Gadon, Zach Cherry, Aaron Poole, Christopher Webster, Billy Burke and Natasha Bordizzo. Nick Santora of the 'Scorpion' fame will serve as the writer and EP. Emmy-nominee Phil Abraham will helm the project and serves as one of the EPs as well with CBS TV studios producing for Quibi.