NEW EPIC TV SERIES SALE ON 17TH CENTURY PIRATE MURAT REIS FROM NORTH AFRICA

  SALE EPIC TV SERIES  

ON 17TH CENTURY PIRATE MURAT REIS

As Deadline reports, an English language series, a co-production between Iceland and Sweden SALE will be presented at MipCom. Set in 1627, Salé will follow an Icelandic mother and daughter captured by Barbary privateers and sold into slavery in Morocco. Separated in the markets of Salé, they must forge new identities to survive, one clinging to her Christian faith and past, the other embracing Islam and a dangerous new world. Their fates become entangled with Jan Janszoon’s as his pirate empire faces threats from rivals and his own family. Frank Lammers will play Jan, also known as Murat Reis, a real-life Dutch sea captain who converted to Islam and became one of the most powerful pirate admirals in the North African city of Salé! Two 15 million euro seasons are planned. 

TSUI HARK TO PRODUCE HISTORICAL EPIC ADVENTURE MOVIE SHIH, QUEEN OF THE SEA ON THE 19TH CENTURY CHINESE PIRATE QUEEN

 NEW CHINESE PIRATE EPIC 

SHIH, QUEEN OF THE SEA

The production starts next summer

Some ten years ago Maggie Q was supposed to play Chinese pirate queen Shih, but it never happened and now legendary Tsui Hark is set to produce Anthony McCarten scripted epic adventure SHIH, QUEEN OF THE SEA which will follow Shih Yang, aka Cheng I Sao, who dominated the South China Sea during the Qing Dynasty. Born into poverty, she worked on a “flower boat” brothel where she met the notorious pirate leader Cheng Yi, joining him at sea. Upon his death in 1807, she assumed full command of the fearsome Red Flag Fleet, commanding over 1,800 pirate ships and an estimated 80,000 pirates. By comparison, Blackbeard commanded four ships and 300 pirates within the same century. Shih instigated sweeping reforms to the rules of piracy, ordering execution for rape or marital infidelity and insisting on equality between the sexes. Much of what is known in the West about her is due to the writings of an English diarist, Richard Glasspoole, who was captured by her and later formed a strong bond with her. The shooting should start summer next year.