Some of these projects are in pre-production, some are not more than rumors, but you can be sure that at one point or another, they will be made (considering Hollywood’s lack of original screenwriters, or maybe it’s stubbornness of tapping into existing material). Most of these present a challenge and I’m not sure there are people up to the task.
5. Dune
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This one has priors. You remember Sting in a bikini right? Or, if you’re a bit a snob – David Lynch’s misunderstood adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. This time, it seems to have Pierre Morel attached. He doesn’t have Lynch’s credentials, and nothing of his last two movies suggest he’d be up to it (Taken was a good action flick but no more, and From Paris, with Love almost, and i stress that word, made a good popcorn movie).
4. Fahrenheit 451
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Ray Bradbury’s novel has also been adapted for the big screen previously, by none other than Francois Truffaut. Now, you get me someone of his caliber to direct, and a decent script and I’m all for another film, as I love Sci-Fi, but, as far as we know this might end up being an action movie. As far as Hollywood goes, we’re living a dystopian future right now.
3. Gulliver’s Travels
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This one is pretty much a sure thing, being in post-production. But somehow I doubt Rob Letterman, director of Monsters and Aliens and Shark Tale is capable of bringing the Brit’s adventures to life. I’m sure it will look great, but I expect less subtext than the book had (call it a book for children if you like, I call it political allegory). Also, Jack Black in the lead role (I’m sorry to see an actress as talented as Emily Blunt in what I predict will be 2010′s Land of the Lost).
2. Atlas Shrugged
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Now this is one dystopian future I’d like to see, but given some director’s recent failure in bringing a book to the big screen (Peter Jackson’s Lovely Bones), I don’t have much faith in it. It would require a pretty damn good director for Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, and a good cast. Considering it has the writer of the second Tomb Raider and Sahara attached, I don’t see it coming together yet.
1. Paradise Lost
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Yes, you know it. Hollywood’s now turning to poems for inspiration. The writer has nothing under his belt, and the director, Scott Derrickson, is best know for the less than thrilling The Day the Earth Stood Still. I’d call this one dead in the water or a huge failure.
Posted on March 15th, 2010 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: Literature, Movies
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