Updated 06/04/08: All signs point to Ridley Scott directing the first major Hollywood adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 classic Brave New World, possibly with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead. Scott has been in discussions with the Huxley estate for sometime, as has DiCaprio. This article from the Sunday Times back in March took a look at negotiations. Themes in Brave New World have appeared in numerous sci-fi films over the years. Equilibrium definitely comes to mind. Set in a faux-utopian dystopia, society has been organized into a class system based on eugenics, with the government issuing a drug to the public called Soma that induces hedonistic escape fantasies. Our readers also believe that this will be Scott’s next film, though others have mentioned Ender’s Game and Hyperion Cantos as projects that would be well-served by Scott’s eye and mind as well. Thanks to everyone who commented, a nice discussion is below for those who haven’t lurked or taken part yet.
When I hear “Ridley Scott,” I think well-made R-rated pictures for adults that could/should not be PG-13. Scott doesn’t bend under the weight of market forces. If he wants to dabble in PG-13 fare, he’ll make an underrated, meditative flick like White Squall, all the while his sci-fi masterpieces, Blade Runner and Alien, still loom large over the genre, keeping our expectations in check even as Hollywood surfs on teen tidal waves. I’m more than cool with Nolan’s vision for Batman or The Hobbit being PG-13, but I won’t abandon the vocal need/want for R-rated sci-fi/action. Even today, Scott’s sci-fi outings would not garner PG-13 ratings, nor would several of James Cameron’s genre cornerstones. While clearly no rating can be determined at this juncture, Eclipse got a big scoop: Ridley Scott’s next film after he’s done shooting Nottingham with Russell Crow will be sci-fi. Sweet.
“Q: You directed Blade Runner and Alien, which are seminal science fiction films. Why have you not done more science fiction films?
RIDLEY SCOTT: I am going to do one. I waited for a book for 20 years and I have got the book. I am not going to tell you what the book is but that film is going to probably be written within the next month. That will definitely be what I do next after Nottingham, the Robin Hood film that I am doing now in England.”
Haven’t had time to seriously ponder what book he’s referring to. Any guesses? I’ll update the post if any of your guesses seem viable and/or if ours are. Another project that we should all hope comes to fruition is Scott’s adaptation of NCFOM author Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 classic Blood Meridian.
“We got [Blood Meridian] down as a screenplay and the problem is that it is so savage. But that’s what it is. If you did it properly it would be an X-certificate. But you can’t apologise for the violence and you can’t quantify the violence and you shouldn’t try to explain the violence. It is what it is…an exercise in brutality, savagery and violence. For the most part it is probably relatively accurate. It shows the flipside to Dances With Wolves of how the United States was probably taken. It was taken by the throat.”
Comparable to a future where predatory robots roam a scorched Earth, much of history (not to mention McCarthy’s work) merits a hardcore take: scalping in this instance. Though I remain baffled at the predictable structure, presentation and ethical stumbles of American Gangster, Scott’s upcoming films like Body of Lies with DiCaprio and Crowe, Nottingham and the ones discussed here all sound highly promising and uncompromising. Some of our younger directors should take note. Paul Thomas Anderson did and it’s worked out fine, the popcorn even tasted the same.
Discuss: Scott returning to sci-fi, pretty cool right? What sci-fi book do you think Scott is adapting? Any fans of Blood Meridian?
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Bring it on. It’s both sad (mainly due to the lack of good sci-fi all these years) and refreshing that we’re getting the sci-fi “masters” back into the saddle again.
Scott and Cameron are a welcomed sight for sore eyes and brains.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
So we can look forward to Blood Meridan AND the Road being adapted? The Coen’s really broke McCarthy’s works open to the mainstream, I’m excited.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Blood Meridian is my favorite book i’ve ever read, hands down. I still remember the day I found out that Ridley Scott was going to do it(although since then he’s announced a million other projects so who knows when he’s really going to do it). I don’t really like the guys movies that much, Alien and BR aside, of course. I would prefer it never gets made into a movie…I just don’t see how it’d be done any justice, although an NC17 is somewhat of a start, but Scott’s violence is so unrealistic and cartoonish.
Blood Meridian could possibly be good in Terrence Malick’s hands, but that’s just a pipe dream I have for a novel I hold in the highest regard.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Well, Ender’s Game just became available for the first time since Wolfgang Peterson got his lazy little fingers unclenched from it in a while. Maybe that’s the one?
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Blood Meridian is one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century, hands down. If you haven’t, read it. It’s unforgivingly brutal and emotional exhausting to read.
I’m down with him returning to sci-fi. No clue on what novel I’d want him to adapt though.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I hope I hope I hope I hope its Ender’s Game…
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Matt,
The Road is already being worked on. Viggo is the lead in it.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Can’t wait to hear more on this.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Blood Meridian sounds awesome. However, I don’t believe Dances With Wolves was that “bright” of an outlook on how the US was taken.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
For some reason, I doubt Scott would take on Ender’s Game, which will most likely be molded for the preteen audience. It just doesn’t strike me as his type of material. I’d think that the rumor of Brave New World seems more in line with the type of project that he would gravitate toward. Personally, I wish that he would be the guy to do Ghost in the Shell, which I believed was just bought by Spielberg/Dreamworks (so I have no clue how that would play out). Wouldn’t that be a nice bookend to Blade Runner?
I happen to think that there is quite a lot of good sci-fi material out there that is untapped by Hollywood. I’m still waiting for some of the old school library to get tapped (including Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”), as well as plenty of newerish stuff like Robert K. Morgan’s “Altered Carbon” and Market Forces”, Vernor Vinge’s “Rainbows End”, Neal Stephenson’s - “Snow Crash”, John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” and…..etc.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
ahem, childhood’s end.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos if I had prayers to be answered.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Hyperion would be amazing! Although i’d question anything other than at least a trilogy considering how interconnected and dense the material is.
One can hope anyway…
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Neal Stephenson’s Diamond Age would be incredible to see.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
gocitizen,
I agree about Ghost in The Shell. But he could end up painting himself in a corner if it resembles Blade Runner too much, since GITS is so heavily influenced by it to some degree.
Unless he makes it more like the sequel, where the world has more of a neo-steampunk sort of vibe.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Capt. - I guess that is true about GITS. The other side of that might offer a challenge to the Scott to distinguish the film. Perhaps, he embraces the similarity and wants to update his approach. I just wonder how he would handle the visuals of such a project. I was lukewarm about GITS being adapted to live action, but the possibility of someone like Ridley Scott behind camera would have me truly excited.
How did Ruairi Robinson end up getting the Akira gig anyway?
Skaught - Do you think Childhood’s End is filmable? That would be tough.
Funk - I believe they are doing Diamond Age as a 6 hr. miniseries on the SFC
June 4th, 2008 at 5:04 am
I’m stunned that someone would attempt to film Blood Meridian. That book just seems wholly unfilmable.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Scott doesn’t say he’s going to be able to make Blood Meridian. He says he has the script. I believe the major studios are afraid of Blood because of it’s violence, and you can’t be true to the book without it.
Scott has, in the past, mentioned turning “Brave New World” into a film, so per haps that might be what he’s considering doing after Nottingham?
June 4th, 2008 at 5:49 am
I heard ages ago, that he was adapting aldous huxley’s “brave new world” which would be pretty awesome and it could be done pg 13.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Blood Meridian makes No Country For Old Men seem like ginger beer man. There is no way it could be faithfully adapted to the screen with anything less than a NC-17 rating. Blood is virtually unmakeable and I dont expect this project to ever come to fruition with not only Ridley but any director.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I still think it would be neat to see Prey on the big screen (Book by Michael Crichton), but in general, Im just waiting for that and Ender’s Game. They could make both of those awesome. Or another I, Robot movie. There are so many possibilities with those short stories..
June 4th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I’m pretty sure it’s going to a live action version of THE JETSONS.
Oh, I can’t wait!
June 4th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I would love to see Hyperion filmed also, but Mimi and pn are correct, I believe. It only took a short Google search to find several references to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Supposedly it will star Leo di Caprio. diCaprio’s family knew Huxley and his family.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Hunter, next time use this “fixed” version of that Scott picture instead
http://xs128.xs.to/xs128/08233/ridleyscott1488.jpg
June 4th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
hahah captain awesome, i got real lol’s outta that!
June 5th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
It would be awesome to see Ridley do GITS but I think he would clash with Spielberg. They’re two different directors and Scott would hate having Spielberg talking in his ear during production. I think Ridley isn’t the type who respects lazy directors who rush into projects for a quick buck. Ignoring Spielberg’s advice would cause conflicts on set.
That being said Scott has such a amazing eye for detail and picks great artists to do his fantasy sets and costumes. Not to mention special effects I like to think Alien and Bladerunner still hold up pretty well effects-wise considering their age. I wonder if Ridley won’t just surprise us all and go another route. He did want to make Alien 5 with Cameron, I’m sure that’ll never happen though.
Whatever he ends up doing I’m sure it will raise the bar of the genre yet again. I’d love to see a modified version of “Brave New World” there were a few dull moments and a couple action epic action scenes added wouldn’t hurt either.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Oh I just remembered they’ve been searching for a director also for “John Carter of Mars” which is based on a bunch of serial novels…It’s doubtable that this is the project but I might as well throw in another one…
“Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.”
June 8th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Chris and lets be honest. When it comes to sci-fi “anything”…
Scott annihilates Spielberg. Spielberg does corny sci-fi. Where Scott puts more thought into it, along with amazing environment design. Scott is a master world and character-builder.
And both Alien films along with Blade Runner “still” look good today, if not better than the shoveled crap rushed to the big screen today that’s marked “sci-fi”.
June 9th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Ender’s Game fits oh so well…The Book is written in 1985, though the first incarnation is actually a short story in a Sci-fi magazine.
Since Wolfgang Petersen is slated to direct Uprising, which happens to be a Sci-Fi.
It fits because they are writing Ender’s Game as we speak( Orson Scott Card is making changes to one of the drafts ), and are in reality just waiting for a director, so they can fine-tune the project, and start Casting.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Bring on “Stranger in a Strange Land” next!