Twentieth Century Fox recently acquired the movie rights to Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Bryan Singer has signed on.
The adaptation will be titled Uprising and Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim will write the script.
It has not been announced that Singer will direct, however, he previously directed X-Men: Days of Future Past, and his next assignment is directing X-Men: Apocalypse, which starts shooting in April. So he probably hasn’t been hired to sweep the floors.
Twice before studios planned to film the novel but DreamWorks and Phoenix Pictures eventually allowed the rights to revert to Heinlein’s estate.
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Why do books need to be made into movies? Who has gone to a movie and watched it and said, “this would make a good book”.
So far, all attempts to make a film based on Heinlein’s books have been bungled badly … maybe going back to the only book that was in any way successful as a film will break the losing streak … or just lead to another direct-to-video release in the delete bin at Walmart. To be honest, I don’t think Destination Moon is the best narrative for film treatment. It worked in its day because of a vogue at the time for science fiction films and television with a strong documentary feel.
I wouldn’t call Puppet Masters (the movie) “bungled badly”, just kind of mediocre.
Predestination is not, of course, based on a book, and hence is not evidence against Taral’s statement.
In general, I feel great fear when I hear that a book I care about is going to be made into a movie. Why *do* they make books into movies? Movies are, by far, more widely seen than books are read, they can’t really be looking for the large pre-sold audience can they? Especially since the people who have read the book will pretty reliably consider it superior to the movie?
Extremely few films based on books are better. Many, like the Karloff FRANKENSTEIN, alter the material to a point where it is no longer the book, but it becomes the public’s reference.
PREDESTINATION is out on DVD.It didn’t bother to go on very many screens in the USA. I have a copy, which I plan to watch later on this day because the household is snowbound.
PUPPET MASTERS: also very altered.
I wish John Varley would write up his dealings with MILLENIUM, which wasted his time for a few years, and became a bomb on the screen. If you watched the film (and I did) it lists about 23 producers…all which wanted some film input, according to Varley.
It would work far better as a mini-series. The novel is so broad and rich with detail that trying to cram it all into a 2-hour movie would result in oversimplified plotlines and cardboard characters. It would lose all its Heinlein-ness.
Studios in the USA haven’t gotten a hold of the idea of a mini series quite yet. It’s still Blockbuster mentality.
PREDESTINATION is a fine film, but it is thoughtful and paced and not what audiences would want. It is not action and bombs (though one is promised). There is more character here. It sticks to the source material and tweeks some Heinlein into the padding.