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Last April we noted that Dan Simmons' awesome Hyperion Cantos had been optioned by Warner Bros. to be brought to the big screen. Things must be moving behind the scenes as Warner Bros. has tapped Scott Derrickson to direct. Derrickson's last film was the forgettable The Day The Earth Stood Still. Having not seen that movie, I can't comment on whether Derrickson is a good director or not. But damn, this will be a hard one to direct.
The writer will be Trevor Sands, who will be adapting both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion all into one movie. Good luck with that. The sheer breadth and scope of the books cannot possibly be handled by any movie that is roughly 2, or even 2 1/2 hours long. It's just not going to happen. Inevitably, something will have to go. I'm guessing characters will be dropped or condensed and all the stories from the first book will be either axed or only referenced in passing. Then, the conflict with the Ousters will be blow up (heh) into a summer, science fiction SFX extravaganza! You could say I'm skeptical. I see Sands has written a movie I've never seen, but more interesting is that he has worked on the adaptations for Six Million Dollar Man and Startide Rising (which is another of my top 10 SF books, something I'd love to see on the big screen and probably not possible to do the book justice). Sands looks to have some SF pedigree, but the lack of his screenplays actually being made into movies isn't reassuring.
I'll stay skeptical, but I will continue to watch this. For something fun, let's resurrect the casting game from the original post! Who do you think should play:
The Consul
Brawne Lamia
Sol Weintraub and his daughter Rachel
Marting Silenus
Colonel Kassad
Father Hoyt
The Shrike (I'm guessing CGI Andy Serkis again. He certainly has a face for CGI! J/K Andy!)
Comments (12)
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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday January 31, 2009 at 12:59 AM
© 2009 SF Signal
I'd also add the Keats cybrid, Het Masteen and Paul Dure to the list.
Posted by Ausir on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 2:04 AM
Having made the mistake of seeing The Day the Movie Sucked, I'm really uneasy about this film - beyond the fact that I agree, a regular-length movie just wouldn't cut it. This is the kind of story that needs a one-week, 2-hour-per-episode miniseries. Ultimately, playing the casting game might be more enjoyable than the film, but here are my picks:
The Consul - John Cusack
Brawne Lamia - Rosario Dawson
Sol Weintraub - Gene Wilder (Watch Murder in a Small Town if you don't believe he can pull it off)
Rachel Weintraub (adult) - Jessica Brooks
Martin Silenus - Danny Devito
Colonel Fedmahn Kassad - Oded Fehr
Father Lenar Hoyt - Edward Norton
the John Keats cybrid(s) - Jamie Bamber
Father Paul Dure - Robert Duval
Het Masteen - Chow Yun Fat
and let's not forget some of the other key supporting players:
Meina Gladstone - Lauren Becall
Sad King Billy - Terry Jones
Governor Theo Lane - David Tennant
The Bishop of the Church of Final Atonement/the Shrike Cult - Bill Duke
I'd also nominate Nathan Fillion for Raul Endymion if things ever got that far.
And yeah, actually a CG'd Andy Serkis would probably do nicely for the Shrike.
Posted by bloginhood on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 2:56 AM
I'd rather not comment in detail and instead turn a blind eye to the fact that this masterpiece is going to be torn apart by the Hounds of Hollywood. Hyperion, R.I.P.
Posted by Frank on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Major fail. Look, there are a million hack sci-fi stories that would suit a hack director, hack screenwriter and Hollywood's bottom line. Turn one of those into your next overproduced CGI extravaganza. You don't really have to trample one of science fiction's masterpieces into the muck and trash. Let's just leave this one in development hell.
Posted by Matte Lozenge on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Despite my reservations, my curiosity got the best of me and I recently saw The Day the Earth Stood Still remake. The work on that film does not inspire confidence for this director. Apart from some nice X-Files lighting here and there, it was fairly unremarkable and looked like it was a patchwork of ideas that they tried to fit into the film. Blatant use of CGI. An overacting child actor. Ridiculous treatment of GORT. Generic action.
Yeah, anyway... too bad for Hyperion.
Posted by weyland yutani on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 4:42 PM
Let's face it guys: this movie is going to be a ususal Holywood CGI blockbuster that no one is going to rmember in few months after release. I would also liek to mention, that the only director/producer which has a shot at making Hyperion Cantos in a movie it deserves, is the God of film making - Stanley Kubrick. If he were alive and directing it, it Hyperion would be the next 2001!
Posted by Bozidar Paun on Thursday August 13, 2009 at 5:32 PM
I agree that the choice of director here does not inspire much confidence. And I too am worried that this fantastic work of literature will be butchered by Hollywood.
My hope for a movie based on the first two books of Hyperion would be the following:
First, a truly great director. Stanley Kubrick is dead, or he would have been good. Martin Scorsese or Clint Eastwood might be able to do this, as would, of course, Steven Spielburg. Spielburg would be good because he is one of the few directors living who always has "final cut" on his movies, meaning that no one can alter what he wants to be the final product.
Secondly, this movies must be absolutely faithfull to the original source material. That means we need a budget of $200,000,000 at minimum, and the length will be at least 3.5 hours if not longer. And why not? Movie history is full of films over 4 hours long. But for various reasons these days they are rare.
This needs to be a BIG movie, with major actors, lavish sets, high drama, huge space battles, but also very personal, intimate, spiritual scenery.
My ideas for the cast:
The Consul - Anthony Hopkins
Brawne Lamia - Hilary Swank
Sol Weintraub - Dustin Hoffman
Rachel Weintraub (adult) - Jessica Brooks
Martin Silenus - Johnny Depp
Colonel Fedmahn Kassad - Oded Fehr
Father Lenar Hoyt - Jeremy Irons
the John Keats cybrid(s) - Hugh Jackman
Father Paul Dure - Liam Neeson
Het Masteen -Viggo Morgenson
Meina Gladstone - Helen Mirran
Sad King Billy - Timothy Spall
Governor Theo Lane - David Tennant
The Bishop of the Church of Final Atonement/the Shrike Cult - Peter O'Toole
Posted by Peter on Thursday December 03, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Is this work still going on ?
Feel interested , but not so much news are available at today. Last are from one year ago. What's going on ? There's someone who may me know about ?
Regards
Posted by Francesco on Wednesday December 16, 2009 at 11:29 AM
i'm also saddened by the obvious lack of respect for one of the truly creative and fascinating science fiction works yet written.
the day the earth stood still was one of the worst films i ever saw, a classic that never should have been remade and certainly not in the disrespectful way it was.
as a filmmaker and artist i have become so cynical about the corporate destruction of classic films and literature... hey that's kind of ironic since we're talking about hyperion. sigh.
Posted by Zack on Wednesday February 10, 2010 at 6:29 PM
My thoughts on casting:
The Consul - Liam Neeson
Fr. Lenar Hoyt - Brad Dourif
Fr. Paul Dure - Malcolm McDowell
Fedman Kassad - Michael Dorn
Martin Silenus - James Spader
Sol Weintraub - Erick Avari
Brawne Lamia - Olivia Wilde
Het Masteen - Jeremy Irons
John Keats - Jamie Bamber
Menia Gladstone - Judi Dench
The Shrike - Himself
Posted by Dave on Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 12:08 AM
Lenar Hoyt - Cillian Murphy
Colonel Kassad - Faran Tahir
Martin Silenus - Ian Holm
Sol Weintraub - Daniel Day Lewis
Brawne Lamia - Monique Gabriela Curnen
The Consul - Gary Oldman
Het Masteen - Rick Yune
Meina Gladstone - Judi Dench
John Keats - Tom Hardy
Paul Dure - Dick Van Dyke
Moneta - Gemma Arterton
Posted by Charlie Egan on Monday July 26, 2010 at 9:03 PM
I forgot to mention possible directors.
James Cameron, J. J. Abrams, Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp, and possibly Michael Bay.
If any of these guys did agree to do Hyperion, I think it would be best if they were to wait 5 to 10 years to make it happen, pour as much money as they could into it, and make it a rated R movie. It would also be imperative to stay completely true to the book and have Dan Simmons on set at all times just to make sure they get the imagery right.
Posted by Charlie Egan on Monday July 26, 2010 at 9:15 PM