Updates on Films FORBIDDEN PLANET, SILVER SURFER and WORLD WAR Z
Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski recently talked with Collider and offered a decent amount of information on films he has been working on such as Forbidden Planet, Silver Surfer, and World War Z. All of these are in different stages but we've been wondering what has been happening with them.
On the Forbidden Planet remake being set up at Warner Bros. for Ron Howard and Len Wiseman, Straczynski says:
I’m finishing up Forbidden Planet...I think if you’re a fan of the original as I am and have always been, I think it’s very faithful to that. We’ve actually decided to show more of the first ship when it first arrived 20 years earlier to sort of counterpoint what’s happening in the present story. But Warners is very excited about it, thinks it’s a big franchise for them and a huge budget, so they’re very much oriented toward getting it done. There’s a little more action but it’s still a strong character piece because it’s based on The Tempest and the idea of a father whose daughter is being courted by, in the original play sailors that are washed up on shore. You need to have that dynamic still in place to respect the original and the source material. So there’s a fair amount of talking but there’s some really cool action pieces in it as well.
From the sound of it he has taken the series in the right direction, focusing on story and characters is a plus. I also think the general movie going audience will be happy that there will a good amount of action in it. With the right budget director and talent this cool end up being pretty good.
So whats up with the Silver Surfer movie? I've been wondering if this was ever going to happen.
What happened was when FF2 didn’t do as well as they hoped it would do, it caused them to call into question a Silver Surfer movie. The script that I wrote picked up right where FF2 left off. So if they do a Silver Surfer film down the road, it’ll have to be its own separate things.
It doesn't sound like it's gonna happen any time soon if ever as long as FOX still has control of it. The only part of The Fantastic Four movies I liked was the Silver Surfer. I think a movie focusing on him would be a much better film than those Fantasic Four films that FOX made. He went on to say that the Silver Surfer script he wrote was more adult oriented.
As for what is going on with World War Z, a movie all of us are excited to see get made he reveals that he wrote five drafts of the script and says he doesnt know when it will get done,
The director is attached to it and Paramount really wants to see it done because they have a lot of money invested in this thing. They think it could be a really big film for them.
He then goes on to talk about how he went about adapting the the first person narrative of the story for film.
A series of interviews, so I basically said, “Well, who did those interviews?” And you tell the story of the guy who works for the UN going around the planet interviewing folks to see what happened to them and report on what happened. Through his eyes, you see flashbacks of those storylines.
Sounds good to me! I think this is a good way to tackle the story and keep the integrity of the book without completely butchering it in the process of adapting it into a film, which happens to so many books that are adapted into movies.
So there ya have it folks! That's the latest news on those film projects.
What are your thoughts on any of the films we've talked about above?