Alex Kurtzman's Sci-Fi Alien Series THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH Picked Up by CBS All Access
Alex Kurtzman’s sci-fi series The Man Who Fell To Earth has been given a series order by CBS All Access. The show is based on the Walter Tevis novel as well as the cult classic 1976 film that starred David Bowie.
The series project will “center on an alien who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.” Kurtzman talked about the alien character saying, “He is truly unique and strange.” Co-writer Jenny Lumet added, “He introduces technology that evolves us and has to be dealing with the consequences of that. What a better way of looking at human behavior.”
Kurtzman and Lumet were inspired to develop the series “12 years ago when Steve Jobs got on stage and introduced the iPhone to the world, changing forever the way we communicate.” Kurtzman then thought, “What if he was an alien?,” and that became the inspiration of the how they would handle this new series.
The story will focus on a new alien character, not the character played by Bowie in the film. This new character was inspired by Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. It’s explained that that the the creators of the series will try to avoid sci-fi tropes and “have a much more grounded series based on emotion and connection while using sci-fi as a ‘great template’.” Kurtzman added, “Getting to use this story template to do a deep dive on what it means to be a human being from the point of view of an alien who has no idea what love, human empathy and connection are.”
Kurtzman and Lumet went on to talk more about their vision of the story, saying:
“Walter Tevis’ visionary novel gave us a Tech God Willy Wonka from another planet, brought to life by David Bowie’s legendary performance, that foretold Steve Jobs’ and Elon Musk’s impact on our world. The series will imagine the next step in our evolution, seen through the eyes of an alien who must learn what it means to become human, even as he fights for the survival of his species.”
The creators of the series have no plans to try and replicate the visually stunning film, Kurtzman explained:
“Nicolas Roeg was a legend, and the last thing I would want to do is mimic his work in any way. He saw this story through his own prism. He captured that incredible sense of loneliness of a small character in a larger landscape, the alienation the character felt. He captured that feeling, and I want to find a way to capture a feeling, not necessarily in the way he did.”
Kurtman will direct the series and serve as showrunner along with Lumet along with Shooter creator John Hlavin.
This sounds like it’s going to be an awesome show, and I’m curious to see how it turns out! What are you thoughts on the series and Kurtzman’s vision of it?
Source: Deadline