Isaac Asimov is rolling over in his grave!

Yep, not a good match at all. I like some of this director's work, but he does not make the type of films that would make anyone with half their marbles consider him as one to direct an Asimov novel.

They mentioned Alex Proyas as having been originally attached to this project. I would much rather have seen that film.
 
Nektonic said:
They mentioned Alex Proyas as having been originally attached to this project. I would much rather have seen that film.
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I would prefer someone like Aronofsky or Chris Nolan, or even David Fincher, a director who can handle intelligent material. Proyas is unpredictable and has only made one great film for me (Dark City). Anyway, I would rather have seen this as a series on HBO.
 
Good list of possible directors Batutta, can't argue with any of those choices. I loved Dark City, and liked I Robot, although I am fully aware that many hated it. Alex Proyas is still a controversial choice probably because of his adaptation of I Robot. He would be a lot better than Emmerich though, a much better and more logical choice.

The script will be a huge part of the success or failure of this adaptation. With Emmerich though, will it matter how good or intelligent the script is? I enjoyed Stargate and Independence Day but they are not the same thing just because they happen to belong to the same genre as Foundation. That is like saying the director of Lethal Weapon should do an adaptation of The French Connection just because they both have cops in them. Too bad that is the logic of Hollywood, the formula below:

Classic or popular intellectual property + big name director who works in the same genre + movie star + big budget = big dumb effects movie that makes money whether it is good or not, all because we marketed the freaking hell out of it
 
It was about time his work got revisited though. I hope the screen writer is up to the task. Who's writing it?
 
USLatin said:
It was about time his work got revisited though. I hope the screen writer is up to the task. Who's writing it?
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The article didn't mention a writer for Foundation.

As for more of Asimov's work, there is supposedly going to be a film adaptation of The End of Eternity. A couple years ago I read somewhere that Ridley Scott was attached to that one. Of course there have been a ton of Ridley Scott projects announced in the past few years. I doubt all of them will get made. He's supposed to return to sci-fi with either an adaptation of Brave New World or The Forever War.

I think Ridley Scott would be a good choice for Foundation.
 
I just hope they put an amount of effort into the movie relative to what he put into his work. As far as I remember, when I was taught about him a long long time ago, he would master knowledge and then share it with the world in a way that could be both easily understood and relevant. Sort of a catalyst for the evolution of society. Not a small feat, and one of great significance and effect. So it would be hard to argue that such a project didn't deserve a certain level of devotion and effort to perpetuate his practice, to inspire like minded people.
 
USLatin said:
So it would be hard to argue that such a project didn't deserve a certain level of devotion and effort to perpetuate his practice, to inspire like minded people.
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Logically yes, it wouldn't be hard to argue this fact, but this is Hollywood. With the director they have attached to this I just don't get the vibe that they will be attempting an intelligent science fiction film, but a big budget FX roller coaster ride.

I guess all we can do is hope for the best and reserve judgement until we see some footage of until the film actually comes out. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best.
 
Foundation is by far my favourite Sci-Fi series. I first read it when I was 12 (back when there were only three books), and I've re-read the entire series every few years ever since (I just completed re-reading it a couple months ago -- all 7 books!)

Of course I've thought about how to turn Foundation into a movie, and I've decided that Foundation isn't a feature-film -- it's a long-form TV miniseries.

The first book alone is a 3-part film.

Also, to tie all the parts together you would have to merge it with Asimov's Robots series so that at least one character is continual throughout (books take place over about 600 years, and everyone has a normal lifespan.)

An "action" version of Foundation will end up looking like Chronicles of Riddick -- not that that's bad (I rather like CoR), but it's not Foundation.
 
pmark23 said:
An "action" version of Foundation will end up looking like Chronicles of Riddick -- not that that's bad (I rather like CoR), but it's not Foundation.
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This I don't doubt, and I like Riddick as well.

But it begs the question, why adapt something just to turn it into something so completely different from the source material? If indeed they are going for a sci-fi action epic type of movie, which is probably the case here, then wouldn't it be easier to create an original story that works from the get go as an action spectacle film?

Look what the Wachowski's did with The Matrix. A huge factor in that film's success is that it was conceived and written as an action sci-fi hybrid. Sure it isn't easy but an original and audience pleasing film can be done.

Is there really a massive built-in audience for Foundation? And if so, I doubt that it is large enough to justify a Roland Emmerich big budget production. Nothing against Asimov but I doubt his work is as well know by today's intended target audience as much as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter is. As mentioned above, a TV miniseries would probably be the best course of action.

I'd be the same with something like 1984 for example. I'm sure a modern big budget adaptation would just transpose a bunch of big action set pieces on top of the original narrative.

As a fan of the Lord of the Rings I can say that it is an amazing experience to get an awesome adaptation of a favorite novel. It is too bad pmark23 that you might not be getting a faithful or respectful adaptation of one of your favorite books.
 
A possible reprieve?

http://io9.com/5483434/roland-emmerich-puts-foundation-on-the-back-burner-thank-goodness

Maybe something else will come up between now and then, like say...the end of time? I'd take it over what they're describing here.

I'm really into it. I worked with Bob on the story for weeks, sitting in a room trying to figure out how to make all the loose stories [work] and put them in a box called ‘Foundation'. Bob's perfect for this thing - he also knows as a writer he has to find the hero and a bad guy in the piece. We had to come up with characters that go through [the series], which is very hard.
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Best comment from that page though:

The hero: Hari Sheldon

The Villain: Entropy
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Nektonic said:
But it begs the question, why adapt something just to turn it into something so completely different from the source material?
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Because to a studio or distributor the value of the original source material - the only value of the original source material - is its Q-Factor, to form the basis for a recognizable product to promote and get asses in the seats.

Hence, Starship Troopers is only tenuously related to Heinlein's novel. The recent Pride and Prejudice is likewise a derivative of the original work, not an adaptation. And of course the only common qualities shared by Alice in Wonderland and the current film in theaters are the title, and the names and partial cast of characters.
 
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Sad Max said:
Because to a studio or distributor the value of the original source material - the only value of the original source material - is its Q-Factor, to form the basis for a recognizable product to promote and get asses in the seats.

Hence, Starship Troopers is only tenuously related to Heinlein's novel. The recent Pride and Prejudice is likewise a derivative of the original work, not an adaptation. And of course the only common qualities shared by Alice in Wonderland and the current film in theaters is the title, and the names and partial cast of characters.
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You know, even though I did enjoy the Starship Troopers films, I would like to see the book get a faithful adaptation to film. I bet it would be a fun IMAX 3D flick.
 
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