Scott Derrickson to Direct Dan Simmons’ Hyperion
Science-fiction fans are groaning inwardly (and possibly outwardly) right now as the announcement has just come down from Variety that Scott Derrickson, director of The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, is set to adapt the Dan Simmons novels Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion for the big screen. The two books are being combined into one screenplay by writer Trevor Sands (Inside).
I mentioned previously that I’m a bit concerned about them compressing these two books into one movie, especially considering the complexity and multiple layers contained within the story. The fact that Derrickson is now in the director’s chair only confirms that they’re looking at it more as a low brow special effects blockbuster than anything else. I didn’t even think the FX in The Day The Earth Stood Still were very exciting to begin with, so yeah, this is definitely a bad sign if you ask me. Now what would be really cool is if they got a group of directors to each take on a different segment for the various flashbacks that happen in the first book. I’d pay to see THAT.
Comments (5)
I dunno. I´m probably one of the biggest Simmons-Fans around, but attaching the director of one of the most boring and wooden SciFi-Movies of the last decade to such a project, just doesn´t sound right. Combining the two books (wich are totally different in tone and style) into one script also seems like a very bad idea.
On the other hand the scriptwriter of Inside should at least mean that we would get the cruciform storyline presented in a worthwhile way.
But all in all I don´need a movie version of one of the best SciFi-Novels ever. If they really have to adapt Dan Simmons for the big screen why not start with something smaller like his Joe Kurtz-Novels or his more Kinglike ones like Summer of Night?
It´s sad that Dan never got the regocnition he deserved till now, but it´s even worth when they try to make a written masterpiece to a blockbuster popcorn ride.
Posted by theDia on January 30th, 2009i’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 February 10th, 2010My opinion is much the same as Zack’s and theDia’s.
IMHO, nothing quite compares to the Hyperion Cantos. Like most people, I’m more than a little bit apprehensive that this film will simply become just another trashy mdoern Sci-Fi film, a la The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Of course, I hope I’m wrong, but I just can’t see the entire storyline of the first two books being put into one film coherently. The Hyperion Cantos struck me, on first reading, as the kind of series that could, with the right writers/ director, make a fantastic series of films, in a similar way to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still, I’m gonna see the film either way.
Posted by grundledib on February 16th, 2010Regardless of the negative press the late L. Ron Hubbard receives dur to Scientology, et al., his book, “Battlefield Earth,” was one of my favourite reads as a teenager, full of everything that an ambitious space opera is supposed to contain, and eminently satisfying. Its movie treatment is a notoriously bad hack job that will unfortunately keep many science fiction fans who might have otherwise considered reading it from do, and I fear that the same ignoble end is awaiting Dan Simmons’ masterwork.
Posted by Black Angus on August 17th, 2010Ugh this is not the news I needed to stumble upon today. I was wondering if anyone had done a comic book version of Hyperion.
The Hyperion series is one of my favorite SciFi stories and I am so very disappointed that they are even trying to combine it into one super-crappy and confusing movie. How dreadfully shortsighted!! The 2nd book REQUIRES the 1st book to be separate, IMHO.
And all this in a world where we already have so much horrible film remaking for the sake of pure blind lowest-denominator profit and it is AWFUL. They can’t come up with one idea of their own and they will crush this series full of wonderful ideas to squeeze soem cash out of it virtually burning the books in the process. I desperately want them to do a good job with the separate stories, too. I would almost rather this was a SyFy or other miniseries or even regular show (but done well) and then they could take their time on each part.
I wonder if there is any possibility of a model of film making by enthusiasts where we somehow accumulate money to make a film the RIGHT WAY from our favorite stories, like a community based project…
I wish I was a better artist, I would make the damn comic or flash series myself.
Posted by Drewdee on September 21st, 2010Leave a Reply