Brave New World

[Elurin]

Ridley Scott, DiCaprio travel to Brave New World | Entertainment | Reuters

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Ridley Scott is going back to the futurism.

The "Blade Runner" director is joining forces with Leonardo DiCaprio to take on one of the most highly regarded dystopian works of literature, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."

Both are producing the Universal project, which DiCaprio would tentatively star in and Scott direct. The studio has brought on "Apocalypto" scribe Farhad Safinia to write the script; he's expected to be working shortly.

Scott has mentioned casually in interviews that he's interested in the 1931 novel, whose film rights are owned by DiCaprio's Appian Way production company, prompting a flurry of rumors on sci-fi and other blogs over the past year. But the studio details as well as DiCaprio's personal involvement always have been murky.

Now, with a writer on board and production executives meeting frequently during the past six months, the project has more momentum, though several people familiar with it emphasize that it remains at the development stage.

Much of the timing going forward will depend on the script. Scott is not committed to direct anything beyond "Robin Hood," which is in post-production. DiCaprio is shooting the Christopher Nolan adventure tale "Inception," but does not have a movie lined up after that.

"Brave" has had several go-rounds on television, including a Leonard Nimoy-Peter Gallagher picture on NBC in 1998. But Huxley's idea-rich novel hasn't had a shot on the big screen.

Huxley sets his book in a seemingly perfect 26th century world that has achieved harmony by tightly controlling birth, which takes place mainly in laboratories, and outlawing family. The world is populated by a series of five castes, each with its own defined roles.

Characters who figure in are Bernard, a lower-caste member, and Lenina, the woman with whom he is infatuated. DiCaprio would likely play Bernard, who is persecuted when the leaders of the society find his behavior antisocial.

Dystopian stories have sometimes proved difficult to film. George Orwell's "1984" has had several theatrical turns, including Michael Anderson's Columbia version in 1956 and the somewhat better regarded John Hurt vehicle 25 years ago.

Scott is considered one of the few who can pull it off. The director took the Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and turned it into the 1982 futurist pic "Blade Runner." While the movie divided critics and didn't enjoy a great theatrical run, it has had a long life on video and become a cult classic.

Scott directed DiCaprio in last year's Middle East thriller "Body of Lies," and the two are also producing dark thriller "The Low Dweller" at indie filmmaker Relativity.

Brave New World is such a kick ass book, I'm surprised no one has made a movie yet. With Ridley Scott I can't imagine this being bad, either.

[The Ancient]

Originally Posted by Elurin

Brave New World is such a kick ass book

Strongly disagree.

[AlexTheDictator]

Originally Posted by The Ancient

Strongly disagree.

Strongly disagree.

[Schatze]

Make the movie a completely brainless tits and ass action flick.

And the people who enjoy it the most won't even realize the joke is on them, nor care. Those who do should appreciate the irony.

edit: just realized the synopsis of the book in the article is more or less factually correct, but completely fails at describing the whole point of the book.

[Believe]

REALLY love this book. Ridley Scott is a good director choice, I think.

[chaos]

I've actually never read it. Maybe this is the time to do it.

[Fammaden]

DiCaprio does NOT fit as Bernard at all unless they really fucking dress him down. Way down. Not as far down as his Gilbert Grape role, but Bernard is no sex symbol/leading man type. I would think DiCaprio would do better as Helmholtz, but then again he isn't an actor with very large stature so Hollywood can probably pull off his Bernard. His acting is up to the job I imagine, just worried about his appearance. Overall, not happy. I would have much preferred this was left on the page personally.

[Tenks]

This isnt the first make of this book right? I remember watching one in HS

[Szlia]

Didn't this book aged very very poorly?

[Juvarisx]

Originally Posted by Tenks

This isnt the first make of this book right? I remember watching one in HS

Yea there was a movie with Leonard Nemoy.

Brave New World (1998) (TV)

Was made for TV and really bad though

[Fammaden]

Originally Posted by Szlia

Didn't this book aged very very poorly?

I think the concept of what it was postulating is more relevant than ever. If you are trying to look at it as sci fi or something, then sure...as badly as anything else describing future technology would age. But to focus on that would be missing the salient points of the story entirely.

[Mist]

Originally Posted by Schatze

Make the movie a completely brainless tits and ass action flick.

And the people who enjoy it the most won't even realize the joke is on them, nor care. Those who do should appreciate the irony.

edit: just realized the synopsis of the book in the article is more or less factually correct, but completely fails at describing the whole point of the book.

I was just thinking the same thing, on both counts.

[Khempis]

We were given two days to read this book in college. I really don't know how it was ever regarded as anything other than garbage. It was just a bad book. Maybe they'll do better in the movie, but amongst all of my friends this is a running joke for when something sucks. "Brave New World" or "Huxley."

Shrug. I'll have to read it again and see if my opinion has changed in the last decade, before watching the movie.

[Northerner]

It was written in 1931 and like much sci-fi, it only ages so well. It is important as literature but I can't say I'm a big fan of the book itself and the heavy-handed social commentary really is hard to take for a lot of readers. I mean, it is great for banging out a quick paper but I just don't fall into the group that finds it to be relevant today. I know, I know, a lot of terribly bright people feel otherwise. Good for them.

Anyhow, turning it into an explosion-fest T&A film would be fun for a variety of reasons, as others have pointed out.

[Cybsled]

Given when it was written and what was available techwise at the time, it's pretty impressive how close it was in some regards.

Thankfully society doesn't have to do alcohol drips into fetus-growing chambers to make generation of dumb humans...humankind does that on their own just fine!