Ummm... I don't know. BSG anyone? And how can someone adapt a book that hasn't even been written yet?

Kaan | March 12, 15:11 CET

From what I gather if the synposis for a book sounds incredibly good, Hollywood will snap up the rights even though it hasn't been finished. It's all about the pitch.

Simon | March 12, 15:13 CET

Ummm... I don't know. BSG anyone? And how can someone adapt a book that hasn't even been written yet?

It worked okay for Jurassic Park....

zz9 | March 12, 16:17 CET

This may or may not be a Paramount thing and may or not involve Joss.

gossi | March 12, 17:12 CET

Yeah but that was dinosaurs! :p

Crichton worked on the screenplay himself. And the concept of the story was pretty unique. There haven't been too many dinosaur movies. But "an apocalyptic robot uprising" is done in Hollywood pretty much every other year, so the story should (hopefully) have some kind of angle to differentiate itself from the rest. So presumably Goddard knows how the book will end, otherwise he is blindly writing to a conclusion yet to be known. But what if the author decides his original ending sucked and now has to rework the entire novel to make it work and its now about monkeys instead of robots, all that 'adaptation' work goes out the window. What if he decides to scrap the book altogether?

I'm just saying that until a book is published it cannot possibly be adapted (other than by the author himself) because anything can still be changed.

But then again, this is a pretty huge opportunity for Goddard if this happens and I don't think Spielberg needs any advise from some chump like me. :)

Okay so wrote all that crap and about to post and then gossi shows up being all crypticy and now nobody cares what I had to say.

Kaan | March 12, 17:15 CET

I care about what you say, K(h)aa(aaaaaaaaaaa)n!

gossi | March 12, 17:20 CET

Thanks gossi! Knew I'd eventually find one person ;)

Kaan | March 12, 17:26 CET

I don't really know what my opinion of this one is. I do know I likes me some robots almost as much as I'm into apocalypses. Apocalypsii?

gossi | March 12, 17:43 CET

As zz9 mentioned,the first Jurassic Park was optioned as the book was being written.Also it's sequel,The Lost World.The Lost World book was being written at the same time as the script for the movie.

2001:A Space Odyssey was developed as a novel and film simultaneously between Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick.

Buffyfantic | March 12, 18:11 CET

It turns out I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural of apocalypse.

BillK | March 12, 18:20 CET

Buffyfantic:
2001 was a complete collaboration between Clarke and Kubrick. I recall something about Clarke saying Kubrick's name should have been on the book as well. And the author of Jurassic Park himself worked on the film script.

I know this stuff must happen all the time in Hollywoodland, I'm just saying that you can't adapt something that isn't there to begin with. Until the story is finished to the author's satisfaction, like Simon said up-thread, it's only a pitch. I suspect many authors make these deals as a way to survive financially, and I'm all for that, but how much creative freedom do they give away in the process? When I read articles like this it just smacks me as crass commercialism.

Write your novel. See if people like it. Adapt said novel. See if people like said adaptation. But when there is someone else adapting your story at the same time as you are writing it... I don't know. Of course, this article wasn't that forthcoming with much detail, so I could be way off base about this one.

BillK:
I too would like to know the proper plural. And anything else gossi knows that he isn't telling us.

Kaan | March 12, 19:16 CET

I looked up Daniel H Wilson and he's already written a book called "How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion". So I assume that Robopocalypse is based the world he created with that book.

That said, an unwritten book can be sold as a movie option based on just an outline. Daniel H Wilson may have not written the ending, but I assume he knows how the story will wrap up.

Matt_Fabb | March 12, 19:22 CET

Kaan said:


You know, I think a monkey apocalypse would be way better than a robot one. Monopocalypse?

Don't know how interested I would be in this one. Robo apocalypses did bring about BSG, but I could see this being a bit unoriginal. Will have to wait and see. The title ain't helping though.

I did enjoy Cloverfield, but I think that was more down to the direction and spectacle of the film, rather than Goddard's writing, I'm sorry to say. He did great stuff for Buffy though, so I'm sure he could do something interesting (and there is Cabin in the Woods, which I am really looking forward to.)


Edit: Can you have multiple apocalypsi/apocalypses/apocalypodes (or whatever)? Surely after the first you wouldn't need another.

[ edited by Vandelay on 2010-03-12 19:32 ]

Vandelay | March 12, 19:26 CET

Steven Spielberg seems to be picking a new project every couple of weeks, and dropping them just as regularly. Which doesn't mean that if he gets out of this one it won't be picked up by another director. Umm... I know one great director... What was his name? Joe Sweden? Josh Wearden? Nope, escapes me.

[ edited by Effulgent on 2010-03-12 22:00 ]

Effulgent | March 12, 21:57 CET

The prural for apocalypse is apocalypses in Latin.

Nocticola | March 12, 22:13 CET

I'd rather Steven Spielberg focus on that George Gershwin biopic with Zachary Quinto.

Yeah, he does seem to pick a new project every few weeks. That was last month's.

I do know from an old Julie Benz interview that Spielberg knew her from AtS.

And well, points to Spielberg for going Elvis fanboy when he hired Teri Garr for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Teri was a backup dancer in 7 Elvis movies) and called Viva Las Vegas (probably the one that you can see her most prominently in during the What'd I Say? scene) his favorite movie at that time. And she had already been in Young Frankenstein and he chose to talk about that part of her career. LOL. Spotting Teri in those movies is very "Where's Waldo?"

And I've heard countless stories of Spielberg playing Star Wars video games in his office. Spielberg and Lucas also own about 50 Norman Rockwell paintings between them.

[ edited by NileQT87 on 2010-03-13 03:59 ]

NileQT87 | March 13, 03:41 CET

Robot apocalypses certainly didn't start with Battlestar Galactica (especially since in the original series, wasn't it an alien race that built the Cylons that was at war with humans?). Stories like "I, Robot" were around long before, as was the "Terminator" movie franchise. Even "War Games" was about a computer potentially bringing about the end of the world. As long as this is a fresh take on a robot apocalypse, I don't see the problem.

Also, although "Jurassic Park" was the only dinosaur movie of its day, there had been many dinosaur movies in the past. "Journey to the Center of The Earth" probably being the best example, but the Godzilla movies also had a dinosaur bent (and there were plenty of those). Heck, I was watching "The Land of the Lost" on TV as a kid (those Sleestacks scared the crap out of me!). The only new spin in "Jurassic Park" was that human technology was involved in bringing back the dinosaurs.

JossIzBoss | March 13, 16:01 CET

Vandalay, I think the Monopocalypse would be the singular, as opposed to apocalypsii, or -ses. Or, it could be monkeys.....

toast | March 14, 00:39 CET