“Babylon 5” creator and noted comic scribe J. Michael Straczynski spoke with Collider during last weekend’s “Ninja Assassin” press junket. He gave several updates on some of his films including "World War Z," a "Silver Surfer" spin-off and the "Forbidden Planet" remake. Straczynski said his “Silver Surfer” script is in limbo at Fox thanks to the lukewarm response received by “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”
“What happened was when ‘FF2’ didn’t do as well as they hoped it would do, it caused them to call into question a ‘Silver Surfer’ movie. The script that I wrote picked up right where ‘FF2’ left off. So if they do a ‘Silver Surfer’ film down the road, it’ll have to be its own separate things.”
Straczynski added, “It was definitely adult fare. I wanted to tell the origin of the Surfer and get into that whole thing.”
He also said that he has written several drafts of the script for the post-apocalyptic horror novel adaptation "World War Z" for Paramount.
"The director is attached to it and Paramount really wants to see it done because they have a lot of money invested in this thing," he said. "They think it could be a really big film for them.
The novel is told in a series of interviews that the main character of the narrative reports on. On adapting that style, Straczynski said he wanted to keep the documentary style of the novel but focus on the reporter.
"So I basically said, 'Well, who did those interviews?' And you tell the story of the guy who works for the UN going around the planet interviewing folks to see what happened to them and report on what happened. Through his eyes, you see flashbacks of those storylines."
Straczynski has spoken about his plans for how he sees his version of "Forbidden Planet," but that was almost a year ago. Have things changed since then? During the Collider interview, he describes how faithful the remake will be to the original.
"I think if you're a fan of the original as I am and have always been, I think it's very faithful to that. We've actually decided to show more of the first ship when it first arrived 20 years earlier to sort of counterpoint what's happening in the present story. But Warners is very excited about it, thinks it's a big franchise for them and a huge budget, so they're very much oriented toward getting it done.
Straczynski was also asked if he's added a lot more action to the story beyond what's in the original movie.
"There's a little more action but it's still a strong character piece because it's based on 'The Tempest' and the idea of a father whose daughter is being courted by, in the original play, sailors that are washed up on shore. You need to have that dynamic still in place to respect the original and the source material. So there's a fair amount of talking but there's some really cool action pieces in it as well."
Are you excited about any of these projects? Do you want a film based on Max Brooks' "World War Z" novel? Do we need a "Silver Surfer" film? Who should direct the "Forbidden Planet" remake?
So many questions...guess we will have to wait and see.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: MTV News, The Geek Files, First Showing
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