Relax, it’s for an adaptation of ‘Fahrenheit 451’
Seems like every day 2017 looks a little more like a dystopic novel: civil disorder, totalitarian rulers, an increase in military spending at the expense of social and cultural programs, Teen Wolf got cancelled; bottom line, it’s pretty dour out there.
Unless you’re the author of one of these dystopic novels, like Brave New World, 1984, or The Handmaid’s Tale, then you’re having the best sales of your career thanks to the teeming masses trying to adjust to the New World Order.
HBO’s looking to capitalize on this unrest by adapting the other really famous dystopic novel — Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, about a future where books are outlawed — into a movie, and now they’ve got their stars. Oscar-nominee and general badass Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) will be playing Beatty, chief of the firemen who burn books, and Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) will be playing the story’s protagonist Guy Montag, who starts to think maybe the obliteration of free thought is a bad idea.
The film is being co-written and directed by Ramin Bahrani, who directed Shannon in the most-excellent 99 Homes. The film hasn’t been given a production commitment yet, but according to Variety, who broke the news, it’s quickly moving towards a greenlight. No word on who might be playing the other main character, teenager Clarisse McClellan, who is the impetus for Montag’s ideological change of heart.
Fahrenheit 451 was made previous as a film by Francois Truffaut in 1966, and I can remember in the 90’s Mel Gibson was in talks to star and direct in another adaptation, but that obviously never came to fruition.
With no commitment in place there is of course no release date as yet, but start thinking this time next year, assuming there is a this time next year.
Over in our corner of the internet we had a lot of really interesting posts go up yesterday, including a look at the world-building details of The Matrix, an investigation of the pending WGA strike, an article anticipating Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, a peek at Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga filming A Star is Born at Coachella, and a query about that new King Kong TV series.
And lastly, take a look at five of the most popular shots we tweeted over the last 24 hours. Want more? You know where to find us.
Related Topics: Culture, One Perfect Shot
