Ridley Scott is going back to the futurism.
The director who helmed “Blade Runner” will take on one of the most highly regarded dystopian works of literature, Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”
The project has been set up at Universal, where Scott will produce the project with an eye to direct. His sometimes collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio, meanwhile, will produce with an eye to star.
The studio has brought on “Apocalypto” scribe Farhad Safinia to pen the script; he’s expected to begin working shortly.
Scott and DiCaprio will produce via their respective Scott Free and Appian Way banners, with Michael Costigan also producing for Scott Free and George DiCaprio producing at Appian. Peter Cramer is overseeing for Uni.
Scott has mentioned casually in interviews over the past year that he’s interested in the 1931 novel, which Appian Way owns, prompting a flurry of rumors on sci-fi and other blogs. But the studio details and DiCaprio’s personal involvement have been murky.
Now, with a writer on board and Scott Free and Appian execs 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 an go projects beyond “Robin Hood,” his period actioner which is shooting in England. 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 pic 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 to the story are Bernard, a lower-caste member, and Lenina, the woman with whom he is infatuated. DiCaprio is 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-toplined take 25 years ago.
Scott, repped by WME, has been regarded as 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.
Safinia, repped by Category 5 Entertainment, has experience in man-on-the-run action pics with “Apocalypto,” Mel Gibson’s chase movie set in the Mayan jungle.
Scott directed DiCaprio, repped by The Firm, in Middle East thriller “Body of Lies,” and the two are also producing dark thriller “The Low Dweller” at Relativity.
