Roland Emmerich Lands Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"

[Duffy12]

io9:

Roland Emmerich Puts Foundation On The Back Burner, Thank Goodness

Is Roland Emmerich really going to adapt Isaac Asimov's Foundation books? Maybe, but he's doing another movie first. And he's making the writer rewrite the script so the movie will have "a hero" and "a bad guy." Minor spoilers ahead.

Emmerich is going ahead with his next movie project — Anonymous, which is based on the longstanding theory that Shakespeare's plays were actually written by the 17th Earl Of Oxford. He already has Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis and Rhys Ifans signed up to star.

So what about Foundation? Emmerich tells Empire Magazine that he might do the Asimov adaptation after Anonymous, but it depends on the script, which is currently being written by his The Patriot screenwriter, Robert Rodat. He says the script is "240 pages long! I said, ‘You know what guys? Edit it down to at least under 200 pages.'"

But he adds that he's enthusiastic about the material, which he wants to do entirely in CG and 3-D motion-capture:

"I'm really into it. I worked with Bob on the story for weeks, sitting in a room trying to figure out how to make all the loose stories [work] and put them in a box called ‘Foundation'. Bob's perfect for this thing - he also knows as a writer he has to find the hero and a bad guy in the piece. We had to come up with characters that go through [the series], which is very hard."

So are you more horrified by Emmerich's description of his ideas for a Foundation script, or more relieved that he's not going to get to it any time soon? [Empire]

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

I am a big fan of Asimov and have read all of his books at least three times. Not sure how Foundation will translate into a film. I fear that they will deviate from the actual story as it will not translate very well for a theatrical release.

Foundation is a bit too tricky and large in scope to turn into a movie, I agree with you. It won't stop them from trying I am sure. Just try to imagine the actor playing the role of Hari Seldon explaining what psychohistory is in 2 minutes of screen time I hated what they did with I Robot and I think I will just skip this. Like I said before I will save money and read my books again, will be much better.

[OrlandoEastwood]

I gave up on Roland Emmerich after Godzilla. ID4 was fun, but Godzilla was a love/hate feeling towards him because I love the old school Japanese flicks and I decided no more after I saw it three times in theaters. I passed on Day After Tomorrow; 10,000 B.C, and will be passing on 2012.