One of the long-range projects that I’ve been keeping an eye on has been the in development remake of the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet. Not only is it one of my favorite films, but the scripter currently working on the film is one of my favorite writers, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.
Having already dismissed rumors that the film would be a sequel, Straczynski spoke with MTV Movies Blog and gave out some more clues as to what his take on the project would be.
I told [producer] Joel [Silver] this is how you do Forbidden Planet without pissing on the original that no one has ever thought of. When I told [the idea] to him, his eyes lit up. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not exactly a prequel. You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline… [When coming] up with the Krell backstory and who they are, I sat down with some of the nation’s best minds in astrophysics and planetary geology and A.I. and asked them — based on what we know now — what will a million years from now look like? The goal is to put things in there you’ve never seen before.
The interview clears up at least one minor mystery for fans of the writer. Several months back, Straczynski mentioned on line that he was in the process of talking with several scientists and futurists in relation to a project that he couldn’t mention at the time. Of course, this raises the question of what did he learn from these scientists and how is that going to come into play in his screenplay. And what does it mean when he states that the film “isn’t a reimaging” and not “exactly a prequel”? Is it a second story that takes place concurrently with the original movie?
