Upcoming Film Based On Arthur C. Clarke Story

SoyChemist writes "The Wired Science blog has production stills and a story about a side project that several Industrial Light and Magic employees have been working on. They are producing the short story Maelstrom II as an independent film. The entire thing was shot in front of a bluescreen, so all of the sets and props will be CGI. The lone actor, Chuck Marra, plays a guy that hitches a ride on an electromagnetically launched freight capsule from the moon to earth. When the nuclear reactor that powers the catapult fails, he is thrown into space, but not far enough to escape lunar gravity — leading to an Apollo 13 style rescue mission. The original story was written by Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey."

Re:Rendezvous with Rama

[raddan]

If someone actually does do Rendezvous with Rama, they'd better do it right. The thing about that book-- and the thing that has always made me love Clarke's writing-- is that it captures the wonder and fear in an almost palpable way. But the fear part is hard for movie people to get right. It's the fear of the unknown. Not the fear of some big, drooling monster like Hollywood loves to put in the films. Rendezvous with Rama captured the weirdness of an alien species, and to my knowledge, Arthur C. Clarke is the only writer, next to Stanislaw Lem, who toys with the idea that actually communicating with aliens may not be possible.

Kubrick has made one of the only true sci-fi films in my mind-- 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rama would have to do something similar. Definitely a hard sell, but those kinds of films have staying power.

Apollo13-style rescue mission?

[donour]

There was no rescue for Apollo 13. They had to figure out how to get home safely just by following the directions of the crew on the ground. Thank goodness, they had Tom Hanks. :-p

Re:Great Quote for His Interview

[codered82]

Without Warning [imdb.com]

Re:Great Quote for His Interview

[DerekLyons]

I don't know why but my favorite Arthur C. Clarke novel would have to be Childhood's End. ... possibly the reason why I haven't seen this adapted into a movie is it's not fit for public consumption (or something that can doom a film in the states, Christian acceptance).

Or it could be simply that the story won't translate well into film.
 
Among other things - it's really two or three connected stories told serially within one set of covers. This is the same problem that haunted Dune for decades (for example). Another problem is that Sir Arthur simply won't leave Sri Lanka, which renders collaboration difficult. Yet another problem is that 'popular' (film) sci-fi has tended for decades towards 'space opera' and lightweight sophmoric 'philosophy/morals' and steered away from deep issues and complex tales. (LOTR could safely (partially) ignore the issue of complexity because that series has what Sir Arthur lacks, a large and vocal fanbase.)
 
And the issue of fanbase may be the real key - for whatever reason, among the Masters of SF, Sir Arthur remains largely obscure. He's known for 2001, but many fen know little more than that. He simply isn't read very much. (This may be because his main output over the last twenty years has been a series of simply wretched collaborations.)

Re:Apollo13-style rescue mission?

[Don Sample]

And if they follow the Clarke story, that's what happens in this movie too. The guy has to follow the instructions on how to save himself that he gets from the folks on the ground.

Re:Great Quote for His Interview

[arashi no garou]

Childhood's End would be good but unfortunately the "huge ships settle over all major cities on earth" imagery has been stolen by Independence Day.

I take it, then, you haven't seen the "V" miniseries from the early 80s? I always felt that "V" was the inspiration for that particular part of the "Independence Day" plot. Then again, I'm old enough that I actually watched "V" in first-run.