Alex Proyas to Direct Adaptation of PARADISE LOST

by     Posted: September 16th, 2010 at 12:33 pm

paradise_lost_gustave_dore_slice

Director Alex Proyas (Knowing) is set to helm a 3D adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  The 17th-century epic poem is about the Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve and the pair’s eventual expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  Variety says the project, “will be crafted as an action vehicle that will include aerial warfare, possibly shot in 3D.”  While Milton’s poem has withstood the test of time, a common complaint from critics is the distinct lack of aerial warfare.

In April 2009, we reported on two competing Paradise Lost projects.  One was the passion project of producer Martin Mull and the other was from Warner Bros. with Scott Derrickson (The Day the Earth Stood Still remake) at the helm.  Since Legendary Pictures is behind this new project and they’ll likely be co-financing and co-producing with Warner Bros., it means that Derrickson’s version is almost definitely dead (and seeing as we haven’t heard anything about since April 2009, it’s probably been deceased for some time).  Paradise Lost is probably still a ways off since Proyas is planning to shoot Dracula: Year Zero (starring Sam Worthington) in June.




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  • Elitist prick

    *mounts literary high horse*

    I don’t really know how this would work. I mean, in the poem, the “aerial warfare” between the angels and demons is presented as kind of pointless, since they’re throwing mountains at each other, but they’re all immortal so none of it harms any of them. It’s like a celestial pie-throwing contest. Plus, God kind of has the power to cast out all the rebelling angels at any time, since He’s God and stuff. Those action scenes, like the rest of the poem, are really a vehicle for Milton to express his philosophy on Christianity. The most interesting part of Paradise Lost is Satan’s seething rage and machinations to try and get back to Paradise. It’s a big, unabashed treatise on Milton’s views of spirituality, religion, philosophy, salvation, etc.

    I guess this could tap into the same audience as The Passion of the Christ did, but I don’t know if the name “Paradise Lost” will get people excited enough to flock to the theaters in a way that justifies the budget required for a project like this. You’d probably save some money by making it animated, but that wouldn’t be cheap either.

    • Anonymous

      all true, but Milton’s work isn’t GOOD because of all the infantile philosophizing, it’s good because of the sweet action scenes and awesome sets. (Totally serious — screw all the English professors who disagree.)

  • Neo-3

    But isn’t this Derrickson’s project but with a different director?

  • Catdog

    This movie will never work, that’s because they’ll never cast Adam and Eve as being Black. Since the first Mordern Humans were from Africa.

    • Anonymous

      Further complicating the historical accuracy of their depiction is that they didn’t exist.

  • Dogg

    I’m on board for anything Proyas wants to do. I even thought Knowing was OK.

    • Douche

      Knowing sucked balls dude… No one could have liked THAT ending.

  • Azmodan79

    If a director can do dark and broody, that’s Alex! His rendition of Hell could be really breathtaking, then again Paradise Lost is an epic poem where the cool stuff (the battle between Satan and God) already took place before the beginning, I just hope they put something of this in the movie.

  • Azmodan79

    If a director can do dark and broody, that’s Alex! His rendition of Hell could be really breathtaking, then again Paradise Lost is an epic poem where the cool stuff (the battle between Satan and God) already took place before the beginning, I just hope they put something of this in the movie.

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  • http://twitter.com/Ruthanng Ruth G.

    what a terrible idea.

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  • http://manley.org Michael S. Manley

    If they do this, they might consider optioning Steven Brust’s novel form the 1980s, “To Reign in Hell,” which was Paradise Lost re-told as a sort of high fantasy novel, character-driven and in a few spots even funny. It was pretty good, I thought, and has been reprinted in the last few years.

    But knowing Hollywood, they’ll turn it into some kind of CGI-laden, 3-D cartoon, with all of the names changed so as not to offend the Christians, and with sodas available at the 7-11 and ornate action figures for someone to collect.

    • Anonymous

      Phenomenal book — essentially the Wicked of Genesis. I wonder if they fixed all of the typos this time around…

  • http://twitter.com/ZJSimon Zachary Simon

    All the smartypants people will pooh pooh this and that, the other 70% will go see it for the action, say it sucked AFTER forking over the ticket price. Another classic will get the Hollywood treatment. Repeat…unless maybe the smartypants people figure out how to get the 70% to favor them.

  • http://twitter.com/ZJSimon Zachary Simon

    All the smartypants people will pooh pooh this and that, the other 70% will go see it for the action, say it sucked AFTER forking over the ticket price. Another classic will get the Hollywood treatment. Repeat…unless maybe the smartypants people figure out how to get the 70% to favor them.

  • Anonymous

    “While Milton’s poem has withstood the test of time, a common complaint from critics is the distinct lack of aerial warfare.”

    Huh? Is this a joke? For what it’s worth, Paradise Lost is full of “aerial warfare.” Jesus personally turns the tide of the battle and drives Satan out of Heaven while riding around the clouds on a chariot — for reals. This happens right near the beginning. Paradise Lost really does start out as an angelic action movie, albeit in labored verse.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R4DQ3KY7EQ7WRYTIVFDHO4PQDE Anonymous

      Labored? Is that another way to say breathtakingly phenomenal?

      My God, this is Milton, not some school marm writing Hallmark Cards. Paradise Lost is some of the greatest poetry in the history of the English language.

      The only thing “labored” about Milton’s poetry is the effort he sometimes demands of his readers.

      • Anonymous

        Sycophant.

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