is a 17th-century epic poem in blank verse by English poet John Milton
about the “Fall of Man.” You know, where the fallen angel Lucifer gets
Adam and Eve booted from the Garden of Eden. Legendary Pictures had been
working on a film adaptation of the epic poem with Scott Derrickson (The Day the Earth Stood Still remake), but Variety is now reporting that Alex Proyas (Dark City) is dropping his ass in the director’s chair.
The
film’s take will apparently be focusing largely on the battle between
Lucifer and archangel Michael, and of course will be in 3D. Several
drafts of the script have already been cycled through at this point;
Lawrence Kasdan recently did a polish, and now newcomer Ryan Condal is
taking a crack. No start date for production has been given, but
considering that Proyas is jumping onto a car that was already in
motion, it will likely get off the ground sometime in 2011.
I never quite got fully on board the Proyas fan-train back in his The Crow–Dark City
heyday, but I thought he was undeniably talented and made interesting
films. He was the kind of filmmaker that I was excited to see grow. Unfortunately he really slipped off the track after Dark City. I
won’t lie to you, I thought Knowing
was so bonkers and Cage-tastic that I kind of loved it, but
nonetheless, I don’t think that was the caliber of film Proyas fans want to
see him doing (if nothing else it was a waste of his eye for art direction). Is Paradise Lost
a step back in the right direction? It might be if Proyas is allowed
to run wild, but I worry that he no longer has the clout to make the film
weird and freaky enough to be interesting.