Warner Bros.
With a new adaptation of Starship Troopers on the way, perhaps we’ll see a new wave of popularity for author Robert A. Heinlein. Will it finally bring more movies of his works? Will I finally get to see “Stranger in a Strange Land” on the big screen? At least for now there’s another book from that period of Heinlein’s career in development in Hollywood: “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bryan Singer is producing the adaptation, which will be scripted by Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern) and boringly retitled Uprising.
The libertarian story involves a Moon colony that revolts against the rule of Earth. That might make it sound like a simple retelling of the American Revolution or like a reverse Elysium, but neither comparison would do the Hugo-winning book justice. The lunar surface is actually home to a former penal colony and so its people are mainly criminals and their offspring. The hero is a computer technician who befriends the Moon’s dominating computer system, HOLMES IV (“High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV”) after it becomes self-aware.
Nowhere does the initial report clarify that Singer will be directing the movie, which if so would be another break from the X-Men franchise following next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse (interestingly enough: in the comics, Apocalypse had a moon base). Chances are, though, this will be yet another sci-fi adaptation he doesn’t wind up helming, just like the Logan’s Run remake and the Battlestar Galactica movie that doesn’t seem to be a priority but is at least still currently moving forward with a script turned in.
As producer, Singer is part of a team comprised of relative nobodies, such as Lloyd Braun and Thor Halvorssen, neither of whom has any notable credits. But there is a studio behind the project, Twentieth Century Fox, and with this being the third major option of the rights to the 1966 novel, I’d think this time there’ll be a real push for it to be made. We’ll see.
