Remember a few weeks ago when we reported that Roland Emmerich was forging ahead with a 3D adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s heralded sci-fi trilogy THE FOUNDATION? Remember the collective sighs such a prospect incurred?
Well, looks like Robert Rodat’s initial draft of the script has been submitted, coming in at a whopping 240 pages. Emmerich caught up with the good folks at Empire Online and offered a few details about the project, the length of the script, the challenge of adapting someone’s writing as skilled as Asimov’s to the big screen. Check it…
“Well it depends on the script. We’ve got a script from Robert Rodat now and it’s 240 pages long! I said, ‘You know what guys? Edit it down to at least under 200 pages.’”
200 pages would still equate to more than 3 hours of screen time, but no one should be too worried. Not only is it the first draft, Rodat is known for scribing lengthy screenplays (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE PATRIOT). The bigger concern would be how to condense three novels worth of gold into something coherent and filmable.
“I’m really into it. I worked with Bob on the story for weeks, sitting in a room trying to figure out how to make all the loose stories [work] and put them in a box called ‘Foundation’. Bob’s perfect for this thing – he also knows as a writer he has to find the hero and a bad guy in the piece. We had to come up with characters that go through [the series], which is very hard.”
And further speaking to the difficulty of adapting Asimov in particular, Emmerich notes:
“I, Robot as a book was so much more than it was as a film and I think, because of that, fans were very disappointed. I don’t want to repeat that disappointment; I want to give people exactly what the Foundation trilogy is. You have to tell a story that represents the books but also works as a film. That’s the challenge.”
Of course, as a longtime proponent of film spectacle, Emmerich couldn’t leave the discussion without talking 3D and CG technology:
“I want to create everything – I want it to be a full CG film, so [3D performance capture] is perfect for that.”
And there you have folks. If you wish, you can see what’s left of the article HERE.
Beatrice Rosen, star of Emmerich’s 2012!