Taylor “Wolfboy” Lautner has become attached to star in Fox’s INCARCERON, an adaptation of a popular young adult sci-fi novel by Catherine Fisher. The screenplay is being written by Adam Cooper & Bill Collage, who are apparently working on everything from Timur Bekmambetov’s update of MOBY DICK to a new telling of the story of Moses.
Lautner’s involvement and the target audience aside, the basic premise of INCARCERON actually intrigues: Incarceron – a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology – a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber – chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here.
In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison – a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device – a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn’s escape is born …
I can dig the blending of high-technology with medieval torture dungeons and whatnot, but who knows how much that’ll actually figure into the film’s narrative – and how “savage” the proceedings will actually be. We’ll just have to wait and see who jumps on as director and hope things get more promising from there…
(By the way, Lautner is evidently “producing”, whatever that means…)