Alex Proyas to Direct Paradise Lost

[Tron Bonne]

Well, I think he was talking about the original poem in that post actually, and it really wasn't about Satan's fall from heaven or the war in heaven, both of those happened long before the poem began.

EDIT: Haha, I think I've said this several times in this thread. Man, I can't believe so few people know what Paradise Lost is even about.

 

[the amazing fro]

^ There are "flashbacks" (in a sense) to his fall and the war in heaven which are a fairly substantial part of the poem (I think around three books) so Proyas will probably be using them as the basis. I wonder if the film will use Milton's language. Probably not, would be quite daunting for the uninitiated but it would seem weird having Satan and the Angels speak modern English.

Is this film JUST the war in heaven or will it include the fall of man as well? It would be a wasted opportunity if not. This has oodles of potential to succeed in the right hands but it would be very easy to screw it up.

 

[chrisguyver]

Is this film JUST the war in heaven
or will it include the fall of man as well? It would be a wasted opportunity if not. This has oodles of potential to succeed in the right hands but it would be very easy to screw it up.

I think I read that it will include Adam and eve so I would think they would show the the fall of man

 

[Tron Bonne]

^ There are "flashbacks" (in a sense) to his fall and the war in heaven which are a fairly substantial part of the poem (I think around three books) so Proyas will probably be using them as the basis. I wonder if the film will use Milton's language. Probably not, would be quite daunting for the uninitiated but it would seem weird having Satan and the Angels speak modern English.

Is this film JUST the war in heaven or will it include the fall of man as well? It would be a wasted opportunity if not. This has oodles of potential to succeed in the right hands but it would be very easy to screw it up.

Fairly substantial? No, not really. Micheal talks about the war, but the passage is pretty short from what I can recall. And Satan mainly just references his fall at the beginning. I'm pretty sure it's actually a very small, retrospective part of the poem.

I really doubt they'd use Milton's language. It's pretty rough stuff, and I can't imagine it going over well with audiences.

 

[the amazing fro]

Micheal talks about the war in quite a bit of detail for about two books and then talks about the creation of earth in another two. The majority of the book is after though but there is more than enough material for Proyas to depict the battle in all its glory.

Perhaps Milton's language is a bit too much but it's one of the reasons the poem is so good. Though I do remember trying to read it for the first time a few years ago without any help (like annotations or teachers etc) and it was like headbutting a brick wall.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Micheal talks about the war in quite a bit of detail for about two books and then talks about the creation of earth in another two. The majority of the book is after though but there is more than enough material for Proyas to depict the battle in all its glory.

Hmm, no, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken there. I know he talks about it, but I really don't think it was nearly in that much detail. And I think he doesn't even talk about the war until about halfway through. I read and studied it last year for a college course, and I remember being kind of surprised at how little it was covered. That has been a year's time, though, and I'd have to go back to be sure, but I seem to remember very little about it.

Perhaps Milton's language is a bit too much but it's one of the reasons the poem is so good. Though I do remember trying to read it for the first time a few years ago without any help (like annotations or teachers etc) and it was like headbutting a brick wall.

Yeah, it is not an easy read. Apparently, Miltion was using the English language and writing it with the semantics of Latin or something. Doesn't help that the language wasn't entirely developed at the time either.

 

[WildcatNC]

I honestly think this could be an incredible movie. I'm a sucker for these types of movies anyway but I really think this might be EPIC.

 

[the amazing fro]

Hmm, no, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken there. I know he talks about it, but I really don't think it was nearly in that much detail. And I think he doesn't even talk about the war until about halfway through. I read and studied it last year for a college course, and I remember being kind of surprised at how little it was covered. That has been a year's time, though, and I'd have to go back to be sure, but I seem to remember very little about it.

Are you sure?

*Tries to find book*

*Finds it*

Ok from what I can see he talks about the war for half of Book V and all of Book VI. I can't remember how much detail he goes into it and I don't have the time nor the patience to try and find out. But Book VI is at 910 lines so it's not that short, though from what I can see there are a lot of speeches.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, those are the places I was thinking about, but part of those chapters are also him talking to Adam and trying to convey to him what was happening and why to stop it as well. I don't think he just talks about the war for those solid amount of lines or anything.

 

[Wolf Boy]

500 pages? It's not even remotely that long from what I recall. Were you looking at a critical edition by chance? Because that probably includes all of the essays and criticisms that's included like my Norton edition. I don't think the poem itself is longer than 200 pages. I'll have to look to be sure, but it's not all that long.

Oh i was just pulling a big number out of nowhere, i think the one i saw had 300 pages. It was def bigger than 200.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, I was a bit off, the Norton version I have is 303 pages, but in fairness, a lot of pages are also taken up by annotations. Without annotations and in standard size print, I'm guessing it's probably around the 260-280 range. I was wrong, though, for some reason I thought the poem was much shorter than that.

 

[the amazing fro]

According to Variety Rufus Sewell is in talks for this. I don't know about anyone else but I'm getting a Beelzebub vibe off of him

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

According to Variety Rufus Sewell is in talks for this. I don't know about anyone else but I'm getting a Beelzebub vibe off of him

Nah, Bradley Cooper already has the role. I think he was the first actor confirmed for the movie.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Bradley Cooper's playing Lucifer.....

 

[the amazing fro]

Nah, Bradley Cooper already has the role. I think he was the first actor confirmed for the movie.

Lucifer is a different character from Beelzebub. They are both fallen angels. Lucifer is Satan and Beelzebub is his second in command.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Lucifer is a different character from Beelzebub. They are both fallen angels. Lucifer is Satan and Beelzebub is his second in command.

Oh okay, I didn't know that at all. That makes sense.

 

[Wolf Boy]

I always thought beelzebub was Satan too. Guess not.

 

[Boom]

I would've killed to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Lucifer. Bradley Cooper is a giant "WTF?" piece of casting for me.

 

[the amazing fro]

Benedict Cumberbatch would have been awesome. I am prepared to give Cooper the benefit of the doubt but it does seem odd. Lucifer is supposed to be a pretty boy but I'm hoping that wasn't the sole reason why he was cast.

 

[terry78]

I would've killed to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Lucifer. Bradley Cooper is a giant "WTF?" piece of casting for me.

And that is exactly why they cast him. Outside the box. You already know how Cumberbatch would play it, we have no idea what Cooper is going to pull, which makes it a little more interesting.

 

[redhawk23]

I think Cooper is a pretty solid actor. I don't have many qualms with his casting.

 

[terry78]

I'm still waiting for the day DiCaprio finally decides to play an all out villain as opposed to a protagonist or anti-hero, just to see what he'd do.

 

[corby]

I'm still waiting for the day DiCaprio finally decides to play an all out villain as opposed to a protagonist or anti-hero, just to see what he'd do.

He's playing the antagonist in Quentin Tarantino's next film.

 

[The Morningstar]

Ahh man, Cumberbatch would have been awesome. When i read Carey's Lucifer series I imagine him or Bettany as Lucifer.

Cooper is decent too though.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm still waiting for the day DiCaprio finally decides to play an all out villain as opposed to a protagonist or anti-hero, just to see what he'd do.

I'm just waiting for the guy to do a comedy. I can't truly respect him as an actor until he's gotten a good laugh out of me. A real laugh, too. Not a What's Eating Gilbert Grape laugh.

Okay, that was crass. I apologize.