George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 is perhaps more relevant today than ever before, especially as the Big Brother concept seemingly becomes more and more plausible. The fact that another big screen adaptation of the critically acclaimed story is on the way perhaps shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise then.
Writer/director Michael Radford originally adapted 1984 back in 1984 with a movie starring John Hurt.
Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) is attached to this latest version, and will reteam with Captain Phillips producer Scott Rudin. James Graham (author of Finding Neverland) is attached to write 1984’s script, while Gina Rosenblum and Michael De Luca are also both set to produce the movie.
It’s not clear when Greengrass will fit this into his busy schedule, especially as he was recently confirmed as returning for another Bourne movie with Matt Damon which is currently expected to be released in 2016.
1984 – which was released in 1949 – warns of the dangers of totalitarian government and spawned the term “Big Brother”. It focuses on a man whose job is to rewrite past newspaper articles so that history always supports the current party line. However, he secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion.
There’s no word on how closely this version will stick to George Orwell’s novel, and while such an adaptation would normally be met with a great deal of scepticism, Greengrass’ involvement makes it much easier to give it a chance! It could be quite a while before we see it up on the big screen however…
