Ridley Scott. Yes.

Brave New Gladiator!

Oh thank god. Perhaps he can make John a Jane, as he only excels in two kinds of movies. Sci-Fi, and movies with female protagonists.

Hells Yes. Good thing Ridley's doing it rather than some jackleg who doesn't know what he's messing with.

It'll be the best movie ever is James Cameron produces <_<

First ever for the big screen. Nineteen-eighty saw a disastrously bad television movie adaptation, and a couple more turned up in the 90s.

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy! Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy!
Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy! Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy!
Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy! Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy!

Sorry, slow day--been hitting the sauce lil' early.

Leonardo DiCaprio as the everyman? What kind of crap is that?

There was also the 1998 TV adaptation with Leonard Nimoy. I caught this one Sunday morning and rather enjoyed it. Of course, that might have been due to having just woken up and not yet had the morning coffee. Or the fact that sometimes I enjoy really bad movies.

[www.imdb.com] <--- Brave New World

Might have never made it to the big screen, but it was movie length, AND it starred Leonard Nimoy.

It may not have been the worlds best movie, but I enjoyed it.

"Remember, you're unique, just like everybody else"

@Gopherit: Well, at least we can look forward to him hanging himself. Or should we expect a rewrite? Why do I bother asking?

I look forward to a Scott film version of "The Doors of Perception."

@Tim Faulkner: John the Savage will synthesize his tribal wisdom and nobility with modern technology to help Bernand Marx overthrow the World State and replace it with an easily-created democratic order! Decades of indoctrination from birth will be deleted in minutes, possibly upon hearing a single speech or viewing a single dissenting act, among every almost every member of society.

@Huxleyhobbes: About this "single speech", any chance of a lone person slowly clapping building to thunderous applause? Possibly accompanied by an orchestral swell?

He really should be looking at more original material there is already a film version of this and it's OK.
We don't need another.
We need new material on the screen!
He should be going Fire Upon the Deep or Rama in his style.
That is something that hasn't been done before at least.

Very disappointing.

@abztrakt: @RaYdeX: Again, I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers those odd movies :D

@Grey_Area: Oh I think we can manage that.

@cde: Me too -- saw 'em both!

Saying DiCaprio will play John is pure speculation, there's nothing even hinting that he won't play Marx. You think this guy would have proven himself to most after Gangs, The Aviator, Departed, Blood Diamond, etc... the guy has talent and he has range, if you chose to see him as the 'boy heart-throb' from Romeo and Juliet and his infamous Jack Dawson role, that's your loss.

@Gopherit: After The Departed I'm pretty confident in DiCaprio's ability to play a regular guy. I'm not sure Scott has the same energy and vision as he did back in 1981, but perhaps that's for the best... Brave New World is a more deliberate and philosophical book than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and I am confident Scott will do a brilliant job.

Ooooh very nice. I look forward to Scotts trademark blue.

BNW is a very subtle book. Also very funny. I read it every few years and keep catching new stuff.

One thing that most people miss: The "futuristic" society in the book is very, very conservative, in the sense that they allow no real progress, socially or scientifically. The "world controller" the characters meet turns out to be a retired scientist who spends a lot of time censoring scientific papers and suppressing "labour saving" inventions.

My initial reaction was, "ROCK!", then, "Oh, DiCaprio", then, "Well, maybe... he finally showed some chops in The Aviator, after all."

Let's see if Scott still has greatness in him.

For those of you that remember the bad version from NBC, if you enjoyed it, maybe you should read the book again.

Worst chage evar: Instead of hanging himself at the end, a helicopter delivered a gust of wind that pushed him off of a cliff.

Kind of makes the whole thing entirely different, no?

One obvious problem is that in the original book, John has precisely no sex with any of the lovely ladies around him. He's also humourless, arrogant and a colossal bore, so maybe they should get Tom Cruise.

This is great news. One of my favorite directors and one of my favorite stories come together. I'm sure DiCaprio will do a fine job. I thought he was great in 'The Aviator' and the 'The Departed'. Will it be a commercial hit? Hard to say. Will the demographic spike which is the after-boomers respond? They might not want to hear the message.

@mindlesspuppet: Well put. Leo could be spectacular as John the Savage, Bernard Marx, OR Mustapha Mond. The crazy thing about Brave New World is that aging doesn't really exist, so Leo could be cast as any Alpha.

As for Scott directing, I am all for it. The guy only does SF pieces with a plot. So far though, he's only done obvious dystopias and broken futures. It will be interesting how he paints a utopia.

@Illuminatus:

Ha, Utopia. Good one.
-Kle.

@Timeshredder: I thought so! Glad I'm not going senile :P I remember seeing the previews for that T.V. version.

Yawn. Everyone does realize the Scott hasn't directed a really good movie since the early 80s, right? At some point, he want from subtle and atmospheric to ham-handed and agenda-driven (perhaps believing his own press clippings?) And, no, Gladiator doesn't qualify, unless you're missing the melodrama and the gross historical aberrations (regardless of making the big battle scene exciting, who exactly conducts a full cavalry charge through thick forest? Only the suicidal, that's who.) in the glow of the epic scale.

I fell asleep during Gladiator. In the theater. Not kidding.

Is it just me, or has anyone else ever read Brave New World and thought, "HELL YEAH, I'd freakin' LOVE to live in this world"?

Dear sweet screaming Jesus, this is fantastic news. Brave New World is one of my favorite books of all time, and I've been scared of anybody filming it because I'd be afraid they'd just screw it up (as in that horrible TV movie). But, if we're not allowed to resurrect Kubrick, Scott is probably the best possible choice.

But questions remain. Will they keep the caste system? The endless sex? Who to play Bernard Marx? Lenina Crowne? Mustapha Mond? And--most of all--what about the worship of Henry Ford?

Leo. Yes. Ridley Scott. Yes. Brave New World. Hell Yes!

If any heartthrob would be willing to hang himself at the end of a flick, it'd be Leo. Ever since the Basketball Diaries and Marvin's Room I've been a fan of his.

My initial pleasure at the thought of a Brave New World film immediately dissipated at the thought of how badly cack-handed this Brave New World film will inevitably be. It'll be all about OH NO, TOTALITARIANISM and EVIL TECHNOLOGIES and WACKY JUMPSUIT FASHION and miss the part where it's about a society that goes to immense and elaborate lengths only to end up with being an exact simulacrum of ours.
If it isn't recognisable, the point will have been missed. And it won't be recognisable.

Further observation: they might concievably leave the Savage hanging himself in, but they sure as hell won't retain the anticlimactic quelling of Our Heroes' impending dissent by their removal to the rather pleasant but culturally isolated ivory tower of 'Iceland'.

There is no way to make a commercially successful film out of this and not cock it up bigtime.

This will be awesome and I will love it...at least that is what I will be told enough times that I believe it.

This sounds.... Terrible. DiCaprio. Man, what a douche-singularity that man is.

@dingleberry: I still remember a local Chicago reporter, after getting the cold shoulder from him at some deal or other, 'accidentally' called him 'Leonardo DeCrappio'

OH! Thank you Jesus! This is fantastic news! I know Mr. Scott has gotten some bad press for his insane ego...but seriously, the man knows how to make a fantasy movie better than any human on the planet. This will be great. Mr. Scott won't have it any other way.

@Pegritz:
A lot of people probably agree with you.

I'd rather be me than happy, though.
-Kle.

@Klebert L. Hall:

That's just instinct dragging you down ;) Think outside the box and pop that SOMA.

@Garrison Dean: "Perhaps he can make John a Jane"

but that would make the interaction with Lenina totally diff...

actually that would change the interaction with Lenina not one bit.

I am cautiously optimistic about this.

although in my mind's eye, I have already skipped over the story and am focusing on the art direction.

if it were up to me, I would prefer that the "jazz age" feel of BNW be kept in play.

If this returns Scott to the genre and then to Stars My Destination, i'll be just fine.