Writer Re-birth

I am loving this sudden attention being made to the writers. Back in the day writers were every bit the celebrity, and now it seems they are faceless people who only ever come out at awards time. Thanks to high profile people like Charlie Kaufman and Diablo Cody they seem to be making a bigger splash. It is not just movie nuts who ask "who's writing the script" when they hear about some movie going into production.

The writers are coming out of hinding and not just for Oscars.

J. Michael Straczynski may be hoping for an Oscar nom for writing 'Changeling' next year (can't see it myself) but he also has a lot more exciting things to look forward too.

Not only does the Babylon 5 writer have 'Silver Surfer' and the much publicized 'Ninja Assassin' going into production, but he also has two very interesting projects going into production.

'World War Z' tells the story about the aftermath of a zombie war in which the human race barely survive. a journalist travels the globe getting the stories of the survivors. Could be very inventive stuff, especially if done in an ultra realistic way.

He also has 'They Marched into Sunlight' which he is writing with Paul Greengrass (who will probably direct) and tells the story of one day in October 1967, two events, the loss of 61 American soldiers in a Viet Cong ambush and a student protest against Dow Chemical, galvanize opposition to the Vietnam war on college campuses. This is more Oscar baity stuff.

However not to check his sci fi origins at the door, he has just signed on to re-write the 1950's classic 'Forbidden Planet'. The film was a re working of Shakespeare's The Temptest, and tells the story of a group of astronauts who are sent to check on a science colony on a faraway planet, but discover only one scientist and his daughter there who have made a discovery, and has no intention of sharing it with anyone.

Although not a sci-fi fan per say, this does sound intriguing.