Ever wonder what Herman Melville’s magnum opus Moby Dick would be like set in outer space? Me neither, but according to a recent article by collider.com, Lynne Ramsay and spouse Rory Kinnear are set to write and direct Mobius, a sci-fi take on the American classic.
Hollywoodreporter.com describes Mobius as “psychological action thriller set in deep space, where a captain consumed by revenge takes his crew on a death mission fueled by his own ego to find an enigmatic alien.”
As for Lynne Ramsay, this will be her second project with Scott Pictures, who is set to finance and produce Mobius. Her first is the upcoming western Jane Got a Gun, which is slated to star Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender. Her most recent work can be seen in We Need to Talk About Kevin, a drama-thriller that earned her a Golden Globe nomination (with a little help from Tilda Swinton, of course).
It’s difficult to form a solid opinion on Mobius, seeing as it sounds as if it may just be ridiculous enough to work. After all, a recent film about blue aliens living in a global rain forest still stands as the most successful movie ever made. And it’s not like Moby Dick is terrible source material.
However, adapting Moby Dick into a motion picture has been tried with varying results. Gregory Peck added another impressive performance in his rendition of Ahab in the 1956 adaptation, which is considered the best yet. Even Patrick Stewart couldn’t save the 1998 version, which didn’t have the likes of director John Huston or Peck helping. And as for the two-part 2010 attempt starring Ethan Hawke and William Hurt, well, there’s a reason it went straight to television.
Even so, there’s no real reason to rule out Mobius yet. Perhaps the duo of Ramsay and Kinnear will get to the core of Melville’s dense work and produce something wonderful. As always, keep checking back.
