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Upcoming Film Based On Arthur C. Clarke Story

Posted by Zonk on from the should-have-taken-the-skyhook dept.

SoyChemist writes "The Wired Science blog has production stills and a story about a side project that several Industrial Light and Magic employees have been working on. They are producing the short story Maelstrom II as an independent film. The entire thing was shot in front of a bluescreen, so all of the sets and props will be CGI. The lone actor, Chuck Marra, plays a guy that hitches a ride on an electromagnetically launched freight capsule from the moon to earth. When the nuclear reactor that powers the catapult fails, he is thrown into space, but not far enough to escape lunar gravity — leading to an Apollo 13 style rescue mission. The original story was written by Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey."

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Great Quote for His Interview by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He hopes to visit the great author at his home in Sri Lanka, unveil the completed film, and interview him about the future of humanity in space. I am reminded of a great quote I once heard about from him that would be quite applicable to the above interview:

    There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum. - Arthur C. Clarke I don't know why but my favorite Arthur C. Clarke novel would have to be Childhood's End. In my opinion, there's something more poetic about the style he used for that than there is for any of his other work. Of course, I find myself sliding into more and more bizarre novels these days ... possibly the reason why I haven't seen this adapted into a movie is it's not fit for public consumption (or something that can doom a film in the states, Christian acceptance).

    I love independent films and I've got high hopes for this--if anyone could do up an amazing indie film, it'd be ILM. More importantly, I hope this opens up the door a little more for indie films to debut in regular theatres but unfortunately, I'd have to travel pretty far to find a theatre playing something like this and I live in D.C.!

    That said, he is a great author though from what I've read about him as a man, he is rumoured to be a bit pompous--but you know, he is credited with being the first to conceive a geostationary communications satellite so maybe he deserves to have a movie made for him and his ego stroked a little? :-)
    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. Who? by glwtta · · Score: 5, Funny

    The original story was written by Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    Oh, that Arthur C. Clarke.

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
    1. Re:Who? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 5, Funny

      The original story was written by Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

      Oh, that Arthur C. Clarke.

      Remember, any sufficiently advanced sarcasm is indistinguishable from offtopic.
      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  3. lol by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Funny

    The entire thing was shot in front of a bluescreen

          As if I really care which OS they used...

          oh, wait...

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.