Wanted Director Making A Movie About Living On The Moon
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Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) returns to the vampiric roots that first brought him some notoriety with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, set to be released this summer. For his next film, though, it seems the Russian-Kahzak director is looking to trade fantasy for science fiction. Variety reports that Bekmambetov has acquired the rights to the young adult novel One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy with the aim of Edward Ricourt (writer of the upcoming Now You See Me) adapting it for the big screen.
The novel has a premise that at least sounds promising: 200 years in the future, 16-year-old Hieronymus Rexaphin lives, works, and goes to school on the Moon. Hieronymus is also a “one hundred percent lunar boy” because he suffers from a condition called “Lunarcroptic Ocular Symbolanosis”, where his eyes are tinted the color of a fourth primary color unique to the moon. He is required by law to wear eyewear at all times because the inability of normal people to process this fourth primary color supposedly causes seizures when viewed. It also allows him to “see the future path of time and matter”, which is a pretty damn cool ability to have. Hieronymous gets into trouble when (naturally) a lovely young Earth girl becomes intrigued by his condition and convinces him to let her see his eyes, setting off crazy adventures and conflict with the authorities. Hieronymus also flouts the strict divisions set up within the educational system, challenging their control of knowledge and the flow of information in the colony.
I am personally unfamiliar with the book, but Variety says it “combines a visually inventive world with a powerful coming-of-age story about a boy finding his place in the universe.” It sounds like there is a lot to work with in the novel (coming-of-age, adventure, oppressive political regimes, superpowers), which is heartening and slightly reminiscent of other strong YA series like The Hunger Games. One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy is also slated to the first in a trilogy, so, if the film is good and performs well, it could head a new franchise.
