Ridley Scott will direct 'The Forever War'

By Scott Weinberg,Cinematical
October 13,2008

Say what you like about the collected works of Mr. Ridley Scott, but when this man sets out to make a science fiction film ... good things happen. The always-busy director has only done two sci-fi films, but those ones are called Blade Runner and A L I E N. Since Blade Runner in 1982, Scott has kept busy with big hits (like Gladiator) and big misses (like this past weekend's Body of Lies) -- but it looks like the man is heading back into the speculative realm once he's done with that crazy Nottingham project.

According to Variety, Scott will direct an adaptation of Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, which the filmmaker wanted to make a long time ago, but there were all sorts of rights issues involving FX genius Richard Edlund, who "bought" the book right when it was published. For his part, Ridley Scott seems enthused: "I first pursued 'Forever War' 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since ... It's a science-fiction epic, a bit of 'The Odyssey' by way of 'Blade Runner,' built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise."

That premise isn't laid out all that well in Variety, so for that we'll look to Amazon: OK, so I was going to paste the whole breakdown, but here's my interpretation: It's the future and mankind is at war with the Taurans, only we use ships that allow its crew members to age really slowly, so when this one guy comes back home and cannot adjust to the 1-to-27-year ratio, he keeps signing back up for battle after battle. Or something close to that. Clearly I need to get this book. (More info here, but watch out for spoilers.)