With “Dune”, Denis Villeneuve ascended to the throne of the science fiction film genre in its blockbuster form. It is therefore with joy and already impatience that we learn that he will adapt another great classic of science fiction, “Rendez-vous with Rama”, written by Arthur C. Clarke. Metaphysical questioning and superstructures in sight!
After Dune, Denis Villeneuve persists and signs
That’s it, Denis Villeneuve is launched and who would like to stop him? Already, First contact (2016) had strongly seduced the critics and the public and above all displayed great promises for the future films of its director. Promises that have been brilliantly honored, since Blade Runner 2049 and Dune immediately imposed themselves as major works of contemporary science fiction cinema. Success and confidence are such that the production of the second part of Dune has been formalized. And, moreover, a derivative series is also in development: Dune: The Sisterhood. Denis Villeneuve’s agenda continues to fill up, since we learn via The Hollywood Reporter that he’ll be making an adaptation of another classic from the 70s sci-fi: Rendezvous with Rama.
An adaptation that brings him closer to Kubrick
Rendezvous with Rama is a novel published in France in 1975, and a work by the prolific and great novelist of SF Arthur C. Clarke. Rendezvous with Rama is one of his main works, among which we find in particular 2001: a space odyssey. The very novel of which Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is the adaptation. This is to say how much this adaptation of Rendezvous with Rama carries with it a beautiful stake, that of seeing where Denis Villeneuve stands in relation to one of the great masters of cinema. A major filmmaker to whom many of Villeneuve’s generation – one thinks for example of Christopher Nolan – like to pay homage and to refer to.
Rendezvous with Rama tells the story, in 2130, of a human crew sent into space to meet an alien vessel of unknown origin. This ship looks like a gigantic cylinder 50 km long and 20 km in diameter. It does not contain any extraterrestrial life, but “biota”, biological robots which seem to have functions within this vessel. The crew of the Endeavor ship, sent to meet it, will therefore begin their exploration.
This isn’t the first time that a theatrical adaptation of this sci-fi classic – a trilogy – has been developed. Indeed, in 2000, Morgan Freeman with his production company Revelations Entertainment had acquired the rights to produce a first film. The project did not really progress but remained alive until 2007, when David Fincher found himself attached to the realization. But complicated by multiple factors, the project fell through in 2008. 13 years later, it is therefore Denis Villeneuve who takes over the project. And in view of his latest achievements, we can’t wait to discover his adaptation of Rendezvous with Rama !
