Post by Deexan on Jul 29, 2017 9:32:45 GMT -5
You most likely already know (and love) Dan Harmon as creator of shows like Community and Rick and Morty. Now, he’s adding another notch to his already-stellar belt, with a television adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s brilliant and bizarre 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan, according to CinemaBlend.
The plot focuses on Malachi Constant, the richest man in a futuristic America. Constant initially attributes his luck and growing wealth to divine intervention, despite finding himself amidst a massive war between Earth and Mars. He then meets a mysterious, similarly wealthy man who essentially travels through, or rather exists among, all of time and space with his dog Kazak, and the story takes off from there. It’s a deeply philosophical, poignant, dark and wickedly funny novel predominantly focused on the concept of free will, or lack of.
While other published works by Vonnegut have been adapted into film and TV before, including Slaughterhouse-Five, Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions, this will mark the first time The Sirens Of Titan has been aired onscreen.
Interestingly, the rights to a film adaptation were actually sold in 1983 to none other than Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Garcia supposedly began working on the film’s development shortly after, with a script drafted by 1985. Funnily enough, Garcia would later admit he purchased the rights specifically to prevent others making a bad adaptation, rather than actually wanting to make one himself — so it’s unsurprising that by the time he died in 1995, nothing had yet come to fruition.
Considering Harmon has long cited Vonnegut as a major influence on his own work — particularly on his understanding of science fiction — we can only hope that he will do the novel (and Garcia’s surprising yet heartwarming plight against bad cinema) justice.
Harmon is collaborating on the project with Evan Katz, executive producer of 24.
consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/dan-harmon-to-adapt-classic-kurt-vonnegut-novel-the-sirens-of-titan/
The plot focuses on Malachi Constant, the richest man in a futuristic America. Constant initially attributes his luck and growing wealth to divine intervention, despite finding himself amidst a massive war between Earth and Mars. He then meets a mysterious, similarly wealthy man who essentially travels through, or rather exists among, all of time and space with his dog Kazak, and the story takes off from there. It’s a deeply philosophical, poignant, dark and wickedly funny novel predominantly focused on the concept of free will, or lack of.
While other published works by Vonnegut have been adapted into film and TV before, including Slaughterhouse-Five, Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions, this will mark the first time The Sirens Of Titan has been aired onscreen.
Interestingly, the rights to a film adaptation were actually sold in 1983 to none other than Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Garcia supposedly began working on the film’s development shortly after, with a script drafted by 1985. Funnily enough, Garcia would later admit he purchased the rights specifically to prevent others making a bad adaptation, rather than actually wanting to make one himself — so it’s unsurprising that by the time he died in 1995, nothing had yet come to fruition.
Considering Harmon has long cited Vonnegut as a major influence on his own work — particularly on his understanding of science fiction — we can only hope that he will do the novel (and Garcia’s surprising yet heartwarming plight against bad cinema) justice.
Harmon is collaborating on the project with Evan Katz, executive producer of 24.
consequenceofsound.net/2017/07/dan-harmon-to-adapt-classic-kurt-vonnegut-novel-the-sirens-of-titan/
