It rarely comes up around here, but I actually greatly enjoy medieval literature, especially the work of Dante. As a result, I’m a sucker for anything that involves the Divine Comedy, be it little paper dolls on sticks, God of War knockoffs that look like they should be airbrushed on the side of vans, or this movie, which is probably going to have nothing to do with the poem at all.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. has bought a pitch from Dwain Worrell, and I know it has nothing to do with the actual poem because Warner Bros. is “excited by the franchise potential.” If you haven’t read the Divine Comedy, let me sum up the three parts for you:
- Inferno: Dante traverses Hell, learning that God conveniently hates everyone who has taken a dump on one Dante Alighieri.
- Purgatorio: Dante walks through Purgatory, which is full of equally weird and ironic punishments, but everybody’s happy to be there.
- Paradiso: Dante talks to a succession of balls of light who think God is neat before meeting his girlfriend.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful, complex poem filled with vivid imagery, complicated historical and literary references, and fart jokes. It’s just barely got a plot, and the structure is such that Dante puts the boring parts on the back end. To be honest, the actual life of Dante is way more interesting as a plot, if incredibly depressing.
But, hey, it’s a movie set in hell. If nothing else, it’ll be fun to see them try and render, say, the punishment of the flatterers in a way that won’t get them an NC-17.
(Via Deadline)
