You know who’s busy? Andy Muschietti. Who, you may ask? The guy who directed last year’s It, the Stephen King movie that’s also the highest grossing horror film of all time. (Although a certain new film may usurp that title.) Muschietti’s not a household name (yet), but in this week alone he’s been attached to two big movies: a Hollywood version of the manga franchise Attack on Titan, and now a new version of The Time Machine. And he still needs to finish It: Chapter Two.
But back to The Time Machine: As per Deadline, Muschietti and his producer sister Barbara Muschietti wrote the treatment for what will be the third big budget film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi novel. No less than Leonardo DiCaprio will be producing, though there’s no word if he’ll be starring as well. (Possibly not.) The source follows a Victorian inventor who builds a, well, time machine, which he uses to go forward and witness humanity’s grim future firsthand.
Like much Wells (The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, etc.), the book is prime fodder for big movies. It’s already been memorably filmed by George Pal in 1960, with Rod Taylor, and not-at-all-memorably in 2002, with Guy Pearce, in a version that was actually directed by H.G. Wells’ great-grandson Simon Wells.
(There’s also the delightful 1979 crowd-pleaser Time After Time, whose nutty premise is that H.G. Wells, played charmingly by Malcolm McDowell, built a real time machine, and it’s hijacked by his friend, who was the real Jack the Ripper, played by David Warner, who takes it to 1979 San Francisco. You may remember the short-lived TV version from last year. It’s also the movie where McDowell met and fell in love with his future wife Mary Steenburgen, before she wound up with Ted Danson.)
Of course, Wells’ novel did not predict the rise of Hitler, who is not mentioned in either adaptation. Nor did it predict the rise of a certain president who may have changed the planet forever, but we’ll bet the Muschiettis slip in at least a reference if not more.
It’s not clear when Muschietti will find time to do both Attack on Titan and The Time Machine, or which he’ll do first, or if he’ll wind up ditching one or even both. Presumably we’ll know before the possibly uncomfortably faithful It: Chapter Two hits theaters next September.
(Via Deadline)
