Stranger in a Strange Land

Genre: Science Fiction.

Studio: Paramount Pictures.
Production Company: Unknown.

Project Phase: Development Hell.

Who's In It: No one confirmed as yet.
Who's Making It: Dan Waters (Screenwriter); based on the novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.

Premise: A human born and raised on Mars returns to the planet of his genetic heritage in order to "grok" what makes humanity tick.

Release Date: Unknown.

Comments: The premise above is incredibly over-simplistic, but what can you do except read the book? Essentially, this is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre, and added to word "grok" to our puny terran vocabulary. If it translates well to the big screen, it would be one hell of a movie.

And if Sean Connery doesn't play Jubal Harshaw, then fie upon you all.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

[Page draft submitted by 'Widgett'.]

July 20, 1997... 'Widgett' comments on the latest script:

"Tom Hanks' name has been attached to this project, presumably to play the role of Valentine Michael Smith.

"I have seen a copy of the screenplay dated 5/9/95, and I must admit it's not half-bad. All of the characters are there, although some of their roles have been changed, and at least one 'hero' has been made a 'villain.' There are some other things added which were not in the book -- such as the concept of 'identity belts' and a search for the grave of Michael's parents. Maybe they were in the new 'uncut' version that was released a while back, which I haven't read. Another idea that was added was a spin on the water brother concept, in which water brothers share pain -- which is kind of nifty. However, some things are a little overdone -- numerous and sundry 'cute' references to modern-day things in a past tense. Nice when used wisely, but in this screenplay it got old quickly. Examples: referring to Harshaw (an older gentleman) as one of those pesky Generation X'ers, and when Harshaw says he lost his virginity at Woodstock, we learn there have been several. All in all, though, a very good adaptation and very worthy. Not a substitute for the printed word, but hey -- what is?" [Commentary submitted by 'Widgett.' We grok him.]

October 11, 1998...This anonymous scooper had this to say: "The rumor mill is churning and it is saying that Hanks is definitely set to star in this as well as Sean Connery. I grok Connery." You and women of all ages all over the world, buddy. That man wears a hair weave like nobody's business. Thing is, the rumor mill's been turning the Hanks casting rumor over for years and years now. Will it ever happen? [Scoop given anonymously]

December 14, 1998... There we were, digging through the Pre-Cambrian layer of scoops and we discovered--holy moley!--some people from as far back as January telling us that an A&E Biography on Hanks mentions that his role in this film is "upcoming." [Many thanks to the patient 'Smith', 'datre', 'homeyd', 'coldshot', 'rohobbs']

And thanks go out to 'Jedi B', who reports that the changes listed in Widge's script review are not in the unabridged version. ['Jedi B.' groks unedited Heinlein. Cool.]



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