ROTTEN TOMATOES: Exclusive: Milton's Paradise Lost Movie in 3D? Comments

Exclusive: Milton's Paradise Lost Movie in 3D?

by Joe Utichi | December 12, 2008

Summary

Could Scott Derrickson's upcoming adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost be shot in 3D? Perhaps so, the director told Rotten Tomatoes recently. Back to Article

(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply

ZiGyStRdUsT writes:
on Dec 12 2008 09:52 AM

how this will translate to film I don't know. It's going to have to be HEAVILY adapted.

(Reply to this)

Merlin235 writes:
on Dec 12 2008 10:04 AM

Yeah, I'm not sure how it'll be done either. Pretty ambitious.

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ThePowerHouse writes:
on Dec 12 2008 10:39 AM

"Milton's great literary legacy was that he created the first antihero in Lucifer and he's not the villain in Paradise Lost,"

Ummm...no...Lucifer is the villain in "Paradise Lost." Milton intentionally makes him charismatic and attractive in order to make evil more exciting. He makes God a bore, and, through contrasting God and Lucifer, he illustrates through the reader's own perceptions how evil is often more appealing than good. Adam and Eve are clearly the hero's of the epic. Meh...that was my literary rant for the day. I still look forward to seeing the film...

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The Truth About Jack Hair writes:
on Dec 12 2008 10:39 AM

PANDEMONIUM

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ThePowerHouse writes:
on Dec 12 2008 10:42 AM

"Milton's great literary legacy was that he created the first antihero in Lucifer and he's not the villain in Paradise Lost,"

Ummm...no...Lucifer is the villain in "Paradise Lost." Milton intentionally makes him charismatic and attractive in order to make evil more exciting. He makes God a bore, and, through contrasting God and Lucifer, he illustrates through the reader's own perceptions how evil is often more appealing than good. Adam and Eve are clearly the hero's of the epic. Meh...that was my literary rant for the day. I still look forward to seeing the film...

(Reply to this)

Mitchie-Boy writes:
on Dec 12 2008 08:55 PM

Yeah, take a complex piece of literature and try to make it into a popcorn movie.

Great idea.

What's next, Faust with action sequences?

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Dan M. writes:
on Dec 13 2008 07:59 AM

I have waited for this film my entire adult life, having read Milton's epic twice in my 20's. This book is arguably the most graphic portrayal of stunning beauty, destructive pride, painful choice, aching loss, regret, and the hope of eventual forgiveness and restoration ever written. Opening with the literal falling through space into hell of Satan's army, on fire, I wonder if even CGI will be able to capture the intensity of the scene. The horrible realization of paradise lost forever to most of the most prominent former angels must create an image to match the phrase "cry like a fallen angel". Depicting Hell as a real place, intensely dark yet completely ablaze, torturing its superhuman victims even as they recover the pride that put them there, and then building Pandamonium? -Wow!. Satan's first glimpse of earth, so dazzling in its beauty that even the focus of evil in the universe is momentarily softened and reconsidering its destruction will be amazing. Adam's pain at seeing the only other person in creation - his wife and soulmate, contorted and dying by inches from her sin - and then choosing to join her in a long life of pain and death rather than lose her dwarf's the momentary pain of Romeo & Juliet's double suicide. This could be the "Gone with the Wind" of the 21st century

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Oblivioncry writes:
on Dec 13 2008 11:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#2181195)
it COULD BE.....only a director with a very artistic approach, a mind blowing vision can do this. just as said in the article, it takes a clear but artistic mind to convert all the scenery you described to celleloid.

as of now i really cant think of any director who could do the words of the book justice.

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Oblivioncry writes:
on Dec 13 2008 11:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#2181195)
and whoever tries to film faust should be beaten.....

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Rah-ry Drater writes:
on Dec 14 2008 08:19 AM

I'm not soooo sure about this, but i can't say that I'm not totally freakin excited.....

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Jason H. writes:
on Dec 14 2008 12:22 PM

this may not be a good thing. most movies based on books and remakes dont turn out good and usually dont do the original any justice.
if i were to choose a director i would pick Darren Aronofsky because of his movie The Fountain.
im not too sure about this, but it will be interesting and i hope they do this with an artistic mind.

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Fant S. writes:
on Dec 16 2008 12:58 PM

hooray, Derrickson, now he can ruin the epic poem the same way he did for the day the earth stood still. maybe he can use Keanu for God, we know he can play boring. I cannot fathom condensing this 12,000 line poem into 2 hours without losing too much. this is probably the same reason no good movie has EVER been made of the Illiad or the Odyssey. Whats next Uwe Bol directs the Divine Comedia. I was looking forward to this film, i'll just reread it again and look at dore, I'm tired of hollywoods anti-midas touch. In this instance the imagination of the reader is far superior to anything on film.

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kristen g. writes:
on Dec 18 2008 01:33 PM

awesome.
nothing would be lost (pun?) on making this film-- even if they fail miserably, it won't take away from the actual poem.
MY ONLY HOPE is that they find someone really hot to play satan. Silly? perhaps. Fangirlish? guilty. Heretic? possibly.
But the poem is brought to life by satan's depressing little story. when he first sees eden and is happy, and wonders if he can repent, and realizes he can't, is so sad. And he really appears to have feelings for Eve. I think I'd like to make my own sappy romantic movie of this poem... I mean, if the director's psyched about the angel-battles and the prospect of 3D, then I'm a little worried (since the beauty of the poem is in the characterizations, not just in the over-the-top battles between the angels and fallen.)

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Steve H. writes:
on Jan 06 2009 06:54 PM

I think the fact that Director missed a HUGE part of what the story is about(as stated in the above ThePowerHouse comment) is kind of scary. Also did anyone here see "The Day the Earth Stood Still". What crap, now this guy is going to tackle one of the most epic poems ever written? I think maybe Peter Jackson is probably the only guy that could pull it off. On a side note if anyone here is interested in depictions of Paradise Lost google image search John Martin. He was a 18th century artist that did a series of mezzotints illuminating Paradise Lost.

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