‘Rendezvous With Rama’ By Deni Villeneuve.
Coming off the super hit “Dune 2”, Deni Villeneuve said he is taking a break before he embarked on a new film. Among the many projects he is involved in, one of the most anticipated is the sci-fi classic “Rendezvous with Rama”. An adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel of the same name. Oscar winner Eric Roth (Dune) is writing the adaptation. Villeneuve is set to direct. No actors are officially announced. Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment is set to produce along with Alcon Entertainment.
Premise: Set in the 2130s, the story involves a 31 by 12 mile cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System and is hurtling towards the sun. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who are sent on a mission to explore and intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.
First published in 1973, the novel is regarded as one of the cornerstone of Clarke’s works. The book has been under option for over 20 years and purchased outright in 2018 by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary’s Revelations Entertainment. Alcon Entertainment acquired the film rights to the novel with Deni on board to direct.
Alcon will finance the project and produce the pic. Alcon Entertainment previously financed and produced Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” and the critically acclaimed epic “Blade Runner 2049”— which won three Academy Awards.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” and Academy Award winner Eric Roth is currently in the middle of writing the screenplay. his illustrious filmography includes several Oscar winning films from many acclaimed directors; “Forest Gump”, “A Star is Born”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Munich” and “Ali”. He recently reunited with his Forest Gump collaborators, Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis on 2024’s “Here”.
Villeneuve’s long gestating adaptation is one hell of an ambitious undertaking. The director has been attached to ‘Rama’ since before another project “Cleopatra” had even been announced. He recently gave a short description of what his film would be like; Villeneuve described it as “Arrival on steroids”. Arrival is another one of his acclaimed sci-fi alien film which was Oscar nominated. Since Clarke is the genius behind “2001: A Space Odyssey”, then you can expect some mind-altering sci-fi to fit the proceedings.
Freeman and McCreary committed to Arthur Clarke personally on their visit to him in Sri Lanka that they would usher ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ to the big screen in a manner true to the book.
“Deni’s vision for ‘Rama’ felt completely aligned with Arthur’s wishes, so we are confident that teaming up with our producing partners Andrew and Broderick at Alcon is the right step in this over-20-year odyssey!” stated McCreary and Freeman.
The Quebecois filmmaker in an interview with Vanity Fair in Sept 2024, gave an update about “Rama”. “I have too many things right now. It’s true that I’m working on “Rendezvous with Rama” and that screenplay is slowly moving forward. “Cleopatra” as well. and “Dune: Messiah”. I’m looking forward to going back behind the camera, and we’ll see what will be next.”
Villeneuve had originally said that the third part in the ‘Dune’ films — “Dune: Messiah” would not be his next film. However, back in June, THR reported that Deni might have had a change of heart, and he now wanted to complete the Dune trilogy by 2026. He recently told Deadline; that his “break” is over and he will “go back behind the camera faster than I think”, “I’m in the writing zone now”. “Messiah” was originally rumored to shoot in 2025, but Deni said he will start shooting in 2026. The schedule shift is in part because Zendaya is completely booked next year with “Euphoria” and “Spider-Man 4” shooting back-to-back.
Villeneuve is working the “Messiah” script and locking the cast. It is the project he will shoot next. It looks like a 2027 release.
“Cleopatra” is another project Deni has percolating. It is being written by “1917” scribe Krysty Wilson-Cairns. David Scarpa (Napoleon) had written the original draft, with Krysty now taking a crack at it. Last November, a grid for the film was leaked and revealed that Zendaya had already accepted the role of the young queen of Egypt. Timothee Chalamet had been offered the role of Octavius and Daniel Craig was being sought for Caesar.
In April, Villeneuve and Legendary Entertainment optioned Annie Jacobsen’s nonfiction book “Nuclear War: A Scenario” with Deni set to direct the adaptation. The reports were that Villeneuve will take on this giant project AFTER he completes “Messiah”, which he and Legendary are developing as the conclusion of the trilogy.
The filmmaker is hot in demand and currently has four projects on the table as his next film. and although he has stated that his next film will depend on which script finished first, many reports claim that the next will be “Dune: Messiah”, as he wants to complete the trilogy.
He is also directing and producing couple of episodes of Dune spinoff TV series “Dune: Prophecy” on HBO. on the TV front, he said he’s also working on a potential HBO series, based on Jo Nesbo’s “The Son”, with Jake Gyllenhaal.
On the film front, Villeneuve is working on “Dune: Messiah”, “Rendezvous with Rama”, “Cleopatra” and “Nuclear War” — which is still in very early stages of development.
