Over on SciFiWire there’s an article 7 ‘Unfilmable’ Sci-Fi Books —- And the Filmmakers Who Could Adapt Them. In the comments thread, several people suggest a film version of Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light. I don’t know how many people know this story, but there was a Lord of Light film adaptation in the works at one point. From Wikipedia:
In 1979 it was announced that Lord of Light would be made into a 50 million dollar film. It was planned that the sets for the movie would be made permanent and become the core of a science fiction theme park to be built in Aurora, Colorado. Famed comic-book artist Jack Kirby was even contracted to produce artwork for set design. However, due to legal problems the project was never completed.
Parts of the unmade film project, the script and Kirby’s set designs, were subsequently acquired by the CIA as cover for an exfiltration team posing as Hollywood location scouts in Tehran in order to rescue six US diplomatic staff who escaped the Iranian hostage crisis by virtue of being outside the Embassy building at the time.
There’s an interview on YouTube with one of the CIA men who took part in the operation, and there’s a detailed article about it here.
Jack Kirby’s Concept Art for the Lord of Light Film |
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