As he prepares to make his first leap from the lower budget likes of Kings Of Summer with Kong: Skull Island, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is looking to add other big projects for the future. He’s now attached to handle Paramount’s take on Alfred Bester’s classic sci-fi novel The Stars My Destination{
Bester originated the tale as a serial in magazines before it was published in book form in 1957. It follows Gulliver "Gully" Foyle, the last survivor of a destroyed merchant ship who is marooned in space, captured by a strange culture and tattooed across his face. When a passing vessel ignores his distress beacon, it lays the seeds for a boiling revenge rage that sees him use untapped powers to strike back at those who left him stranded in his hour of need. Among his abilities is teleportation: known in the book as “Jaunting”.
This is one that studios have long been interested in, despite occasional claims that it’s nearly impossible to adapt for the screen. Richard Gere optioned it back in the 1990s and since then it’s been through the hands of Fox and Universal, where Mary Parent, former vice chairman of the latter and now a producer, has since brought it to Paramount.
Vogt-Roberts, who also has his eyes on a film based on Metal Gear Solid, is preparing to send Tom Hiddleston, J.K. Simmons and Michael Keating to Skull Island, home of the giant ape for a new adventure tale from Legendary, with a release date set for March 10, 2017.