Since it looks like Bionic Woman is not coming back to NBC, although nothing's been confirmed, the executive producer is moving on. David Eick is writing a pilot based on the Alfonso Cuarón film Children of Men for SciFi.The film, brilliantly directed by the Mexican filmmaker, was a grim tale about the future -- England in 2027 -- where women have become completely infertile and the human race faces a major crises with less than a century to survive.
At the SciFi Channel's upfront, Eick said the proposed TV series would veer closer to the source material, P.D. James' novel. "It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society's utter focus."
Eick's version of Children of Men will also not star Clive Owen, Julianne Moore nor Michael Caine, who were all in the 2006 feature film. The TV Children of Men is going to question how society defines responsibility, freedom and a sense of values when it doesn't necessarily believe humans will survive as a species. "It's not really a war show like the movie was. It's more an exploration of that issue."
Eick is also preparing Caprica, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica for SciFi.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-28-2008 @ 10:47AM
SpaceVenus said...
Not to nitpick, but why would you assume that women are infertile? Perhaps it's men. Or both.
Sounds sexist coming from an Allison.
Sorry, I'm not in a good mood today.
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3-28-2008 @ 12:22PM
mrbooze said...
We know that women are infertile in the movie because that's the premise of the movie. Just like we know that men are infertile in the original novel because that's the premise of the original novel.
3-28-2008 @ 1:29PM
eugene said...
Yup, there's an extended exposition in the movie where the birthing nurse describes how she and other nurses were the first to notice that all their pregnant mothers were suffering miscarriages.
3-28-2008 @ 11:15AM
loudalmaso said...
here is the paradox I want to see the producers solve...
How in the world do they plan to cast their typical "WB pretty young teens" in to a series where, logically, there are no people left younger than 25 or 30?
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3-28-2008 @ 4:39PM
Johari said...
I hear that Gabrielle Carteris isn't doing anything.
3-28-2008 @ 11:25AM
L. said...
I believe it's being said that the women are the infertile ones because (in the film at least) the inability to have children began with masses of pregnant women miscarrying and moved on to no more pregnancies occurring.
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3-28-2008 @ 11:26AM
Oreo said...
I always thought it was the men who couldn't have children, but they had to change it in the movie because you don't need men to have babies anymore.
And I hope the show is good, but some of his comments make me question if Eick can write or not. It seems Moore is the good one and Eick just is there.
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3-28-2008 @ 11:39AM
Oreo said...
And proofread next time...
"David Eick is writing a pilot based on the Alfonso Cuarón film Children of Men for SciFi."
""It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels..."
"Eick's version of Children of Men will also not star Clive Owen, Julianne Moore nor Michael Caine..."
So it's not based on the movie, it's based on the book.
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3-28-2008 @ 12:50PM
rex said...
"It's not really a war show like the movie was"
Maybe it's just me, but the movie wasn't really a "war" movie. The climax at the end of the movie was obviously a battle scene, but it still didn't fall into the "war" category in my opinion.
I haven't had the opportunity to read the book yet, but it is definitely on my list. I will most likely check out the show (especially if it is in HD), but have concerns about the usual SciFi production values. I hope it works, but my gut tells me not to get my hopes up.
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3-31-2008 @ 6:06AM
Lykan said...
Yep I also agree that it's not a war based Movie and I doubt the series will be. The problem in the movie arised when the population realized they had no future. So lots of gangs and revolted mobs started a "post apocalyptic" era in a Mad Max kind of way. As such the army had to patrol some cities and have battles with those factions. I liked the movie but it wasn't a favorite of the ones I've seen so far but I'm kind of curious about a series with this plot.
http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=134847
3-28-2008 @ 1:30PM
0megapart!cle said...
Assuming Scifi spends a similar amount of money on Children of Men that they spent on Galactica, which is in no way a certain assumption, there shouldn't be a problem.
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3-28-2008 @ 3:58PM
Oreo said...
BSG didn't get enough money from Sci-fi.
In the miniseries Caprica is nuked to hell, however in the first season Caprica has buildings still standing. That was only done because they didn't have the money to make the buildings wrecked. So they even came up with the crazy idea that the Cylons were wondering around rebuilding everything.
3-28-2008 @ 4:03PM
0megapart!cle said...
I don't suppose you could provide a link to those assertions? I certainly don't see a lack of money manifesting in BSG, and I don't know why they would provide less money to Caprica or Children of Men, if it is picked up.
3-29-2008 @ 4:32AM
Brent McKee said...
Oreo, you've obviously never heard of the Neutron Bomb - kills the people, leaves the buildings standing thanks to high radiation yield. Why do you assume the Cylons couldn't figure out that bit of technology? (Of course the fact that Sci-Fi didn't have the money to tear down Vancouver - the real Capica City - was probably also a factor.)
3-28-2008 @ 1:31PM
eugene said...
Well, I'm not a fan of sci-fi and their miserly budgeting, but it could be worse. At least with sci-fi we should get at least a seasons worth before they cancel it. It could have gone to Fox... where we would get three to five episodes, shown in random order on random days of non sequential weeks.
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3-28-2008 @ 2:11PM
C C said...
Children of Men will work as a series IF they base it more on the book than the movie. To be perfectly truthful, I did not like the film adaptation. P.D. James' novel was essentially "feminist" in how it showed a future world where the powers that be were more interested in control, even if the world ended on their watch, than really finding a cure for the infertillity. The "men" really didn't want to see children born. The novel ends with the implication that the "women" who did have power were going to protect the child that had just been born. Cuaron didn't transfer that main theme over to the movie; he made the film more masculine.
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3-28-2008 @ 4:08PM
scottR said...
Ah, no, that was not a main theme in the book. Sure, it had some theme like that in there, but not main at all. Theo wanted the child born as much as anyone, and he was going to be there to protect the child (he baptizes him). In the movie, the baby is a girl, so if anything Cuarón made the film feminine.
Except for the beginning and end, the book was really boring. I loved the movie for making something of it. The book's discussion on the use of power in a dying world was interesting, but the plot was plodding and misguided for the most part.
The setting is the interesting part in both mediums, so I hope the series goes with that as a focus.
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3-28-2008 @ 6:36PM
Jez said...
I LOVVVVEE the movie! I hope if this continues, they do it justice.
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3-29-2008 @ 11:29AM
Alicia said...
On Sci-Fi.... anything is possible!
it may just be one of the new shows I will have to watch.
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