You might have forgotten, but a few years ago, Warner Bros. had an ambitious plan in place to make John Milton‘s "Paradise Lost" a big 3D movie. Alex Proyas ("Dark City") was going to direct and Bradley Cooper (Lucifer), Djimon Honsou (Abdiel, the angel of death), Casey Affleck (Gabriel, God’s noted messenger and angel), Camilla Belle (Eve), and Callan McAuliffe (Uriel, one of seven archangels) were all slated to star. Pre-production was well underway, and a schedule had been set, but the studio got nervous about the cost and eventually scrapped the movie. But big screen adaptations of classic literature seems to be a thing now (see "The Odyssey") so WB is gonna take another bite at the apple.
READ MORE: Hugh Jackman Looking To Take Homer’s ‘Odyssey’
They snapped up the rights to a pitch by Dwain Worrell for "Dante’s Inferno." Of course, this effort has "franchise potential," and the story will involve Dante going through the nine circles of hell to save the woman he loves. Hopefully this doesn’t mean nine movies….
It’s early days, but it’s a taste of what Hollywood seems to be digging at the moment. It seems studio execs are putting down the comic books and hitting the library instead. And this isn’t the first time Hollywood has tackled the big work — there was a 1935 film version starring Spencer Tracy, and you can watch it in full below. [Deadline]