Remember “The Forever War”? The Ridley Scott film, based on the 1974 sci-fi novel by Joe Haldeman, was first announced way back in 2008, was one he wanted to do right after “Blade Runner” but it got away from him. Well, it’s still knocking around, and earlier this year while doing press rounds for “Robin Hood,” Scott revealed that a fourth draft of the screenplay currently being penned to try and get the complex story right.
Well, now we have a few more details on the still gestating project. Apparently, Scott has re-teamed with his “Blade Runner” scribe David Webb Peoples who is currently working on the latest rewrite. Joe Haldeman tipped the news on his blog saying, “Scott has a script; last I heard, it was the fourth rewrite. I’ve talked to the writer — he has good credits, like ‘Unforgiven.'” It’s certainly interesting that Peoples and Haldeman are talking and probably indicates that Scott doesn’t want to stray too far from the source material.
Though hard to summarize succinctly, the story “revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn’t recognize some 20 years later.” But don’t be surprised if this stays stalled for another few years. Scott attaches himself to pretty much everything and it’s a black art to determine what he ends up doing next. Recently, the “Alien” prequels, the former Martin Scorsese project “The Wolf Of Wall Street” and the Wentworth Miller scribed “Stoker” have found Scott’s name linked to them but don’t be surprised if any one of the other kajillion projects associated with Sir Ridley’s name end up moving up the queue.