Anyone who’s seen anime legend Satoshi Kon’s 2006 film “Paprika” knows that it’s kind of a huge mindfuck. The film, which sounds weirdly a lot like “Inception,” is about the theft of a machine that allows therapists to enter the dreams of their patients and the chaos that ensues afterwards. Based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, much of the film takes place in the dream world and as the film continues, reality and fantasy become almost inseparably blurred.
Late last summer, Wolfgang Petersen was attached to direct a live action remake of the film, and speaking to MTV News the director reveals that it seems to be well on its way, “We have a young writer on it, and he just delivered a very specific and detailed treatment that we’re working on. And then if that’s a go then he will write the screenplay and that will go very fast because the treatment is already very detailed. So I’m very excited about that. I would say it’s on the fast track.”
However, Petersen is thinking big on this one, and has no reservations about opening up the film to reach a wider audience, “We open it up a little bit more so it’s more accessible for a wide audience, but it comes a little bit sort of “Matrix” feel. Not like Matrix but sort of the size of it all, the scope of it all. So that it becomes more of a film for a mainstream audience.”
Frankly, it sounds expensive and with “Inception” on the way and sort of dabbling in the same territory, we wonder if studios are going to back such a similar film without the fanboy credentials that Nolan has. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.