Many science fiction novels have been labeled "unfilmable," including Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly" and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Lathe of Heaven." However, the most famous case is still "Dune," Frank Herbert's 1965 novel that, prior to Denis Villeneuve's grand series, appeared too complex to effectively translate to the screen. EvenVilleneuve was frightened about actually directing "Dune"Before releasing his duology in 2021's "Dune: Part One" and 2024's "Dune: Part Two," he didn't need to, particularly since he had already transformed a supposedly unadaptible science fiction story into a successful film.
In 2016, Villeneuve directed the film "Arrival," which was based on Ted Chiang's 1998 novella "Story of Your Life" — a story that was initially turned down by Hollywood because it was seen as "too intelligent" for a full-length movie. "Story of Your Life" is told in the second person, from the viewpoint of linguist Dr. Louise Banks as she speaks to her future daughter. The plot moves back and forth between past and present, describing the previous arrival of aliens on Earth and the process of understanding their language, while also exploring the future of Banks' daughter. This structure, apparently, was considered unsuitable for a film by studio executives.
Eric Heisserer was responsible for adapting Chiang's novella into a screenplay for Villeneuve to direct, but as the writer explainedViceAround the time "Arrival" was released in theaters, selling the script was quite difficult. "Every studio turned it down," he remembered. "They told me they didn't see it as a film. That it was too intelligent, which I started to view as an excuse to avoid something that isn't a franchise picture."
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Arrival took a long time to finally be released, but it turned into a major success when it arrived.
After Eric Heisserer had what Vice described as "an intellectual and visceral reaction" to Ted Chiang's stories, he created a speculative adaptation of "Story of Your Life," seemingly unaware of the challenges he would face in getting the screenplay sold. At one stage, the writer even abandoned efforts to pitch it. That changed when he had a successful meeting with Dan Levine, Dan Cohen, and Shawn Levy from 21 Laps Entertainment.
According to a 2016 Wall Street Journala piece, the company referred to as Heisserer contacted a week after the meeting and expressed interest. In an interview withAwards DailyTo promote the film's launch, Dan Levine discussed being attracted to the project because it wasn't centered around "alien ships landing with explosions and alien invasions." Rather, in 'Arrival,' aliens arrive, and we try to discover what they truly desire, which was very intriguing to him.
Even with 21 Laps joining the project, there was still more work to be done. Levine and his team mentioned to Awards Daily that they went through "many drafts" of the script before reaching out to directors. Once the screenplay improved, Levine met with Denis Villeneuve, who was instantly enthusiastic about it. When "Arrival" eventually opened in theaters, it became a significant success, as shown by its 94% critic score onRotten Tomatoesand $203.4 million in theatrical revenue with a $47 million production cost. The movie is one ofthe top science fiction films of the 21st century, and original novella The author Ted Chiang was highly satisfied with Villeneuve's version.. Overall, it was a significant success — not bad for a film that was supposedly impossible to adapt.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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