Paradise Is Truly Lost

It's getting desperate. The Hollywood adaptation monster has apparently eaten its way through every available comic book, fantasy series, sci-fi novel, mythological tale, cartoon and video game. Because now, the ravenous filmmaking fiend is turning to classical epic poetry to feed its insatiable appetite for properties that possess even a smidgen of name recognition and blockbuster potential.

Paradise Lost, John Milton's 17th century narrative blank verse poem, is being turned into what Deadline refers to as a "sprawling fantasy epic" full of "cutting-edge visual effects that will . . . resemble 300 meets Lord of the Rings." Oh, the humanity!

Director Alex Proyas (Dark City; I, Robot) will be directing what we imagine will be a woefully lacking screenplay worked on by a bevy of writers, including Philip de Blasi, Stuart Hazeldine, Lawrence Kasdan and Ryan Condal. It's funny, on IMDb, three writers are given a "story" credit. Weird. I thought Paradise Lost already had a story.

Considered perhaps the greatest literary achievement in the English language, Paradise Lost is a truly epic work written by Milton as a theological treatise meant to illustrate God's beneficence. It tells the sprawling tale of the Fall of Man, divided into 12 books containing two separate arcs: the Angelic war instigated by Lucifer and the temptation of Adam and Eve. Of course, Proyas is focusing on the first arc because that's where all the cool special effects are concentrated.

Perhaps Proyas' best effect will be Bradley Cooper, who has signed to play Satan. This seems like an ideal role for Cooper, whose louche charm has been demonstrated to a great degree in several previous movies. Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) is being courted for the role of Michael, the archangel who led the forces of good against the forces of evil.

Proyas is talking a good game, telling Deadline, "It's not just armies battling in an epic war. This is an adventure about the origins of good and evil after Lucifer's rebellion gets him cast out of Heaven and leads to a struggle with his brother archangel over the soul of mankind, starting with Adam and Eve. That is the scope of the narrative here, and we've tried to stay as faithful as possible to Milton's text, particularly its focus on Lucifer's evolution and the birth of evil."

The flick will almost certainly be shot in 3D to better deliver the "visually audacious" set pieces. Proyas said, "I don't think the visuals could have been done justice until now, which is the great fun of being a film director in this modern age of visual effects. Despite all those possibilities, the characters are what's most important."

While I hope Proyas means what he says, my feelings about this film are best expressed by Milton's eloquent description of Satan in Paradise Lost. "O, how fallen! how changed From him, who, in the happy realms of light, Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine Myriads though bright!"