# Woo-hoo! Hyperion movie in the works! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708 "2004-05-29T21:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7c8e57/32.png) [@Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kombucha_ShroomPerson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/1 "2004-05-29T21:48:41Z")
I’m sure _someone_ else here must have read Dan Simmons’ Hyperion series. If not, you should read it, and then get excited about this news. > [@](#): > > “Yes, Virginia, there is a Hyperion movie in the works. It has been optioned by a top-notch studio, is slated to be directed by a top-name director, and already has the involvement of a top-flight movie star. Screenwriters have been attached to the project and a first draft screenplay is expected soon. from [Dan Simmons’ website](http://www.dansimmons.com/news/movies.htm#hyperionnew) This could be so cool. And yes, it could be so bad too. But think about if it all goes right… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/2 "2004-05-29T21:53:31Z")
This came up last when it was just a rumor. Unfortunately, the “top flight” star mentioned was Leonardo DeCaprio. If this is still the case, no thanks. I’ll just re-read the books. ---
**Author:** ![Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7c8e57/32.png) [@Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kombucha_ShroomPerson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/3 "2004-05-29T21:56:59Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > This came up last when it was just a rumor. Unfortunately, the “top flight” star mentioned was Leonardo DeCaprio. > > If this is still the case, no thanks. I’ll just re-read the books. I heard that too, but c’mon Leo DeCaprio isn’t that bad. He wasn’t annoying in Romeo & Juliet. I remember him being pretty good then. Yes, he could ruin the film, but he won’t necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/4 "2004-05-29T22:01:46Z")
> [@Kombucha'ShroomPerson](#): > > This could be so cool. > > And yes, it could be so bad too. But think about if it all goes right… Yes, it could be cool. It’s been a long time since I read it, I’d been thinking of rereading it lately, so I guess that might add come incentive. From what I call it was pretty involved and there was a lot of back and forth in time stuff, that might be hard to translate to film. Also, the identity of the “top-flight movie star” concerns me … please don’t let it be Tom Cruise. The Shrike gave me nightmares but I also thought it was pretty cool that it was named after a cute little bird that likes to impale it’s food on little spikes. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/5 "2004-05-29T22:10:57Z")
Those are my favorite sci-fi books, bar none. If they can pull off the fairly complex intertwining plots, it could be a fine movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/6 "2004-05-29T22:13:14Z")
[Here’s the old story from Ain’t It Cool News](http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=15798) Simmons would reconstruct the four novels into a potential trilogy. As for Leo, he’s just as good an actor as Tom Cruise. Neither would be a good choice for this film. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/7 "2004-05-29T22:20:55Z")
What? Oh, I’m sorry. I thought there was going to be a movie about the [Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant](http://www.water-technology.net/projects/hyperion/). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/8 "2004-05-29T22:22:04Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > [Here’s the old story from Ain’t It Cool News](http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=15798) > > Simmons would reconstruct the four novels into a potential trilogy. > > As for Leo, he’s just as good an actor as Tom Cruise. > > Neither would be a good choice for this film. I didn’t see your Leo comment until after my first comment posted. I really have no problem with either Tom or Leo’s acting abilities. I just agree that neither would be right for this film, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/9 "2004-05-29T22:32:53Z")
I wonder how badly they’ll screw up the look of the Shrike? ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/10 "2004-05-29T22:36:04Z")
So it’s not about the [_Squadron Supreme_](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Squadron%20Supreme)? ---
**Author:** ![Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7c8e57/32.png) [@Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kombucha_ShroomPerson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/11 "2004-05-29T22:36:14Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I wonder how badly they’ll screw up the look of the Shrike? A small part of me is hoping that they’ll go the _Alien_ route of keeping the big, scary thing obscured unless absolutely necessary. That way they might not screw it up. Although the Shrike does get seen a lot in the books, and it would be cool to see, and knowing how nasty it looks and is is very important to the story. So hopefully they won’t screw it up. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/12 "2004-05-30T15:04:37Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > So it’s not about the [_Squadron Supreme_](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Squadron%20Supreme)? That’s what I was going to ask. I’m a little confused. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/13 "2004-05-30T17:04:12Z")
The only role I can see Leo playing is Raul Endymion from the second set. If this is going to be a trilogy, then it seems like the pilgrims’ stories would be the entire first movie, then the events leading up to the destruction of the World Web would fill up the second. If they’re planning on combining the Endymion books together for #3, Leo would only be in one movie. I’m really surprised they’re making this. Dan Simmons isn’t really a household name, but I guess moviemakers are starting to see how multipart movies can be filmed and produced in one time period, which means saving money in the long run. Provided the first movie gets audiences hooked, word-of-mouth will be free marketing for the other films. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/14 "2004-05-30T17:46:08Z")
I just finished reading Hyperion for the first time (I don’t plan on reading any further, I’ve been well warned the rest of the series) and I’ve got to say it will make for a terrible movie. Let’s be generous and say the movie is 150 minutes long. You’ve got effectively seven stories (the six and framing devices as well as closure of some kind at the end) to squeeze into that. That’s not going to work. So you start cutting, but who gets cut? Each of the stories is important to pacing or giving us some aspect of the whole picture that gradually comes together at the end. And the ones that advance the plot the least are also, in my opinion, the better stories. If that wasn’t enough, anthology movies are not well liked in Hollywood anyway. We’d more likely get a completely reworked storyline. That said, this is the perfect book for a miniseries. One hour a night featuring one story for each character with the framing device of the journey to the Shrike. The technical demands for shooting the book aren’t exactly huge either meaning that it can be effective as a television production. Even the complicated things to show aren’t exactly out of reach of a TV budget. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/15 "2021-11-11T02:45:31Z")
_Hyperion_ movie still in the works. [https://www.darkhorizons.com/cooper-retooling-hyperion-as-a-film/](https://www.darkhorizons.com/cooper-retooling-hyperion-as-a-film/) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/16 "2021-11-11T03:33:01Z")
That post was 17 years after the previous one 😲 Brian ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/17 "2021-11-11T04:50:41Z")
Some works take longer than others. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/18 "2021-11-11T04:56:41Z")
That’s okay, lots of the previous comments are still relevant. There will be spoilers in this post, by the way. Like, how the hell are they going to film this, and what parts of the stories are they going to leave out? Then there is the wildly different flavor between the first two books (and between each of those) and the last two books. I have actually just re-read the whole cantos in the last few weeks, and I am very skeptical that they can make a decent movie out of these stories. What I would be most afraid of is that the last two books would overshadow everything, and be made into a gigantic action ego project for the “actor/producer” Bradley Cooper. It would be as full of empty heroics as the books are, and just as frustrating. And the love story? Very creepy, not to mention how they would treat the characterization of someone who is a messiah. Not to mention the parallels to the Christian Eucharist ceremony, or what happens to the Catholic Church in the far future, and on and on. Just no. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/19 "2021-11-11T06:40:16Z")
Not to mention how they would show both Rachel Weintraub and Moneta without revealing that they are the same person. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708/20 "2021-11-11T13:19:10Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > That post was 17 years after the previous one An effect of the Time Tombs, I’m sure. The Lord of Pain is involved too, I expect. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-hyperion-movie-in-the-works/247708.md?page=2)