Given how paranoid we all feel now about government snooping, CCTV and drones, it seems like the perfect time for someone to mount a new, big-budget cinematic version of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984. Enter Paul Greengrass, who is attached to direct one for Sony.
Orwell’s book, first published in 1949, posited a fever dream of a society in constant war that kept changing history and turned its citizens into mindless worker bees, has never seemed more prescient. It’s been adapted several times before, most notable in Michael Radford’s 1984 effort, where John Hurt played Winston Smith, the man who decides to take a stand and is cruelly oppressed for his efforts.
Scott Rudin is producing the new version, and Finding Neverland stage show writer James Graham is aboard to work on the script. It’ll be sitting on Greengrass’ to-do list for a while, though, as he has several projects in development and appears to be focusing on the new Bourne film with Matt Damon.