Although initially concieved as a project to try and get him into Hollywood, Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion has since taken on a life of its own, with the director turning it into an illustrated novel while he worked on Tron: Legacy and then selling the rights to Disney for a major film adaptation.
Now Deadline reports that Departed screenwriter William Monahan has landed the job of taking Kosinki’s book, and turning it into a screenplay. Oblivion centres on a battle-damaged soldier who, assigned to a desolate planet after a court-martial, patrols the bleak landscape in an effort to destroy the last vestiges of a primitive alien race. When a mysterious traveller arrives unexpectedly, their lives become inextricably linked as they are forced to question everything they know about this world and themselves.
Intitially planned five years ago as a mid-budget feature, with Disney currently trying to set Kosinski up as one of their cornerstone directors, Oblivion may well become something a bit grander. At the moment the helmer is working on a Tron: Legeacy sequel, a remake of The Black Hole and Oblivion for the House Of Mouse, and it’s not yet known which he’ll actually direct next.