When it was first announced that a movie version of John Milton’s classic angel tale Paradise Lost was being developed for the screen, many assumed it would be mulled over for a while before being quietly dropped, due to being a tough sell to the mainstream (not necessarily for the religious content, but because it paints Lucifer (aka Satan) as both hero and villain, and he’s undoubtedly the most understandble character in the story).
However after seven years of development it looks like it’s really going to happen – although the producer are keen to say the film is ‘inspired’ by Milton, suggesting more than a few changes from the original – with Alex Proyas (Dark City, I Robot) directing and Bradley Cooper on board to play Lucifer. Some concept art was even unveiled recently at Comic-Con.
Now it appears the movie may have found its other main character, with Deadline reporting that Benjamin Walker is in talks to play the Archangel Michael. Walker first got major attention playing the title character in the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in LA and then on Broadway. That helped him score the lead in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, which he’s just finished shooting.
It certainly sound like there are big plans for Paradise Lost though, with Deadline saying that ‘After being cast out of Heaven, Lucifer mounts an army that battles the forces of good, and the film will have cutting-edge visual effects that will make these battles resemble 300 meets Lord of the Rings’. Proyas comments, “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 say as faithful as possible to Milton’s text, particularly its focus on Lucifer’s evolution and the birth of evil. It’s a family saga, about a group of brothers, two in particular, who are on divergent paths, and Lucifer’s feelings of betrayal by his father and family that forge his descent into evil.”
There’s no release date set yet, but the producers are eyeing a late 2013 slot.