JMS Adapting Lensman

For Ron Howard. [Link]

He began by discussing the film "Changeling", which is set to premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Clint Eastwood directed JMS' script, and the film stars Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich. "I'm the first comics guy to have a film at the Cannes Film Festival," JMS said, smiling.

Other film projects in the works include "They Marched into the Sunlight"--to be helmed by Paul Greengrass, director of "United 93" and the last two Jason Bourne films--and "World War Z". JMS also did a rewrite (in only 60 hours!) on a new film being produced by the Wachowskis. He did not have any updates on the Silver Surfer movie being developed at Fox Studios.

"I'm announcing this for the first time..." JMS told the crowd. "I'm adapting Lensman for Ron Howard." The Lensman series of novels (which stared in 1934) by E. E. Smith have been hailed as groundbreaking, definitive science-fiction. JMS said that Howard will be fully embracing the "space opera" aspects of the story and that they're envisioning it as an epic saga with elements of "Star Wars" and "Blade Runner".

"We're seeing it as one of three films," he said. JMS of course is no stranger to science fiction, having proved his sc-fi mettle with his popular "Babylon 5" series that aired throughout the '90s. Straczynski called "Babylon 5" the "bright shining star of [his] career."

Babylon 5 has some parallels to the Lensman series, particularly the fight between ancient races who have meddled in our pasts.