Stanislaw LemAward-winning film director and set designer Roger Christian is preparing for a Polish quest, having announced his plans to adapt a classic by science fiction legend Stanislaw Lem.
The British director, who was in Krakow last week as part of the 4th Off Plus Camera Festival of independent film, has set his sights on the 1961 dystopian novel Memoirs Found in a Bathtub.
Christian is no stranger to science fiction, having weaved his set design magic on both Star Wars and Alien, winning an Oscar for the former and a nomination from the Academy for the latter.
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub follows the plight of a bureaucrat who must carry out an investigation in a subterranean military complex.
Lem (1921- 2006), chiefly known for his novel Solaris, is Poland's most translated author.
Christian is set to begin shooting in early 2012, and he intends to make use of Krakow's UNESCO-listed salt mines at Wieliczka.
Film fans will be crossing their fingers that the director strikes gold this time. His 2000 sci-fi epic Battlefield Earth, starring John Travolta as the dreadlocked villain, was not a success. The New York Times noted that the film “may well be the worst movie of the century.”
However, Quentin Tarantino counts amongst the fans of Christian's earlier directorial work. (nh)