Science fiction fans will be interested in learning that Joe Cornish — the filmmaker behind last year’s throwback sci-fi monster actioner Attack the Block — is set to adapt Neal Stephenson’s best-selling opus, Snow Crash. Deadline reports that the filmmaker will be writing and directing the remake. Cornish is currently scripting the Ant-Man movie and recently finished the screenplay for The Adventures of Tintin.
Stephenson’s cult novel tells the story of a “computer virus that is manifested as a drug called Snow Crash that is transmitted visually from computer screens to unsuspecting users, frying their brains.” The author’s satirical humor comes into play with character names like Hiro Protagonist, who is a hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza delivery driver all rolled into one. Paramount abandoned the remake project years ago, but after making the failed rounds elsewhere (thankfully not with Disney), it wound up back home with Cornish and the studio.
Many Snow Crash fans — and some filmmakers, like Splice’s Vincenzo Natali — have spoken out against a big screen version. Let us know if you think Snow Crash can function as a film in the comments below.