If you haven’t heard of director Rupert Sanders, it’s because you don’t read the tabloids, or People magazine. Sanders is the (married) Snow White and the Huntsman director who made headlines by having an affair with his leading lady. So while Kristen Stewart lies low and faces excoriation from legions of Robert Pattinson fans, Mr. Fidelity himself is moving on with his career.
/Film reports that Sanders is making a deal with Sony and New Regency for his next film The Juliet, based on a short story by sci-fi godfather Alfred Bester. The film has been described as “Bonnie and Clyde in space.” That sounds like such a good idea that I might just give up writing movie news right now, because nothing could be more perfect than mobster lovers floating around in zero gravity.
Sanders was rumored to be circling the Tom Cruise reboot of Van Helsing – another project that could not possibly go wrong – but news of The Juliet throws that into question. If one thing is for certain it’s that he’s not on the dock for the sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, after the questionable notoriety that surrounded his last outing.
I actually have no problem with Rupert Sanders making an Alfred Bester story into a film. Bester is a grand-daddy of science fiction, won the first Hugo award for The Demolished Man, and to my knowledge has never had a good film adaptation of his work. But given all the nastiness that has surrounded Rupert Sanders, most of it directed at Stewart, I really would prefer to see him fail at everything he does. He’s not that great of a director anyways.
What do you think of the whole thing? Let us know in the comments below.
