Sam Worthington, the big block of meat that starred in Clash of the Titans and Avatar, will star in DreamWorks’ adaptation of the pulp adventure hero Allan Quatermain in the aptly titled Quatermain.
Created by the great Victorian adventure writer, H. Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain was the prototypical British adventurer: rugged, intelligent, and more than willing to conquer foreign lands for Queen and country. He served as the template for many adventure characters, most notably Indiana Jones. His adventures took place mainly in Africa in the two books King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quatermain. The last person to play Quatermain was Sean Connery in the horrendous adaptation of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Quatermain will take the character from the African jungles to deep space and back only to find that the human race has abandoned the earth. The movie is being produced by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is in the early production phase.
The Pulse: What? No, seriously, what? I understand that stories need to be tweaked now and then (for instance, the appalling racism displayed in Haggard’s books), but so far this seems to go beyond adaptation into some new realm. It’s either going to be an incredibly imaginative, inventive ride, or it’s going to fall flat on its face. Guess which one I’m betting on.
