Fri Oct 17, 2008 — by Josh Wigler

Pitt Embarks on 'Odyssey'

Homer Poem Heads to Space

Warner Bros. is quietly setting up The Odyssey with Brad Pitt's Plan B producing and George Miller (Mad Max) attached to direct. The hope is that Brad Pitt will also star as Odysseus, who embarks on his long journey home from the Trojan War after declining to become a god.

WB previously released Troy, which was essentially a retelling of Homer's The Illiad. While The Odyssey would continue the translation of Homer's poems to the big screen, there's a big difference between the two versions: Warner Bros. wants to put Odysseus in space.

Variety reports: "[The WB's] intention is to transfer the tale [of The Odyssey] to a futuristic setting in outer space."

The announcement of a science fiction twist on The Odyssey comes shortly after Ridley Scott's recently announced The Forever War. Scott describes that flick, which is based on the Joe Haldeman novel of the same name, as "a science-fiction epic, a bit of The Odyssey by way of Blade Runner." Forever War is being set up by Fox 2000, a rival company of the WB's.

Brad Pitt will next be seen in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a reverse aging epic with much rumored Oscar buzz. George Miller is currently most known for Justice League Mortal, the controversial adaptation of the beloved DC Comics property. It's still unclear as to whether the film is being made, as several executives and journalists call the project "dead in the water," but others attached to the film, such as would-be Batman Armie Hammer, continue to speak as though the movie is still on track. Personally, a George Miller directed sci-fi version of The Odyssey sounds a lot better than his proposed Justice League film.

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