Johnny Rico is coming back to kill some more bugs.
Columbia Pictures is plotting a new Starship Troopers movie, setting District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to write and direct an adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel story by Robert A. Heinlein.
Blomkamp will also produce the feature alongside Terri Tatchell, his partner and wife who co-wrote the South African filmmaker’s District 9 and 2015 outing, Chappie.
Published in 1959, Troopers ostensibly told of an interstellar war between Earth and a host of bug-like aliens, and focused on a rise of a military serviceman named Johnny Rico. But the story had other things on its minds, like exploring the strengths of life in a military society and such ideas as having to perform service in order to have voting rights.
While the book won a Hugo Award for best novel and has been quite influential in sci-fi literature, some quarters described the book as fascist. It was that tone that was satirized in the 1997 movie from Paul Verhoeven, the director of Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Showgirls. Verhoeven was over-the-top in his depiction of the military jingoism and propaganda, fetishized costumes, and highlighted Nazi influences.
Rico was played by squared jaw roughneck Casper Van Dien and the cast included Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside. While the movie was not initially a success, and some critics accused Verhoeven of putting a positive spin on fascism, the movie has since developed a reappraisal and a cult following.
Blomkamp’s take is not a remake of the Verhoeven movie, and sources say the goal is to go back to the source material.
Blomkamp most recently directed Gran Turismo for Sony Pictures, a critical and commercial success that grossed over $122 million worldwide.
The filmmaker showed his ability to tackle deep themes while balancing human-versus-aliens conflicts with his splashy 2009 feature debut District 9. The movie was a hit at the box office and earned four Oscar nominations, including best picture and best adapted screenplay for Blomkamp and Tatchell.
Blomkamp followed that up with more sci-fi offerings, including Chappie and Elysium.
He is repped by CAA and Gendler Kelly.
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