Lynne Ramsay provides update on cosmic ‘Moby Dick’ adaptation
The British filmmaker Lynne Ramsay has revealed that she still hopes to take on her space-based Moby Dick project after having previously abandoned the movie concept.
In conversation with Screen Daily, the director, whose previous titles include 2017s You Were Never Really Here and 2011s We Need to Talk About Kevin, confirmed that she hadn’t given up on the adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel: “That’s a budget thing” she said. “There were loads of great ideas that came up with that, but over time something takes you this way or that way; I suppose you always have this bank of projects that are bubbling away in your mind”.
Back in 2012, shortly after the release of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ramsay was preparing to take on the Moby Dick adaptation, stating at the time: “We’re taking the premise into the galaxy…We’re creating a whole new world and a new alien. [It’s] a very psychological piece, mainly taking place in the ship, a bit like Das Boot, so it’s quite claustrophobic. It’s another monster movie, cos the monster’s Ahab.”
An epic tale that follows the journey of a sea captain named Ahab who ventures out to seek vengeance against a giant sperm whale called Moby Dick, which crippled him many months prior. Ramsay wished to change the setting of the classic tale to space, however, choosing to change the tone of the tale: “It’s about this mad captain whose crazy need for revenge takes the crew to their death. I’m taking people into dark waters, and you see some casualties on the way. It’s fascinating stuff because there’s so much in it”.
Whilst we readily await the release of cosmic Moby Dick in the far-flung future, Ramsay will next be taking on an adaptation of the Margaret Atwood short story Stone Mattress. Starring Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh, the story takes place on a cruise ship in a frozen landscape where a woman comes into contact with a man who raped her half a century ago.
Take a look at the trailer for Ramsay’s previous movie, You Were Never Really Here, below.
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