EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning Pulp Fiction co-writer and The Rules Of Attraction director Roger Avary has been set to write and direct a feature version of Biblical epic Paradise Lost for emerging AI-oriented production company Ex Machina Studios.
Tarantino collaborator Avary is the latest to tackle the influential and complex John Milton poem of 1667, which has long posed a challenge for creatives seeking to adapt its story about the fall of man. The epic nature of the work, spanning war in heaven and the creation of the world, has defeated others before — including a high-profile Alex Proyas – Warner Bros version starring Bradley Cooper — but Avary and Ex Machina believe AI can make the undertaking more manageable.
Ex Machina co-founder and CEO Marco Weber (Igby Goes Down) is producing Paradise Lost, with veteran production designer Kirk Petruccelli (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) executive-producing. K5 International is sales at the upcoming Cannes market.
The producers describe the project as “the ultimate faith-based heroic saga: a cosmic war in the heavens where the charismatic, rebellious archangel Lucifer defies God, is hurled into the abyss of Hell, and vows revenge on all creation. From the fiery lake of damnation, Lucifer rises as Satan to seduce humanity’s first parents, Adam and Eve, in the flawless Garden of Eden, triggering the Fall of Man and the loss of Paradise itself. At its core, Paradise Lost asks the question every generation must answer: When faced with reckoning and crisis, do we obey, rebel, or redeem?”
According to team, the project will tap into California-based Ex Machina’s proprietary AI, which it says allows for “expansive worlds to be realized at a responsible budget while preserving the primacy of real actors, human-authored narratives, and guild-aligned production practices”. Cast and start dates have yet to be set. We hear the project will still have an ambitious budget for an indie project.
It’s not the first epic poem tackled by Avary, who previously co-scripted Robert Zemeckis’ 2007 version of Beowulf for Paramount. The filmmaker, also known for scripting the original Silent Hill adaptation and for directing Killing Zoe, teased that he was working on multiple AI projects in February of this year. His last directorial outing was 2019 action film Lucky Day with Nina Dobrev.
“Beowulf was a revisionist reimagining made on a massive budget, but with Paradise Lost I’m taking a more faithful approach at a fraction of the cost, using cutting-edge generative AI to bring Milton’s vision to life in ways unimaginable just a few years ago,” explained Avary.
He continued: “This project brings together everything I’ve learned as a filmmaker and proves that powerful storytelling doesn’t require blockbuster budgets, but the right tools and team. Partnering with Ex Machina and Marco Weber, we’ve created something I believe will move audiences, spark conversations, and remind us why we tell stories in the first place — to wrestle with what it means to be human in the face of the divine. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with the world.”
“Roger Avary and Milton. Not much more that needs to be said. We are really excited about this one and cannot wait to see it come to life,” added Weber, whose Ex Machina slate also includes Alex Proyas’ Heaven, Cortés and Space Nation.
Paradise Lost has inspired countless artists before from Mary Shelley, Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman, to Joseph Haydn, Ridley Scott and Eminem.
Avary is represented by Artist International Group.
