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Alex Proyas to Direct Sci-Fi Film 'Amped' for 'Robopocalypse' Writer

by Ben Pearson
November 6, 2012
Source: THR

It's been a rough few years for Dark City director Alex Proyas, with Legendary Pictures pulling the plug on his big screen adaptation of Paradise Lost and his vampire tale Dracula Year Zero falling apart as well. But now THR reports that he's scored a high profile directing gig with Amped, based on Robopocalpyse writer Daniel H. Wilson's novel about the battle between humans and nano-enhanced robots. Set up at Summit Entertainment a couple years back, the studio recently let the rights expire after being acquired by Lionsgate, but now Working Title Films is in talks to scoop them up and bring this story to the big screen.

Here's the rundown of the Amped synopsis, courtesy of Amazon:

In Amped, people are implanted with a device that makes them capable of superhuman feats. The powerful technology has profound consequences for society, and soon a set of laws is passed that restricts the abilities—and rights—of "amplified" humans. On the day that the Supreme Court passes the first of these laws, twenty-nine-year-old Owen Gray joins the ranks of a new persecuted underclass known as "amps." Owen is forced to go on the run, desperate to reach an outpost in Oklahoma where, it is rumored, a group of the most enhanced amps may be about to change the world—or destroy it.

Sounds like a typical techno-action thriller, and I expect we'll keep seeing these stories of humanity interacting with technology on a huge scale in movies for the foreseeable future. But with Proyas involved, there's always the chance of greatness. His direction certainly elevated the Nicolas Cage film Knowing (though I wouldn't necessarily call that whole movie "great"), and though Dark City was a long time ago, many cite that film as covering similar ground to The Matrix before the latter took over pop culture.

THR's report also says that Wilson is "finalizing a deal to develop" Amped into a movie, but it doesn't specify whether or not he'll write the screenplay for the feature version. His best-selling novel Robopocalypse, which Steven Spielberg is directing next, was written for the screen by Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard, so we'll have to see if Wilson will get his first experience writing for the screen or if someone else will come along and tackle the adaptation.

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