Apart from the TOTAL RECALL remake on the way and THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, it’s been a bit quiet on the Philip K.Dick adaptation front lately. He used to be Hollywood’s go to dead guy for loud, action packed science fiction and we ended up with the likes of IMPOSTOR, PAYCHECK and SCREAMERS. Still we also got MINORITY REPORT, BLADE RUNNER and A SCANNER DARKLY so it’s not all bad. Now a 1966 novel by Dick entitled NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR is on the way to the screen.

The novel tells the tale of a future Earth where an alien species has formed an alliance with mankind against another alien menace known as the Reegs (?!?). Eric Sweetscent (seriously?) is an organ transplant doctor who gets involved in interstellar politics and probably a conspiracy of some sort. Ted Kupper is writing the screenplay and the film will be produced by Barrie Osbourne (LORD OF THE RINGS) and Dick’s daughter Isa Dick Hackett. The producers are currently looking for a director in order to start production in late 2012.

Films based on Dick’s books haven’t always quite grasped the paranoia and other levels of reality that is so present in his stories. Of the ones I have read, none have really come across like action blockbusters but have some brilliant ideas that Hollywood loves to hook to a tent-pole release. Will this be along the lines of BLADE RUNNER or A SCANNER DARKLY or another dreary PAYCHECK? We will see sometime in 2013.

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