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It’s been years since Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Appian Way put a new cinematic adaptation of The Twilight Zone in the works, but even as screenwriters have come and gone, concrete details on the film have been hard to come by. We’ve previously only been told that it would “feature elements from the ‘Twilight Zone’ universe made popular by Rod Serling’s classic TV series,” which is about as vague a plot description as has ever been written. But now, the first real hints about the plot have finally emerged — and yes, they sound very Serling-y indeed. More after the jump.
The info comes buried in a Vulture article, and was spotted by the eagle-eyed folks at The Film Stage. According to the site, the story centers around “a test pilot who winds up breaking the speed of light; when he puts down his craft, he discovers that he’s landed a bit late for supper — 96 years late.” The context suggests that the pilot in question is an astronaut, rather than the garden-variety airline sort. So the Twilight Zone movie incorporates two favorite themes from the series: outer space and time travel. What approach the film will take to that premise remains to be seen, but assuming it remains true to the spirit of the show, we can probably expect an eerie feel and a big twist.
Serling’s original series debuted in 1959 on CBS and ran for five seasons, but the brand and its influence have extended far beyond the ’50s and ’60s. CBS fired up a TV revival in the ’80s, which featured remakes of some classic episodes, and then UPN took a crack at yet another revival (with still more remade episodes) in the 2002-2003 season. Outside the small screen, the franchise has also released books and comic books, a pinball game, a theme park attraction (Disney’s Tower of Terror), and, in 1983, an ill-fated movie. Unlike that film, which was an anthology consisting of four stories, the new feature will tell just one tale.
Whenever it gets going, that is. DiCaprio’s Appian Way put The Twilight Zone in development around 2007, and in 2008 took a step forward by hiring Rand Ravich (The Astronaut’s Wife) to write. Since then, Jason Rothenberg, Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes), and Joby Harold (All You Need is Kill) have also had their hand in the script. Let Me In director Matt Reeves boarded last year, only to drop out this fall. Warner Bros. is currently seeking someone else to helm.
