Director Rupert Sanders to tackle sci-fi crime adventure The Juliet

For a while, director Rupert Sanders’ stewardship (Stewartship?) of the sequel to SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN was in jeopardy. Then when that fell through, it looked as though he might take on Tom Cruise in the new version of VAN HELSING. But now the dust has settled, the dawn has broken, and Sanders has decided on on sci-fi tale THE JULIET. Adapted from the 1954 short story “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bestor, the project’s producer Frank Beddor had this to say back in 2010 about just what THE JULIET was meant to be about: “It’s lovers on the run in space.  So think ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ in space, but with a very unique Bonnie who has a secret. The tone of it is close to the ‘Bourne Identity’ franchise.”

“BONNIE AND CLYDE in space” is not a pitch I ever thought I’d hear, but I imagine that the tone of that story would translate just fine to the final frontier.  The script comes from Henry Bean (BASIC INSTINCT 2, THE BELIEVER), while production is scheduled to start sometime in 2013.  You can check out a rendering that Sanders mocked up to showcase something of his visual vision for the project, much in the same way as he did to get the SNOW WHITE gig.

Anybody out there familiar with the original story, or the writings of Alfred Bestor in general?