New adaptation of Moby-Dick skyrockets into space

We've launched dogs, monkeys, and humans into space, and now we're set to send up a leviathan -- fictively, of course. Director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) has secured funding and a production deal with producer Scott Steindorff for her latest project: an adaptation of Herman Melville's Great American Novel, Moby-Dick.

The novel about the maniacal Captain Ahab's search for the "Great White Whale" Moby-Dick, as told through the eyes of the sailor Ishmael, has dozens of film and TV credits to its name (not to mention a number of audio versions, the most recent narrated by Tilda Swinton, John Waters, and others). The most prominent remake is John Huston's 1956 version, written by Ray Bradbury and starring Gregory Peck. Other iterations have also tampered with time and place, setting the story during the Cold War (The Bedford Incident), on land (Age of the Dragons, starring Danny Glover), and -- surprisingly -- in space (the Japanese animated film Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick was the first to opt for a galatial twist).

Ramsay, who is currently working on the screenplay, discussed the project (titled Mobius) almost a year ago on a Radio 5 Live show, the Guardian reported.  She stated, "We're taking the premise into the galaxy...[w]e're creating a whole new world, and a new alien. [It's] a very psychological piece, mainly taking place in the ship, a bit like Das Boot, so it's quite claustrophobic. It's another monster movie, cos the monster's [Captain] Ahab."

Whatever the case may be, the BAFTA-nominated director's take on Moby-Dick is bound to be better than the B-movie flop 2010: Moby Dick, which features the delectable line, "He [Moby Dick] took my leg. I don't intend to give him my ass."