If this post does anything I hope it will get those of you that never saw 2011’s Pariah to give it a shot because it’s great. Directed by Dee Rees and featuring a powerful performance from Adepero Oduye (who plays Eliza in 12 Years a Slave) and a surprising performance from Kim Wayans it narrowly missed my Top Ten of 2011. Oh, and if you need any more reason, it’s only 87 minutes long so it won’t take too much of your time.
[amz asin=”0547572573″ size=”small”]I mention all of this because Rees hasn’t delivered anything new since, despite being attached to an HBO project with Viola Davis and a couple other projects that have yet to find their way to our eyeballs. However, she appears to have found yet another potential property to consider as Deadline reports she will get to work adapting Philip K. Dick’s “Martian Time-Slip” a story Amazon describes as follows:
On an arid Mars, local bigwigs compete with Earth-bound interlopers to buy up land before the UN develops it and its value skyrockets. Martian Union leader Arnie Kott has an ace up his sleeve, though: an autistic boy named Manfred who seems to have the ability to see the future. In the hopes of gaining an advantage on a Martian real estate deal, powerful people force Manfred to send them into the future, where they can learn about development plans. But is Manfred sending them to the real future or one colored by his own dark and paranoid filter? As the time travelers are drawn into Manfred’s dark worldview in both the future and present, the cost of doing business may drive them all insane.
Sounds about right, and while Deadline notes Michel Gondry is looking to direct Ubik and Marc Forster is eying Electric Ant as a couple upcoming Dick adaptations, the choice of Rees is fairly exciting as she certainly isn’t the most obvious choice. Of those three, hers is certainly the one I’m most curious in seeing make it to the big screen.
Now go watch Pariah you rubes!
