Roger Avary to direct Biblical epic Paradise Lost for AI-oriented Ex Machina Studios
In 1667, poet John Milton published the first edition of what’s widely considered to be his masterpiece: a Biblical epic poem called Paradise Lost. 359 years later, director Roger Avary is set to bring the story of Milton’s poem to the screen – and he’s going to be using AI to do it.
What is Paradise Lost about?
Milton’s poem, told through more than ten thousand lines of verse, concerns the story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Almost twenty years ago, Sinister and Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson was developing a film adaptation of Paradise Lost. He couldn’t get the project into production, but he did share a batch of concept art online some years ago.
In 2012, Legendary Pictures was working with The Crow and Dark City director Alex Proyas on a film adaptation that was set to star Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, Benjamin Walker as the archangel Michael, Diego Boneta as Adam, and Camilla Belle as Eve, among other cast members. That version was scrapped just short of a production start because Legendary decided it didn’t want to put up a budget of any more than $120 million, and Proyas’s vision required more than that.
Nine years ago, there was talk of a Paradise Lost TV series, but that also went nowhere.
Who’s behind this Paradise Lost film adaptation?
As mentioned, Roger Avary – who co-wrote Pulp Fiction and directed the films Killing Zoe and The Rules of Attraction – will be at the helm of this version of Paradise Lost, which is set up at the AI-oriented production company Ex Machina Studios. Ex Machina and Avary believe that AI will enable them to make Paradise Lost on a responsible (but ambitious) budget “while preserving the primacy of real actors, human-authored narratives, and guild-aligned production practices.”
Ex Machina co-founder and CEO Marco Weber is producing the film, with production designer Kirk Petruccelli executive producing. The producers told Deadline this will be “the ultimate faith-based heroic saga: a cosmic war in the heavens where the charismatic, rebellious archangel Lucifer defies God, is hurled into the abyss of Hell, and vows revenge on all creation. From the fiery lake of damnation, Lucifer rises as Satan to seduce humanity’s first parents, Adam and Eve, in the flawless Garden of Eden, triggering the Fall of Man and the loss of Paradise itself. At its core, Paradise Lost asks the question every generation must answer: When faced with reckoning and crisis, do we obey, rebel, or redeem?“
Avary also wrote the video game adaptation Silent Hill and brought another epic poem, Beowulf, to the screen with Robert Zemeckis. Avary provided the following statement: “Beowulf was a revisionist reimagining made on a massive budget, but with Paradise Lost I’m taking a more faithful approach at a fraction of the cost, using cutting-edge generative AI to bring Milton’s vision to life in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. This project brings together everything I’ve learned as a filmmaker and proves that powerful storytelling doesn’t require blockbuster budgets, but the right tools and team. Partnering with Ex Machina and Marco Weber, we’ve created something I believe will move audiences, spark conversations, and remind us why we tell stories in the first place — to wrestle with what it means to be human in the face of the divine. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with the world.“
Weber added, “Roger Avary and Milton. Not much more that needs to be said. We are really excited about this one and cannot wait to see it come to life.” Coincidentally, Weber is working with Alex Proyas on a separate project called Heaven, which is using AI to help imagine “a technologically perfected afterlife.”
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