Cinematical

You'd think that after an epic geek classic like TRON, the writer/director would at least have a successful career for a number of years to come, if not many of his future years. However, after making the sci fi flick, Steven Lisberger's film work pretty much tanked. He followed the sci-fi classic with Hot Pursuit, and then directed one more -- Slipstream -- before slipping off the radar. After that, he wrote a TRON sequel, but that never got anywhere and things looked grim. He says that he became jaded until a fan perked him up. Variety is reporting that the writer/director took on the brainchild of IGN's Jessica Chobot, and penned a new futuristic film called Soul Code, which Reliant Pictures has just bought.

As the story goes, the two chatted at a TRON screening, and he was taken by her idea. He then wrote the script about a "tech pioneer who has perfected a way to download and transfer a person's memory. [The] script examines what happens when her memory is placed into a much younger woman's body," and now he gets to direct it as well. It's definitely got the makings for a cool story -- one to please both geek and non-geek crowds. I'm hoping they dip into not only the ramifications of memory transferral, but how much, if any, mannerisms and actions go with that. I'm thinking something like the Faith/Buffy switch. Lisberger says: "Jess is not a film person -- she was a fan -- and that was refreshing. She wasn't double-thinking what the audience wants; she was the audience." I'm hoping she's thought about the mannerisms (or that he has, for that matter), but what would you like to see with Steven's return to science fiction?