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More 'Fountain' news

A graphic novel review by Michael Fielder provides a bit more history and info on The Fountain, a film this blog is following for its theme on the quest for eternal life (which could potentially generate God-talk). Apparently, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has been trying to get this film made for several years. After its first incarnation collapsed (originally starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett), he put his vision on paper in the form of a graphic novel. In the novel, the story is a bit more fleshed out:

His story concerns a pair of doomed lovers thrice incarnated, first in the 16th century royal court of Spain, from whence the Queen's warrior-champion Tomas undertakes a perilous journey to the New World to secure a Mayan relic ahead of the throne-usurping, Rome-backed Inquisition; then, in the present day, when a geneticist works feverishly to find a cure for his wife's brain tumour; and finally, in the future, 40 years hence, when an astronaut and the ghost of his heart's desire journey to the far reaches of space in order to restore to health something called the Tree of Life, and thus attain immortality.
The film has since had a reincarnation of its own, now starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Wiesz, though Fielder says it pales in comparison to its paper version. But there’s still hope, he says:
Nevertheless, Aronofsky's musings on the nature of life, love and death are intriguing, and this book remains a tantalising teaser of what he might have put on the big screen, and what he finally managed to.
To me, the trailer looks promising (at least visually), so I’m cautiously looking forward to it—and the potential God-talk it could generate.