Ray Bradbury's dystopian future tale of "firemen" who burn books and suppress facts while the populace prefers to watch TV has never seemed more timely. So it makes sense that a new adaptation is on the way this year, courtesy of HBO. The new teaser for the movie is online.
99 Homes' Ramin Bahrani is co-writing alongside Amir Naderi and directing, with Homes star Michael Shannon as Captain Beatty, one of the squad commanders who oversees the team torching tomes and other material considered dangerous. Michael B. Jordan, currently burning up the screen (yeah, we went there) in Black Panther is Guy Montag, a young member of the team who is initially all in on the burny burn, but soon starts to question the nature of his job and the suppression of the truth and history. Which, of course, brings him into conflict with his colleagues...
The HBO adaptation is certainly looking stylish and dramatic, and different enough from François Truffaut's 1966 cinema version. And emerging from a long, drawn-out development that saw various writers, directors and stars trying to crack a new take, we need Bradbury's wisdom more than ever. Fahrenheit 451 is scheduled to hit HBO in May, and while there is no official information about a UK premiere, it could either head over to Sky Atlantic or even arrive on cinema screens after the fashion of some previous HBO films.
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