When you think of Lynne Ramsay, certain subjects and story elements come to mind. Social dysfunction, death, a break in something innocent and pure, to only name a few. What won’t pop in anyone’s head is science fiction.

Get ready to have your expectations subverted, then, because the writer and director told Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo about her forthcoming sci-fi adaptation of Herman Melville‘s Moby Dick. Despite being “very under wraps,” she was willing to let some information on the project slip out — needless to say, it sounds fascinating.

Regarding the connection it has to the book, and how it will set itself apart:

“It’s more or less inspired by Moby Dick, which is a fantastic novel, an American classic, but funnily enough a lot of people haven’t read it. So I’m working on something loosely based on that. And it’s science-fiction, so we’re taking the premise into the galaxy. So we’re creating a whole new world, and a new alien. A very psychological piece, mainly taking place in the ship, a bit like Das Boot, so it’s quite claustrophobic.”

When it comes to where she’s at with the project right now:

“I’m still scripting, but I’m doing a lot of visual scripting now, so designing, pulling in different parts. What’s great with the new technology, first of all I made a trailer. Before you know I might have a little mood board film. You can start to think about the sound design fairly early on.”

Considering the nine-year gap between Morvern Callar and We Need to Talk About Kevin, it’s satisfying to know that there probably won’t be such a large wait between one film and the next. Proceedings could be sped along somewhat by the fact that Ramsay sees a connection with her current film, since this is “another monster movie”; this time around, the antagonist is the mad captain, Ahab.

Boy, I’m excited for this new one. Some might find the concept of a completely different take on such classic material to be silly — or, worse, blasphemous — but everybody knows the story of Moby Dick by now; don’t tell me with a straight face that you want another traditional adaptation. If you do, we probably can’t even agree to disagree. No — I’ll take the out-there version by an acclaimed filmmaker over another stodgy period piece.

Watch the interview below:

And, because it can’t have enough posters, there’s yet another new one for Kevin. Take a look below, and see the film when it opens in limited release on December 9th (via Collider):

How does a sci-fi Moby Dick sound? Could Lynne Ramsay put a fresh spin on old material?

Source: ThePlaylist