I’m a long time fan of “Babylon 5” so whenever the word Babylon shows up in Entertainment news I get excited. I’m still anticipating the day that the show makes its way to the big screen - something that’s been rumored about again and again and again. Well, the wait continues. Babylon is coming to the big screen, but it’s not the Babylon I want. There are no shadows or Vorlons or Minbari for me this time.
This is Babylon A.D., a futuristic thriller based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Dantec. The movie’s story is set in the “near future” and involves genetic manipulation. In the book, according to Variety, “a mercenary charged with delivering a young woman from Russia to Canada learns that she has been manipulated by a synthetic virus and what lies inside her could doom the human race.” Sounds kind of like a cross between Gattaca and that episode of the George Carlin show where he finally washed his hair and created a deadly plague, doesn’t it?
Babylon A.D. will be directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika, Assassins) who first will be filming an on-screen part in Steven Spielberg’s unnamed project about the Munich Olympics along with Eric Bana and Daniel Craig. After Gothika Kassovitz certainly could stand to learn a thing or two about making a movie, so he plans to spend his time on set doing more than acting. ”I plan to watch everything he does, spend three months with him and then prep my own movie in September." The plan is to use Spielberg’s style to influence the filming of Babylon A.D.
For me, I’ll keep waiting for my “Babylon 5” movie. If plots like this can get green lit, sooner or later someone will come to their senses and give me the movie I want.
