Filmmaker Alex Proyas says his 3D epic Paradise Lost will visualize heaven and hell in a unique way thanks to the advent of new technology.
Proyas and Bradley Cooper – who will play Lucifer in the film – were both speaking at a Comic-Con 2011 panel held by production house Legendary Pictures last week.
"Expect the unexpected," Proyas said. "Basically, this film is based on Milton’s Paradise Lost, a 17th century epic poem. We’re pretty much going to live up to that. We’re going to make this incredible, epic film about the war of the angels, Lucifer’s fall from grace, his battle with the archangel Michael."
The full Comic-Con session was reported by examiner.com.
Last week, the NSW government and Proyas announced that Paradise Lost would be shot and produced in Sydney, with major effects house Digital Domain set to open a local office to support the feature.
"My only potential pitfall with this film is trying to avoid what’s historically been done visually to depict this idea and to try to do something unique," Proyas said. "But I’m not too much concerned about other movies."
Paradise Lost will spend more than 20 weeks in pre-production, followed by eight weeks of principal photography and motion capture at Fox Studios Australia, and 72 weeks of post-production and visual effects work.
Proyas has made several visually-strong sci-films such as The Crow, Dark City and I Robot.
Cooper told the Comic-Con audience that he had been a long-time fan of Milton's Paradise Lost and had actively lobbied Proyas to win the role of Lucifer.
"To me, it’s a very small movie, it’s a very small story about an intimate nuclear family, about two brothers and a father and what happens when one feels utterly betrayed."