Deadline's got the story that Paramount has snagged the rights to Old Man's War for Wolfgang Peterson to direct; while Peterson's not the greatest director around, he does know his way around big, action-y blockbusters, which isn't a terrible fit for Old Man's War. More heartening is Scalzi's attitude toward the thing:
One thing I do want all y’all to be aware of, though, so we have it out front from the beginning: The movie that is eventually made of Old Man’s War will be an adaptation of the book—not the book itself. The filmmakers are going to have to make changes and alterations and cuts and additions and so on and so forth, because that’s what they do when they make movies. I know this, and this is part of the reason why I chose to be picky about who I optioned the work to: Because I wanted filmmakers I felt could best adapt what I wrote so that it would work on the big screen. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do.
So take a few preemptive deep, calming breaths, nerds. The idea of an Old Man's War movie is a very cool one—especially since it comes on the heels of news that an Ender's Game movie might finally happen. Even cooler? The possibility that in a few years, we might have a few more sci-fi movies that aren't either sequels or superhero flicks.
