The idea of a “Gattaca” TV show sounds like a winner when I first heard it, but the idea of turning Andrew Niccol’s perfectly honed world into another generic TV cop show on TV? Aw, man, I don’t know, that sounds, well, generic to me. In any case, Gil Grant, who has been assigned to adapt the movie into a TV show for producer Denis Leary recently talked to MTV about his approach to the show.
Grant confirms that Andrew Niccol has nothing to do with the show, will probably have no involvement whatsoever, and for better or worst, Grant plans to introduce a more procedural cop show vibe into “Gattaca”. Grant is no stranger to procedural shows, having worked on the incredibly dull but unfathomably popular “NCIS” shows, as well as the more enjoyable “24″.
“I came up with a world which is populated with Valids and Invalids, the same premise [as the movie], but taken into a police department where we’re… integrating, using the analogy of the ‘60s Civil Rights struggle… Even though it’s technically illegal to discriminate against Invalids, just like in the ‘60s people did. So it’s come to pass that [the government has] ordered the police department to hire their first token Invalid into the detective department. What we’re doing is we’re taking an Invalid and teaming him up with a Valid, a seasoned officer. You know, it’s oil and water.”
I’ll have to see more of the show to get a feel for it, but for now, it’s a mystery why they even bother setting it in the “Gattaca” world. Then again, maybe this is the only way to go. Niccol’s movie, as Grant relates, is very specific to its story — the NASA-like organization that Ethan Hawke’s character attempts to gain entrance to. I’m not sure how you would expand on that, but I suppose if you had to, this probably makes sense.
In the futuristic world of Gattaca, Uma Thurman's elongated face is considered hot.
