Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Forever War to be shot in 3-D

Ridley Scott, who’s adapting Joe Haldeman’s sci-fi war epic The Forever War, told reporters in Britain that James Cameron’s Avatar is inspiring him to shoot War in 3-D, according to SlashFilm.

“I’m filming a book by Joe Haldeman called Forever War,” said the director. “I’ve got a good writer doing it. I’ve seen some of James Cameron’s work, and I’ve got to go 3-D. It’s going to be phenomenal.”

First published in 1974, The Forever War – which has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards – follows a foot soldier named Mandella, who’s fighting in man’s thousand-year war against the Taurans and ends as a reluctant major. Humans first encountered the Taurans when we began using ‘collapsars’ to travel the stars. Although the collapsars provide nearly instantaneous travel across vast distances, the speeds associated with the process make time pass slower for those aboard ship. Mandella and his comrades age only months as centuries zip by on an earth that becomes increasingly foreign, and as they fight battles with powered suits and other stranger weapons, the odds for survival approach zero.