As reported on Slashdot, the cult novel The Hitchhiker"s Guide to the Galaxy is to be turned into a Hollywood movie. The scriptwriter for Chicken Run, Karey Kirkpatrick, is to complete the script from a draft version written by author Douglas Adams before his death last year.
Austin Powers director Jay Roach is to direct, and Adams will be posthumously credited as an executive producer. Adams spent years trying to persuade Hollywood to take the project on and had become cynical about the project before he died.
The tale follows the adventures of Englishman Arthur Dent, who is taken on a tour of the universe by an alien after discovering the Earth is to be flattened for a hyperspace bypass.
The Hitchhiker"s Guide to the Galaxy originally started out as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978. From there it became a series of best-selling novels and, in 1984, Adams became the youngest author to receive a Golden Pan award. Adams"s unfinished sixth and final novel (A Salmon of Doubt) was published in May this year.
The saga also became a hit BBC TV series, video game and, more recently, internet site. Arthur Dent and Slartibartfast became cult figures.