The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Ridley Scott and Academy Award winning documentarian Asif Kapadia (Amy) are collaborating to adapt the best selling non-fiction book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. It remains to be seen what format the project will take, be it TV or film, but Kaspadia will direct with Scott acting as producer on the project.
Author Yuval Noah Harari uses Sapiens to map out the entire evolution of the human race. From the prehistoric era to the 21st century, Sapiens will remind viewers of the expansive documentaries like Cosmos from Carl Sagan and the BBC phenomenon, Planet Earth series.
Asif Kapadia says in a statment, “It is a book that changes how you see the world and our adaptation should do the same, to serve as a wake-up call for who we are, where we have come from and where we are heading.”
Ridley Scott adds, “For years Asif and I have been looking for a project to collaborate on” Scott also believes that Sapiens “has all the elements to be massively entertaining as well as historically important.”
Yuval Noah Harari, who is a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ad, “We hope to mix science, fiction, history, drama and genius in order to bring to life the incredible journey of our species, that began as an insignificant animal and is now on the verge of becoming a god.”
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was published in 2011 and has sold over 8 million copies. It will be produced by Ridley Scott through his Scott Free Productions and will be co-produced by On The Corner by Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees.
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