Roland Emmerich Puts the Brakes on his Sci-Fi Action Movie 'Singularity'

1:03 PM PST 11/10/2011 by Borys Kit

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While the film was schedule to begin shooting in March, the German director has decided to halt pre-production to work on the script.

Jochen Luebke/AFP/Getty Images

Roland Emmerich’s Singularity has halted pre-production in order to focus on the script.

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The movie, budgeted at $175 million, was due to begin shooting in March 2012 in Montreal, and Emmerich was due to read with actors this week as it worked towards a May 2013 release but those plans have changed as Emmerich has decided to work on the script.

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Insiders say that Emmerich wasn’t happy with the screenplay, which focuses on a young man whose body is made up a swarm of nanobots, giving him all sorts of powers at the same time as it brings unwanted attention from an evil corporation. Emmerich wrote the script with frequent collaborator Harald Kloser.

Emmerich and the studio are bringing in futurist and AI specialist Ray Kurzweil to work with Emmerich. Singularity is a term used by technologists to signify the emergence of a super-intelligence that would overtake human intelligence.

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Sources say the work on the script is not due to budgetary concerns a la The Lone Ranger nor is it due to the poor performance of Anonymous, which saw Emmerich stray from this usual genre to make a period drama focusing on Shakespeare. The $30 million feature has only taken in $3.2 million worldwide since it’s October opening.