Stephen R. Bown is a critically acclaimed author of several literary non-fiction books on the history of science, exploration and ideas.Here he dreamcasts an adaptation his latest book, Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition:
Island of the Blue Foxes has many different aspects but there are certain parts of it that would make it an ideal base for an adventure-survival epic. It would start with scenes of the shipwreck and the men crawling ashore and setting up camp on a deserted beach with snow falling. Then it would flashback to the palace of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, and a discussion between aristocrats of the general plan and of Peter’s burning desire to show Europe the grandeur and sophistication of Russia, which had only recently been transformed, in the estimation of Europe, from a barbarous backwater into a somewhat civilized state. Peter the Great wanted to do away with the perceived insults to Russian pride by contributing to global science and geography by financing a grand expedition – across Siberia to the east Pacific coast, and then by sail across the Pacific Ocean to America – and claim it for the Russian Empire. This scene would also show his choice of Bering as commander. The next scene would return to the island and the attacks of the feral blue foxes, with further flashbacks of the story up until the point of the shipwreck – struggling across Siberia, building the ships before the sea voyage across the Pacific to Alaska and in particular the mighty storms and shipwreck on an uninhabited uncharted island in November. The story of how they survived on the island (making shelter, the hunting of seals and sea lions, etc.), the near mutiny, the interpersonal quarrels, the endless attacks by feral blue foxes, and the dawning realization that they were on an island with no way off – is interspersed with the details of the voyage up until the survivors build a small ship from the wreck and sail home. The commander, the legendary but aging Danish captain Vitus Bering, would be ideal for Russell Crowe while the second lead, of the caustic, abrasive, heavy drinking but perceptive and oddly wise naturalist and physician, would be ideally suited to Benedict Cumberbatch.Learn more about the book and author at Stephen R. Bown's website and Facebook page.
My Book, The Movie: The Last Viking.
The Page 99 Test: White Eskimo.
--Marshal Zeringue
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