Following the release of the book late last year, Paramount Pictures has made plans to bring to the big screen Ramez Naam’s science fiction tale Nexus. Deadline reports that producers on the project include Darren Aronofsky, Cale Boyter, Scott Franklin and Mary Parent.
Set in the year 2040, Nexus is Naam’s third novel and is officially described as follows:
Who decides what you can put in your brain? Who draws the line between human and non-human? How do we choose between liberty and security?
In a near future scarred by the mis-use of advanced technologies, government agencies and international treaties use extraordinary powers to suppress research that could lead to new horrors. In this world, the experimental and illegal nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, wirelessly connecting brain to brain. There are some who want to improve Nexus. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.
When a young and idealistic American scientist named Kade is caught improving Nexus, hes blackmailed into spying on an eminent Chinese researcher who may or may not be weaponizing Nexus turning it into a tool for coercion and political assassination. Bit by bit, Kade is thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage with more at stake than anyone realizes.
From the halls of academe to the halls of power; from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai; from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok; from an international neuroscience conference to a remote Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Thailand Nexus is an exploration of the next step in human evolution, a scathing critique of the US War on Drugs and War on Terror, and a thrill ride through a world on the brink of explosion.
Aronofsky regulars Ari Handel (Noah) and Mark Heyman (Black Swan) are said to be in negotiations to adapt the screenplay.
