Columbia Pictures has tapped District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to write and direct a new adaptation of Starship Troopers, per THR. According to the trade outlet, Blomkamp's new Starship Troopers will fully bypass Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film and its subsequent direct-to-video sequels, instead opting to return to the original source material of Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 sci-fi novel.
This is an interesting decision, but not necessarily a surprising one, as Verhoeven's film is widely noted for its satirical take on the novel, inverting the book's outwardly fascist themes in order to decry them. Whether Blomkamp will have his own unique take on the source material remains to be seen, but there's a good bet the director will have his own stylistic spin on the story to say the least.
