Cherokee author teaming with Brad Pitt on sci-fi movie

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee author Daniel H. Wilson is teaming up with Oklahoma-born actor Brad Pitt to produce the science fiction movie “Alpha” under Pitt’s “Plan B” banner.

According to the Hollywood Reporter and a newsletter sent by Wilson, the movie company Lionsgate picked up “Alpha,” and Wilson, who came up with the idea, will write the screenplay. Project details are being kept secret, but it is known to be sci-fi survival story that has shades of Jack London, the author behind such tales as “White Fang” and “The Call of the Wild.”

Wilson – the author of “How to Survive a Robot Uprising,” “Robopocalypse,” and “Where’s My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Was” – released a follow up to “Robopocalypse” in June titled “Robogenesis,” which received rave reviews from The New York Times and recently made the LA Times Bestseller List.

Famed Director Steven Spielberg considered adapting “Robopocalypse” into a movie. Wilson has also written several screenplays, including a remake of Cherry 2000 for MGM and adapted his book “Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibing Rivalry” for the Nickelodeon channel.

“Plan B” last produced the zombie movie “World War Z” and the Oscar-winning slave drama “12 Years a Slave.”

In other news, Wilson is featured in the new science fiction book “Carbide Tipped Pens,” which consists of “17 tales of hard science fiction” written by more than “a dozen of today’s most creative imaginations.”

“Hard science fiction is the literature of change, rigorously examining the impact – both beneficial and dangerous – of science and technology on humanity, the future and the cosmos. As science advances, expanding our knowledge of the universe, astounding new frontiers in storytelling open up as well,” states the book’s description.

Wilson, is also involved in “EARTH 2: WORLD’S END,” a new weekly comic book series that explores the origins of a world that saw its greatest heroes die – and new ones take their places. It’s also a world where Superman became its greatest villain, and a man named Zod seeks to save it, along with Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash and other heroes.

“Death and destruction will follow each week, and you’ll never know who will live and who will die,” states the comic’s description.

The comic debuted on Oct. 8 with the 48-page color issue. It is written by Wilson and two other writers and is priced at $2.99.

Wilson, 36, was born in Tulsa and is a Cherokee citizen. He attended the University of Tulsa where he majored in computer science. At TU he earned a fellowship to attend Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh. There he received master’s degree in robotics, another master’s degree in machine learning, and in 2005 he completed requirements for a doctorate in robotics.

He said he plans to write a third book to make the Robo-story a trilogy. In “Robogenesis,” which is set in the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and has Cherokee and Osage characters, the machine code used by the machines, Archos, has survived. The machine code has fragmented into millions of pieces and is hiding and regrouping.

“In this book I think more about intelligent machines and how they would try to manipulate people. The way they manipulate people is through emotion and religion, love and hope, and so as a thriller it just becomes a more complex book,” Wilson said.

“Robogenesis” has also received acclaim from horror novelist Stephen King and the Wall Street Journal.