A multiplatform screen adaptation of Hebrew University history professor Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling 2011 book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is planned by British film producer Sir Ridley Scott (“Blade Runner,” “Alien”) and Oscar-winning documentarian Asif Kapadia, according to Hollywood Reporter.
In Sapiens, Harari posits that the human species “began as an insignificant animal and is now on the verge of becoming a god” and asks readers to reconsider the role of human beings in the past, present and future.
“It is a book that changes how you see the world and our adaptation should do the same, to serve as a wake-up call for who we are, where we have come from and where we are heading,” Kapadia said in a statement.
Scott added that he and Kapadia, who secured the rights to the book in 2017, believe a visual version of Sapiens “has all the elements to be massively entertaining as well as historically important.”
Last month, ISRAEL21c reported on the Haifa-born Harari’s speech at an international conference, “What Makes Us Human: From Genes to Machine,” held at Hebrew University’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences.
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