Emmerich to direct Asimov’s Foundation.

I am not a major fan of Isaac Asimov myself, but I cannot help but feel sorry for those who are, whenever one of his stories gets turned into a movie.

First Chris Columbus and Robin Williams made the schmaltzy film version of Bicentennial Man (1999).

Then Will Smith made I, Robot (2004), a film that not only deliberately inverted the theme of Asimov’s book but was such a bad experience for director Alex Proyas that he reportedly became one of several directors who have vowed never to work with 20th Century Fox again.

And now, Variety reports that Sony has acquired the rights to Foundation as a directing vehicle for …

… Roland Emmerich, the maker of such hilariously cheesy, and sometimes downright awful, films as Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), The Patriot (2000), The Day after Tomorrow (2004) and 10,000 B.C. (2008).

To certain friends of mine, and anyone else who may be an Asimov fan: I feel your pain.

Oh, and get this: Variety says the fact that Emmerich is now in charge of this property “owes at least a bit to the animosity between Warner Bros. and Fox over ‘Watchmen.'”

Consequences, consequences.