EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is talks to acquire feature-film rights for the classic sci-fi novel The Stars My Destination for producer Mary Parent. Written by Alfred Bester, the book (better known as Tiger! Tiger! in the U.K. for its opening-page reprint of a William Blake poem) follows a man who is shipwrecked in space for years when one day a rescue crew passes him by. Angered, he channels his energies into seeking revenge and begins scheming. The key art of the book is enough to get anyone intrigued.

The Stars My Destination is considered one of the best stories in science fiction, and if they can make a deal and get a movie made, it would an accomplishment. It has had a long history of failed film-making attempts with various people lined up at one point or another during the past two decades, reportedly including Richard Gere, Paul W.S. Anderson and Bernd Eichinger.

Bester’s novel was serialized in 1956 in Galaxy magazine, one of the big pulp SF magazines of the day. It was said to be inspired by a National Geographic article about a shipwrecked sailor stuck on a raft who couldn’t get passing ships to rescue him because they feared he was a decoy for Nazi submarines.

Parent is producing live action/animation feature Monster Trucks, which bows Christmas Day from Paramount. She’s also on Same Kind Of Different As Me, which stars Renee Zellweger, Djimon Hounsou, Jon Voight and Greg Kinnear.