Michael Caine is God. It is a statement he himself, not famous for being the modest sort, would probably subscribe to wholeheartedly. And though a universe with Sir Michael as the creator would undoubtedly be an interesting place, it is of course just that film role reserved for older male actors with gravitas, and preferably a British accent, and Morgan Freeman, usually set in some unbearably white set reminiscent of an airport lavatory (you'll know you've gone to heaven by the smell of chlorine).

The occasion is the planned adaptation of Norwegian novelist Jostein Gaarder's international bestseller "Sophie's World", a meta narrative young person's guide to the history of philosophy.

Shots from "Sofies Verden" 1999 (Click for larger images)

The gist of the plot, a summed up by John Elson, in his Time Magazine review of the book in 1994, is as follows:

Sophie Amundsen, the eponymous heroine of this peculiar book, is an ordinary 14-year-old schoolgirl who lives with her mother in an ordinary Norwegian suburb. (Her dad captains an oil tanker and is away most of the time.) One day Sophie gets an unsigned letter in the mail containing only a three-word question: "Who are you?" Soon she receives another anonymous message, asking, "Where did the world come from?"

As Sophie ponders these questions, a three-page typewritten letter arrives, also unsigned, that turns out to be the first lesson in a course on the history of philosophy. At first by letter and then in person, a mysterious guru who calls himself Alberto Knox guides Sophie through the ideas of great thinkers, from the pre-Socratics to Jean-Paul Sartre. Philosophy's quest for truth, Knox tells his pupil, "resembles a detective story."

Meanwhile, Sophie has to play detective on another front. From time to time she gets postcards that are intended for another 14-year-old, Hilde Moller Knag, who by coincidence also has an absentee father, serving with the U.N. forces in Lebanon. Who is this Hilde? Why is her mail addressed to Sophie? And is it just coincidence that Hilde and Sophie have the same birthday? Suffice it to say that the answers involve a talking dog and a magic mirror, as well as the relation of illusion to reality, free will vs. predetermination and -- shades of Pirandello -- fictional characters seeking to escape their author's plot.

The book has actually been filmed once before, in a Norwegian language version, "Sofies Verden", in 1999 by director Erik Gustavson. But post-"Harry Potter", "Narnia", and "The Lord of the Rings", Hollywood is scouring the shelves for anything with a fantasy hook and a built in fan base.

Producer Staffan Ahrenberg, who also produced the marvelous "The Quiet American", based on the Graham Greene novel, which also starred Sir Michael Caine, secured the rights for the book some years ago. Screenwriter Malle Jensen has been tasked writing the script for the English language version. "Staffan has pitched the film as a cross between 'Harry Potter' och 'Alice in Wonderland'. That means I'll be taking some liberties with the story, which is both a bit scary and fun, considering how many people have read the book, she told Swedish daily Expressen.

The fact that the role Caine has signed on to play is that of God himself, who does not make an appearance in the book, goes to show that they have strayed pretty far from the original plot. There is still no word on any of the other casting, or the director.