"...a got to be done movie." So says Morgan Freeman about Rendezvous with Rama, the on-again, off-again passion project that he's been holding a torch for over the last fifteen years. Sir Arthur C.Clarke's classic 1972 novel is one that has yet to make the leap to the big screen, despite the iconic nature of his collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story of Rendezvous with Rama features a gigantic spacecraft entering the solar system, housing astonishing alien mysteries that a small team of astronauts must unlock. MTV News chatted with Freeman at the junket for the action-comedy "Red," and asked him if all hope was lost for the project, after recent news that director David Fincher had dropped out. His answer? 'No!' 37 times in a row. "We're still pushing for 'Rendezvous With Rama,'" he said. "That's a got-to-be-done movie. Just have to figure out how to do it. I've been trying for -- I don't know -- 15 years now to get a script. You would think it was easier than it is. It's not; it's really hard." Come on fellas - you can trust me - I played God in a movie! Freeman's not the only one still looking to adapt the book into a feature film. "Fincher is still part of the conversation," he assured MTV. "It's a hard nut to crack, but once it's cracked it could become something." Freeman envisions that "something" as an "Avatar"-esque 3-D epic. "Now that we've got James Cameron who's done 'Avatar,' we know exactly what genre it has to be," he said. "It has to be done in 3-D. Absolutely has to be done in 3-D." So there you go. Mr Morgan Freeman is keen to produce and star in a 3-D space-based extravaganza. Hollywood Film Studio Head Honchos reading this post - better put that on a post-it. This is what a super low-budget version would look like:

Rendezvous with Rama - Vancouver Film School (VFS) from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.