At a recent presentation of footage from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", director David Fincher indicated his "Rendezvous with Rama" feature looks to be dead.

Fincher has been attached to the adaptation of author Arthur C. Clarke's epic sci-fi novel for several years along with actor Morgan Freeman whose production company owns the rights to the property.

Now, Fincher tells First Showing that "It looks like it's not going to happen. There's no script and as you know, [Morgan Freeman's] not in the best of health right now. We've been trying to do it but it's probably not going to happen."

The story follows a group of astronauts investigating a 30-mile long hollow cylindrical alien spaceship that is passing through our solar system. Inside they find a very alien world and something may still be alive.

Freeman, who has been attached to the project in 2000, has in the past admitted there is a lot of difficulty in translating this very intellectual piece of work into a workable movie.