The Time I Tried to Make a Wes Anderson Trailer for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

January 2026

Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of those science fiction novels that seems perpetually stuck in development hell. Every few years, someone announces they're adapting it, and then nothing happens. So I decided to take matters into my own hands—sort of.

What if Wes Anderson directed it?

I spent an afternoon with Midjourney, crafting prompts to visualize what a Wes Anderson adaptation might look like. The results were surprisingly cohesive: that signature color palette of dusty yellows and muted teals, the symmetrical compositions, the slightly-too-perfect production design that makes everything look like a dollhouse.

The prompt that started it all: "The Great 'Catapult'—The rebels, led by the strategic guidance of Prof (played by Bill Murray), use a mass driver (catapult) to launch moon rocks."

Of course Bill Murray would play Prof. Who else could deliver those sardonic revolutionary speeches with such perfect deadpan timing?

The AI gave me lunar landscapes dotted with retro-futuristic machinery that looked like it was designed by Buckminster Fuller after watching too much Jacques Tati. Control rooms full of vintage CRT monitors arranged in perfect grids. Characters in matching jumpsuits standing at precise 90-degree angles to the camera.

Would it be a faithful adaptation? Absolutely not. Heinlein's libertarian politics would probably get smoothed over into something about found family and the importance of keeping promises. The computer Mike would have an elaborately hand-painted interface. There would definitely be a slow-motion shot set to a 60s French pop song.

But you know what? I'd watch it. I'd watch it twice.

The real question is: who plays Manuel Garcia O'Kelly? Owen Wilson seems too obvious. Maybe Jason Schwartzman? Or go full left field with Timothee Chalamet?

Anyway, the trailer doesn't exist. The movie doesn't exist. But for one afternoon, in the space between prompts and generations, it felt almost real.

TANSTAAFL, but sometimes you can dream for free.