Cool News
Soderbergh's Section 8 to make Dick's A SCANNER DARKLY as a full CGI film'
Hey folks, Harry here with news that is just... flatly cool. A SCANNER DARKLY was always, to me, the most surreal of Phillip K. Dick's science fiction... the dual personality split, drug chased, compound eyed aliens, all sorts of trippy as hell imagery. I love this novel, and have always thought that it would be a mistake to try and do it live action as, well it really needed to be told in a more fluid medium. One where reality isn't so grounded, which personally i think makes it perfect CG material. I'm sure you have an opinion on this too...
hey harry...saw this in the trades today and not on
your sight...thought I'd give you the heads up.
Warner Brothers has just gotten the rights to Phillip
K. Dick's brilliant novel "A Scanner Darkly" for a
$200,000 against $2 million dollar deal. The deal is
with WB-affiliated Section 8 films. That's Soderburgh
and Clooney's company. "Scanner" like many Dick
stories has a long history in development. Even being
associated with Chris Cunningham, Leo Di Caprio among
others. One interesting tidbit in the article...it
said that sources close to the deal say that it's
being thought of as a full CGI animated movie or
traditional animated movie. Interesting...(or heresy,
if you're like me) Anyway...
c_b_fofep
-
+ Expand All
-
It's about time we started getting more intelligent SF in the movies.
-
Soderbergh will be a good director only if he stops having such allegiance to big name stars. The best directors have recurring stars, but not Julia Roberts and George Clooney. I'm talking Steve Buscemi, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, William H. Macy. REAL actors. Not glorified no talent pretty faces.
Straighten up, Steven! -
Feb 14, 2002 2:47:39 PM CST
SCANNER Is Well & Good, But The Dick Novel They Should Film Is 1
by buzz maverik
-
Why in the name of God(tm) should it be animated?
-
Feb 14, 2002 2:51:21 PM CST
SCANNER Is Well & Good, But The Dick Novel They Should Film Is 1
by buzz maverik
WHO THE HELL AM I? was a departure for Dick in that it is a novel that deals with the themes of identity and reality and asks us to question our notions of them. It's the story of Duane, who might really be Jeff, he's not sure. And is Duane/Jeff's girlfriend really his girlfriend or is she just dating him so she'll have a date for her high school reunion?
-
I smell a new catch word on the horizon. Oh well, as long as Clooney doesn't have a beer and cheat on Soderbergh and Julia Roberts gets that bomb out of her ribcage and all your scanners are belong to us then everything should be BEAGLECHOPS. ow my head hurts.
-
If they're starting to make movies of cool old sci-fi novels, then they should do William Gibson's NEUROMANCER. Not only is this book extremely well-written, with my favorite opening sentence ever ("The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.") but is one of the most eerily prescient stories that I know of. It was written in 1983, yet predicts, VERY accurately, the dominance of computers in our lives. Gibson is even credited for coining the term "cyberspace." It's a very good book, that, in the right hands, would make a damn fine movie.
-
I have to admit, the idea of Soderbergh directing this from a Kaufman script is making me moist. And I agree that there's no need for CGI- if Gilliam could pull off Fear & Loathing, and Cronenberg could pull off Naked Lunch, A Scanner Darkly is entirely filmable- by someone as brilliant as Gilliam or Cronenberg, of course. I think Soderbergh qualifies.
-
Not sure why it needs to be done as an animated film, though. What's wrong with live action?
-
...Case walks by a row of pay phones and each one rings as he passes? That would be one hell of a cool scene in a movie. Wasn't Chris Cunningham involved in filming this project at one point? I love his Bjork video to death. That man knows how to make creepy robots come to life.
-
....who is the animation company doing this ? and how about the company working on Fincher's cgi film ? ...it would be great to get full information on this.......not just a partial report...... The CG company contributes A LOT is *vital* to the final movie.....the director can't just get a camera and shoot CG yet. Please start giving artists, the animation company, writers and others recognition, it's not really *ALL* about the director and this is more apparent in pure CG films . Thanks.
-
Feb 14, 2002 3:46:25 PM CST
Emma-Kate Crogan was set to direct this for Jersey Films.
by cash bailey
I remember her talking it up a few years ago. What the hell happened there. Is Soderbergh poaching Danny De Vito's top projects? And just when the fuck IS Chris Cunningham gonna direct something. Christ, can you imagine?
-
Which is also funny because "Imposter" was based on a PKD story.
-
The class on Science Fiction novels at my college reads 1984, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Neuromancer, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and Slow Runner. That would have been an awesome introduction for me. Unfortunately, it was at the wrong time, and so I took The Victorian Novel instead. It's cool though... there are eleven women, two guys(including me), and three feminists. Still, it's a really cool class, but after reading news like this, I'm dying to read some great science fiction, especially with the way all of you champion people like Gibson and Dick. Well... guess I ought to get back to finishing up Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights... poor old 1984 is sitting over there on the shelf, just waiting patiently for summer.
-
I am not all that familiar with her videos. The only one I remember is the one Spike Jonze did. But about the Neuromancer movie, I always though it would be best suited for Aronofsky, Fincher, or Gilliam. It would have to pretty dark, and any of these guys could pull it off. What do you think?
-
erm, a cgi film not done by pixar, i mean have any of you seen final fantasy
-
Feb 14, 2002 6:14:07 PM CST
I'd Like To Ask My Fellow Talkbackers Not To Make Fun Of Ave
by buzz maverik
We all had to start somewhere and there was a time when none of us had heard of WHO THE HELL AM I? Remember the first time you dipped into the pages of THE AMNESIA JARGON? I would expect that right now, AvecMoi is probably up to, say, UNREALITY FOR LEASE or even FORGET ME WHAT. The kid may think I'm a liar but like Cadwallater Henreid said in Dick's 1958 novel SHORT TERM: "Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm telling the truth. I don't give a shit."
-
...well, technically they are but...
-
Seriously now: why invest the enormous amount of money and man-hours in making an all-CGI movie about three guys that hang out, shoot drugs, and shoot the shit? UTTERLY RETARDED and not very feasable considering the audiance for this flick. Now, doing a movie of A Scanner Darkly is a good idea, and I could see CGI used *in small increments* for hallucinations and such. Just because you have the technology doesn't mean you should go overboard with it...or have we learned nothing from the massive follies of Lucas and Final Fantasy???
-
>>>Seriously the plot for this Scanner Darkly is so out there that I don't even understand it. So is he the drug dealer to begin with or does he just "think" he's the drug dealer? But this is a good thing because I've actually been able to understand the stories in the other Phil Dick movies so they need to kick it up a notch.<<< (SPOILERS:) Bob Arctor is a drug dealer who is actually a undercover cop named 'Fred.' Fred/Bob consumes massive amounts of his product (as any good narc will do), and that drug slowly corrodes his brain and makes him a schizo, so that most of the time when he is Arctor, he doesn't think about his Fred persona, and vice versa. In reality, this was a thinly disguised autobiography of Dick's own experiences with drug abuse and mental illness. Hope that helps. BTW, A Scanner Darkly has one of the best Dick endings ever, on a par with The Three Stigmata and the Gnostic bible interpretation of VALIS.
-
Like the great college movie of our time states, "Those aren't women, those are womenists." Good luck with the Victorian novels.
-
I keep coming back to A Scanner Darkly. It's one of the most haunting of Dick's work. Is it science fiction? Aside from the scramble suits that the undercover cops wear, there isn't too much sci-fi in this film. The drug isn't any stranger than the ones already in existence; its effects a device to split the personality of the protagonist. Underneath all of this is a tremendously moving and sad story, one that meant a lot to PKD personally. At the end of the novel is a dedication to all his friends who fell victim to their experimentations with drugs (and they are listed). This could never be a success at the box office, but I hope Soderbergh and Clooney invest this project with the passion and tenderness that it deserves (unlike previous Dick adaptions, including the visionary but ultimately incomplete Blade Runner). If Kaufman writes the script, I'd feel reassured, because Being John Malkovich ended on a very poignant and sublime note.
-
That reminds me of what D.H. Lawrence said... And Billy Wilder said... Kierkegards final words were... Truffaut... Stevenson... The Butthole Surfers... If I ever meet Steven Soderbergh or Richard Linklatter, I swear to god, I'm gonna fucking Kierkegard them.
-
Although it pains me to say this......DON'T MAKE THIS FILM! Dick's novel simply cannot be made in his "image" because most (if not all) of the story is internalized inside the main character's mind. Film, by its nature is "show me" while A Scanner Darkly is "tell me". The only way that it could maybe successfully be made is if 90% of the film comprised of first person narration (which is not going to happen....... although it would be a interesting experimental film!) No one loves Dick as much as I do (I'll bet that sounded funny!) but it's because of that fact that I have to draw lines between what novels of his could be made into film, and those which could not. PS Impostor wasn't that bad!
-
What the fuck ever happened to Chris Cunningham's "Neuromancer" adaptation? Five years ago it sounded like a done deal; now it's dead in the water. I'd happily trade the next two Star Wars sequels for a half hour of that movie.
-
...you ARE right.
-
Animation trades in part on it's unreality. CG animation is getting good enough that it is beginning to become difficult to tell reality and unreality apart. Anybody who doubts me should watch Final Fantasy, and count the number of times their eyes fool them into thinking what they were seeing was real. If done with Final Fantasy level realism, A Scanner Darkly could be given that sort of strange real/almost real flavoring.
-
Let's just hope they get it right. "A Scanner Darkly" is one of the best novels on drug abuse and/or identity I have ever read. I definately have my reservations about Warner having anything to do with this. Can you imagine Warner putting money into marketing an all CGI movie on this subject matter?
-
I'd like to see somebody film Man in the High Castle, if only so they could do the Hopkins on Bob Hope so he could play himself on Radio Free America, or else Counter-Clock world, if only for the Sogum sequences so I could watch the audience reaction. Has anyone ever done Dick properly? Blade Runner and Total Recall are great films, but they ain't the story. I haven't read Make Room, Make Room so I can't comment on Soylent Green. *** I also agree that Neuromancer would be brilliant, but why film an imaginative, groundbreaking story when you can churn out sequels and remakes?
-
Anybody have suggestions for novels/short stories that are similar to "A Scanner Darkly" - ie. that deal with dual identities?
-
Oh yeah, sounds just like what I want to see. The teeny geek boys that hang out here must be real excited at the prospect of this movie. Why am I not?
-
The story that "Soylent Green" was based on was penned by Harry Harrison, creator of the "Stainless Steel Rat" series and a prolific author and anthology editor. The 'Rat series was rumored to be in development for film many times, but never came to be. I remember reading that Harrison hated "Soylent Green", but I can't say whether it was because it came off as an overlong Twilight Zone episode or because he was puzzled by Charlton Heston inexplicably being cast as the hero in every sci-fi film in the period immediately following "Planet of the Apes".
-
Thanks for putting me right, Mr Monkey.
-
Feb 15, 2002 9:20:42 AM CST
hatchling, do you actually have the slightest idea what you'
by spacepervert
Okay let's try again. A Scanner Darkly draws "on Dick's own experience with illicit chemicals and on his many friends who died through drug misuse... In a just world this harrowing novel, the 20th selection in the Millennium SF Masterworks, would have matched the sales of Trainspotting" (snipped from Amazon). The CGI might be unnecessary, but will be used to portray the surrealness of various drug-induced nightmares. I would now like to hear you defend your accusation of misogyny. And remember, when you make an assumption, you make an "ass" out of "you" and "umption".
-
...and there's the classic Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, which the dude in the Victorian lit class with the women and the feminists can tell you about.
-
My favorite of his novels has always been VALIS, but I think it would be a pretty tough one to translate to film. I did hear about the Chris Cunningham adaptation of Neuromancer, but I believe it's been in limbo for quite some time. That would be fucking incredible. I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (since we're on the cypher-punk topic), and I think that would make one hell of a movie. Raven has got to be one of the coolest characters ever. The only problem with making any cyber-sci-fi type stuff in a post-Matrix world is that it will all look derivative of The Matrix to all the sheep out there. Little do they know that it's the other way around.
-
Feb 15, 2002 2:46:13 PM CST
CGI, Misogyny & Drugs? Oh My! Now That's A Party Invitation
by buzz maverik
Too often you just get "Bring your own keg, Maverik, you fuckin' binge drinker!" Nobody puts any real thought into them these days. Etiquette is gone.
-
Heh. It would make a great film (clocking in at three hours plus, mind you) but ONLY if it were done as a satire of the current wave of cyberpunky sci-fi films like the Matrix and the abominable Johnny Mnemonic. The novel is essentially that anyway- it's every cyberpunk cliche (from the virtual world and the nymphet love interest on down) strung together into a heavily politco-philosophized plot that's barely coherent. And it's only as stupendously brilliant as it is because Stephenson wrote it- with anyone else at the helm (say, Rucker or Sterling) it would have been really, really bad. So, to sum up- yes to film, but only if it doesn't take itself too seriously. But if you want a REALLY great Stephenson novel to turn into a film, especially in the wake of the last election, look no further than Interface.
-
It has very interesting characters, lots of humour, surreal environments...but I would prefer a non CGI film - I think there is a strong human element in the book that would be lost in a CGI film - undoubtedly, there would need to be extensive CGI - particularly to recreate the Scramble Suit - but I think it would be a great film.
-
Feb 15, 2002 6:31:33 PM CST
Is the Bjork video everyone is talking about the one with the ki
by holidill
Just like to know. I saw that shit in college. Freaked me out man. Oh by the way, in football, is it now frist and ten?
-
You da man. I'll check that out. Sounds very cool. Thanks for the heads up.
-
So, we have P.K.Dick coming back to the big screen. So when are we gonna get around to Alfred Bester. The time is long overdue for "The Stars My Destination" and "The Demolished Man" to make the jump fom printed page to celluloid! And how abut some Roger Zelazny? Sci-Fi Channel is ripe for a "Chronicles Of Amber" mini-series.
-
http://www.scifi.com/exposure/frameup/allisfull.html
-
The book is set in 1994 and is a fairly accurate depiction of present day Orange County. What do they need CGI for? the 10,000 eyed alien that people ALWAYS MENTION WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK is a non-event. This could have made a great live action film. An ACTOR would have actually had to ACT. Hey, maybe that's where the name Arctor came from.
-
Fight Club (Chuck Paluniuk)would be the closest thing to Scanner Darkly that I can think of. But other dual personality stories I enjoyed are: A House of Leaves (Mark Z. Daneilwoski), Pale Fire (Valdamir Nabakov), and Times Arrow (Martin Amis.) Also, there is some multiple personality in Thomas Pynchon's "V" if you can hack it. I'd read Fight Club FRIST if you haven't read it yet however.
-
My fave PKD book, lets hope it done right, as in spot on, as in highly unlikey, but anyway. Remember the Garbage "Push It" video? That had a "Mr fuzzy" character in it,who always struck me as EXACTLY what someone in a "scramble suit" would look like. In fact that whole video reminded me of something that PKD would have come up with, the general tone and ideas in it. Maybe someone should give its director, Andrea Giacobi a call.
-
i haven't read the book but it seems pretty intriguing. i'm not a big fan of full-out CGI in movies, generally, so i'd probably be more inclined to look at it if there were some humans included. its nice to see a mention of time's arrow, martin amis is a fantastic author, and dead babies is wicked fun, if you haven't come across it yet. when i first saw the mention, i didn't think of it as being a dual personality story, at least in the traditional sense (or in the sense of others mentioned), but thought it could be taken as a dual personality story in the most traditional sense, when you think about it. fascinating, truly fascinating work. but this and some other titles mentioned on this board i'll be sure to scour the old used book store for.
-
Gibson's work is somewhat overrated. A friend introduced me to it, and perhaps I am jaded by what he gave me (Neuromancer and Mona Lisa overdrive) BTW - Neuromancer has already been made into a movie, called "Ghost in the Shell."
-
Why in hell you'd even want to make an SFX-heavy film, let alone an all-CGI film, out of what was essentially a semi-autobiographical, thinly disguised mainstream novel (the scramble suit is the only sf element in the story, and Dick fills the story with intentional anachronisms like everyone's fondness for 70's music, and a truck carrying cases of Coke in bottles), is a total mystery. I've always had ASD near the top of my list of PKD novels to adapt because it's one of his absolute best, it's about a subject that's important and is relevant to many, and it could be done with a small SFX budget -- some futuristic sets and the scramble suit, that's about it. Cast it with maybe one name star and a bunch of great non-names who could act the shit out of what would be a terrific script, if the screenwriters would just be smart enough to lift chunks of Dick's dialogue verbatim. You wouldn't have a blockbuster, but you would have a movie that would easily make back its budget, earn a passionate following, get critical raves, get a screenplay or directing nomination -- IOW, you'd have GHOST WORLD or MEMENTO. And a great, heartbreaking work of art. I strongly disagree with the opinion that this isn't well suited to film because the action is all interior. In fact, it's mostly great dialogue, which perfectly reflects the characters' mental states. Just how many spleens does the average person have, anyway?
-
...IMO would be The Three Stigmata of Palmer ELdritch.UBIK could work too. They both feature some quite otherworldy imagery that would be more suited to CGI.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 325 total posts 322 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 106 total posts 106 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 63 total posts 60 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 74 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 159 total posts 51 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 47 total posts 41 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 161 total posts 34 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 488 total posts 33 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 121 total posts 23 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 70 total posts 20 posts