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Woah! Keanu Reeves in Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly"

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F

FnordChan

Member
And +1 for Richard Linklater, even if I have to go ahead and get the "A Slacker Darkly" joke out of the way.

FnordChan
 
V

Volt

Member
Noooooo !!!! One of the best modern SF books, and it's gonna star Woody Harrelson and Keanu ??? :( Even worse, the director is the guy who brought us such movies as School Of Rock :s
I once heard a rumor that this was going to be a Soderbergh movie starring Clooney, but it looks like it just took a turn for the worst.

Next up : VALIS starring Tom Cruise ? :(
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
Holy Crap did this news just piss me the fuck off. I've read this novel 8 times and each of those times I did NOT consider Keanu Reeves even playing the phantom dogshit on Arctor's car engine--that's too much a role for him in a story this mind-fucked. Whatever happened to Kaufman's script?

Edit: Downey Jr. as Barris? That will actually be awesome. Barris is such an asshole.
 
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swoon

Member
kaufman's script was just like the novel...but in script form. i'm sure he could of worked up something better than linky.

also. ryder doesn't have dark black hair...
 
W

White Man

Member
I read this the other day, but I couldn't stand to be a vector for such horrible, horrible news.

Keanu Reeves as (arguably) Dick's single most complex and difficult character? I don't think I've ever seen a performance by him that wasn't in at least some way jarring. I could live with the rest of the cast, but this is bad, bad news. And I can't believe the PKD Society is actually backing this up -- this is like, the first time they've seriously backed a movie, right? Don't they just typically take the cash and run?

Like a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly will utilize live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future
Click to expand...

Shades of Waking Life? This news is rather ambiguous right now. I've personally always seen A Scanner Darkly as more of a contemporary novel with a few relatively unimportant sci-fi elements. I think the story would be even more of a head-fuck if it were rewritten to be totally set in the modern world. Depending on how advanced and dreamy this future world is, it may make some of the story's points appear more distant than they actually are.

And the Kaufmann script isn't being used? I've listened to people rave about it for three years now. No idea if it's any good or not, but I figured they'd use his since he's the hot poop today.

I could at least take solace in that they'll never take my precious Palmer Eldritch and turn it into a movie.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
White Man said:
Shades of Waking Life? This news is rather ambiguous right now. I've personally always seen A Scanner Darkly as more of a contemporary novel with a few relatively unimportant sci-fi elements. I think the story would be even more of a head-fuck if it were rewritten to be totally set in the modern world. Depending on how advanced and dreamy this future world is, it may make some of the story's points appear more distant than they actually are.

And the Kaufmann script isn't being used? I've listened to people rave about it for three years now. No idea if it's any good or not, but I figured they'd use his since he's the hot poop today.

I could at least take solace in that they'll never take my precious Palmer Eldritch and turn it into a movie.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard, the film will use "walking life" elements as a visual symbol of mental decay. I have hope for it, I really do.
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
White Man said:
And the Kaufmann script isn't being used? I've listened to people rave about it for three years now. No idea if it's any good or not, but I figured they'd use his since he's the hot poop today.

I could at least take solace in that they'll never take my precious Palmer Eldritch and turn it into a movie.
Click to expand...

The Kaufman script is pretty much the novel, word for word. As for 3 Stigmata, I don't think anyone in Hollywood would even understand it. Well, not unless they were bubbleheads. :)
 
M

Mason

Member
Are there any Philip K. Dick stories left that they haven't turned into movies? They're raping that man's work dry.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Mason said:
Are there any Philip K. Dick stories left that they haven't turned into movies? They're raping that man's work dry.
Click to expand...

VALIS. Now there's a movie I would love to see - they could put all the philsophical ramblings in the form of Horselover Fat presenting it to people. Course, it'd be boring and go over the heads of most, but...well...nevermind.
 
P

pops619

Member
Mason said:
Are there any Philip K. Dick stories left that they haven't turned into movies? They're raping that man's work dry.
Click to expand...

I can't tell if you're being serious or not, but yeah, there are plenty that haven't been turned into movies. Only a handful have been made into movies over the last 20 years. That's a very small percentage of his total works.

Anyway, I'll give this movie a chance. I enjoyed the book, and I'll hope that the movie turns out ok. I didn't even realize they were making this. The last I knew of A Scanner Darkly being made into a movie was Kaufman's script.
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said would make a good flick. Plenty of parallels to present day society there--celebrity worship, etc.
 
N

nitewulf

Member
the phillip k dick novels that should be turned into movies arent bothered with at all (eye in the sky), but the ones that should be left alone are constantly being made with horrible results.
 
V

Volt

Member
White Man said:
I think Ubik could be an entertaining movie.
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Perhaps, but I believe it would leave a lot of audiences befuddled when the credits roll. Same thing (but worse) with VALIS, although I love both books !

The one I'd pick for a movie adaptation would be .... "The Man In The High Castle" ! Probably Dick's best non-SF work, and an excellent book by anyone's standards.
 
S

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
Volt said:
Even worse, the director is the guy who brought us such movies as School Of Rock :s :(
Click to expand...

You're cool with Soderberg but have a problem with Linklater?

Worst. Elitest. Ever.
 
V

Volt

Member
sefskillz said:
You're cool with Soderberg but have a problem with Linklater?

Worst. Elitest. Ever.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not a matter of being an elitist, it's a matter of being a fan of Philip K Dick's work and not wanting a guy who's credited for "School of Rock" to make a move out of, arguably, his very best novel. I didn't care much for the idea of Soderbergh directing it either. Visually I liked the style of Out of Sight, Traffic and Solaris, and it would've been a nice match for A Scanner Darkly, especially with infamous Kaufmann script backing it up.

Of course, I believe the only guy who could've made the movie REALLY work would've been Aronofsky, but I don't believe he'd be willing to do another "drug movie" that soon in his career..
 
F

FnordChan

Member
Volt said:
Well, it's not a matter of being an elitist, it's a matter of being a fan of Philip K Dick's work and not wanting a guy who's credited for "School of Rock" to make a move out of, arguably, his very best novel.
Click to expand...

What, making a fun, lighthearted comedy means you're off the artistic roll call for life?

FnordChan
 
F

FnordChan

Member
swoon said:
he also made slaker and waking life, which are far worse than school of rock.
Click to expand...

Can't say I'm a huge fan of either one, but I do like the idea of using the rotoscoping technique from Waking Life in the A Scanner Darkly adaptation. I'm certainly not going to dismiss Linklater's effort entirely. We'll see what happens.

FnordChan
 
V

Volt

Member
FnordChan said:
What, making a fun, lighthearted comedy means you're off the artistic roll call for life?
Click to expand...

Hmmm, not necessarily I guess, although School of Rock was well past light-hearted (into simply moronic) at some points.. Is it that wrong for a PKD fan to wish for a more... creative director when it comes to shooting one of the best SF novels ever ?
No he's not off the artistic roll call, of course, I was just holding out hope that the next PKD movie would be the best possible SF movie ever. But I don't believe it will be, not with the current cast and director..
 
M

Musashi Wins!

FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
White Man said:
I could at least take solace in that they'll never take my precious Palmer Eldritch and turn it into a movie.
Click to expand...

OMG don't even say it's name aloud!!! There could be "hipness" spies in here.
 
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