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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

A Scanner Darkly? Did we not get enough of you in The Matrix: Revolutions?

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00:58 / 31.03.04

Dang, dang, dang, he is probably going to ruin John Constantine, and now this, one of my favorite PKD novels.

Link

Poor, poor PKD.

03:16 / 31.03.04

Man, they really need to give this movie to Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry (or Spike Jones). Hasn't Kaufman written a script for SD already? What's wrong with these people?

03:33 / 31.03.04

The fact that this will be done in animated/Waking Life style takes most of the sting out of it for me. For what else is Mr. Reeves but a human cartoon anyway.

06:40 / 31.03.04

Do we know that the script for this version is NOT the one written by Charlie Kaufman? It may be...

But Reeves, ugh.

07:44 / 31.03.04

We live in a bizarre world where a writer attempting popularst science fiction with a philosphical bent has become the author of choice for inspiring action movies...

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

08:37 / 31.03.04

I like the sound of using the animation presumably to signify altered states but PKD hasn't had much luck with film adaptions since Blade Runner.

D Terminator XXXIII

09:30 / 31.03.04

Erm. Total Recall?

It all comes down to taste but I thought it was a more than acceptable Verhoiven movie. In fact, a really good one. But I may not be an authority, after all, I thought Showgirls was brilliant.

12:53 / 31.03.04

Do we know that the script for this version is NOT the one written by Charlie Kaufman? It may be...

God, I hope so!

I know they're animating over actors but in what style is the art work? Cause I really don't like the "Waking Life" style... I mean, it suited that film perfectly cause it was very dreamlike but I wouldn't want to see it again.

13:17 / 31.03.04

So, I’m the only person here who thinks this sounds fucking great? Linklater, Reeves, woozy animation. Give it a heavy soundtrack and you’ve got all the ingredients you need to light up, sit back, and get, like, confused about stuff. PKD-style, man. It’s pretty much the complete opposite of John Woo, Ben Affleck, action-adventure. What’s to be worried about?

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

14:53 / 31.03.04

Yes Schwarzennegger was definitely the actor for a PKD story.

I haven't read that much PKD but not of has really jumped out at me and screamed ACTION FILM!

15:21 / 31.03.04

I was wondering how they were going to make the 'scramble suits' on film... I guess it's easier to do, animated.

Haus of Mystery

15:24 / 31.03.04

His stuff is very hard to translate to the traditional Hollywood narrative. The only successful way would be to do it low-key and weird, and eschew the sci-fi action pic trappings.

16:27 / 31.03.04

Personal opinion. The adaptions are very good to very bad. I really enjoy BladeRunner, and actually do not mind Minority Report and Total Recall. The problem is that all of the stuff that makes the novels interesting is generally cut out to make an action movie. There usually is not much action in a PKD novel at all, so yeah, there is a lot lost in translation. I usually picture Terry Gilliam making a good PKD movie, or perhaps even David Lynch. The Scanner Darkly movie could be cool, I am kind of interested to see how the animation would be brought in, it's just...ack..that damn Reeves. Why not Val Kilmer if they are trying to get an A list type actor? He already played a similar part in the Salton Sea movie.

Haus of Mystery

17:11 / 31.03.04

Why not Chevy Chase? His lightweight humour would be perfectly suited to Dick's story of addiction and multiple personalities?

17:20 / 31.03.04

Fletch Arctor?

Haus of Mystery

18:08 / 31.03.04

The Three Stigmata of Chevy Chase?
The Transmigration of Bishop Chevy Chase?
I'd buy that for a dollar!

20:02 / 31.03.04

now wait for last chevvy chase...

20:05 / 31.03.04

The World Chevy Made....

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Chevy?....

Haus of Mystery

20:18 / 31.03.04

The Game Players of Chevy?

Flow My Tears, The Chevy Said?

20:24 / 31.03.04

I haven't read the novel in ages, but isn't Arctor supposed to be numbed-out, confused, not very sure what he's doing, brain cells atrophied by too many drugs ? At least based on this reading I think Reeves'll be fine, in a way that he's basically not going to be in the Hellblazer movie.

I'm much more worried about the animation, to be honest

21:10 / 31.03.04

From the looks of that article, it won't be an action movie. Look at Waking Life, and you can see that Linklater clearly has an appreciation for PKD as an author, much more so than John Woo. I don't really care if it's Keanu, the director makes a bigger impact on the film than the actor in it, and he'll be animated anyway. I'd say this'll probably end up being the best PKD adaptation since Blade Runner, and quite possibly, the most accurate to his themes and style.

21:18 / 31.03.04

Bloody right. No-one does dazed and confused like Reeves. Think the numbed, spaced-out, stoner Keanu of River’s Edge. Except grown-up. And animated. Perfect.

And Richard Linklater is so ridiculously perfect for Scanner Darkly, I’m half-suspicious it’s a hoax. I hope they go the whole retro-future hog and set it in the 1970s, with 1970s-era sci fi gadgets.

15:42 / 01.04.04

He could pull off the doped out half of Bob Arctor, but can he make a convincing enough personality split between Fred the cop (before he starts to get all messed up) and Bob the doper?

"I am in a scramble suit...whoa."

Regarding the animation, if they made only the suit itself animated (drawn over top the live actors, with everything else "live" that could be cool).

03:56 / 02.04.04

I think he's going to ruin it. I like new, but good, actors to play roles in movies where I know I will like the plot. I'll just be remembering the Matrix while watching it...

10:59 / 15.05.04

I'd always imagined the scramble suits being like the shield suits in dune...

17:36 / 16.05.04

I hope they go the whole retro-future hog and set it in the 1970s, with 1970s-era sci fi gadgets.

That would be awesome. Really something else.

Sadly though, it'll probably be in shitty drained-colour-shiny-metal-and-grumpy-men-in-suits-o-vision (patent pending).

I trust Linklater as a director - even the movies he's made that have been less than brilliant, they've always been *his* movies, rather than studio shit.

However, there are so many ways to screw up this story, and any kind of decent adaption wouldn't be at all sellable as a Keanu Reeves vehicle.

To make it work, you'd have to have seriously tough drug content and overbearing, negative emotion (ala Requiem for a Dream) and a thoroughly uneventful, deeply personal narrative completely devoid of functional human relationships, action scenes, cool gadgets or reassuringly logical sci-fi paradoxes.

(The latter seems to be what Hollywood finds attractive in PKD's work, but to my mind his best novels transcend that level completely and present a world of utter irrationality and uncertainty - not a world that's going to gel very well with any kind of Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie, even if it does have a good director.)

20:07 / 16.06.04

This set report on the film looks as if they might actually be doing a faithful job to the book.

14:50 / 17.06.04

Oh, my giddy fuck! look at the state of Reeves! Totally 70s-style stoner. And the animation, well, 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. sounds even more fantastic than I dared hope. Gosh, I’m actually getting really excited about the hype. They’re just telling me everything I want to hear. What a tease.

I’m further buoyed by all the possibilities of Linklater having collected together so many notoriously druggy fuck-ups - in Hollywood terms, that is - like Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson. If they play to their reps, there’s potential for a really woozy film. All I need to know now is who’s doing the soundtrack, and then I can officially buy my ticket and start counting days.

And blimey, that shade of brown really suits Winona. Oh, and Harrelson in nasty wig and tie-dye combo: brilliant.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:54 / 28.06.04

Animated. Keanu Reeves. Am I the only one who spots the glaring irony in that juxtaposition?

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

18:28 / 28.06.04

Look man, nobody can play stoned like Keanu. I find that he's a pretty wonderful actor, so long as he's playing a stoner/airhead type - be it Ted, redneck idiot, small town stoner...

It's what he does, and he does it so well! I don't know if that matters, I just like to emphasise my fondness for Keanu because I do appreciate his specific talents.

14:07 / 17.08.04

Here in Austin, Texas, the animation company that worked on Linklater's Waking Life (Flat Black Films) is advertising an open call for artists for A Scanner Darkly. They're specifically seeking artists who work in a controlled, line-based style. The ad states that while Waking Life was animated with a "painterly" aesthetic, the PKD adaptation will be much more line-based, like an animated comic book. Sounds supercool to me. Oh, and they also specify that they want artists who specilize in facial portraits.

I'm paraphrasing, but not by much. If anyone's interested, I'll find the ad and quote it directly.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:35 / 17.08.04

Suedehead: I kind of get your point, but I always had the characters in Scanner down more as fuck-ups than "hip stoners" a la Keanu in B&T or River's Edge.

I think this could be good. I also think it could be very bad indeed. I pray for the former.

XXII:X:II = XXX

05:06 / 18.08.04

I've read that PKD's estate is so far very happy with what they've seen on the film, so that's got to account for something. But I tell ya, if they do manage to fuck this up, I fear it'll be quite difficult for ole Keanu to wash the stink of failure off.

But until then, there's always the rumor he's bangin' Winona. Gotta give the man props there.

Relevant to nothing, I learned a couple days ago that PKD died on my 6th birthday. Hm.

/+,

22:25 / 18.08.04

But I tell ya, if they do manage to fuck this up, I fear it'll be quite difficult for ole Keanu to wash the stink of failure off.

Yeah, because the opinion of sci-fi fans means a whole lot. I mean, look at the Star Wars prequels. Hell, The Matrix 2 and 3. Keanu took a real drubbing for those, didn't he? I mean, he only managed to score the fucking lead role for Constantine.

17:03 / 19.08.04

As I said in my above post from a few months ago, I reckon the only half-decent adaption of A Scanner Darkly imaginable would be one that was a gigantic commercial failure and killed the careers of everyone involved..

Not to come across like an elitest git or anything, but any film that Joe Public's going to want to see and Joe Studio Exec is going to want to release is blatantly NOT going to be a valid version of this particular book..

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