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'Solaris' Screen Adaptation Forthcoming
Jooly Rodney writes "No, not the operating system, the sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem, long considered to be a classic of the genre. Apple's movie trailer site features a teaser trailer, and IMDb has George Clooney and Natascha McElhone as the leads Kelvin and Rheya."
They're running the trailer before showings of Minority Report (at least, they were yesterday at the matinee I went to). Only names mentioned in the trailer were James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh, and George Clooney.
Needless to say, those three names along with some beautiful deep-space type footage definitely piqued my interest.
Andrei Tarkovsky's Russian adaptation of Solaris (1972) was the first, of course, and is widely regarded as a sci-fi classic. Let's hope this isn't another unnecessary Hollywood remake.
I saw the trailer last night waiting for "Minority Report" to start. To call this a trailer is a bit of an overstatement, it's just a slow pull-out shot starting from some oddly mixing waves(?) on the surface of a star/planet going all the way out until a rotating spacecraft (reminiscent of the space station in 2001) comes into frame. Then it informs you that George Clooney stars. That's it. Not very informative at all.
This may seem like a dumb question in retrospect, but the CGI was not the best I had ever seen, which leads me to this query: is this an animated film of some sort? I haven't seen any information on any of the usual sites I read about this movie.
I was looking forward to a movie based on an operating system...
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
I've seen Solaris a couple of times in the past. The original is in Russian. Not knocking it, but it is one of the most difficult movies I've ever seen. It is inspiring you to get drawn in, but it is very perplexing. On the face of it the story is simple, but it is multi-layered.
It is also perhaps the most non-Hollywood movie ever made, so you might as well assume right now that Cameron, Steven, and George are not capable of remaking as complex.
Horrible travisty to remake such a great picture that so few have the opportunity to see. They should restore the original and release *it* to theaters. That being said, at least Clooney is a decent actor, unlike Mark Wahlberg who got tapped to fill the shoes of Carey Grant in the remake of Charade. I would also like to take this opportunity to recommend that folks go out and get the DVD of the original Norwegian version of Insomnia, instead of seeing the remake. Damn remakes.
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There's a fan site re both "Solaris" movies:
http://www.k26.com/solaris/
Just having watched the trailer, and having read the description of the original Russian film from imdb.com, I can only conclude that the new Solaris is a remake of:
Ren & Stimpy: Space Madness
My bet is that George Clooney plays Stimpy.
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In light of Soderburgh's career, Solaris, with its anxious, looming regret for the failures of relationships past and poignant sense of human limitation, is an ideal film for him.
If I can actually consider this one better than the original movie or at least an adequate rendering of the book, I'm giving out a free beer to anyone asking me for one on release day.
There is absolutely no reason to panic.
The novel is somewhat quicker-moving, although it may well be Lem's most somber piece. It was the first of Lem's writings that I'd read, and I was surprised to find out how humourous and warm his writing often was. (Lem is pretty much my favorite science-fiction writer, along with Samuel Delaney, at this point.) I think Soderbergh can do the novel justice - probably better than Tarkovsky could
The book has scenes of unearthly beauty which did not appear in the original Russian movie. For instance: the vast, wonderful, possibly sentient structures that grew on Solaris. These (a major plot element in the book) did not appear in the 1972 movie--a real disappointment.
Hope the new movie does better.
The Mummy was alright if you realize that it wasn't actually supposed to be a serious Indiana Jones type movie. You can replace that with The Mummy Returns, since no movie like The Mummy should ever have a sequel.
I just wish that a Region 1 DVD of Stalker would be released. Or, fantasy of fantasies, a good print for the repetory theater circuit (what's left of it, anyway.)
You do realize that this movie was made in USSR and has nothing to do with Hollywood, don't you?
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
First Insomnia, now Solaris? What's next, Jerry Bruckheimer remaking October?
It is actually my license plate BECAUSE of the book and an intended double pun! Good lord, people on the streets have being asking me if my name is Solaris :) One guy asked me if I was Sun's owner :) My answer to those is: -"Solaris" is Greek for "sunny" and I drive a convertible. Get it?
Sometimes I am left to wonder who the hell surrounds me here in Canada.
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Wow. look at the moderation on this story.
("I'm so very SORRY!"
Whap!)
-b
I'm in the minority that I liked Event Horizon. Still with Hollywood now making an adaptation of Red Dragon when Manhunter was a perfectly good film, you have to wonder what the memory span of film producers are.
How do you pronounce [rh] in English, anyway? Is it any different from [r] or is the extra "h" just there to look exotic?
There is absolutely no reason to panic.
I see this as an opportunity for people who haven't heard about the original novel/movie to watch it and judge for themselves afterward. It will also bring the first adaptation into the media spot, then remastered and re-released for DVDs. I am not being too pessimistic here by assuming that people who like old fart Hollywood style jokes wouldn't have bothered seeing the original play anyway, which is why I refrain complaining about Hollywood stomping and destroying every possible piece of achievement from the past. Thanks to George "worse director ever" Lucas and others (Spielberg who is the little fav guy of Wired lately), Kurosawa's movies are now available in Criterion DVDs. Hollywood is a terrific marketing machine. The idea is keeping your brain at a resonnable distance from its grinders. Like avoiding fast food, because ads fly in your face every day, it requires extra strenght, I agree, but the reward is up to the challenge.
PPA, the girl next door (who has proudly been watching Solaris on 4 different continents and has never eat a big mac.)
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
I know that opinions are opinions and all that, but when your opinion is this far out of line with the conventional wisdom, have you ever stopped to think that you might just be wrong? Titanic and Fellowship of the Ring aren't the greatest films ever made, but they're actually very good, and I think you're making a mistake if you fail to give credit where it's due.
And Solaris is, in my opinion, one of the best science fiction films ever made. I think of it as a perfect counterpoint to 2001. Take an afternoon sometime and watch both films back to back. I think you'll gain some insight from the way each film treats the theme of what it means to be human when faced with the incomprehensibility of the universe.
FotR: total turkey, particularly as an adaptation. Lowlights include: No character development for Frodo at all, Break-dancing wizards, Being rescued by the Balrog, Balancing huge stone pillars by leaning from side to side, Continuity errors, Miscasting of Boromer and Aragon, The Shire's dancing mountains, the Keystone Nazgul (warning: highly inflamable), total waste of Loth Lorien (why have development when you can get on to the next fight scene?), and on top of that it had the nerve to steal material from the Bakshi version which wasn't in the book after badmouthing Bakshi's efforts.
Solaris: Tried three times now to watch it. Nothing happens and it takes a long time to not happen. Very, very dire.
2001: Very good, especially if you cut 5 mins out of the "flying across coloured landscapes" sequence near the end.
I think you'll gain some insight from the way each film treats the theme of what it means to be human when faced with the incomprehensibility of the universe.
Solaris gave me some insight into what it means to have a human mind with no stimulus.
TWW
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I believe those are Region 5 encoded - I've encountered them elsewhere. I'd be delighted to learn I was wrong.
..."FreeBSD" and "Linux" to come out:
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FreeBSD: a background of flames with the Berkeley Daemon flying past. Random traditionally demonic figures fading in and out of the flames, all with the face of Bill Gates.
Linux: a bunch of penguins nudging each other at the edge of an ice cliff. As we fly past, we see sharks in the water, all with Bill Gates' face on them.
I was lucky enough to suck it off the Sundance channel via ReplayTV. It took me weeks to watch it. Parts of the film, like the LONG DRIVE BACK INTO THE CITY are hypnotic, mesmering, trying to show us an alien intelligence of alien coldness in our own environment.
Frankly, I'd love to see the less brainy alternative. Tarkovsky's is brilliant, barely accessible, odd. The flip side would be terrifying, fast paced, etc. The book is full of terrifying moments, which I think don't get captured through the intellectualization of Tarkovsky's film, although he captures the horrible, horrible isolation and alienation.
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Minority Report looks like it might be good. Same with Spider-man. Solaris will probably be good, too. But fuck 'em. Me and my money are staying home until the MPAA changes its tune.
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So this means that, what, Solaris is gonna run GNOME by default?
Region 2 is still in print
Region 1 is harder to find
Region 0 is out there
(in the not being any good sense - who knows what business it will do)
The book's main protagonist is racked with guilt at leaving his girlfriend, knowing that if he did she'd try to kill herself. This is not only his emotional motivation, but informs his interaction with the planet, and is pretty impossible to remove without gutting the book.
George Clooney (or any major star) will NEVER be responsible for their girlfriend commiting suicide (on film anyway).
Therefore, there *will* be helicopter chases through decaying symmetriads, he *will* get it on with neutron girl, and there *will* be some kind of bad guy, no doubt a religious nutter trying to destroy the planet with a giant X-ray emitter.
-- Proud descendant of semi-nomadic cattle-herders.
FWIW I have the RUSCICO version, which comes on two DVDs, neither of which are region locked or use CSS access protection. Yay.
(No, I'm not going to convert it into a DivX ;-) for you. Go away.)
I recommend that edition, though it has faults, such as the dubbing being incomplete in pieces (but this is a film you want to watch subtitled anyway), it's an attempt to do the Criterion thing by RUSCICO and isn't bad, including documentaries about the artists etc. Highly amusing in places, such as the "star" (whose name I'd write if I could either read cyrillic or be bothered to fire up the DVD player right now) showing how he'd act the part of someone turning around to look at someone. This he does three times, the first two to demonstrate how not to do it, "No; no; Like this!".
I kid ye not. Halfway through this hagiography, it's then revealed that he has a strong regional accent and so is always dubbed in his films.
I generally agree with the people who liked the film, and, yes, I liked the driving scene. But then, I'm not a member of the seriously f---ed up MTV generation either, so I'm capable of watching films that actually mean something and last longer then 90 minutes.
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Somewhat off topic, I apologize in advance... Following various Lem links just now, I read some description of one of his stories, His Master's Voice, which were not what I expected. I thought His Master's Voice was a story about genetically intelligent dogs who serve as research assistants for human scientists. In the story I am thinking of, one particularly bright dog spends most of the time piecing together some vital information for his under-appreciative master. If anybody remembers this story I would love to know the title and author.
It gives Clooney another chance to belt out A Man of Constant Sorrow.
Well... count at least one American who's sick and tired of it, too.
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Okay, I was really talking about "real" movies with actors, directors etc. but, yes, anything by Warhol is a waste of celuloid/paint/wigs.
The Conqueror
Don't know it.
Dracula (1931 US Version)
Come on, that has an armadillo in it! That's much better than Solaris.
The rest are all much less tedious (even Ep I) than Solaris and at least try to be entertaining. One of the annoying aspects of Solaris is its determination to be intellectual while avoidng any crassness such as interest or entertainment.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Your post got me to thinking. I think we can all agree that 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the best scifi films ever, but how many people think that there can ever be a film made like it again, ever, at least in Hollywood.
Sadly, 90% of the movie watching public expect the things you say, helicopter chases, plenty of sex, lots of violence, a solidly bad guy and a solidly good guy. Without lots of sex, violence, action or comedy films just won't sell in the market - 2001 had none of that but it's regarded as one of the best (scifi) films.
I think we are destined to never see another 2001, it just can't happen, not until that 90% of the population becomes educated.
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It wasn't particularly light hearted either. I have read the book and seen the movie, and the movie catches the mood of the book perfectly.
I agree that it will have to be dumped down a lot to reach to Hollywood idea of a sci-fi audience, i.e. the people who think _The Matrix_ was a "deep" movie.
When I hear "Solaris", I think Gatchaman.
--
I went to a 70mm screening of 2001 with a couple of people only 5 years younger than me(late 20s) a while back. They really didn't get it. It was quite depressing.
-- Proud descendant of semi-nomadic cattle-herders.