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Hitchhikers Guide To Be Made Into A Movie
tonywestonuk writes "The Beeb are reporting that The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series will be made into a Hollywood Movie. Apparently they are getting some other script writer to finish off Douglas Adams' final installment (I pessimistically wonder how awful this will make it.). It seems a shame that Hollywood had to wait until his death before they took him seriously...."
I loved Adams' books when I was growing up. They were very funny!
I should have picked out the nickname Demosthenes!Tecumseh.
already working on this [right] before his death? (Douglas Adams)
Always check Greg's Previews for useful information on upcoming movies. In fact, he used to be upcomingmovies.com, one of my most visited sites.
Let's wait until we see the finished product before saying that. We just may be thankful Mr. Adams didn't have to suffer another Hollywood-ization.
- DDT
So long, michael. Don't let the door hit you...
About time.
Unique.
A movie can take several years to be produced. Look at the Bourne Identity, the original printing of the Ludlum book was in '75.
Good story fit for the effects technology available.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
I guess I'll be seeing the movie 47 times
We now have confirmed reports from an informed Orange County minister that Ethel is still an active communist.
It seems a shame that Hollywood had to wait until his death before they took him seriously...."
What are the odds of Holywood taking a guy that's super funny seriously? 1,000 to 1 against.
Might I suggest Ali G?
No todo lo que es oro brilla
Now my friends will finally be happy and I'll stop complaining that a "Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" would have been a much better move to make then LOTR. (Note: I like LOTR, but I love Hitchiker)
I am having flashbacks of another favourite author's book being made into a non-existant-movie (at least in my world). Heinlein would have mourned _Starship Troopers_ and now its ole Doug's turn to spin in his grave...
Please. Make the pain...stop. Thinking about this is making me ill...
There's a glimmer of hope tho with the whole treatment that LotR has received.
Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The guy got screwed, but his work pretty much stands on it's own, so his legacy there is secure. I just hope that they do the story justice. I am really kind of looking forward to seeing the special effects, given the advancements we have been hearing about lately.
If nothing else, I advocate Brockian Ultra-Cricket at all staff meetings!
The scriptwriter for Chicken Run, Karey Kirkpatrick, is to complete the script from a draft version written by author Douglas Adams before his death
last year.
Really not sure how to take this one: Chicken Run was funny and well-made, but... It must difficult for Kirkpatrick to step in and finish something a lot of people consider a masterpiece. I don't envy his job.
Austin Powers director Jay Roach is to direct, and Adams will be posthumously credited as an executive producer.
Joy Roach is a good director (did a fabulous job on Austin Powers; although he did have a good cast and excellent script).
I have a lot of hope for this project. It's nice to see Hollywood making at least one "non-teen-idol goes on a road trip/goes to college and finds them self" movie for next year.
Adams died relatively recently. I'm betting Hollywood couldn't do jack up to now because Adams refused it for some reason or other... and the end of the Guide isn't particularly positive, is it? Which was probably what Adams wanted in the first place and it certainly fits the strange script as I feel it should. Hollywood movies are wont to yield happy endings, a simmering love story and, as far as movies of books are concerned, often worthless translations of otherwise perfectly fine literature. I wonder if they'll also try to cram it into 90 minutes.
Jynx
Nah. They won't. (see reason below)
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it well worth the effort.
It seems that he's sold and re-sold the script several times. Each time the project appears and gets cancelled for one reason or another, usually a total lack of comprehension.
He told a story about the time he sold it to one producer (if memory serves it was James Cameron of Aliens and Titanic fame). Anyway he worked on the script for a while in preparation for his first meeting with the producer.
When thay meeting came around the first thing that he discovered was that the producer (cameron) the man who had bought the screenplay, had never read the book. When he was talling it, Adams allowed as how the book was very long and the great man might not be able to spare the time.
However, he had read the executive treatment of the book (doubtless by the cliffs notes people), and he was very excited about the prospects for the film. But, before they could get going he wanted to discuss a few questions about the script.
He began by asserting that he loved the fact that the earth blew up in the beginning that big, powerful, awesome, domething that would grab them into their seats. However, he had a real problem with the fact that they didn't get it back. He felt that they should devote a little more time in the script to a quest to regain the lost earth (he didn't specify how). But, he said that they could deal with it.
The real issue was that whole question of life, the meaning of life was an important quest, a noble quest. It was big, and it would keep people emotionally in the movie. He also felt that it was good that they found it eventually... but... 42? Isn't that really...anticlimactic? Why isn't it an important message, meaningful, or something?
Apparently there were some other sticking points too about how little of a role Arthur Dent played. The producer really felt that he should be leading the charge more rather than hiding. In short he really felt that Arthur Dent should be more Arnold Schwartzenegger.
According to Douglas Adams it fell apart after that.
The Hollywood version is sure to disappoint after this practically word for word BBC version.
Since Hitchhiker's was originally a radio play it would be a lot of fun to start a pool on what a hollywood screen writer will have to do to the story to make it "work" for film :-)
Terry Gilliam.
Schnapple
42nd post!!!
The movie of the original radio plays?
The movie of the books of the original radio plays?
The movie of the TV series of the books of the orginal radio plays?
Because they were ALL different. And I much prefer the radio plays.
(And I think there was also a soundtrack recording of the TV series in there as well)
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
...that true genius is recognized by the masses until the genius has passed this plain. While the books are genius, if you ask Joe Blow on the street if he knows what H2G2 is, he'd probably think you're on crack. The real problem, as stated elsewhere, will be the end product. The thousand monkeys in LALA land have been known to ruin pretty much everything once they get their hairy hackneyed hands on books. Let's hope the BBC or Adams' estate insure that we get something that would have made him proud. If 'Salmon of Doubt' is any indication, it should be at the very least, quite acceptable.
You're only as smart as your brain.
I'd like to see the infinite improbability drive really given the treatment it deserves.
Yeah, I have a webcomic...
Maybe they were just waiting for him to finish the trilogy.
Robin Williams would probably be a better choice, though.
The Rolling Stones(old and dead) would make a good Disaster Area, or perhaps The Who...(loud and louder)
How soon we forget: The books were novelizations of the Hith-hikers Radio Scripts, a 12-installment radio programme.
"We had nothing in common: I liked watching movies made from books I'd read. She like reading novelizations of movies. It's no wonder she finished Lord of the Rings so fast."
Kevin Fox
H2G2's first incarnation was as a radio series. I'm pretty sure it's also the best way to enjoy Adams' work.
The asides into the eponymous electronic 'Guide' seem a more natural fit to the dramatic medium of radio than to the books Adams released later (though I have read and enjoyed them all). Like a book, you get to use your imagination, unlike a book, you get an atmospheric soundtrack (and nice Vogon voices).
The BBC sell the tapes of the original series. Also available as illegal MP3s at a P2P network near you...
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
It'd be interesting to see who they'll cast in it.
Dent: gotta be someone who can play "a complete kneebiter." British. I'm out of ideas on this one.
Trillian: Elizabeth Hurley?
Zaphod: No need to actually hire someone, just do some computer modifications to John Travolta's character from Battlefield Earth.
Slartibartfast: Anthony Hopkins or William Shatner.
Any other ideas?
...when I see it. And ten bucks says it's a worthless pile of crap.
The books are among my favorite to read, but I don't really think it would make a good American Hollywood Movie. It's all about the subtle British humor. And American audiences don't like narration much, which you would have to do in the movie, I would imagine. And do alot of it.
A hollywood director, with hollywood actors, doing a hollywood movie, about a British cult-classic book. It's going to be on par with Battlefield Earth, I bet.
Lordfly
hookers and grits.
David Lee Roth as Zaphod Beeblebrox.
-nme!
I've never quite gotten the hang of Thursdays.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
haha, I wish I could mod you +1 funny.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I can just see a whole bunch of Americans putting on very bad British accents being cast into the leading roles. Very, very bad prospect. The best interpretation of the characters I've seen was in the Illustrated HHGTTG.
As for the movie being a new thing, Douglas Adams was working on it on and off for quite a few years before his death - it just never got anywhere.
But could we pick a book, and leave it a book? Is that too difficult? (comments about the story's birth as a radio show aside) Books are great. I used to think that I would like to see a "Snow Crash" movie. But I am pretty sure I don't. Sure, there is a 1% chance that it will turn out to be pretty good and not ruin the memory of the book (like LOTR). But it could always end up just sucking, (Bicentennial Man) so I think its something to be avoided. Unless Kiwi nerds want to make the film. They seem to not be tainted by the dripping evil of hollywood.
Sig removed because it was obnoxious
How good Adams' draft and how loyal will the filmmakers be to the spirit of the initial series?
Kirkpatrick's work on Chicken Run and James and the Giant Peach were smart and retained enough of the British Sensibility that Hitchhikers is going to need to play for me.
Despite all the arguments, I think the handoff of Kubrick's A.I. to Spielberg went surprisingly well. I actually have hope for this new project.
I think the problem here is, these stories are epic, and a 2-hr movie almost can't be. At the same time, breaking it up into 3 or more installments is fraught with danger.
Also, so much of the humor in THGTTG is the language and syntax in the writing, much of which would be hard to translate into film--hence the BBC's inclusion of many of these passages in the form of narration.
In conclusion, I guess the most important thing is, we'll all get to see a new interpretation of the material. It could be good, or it could fail, but if it fails, we've lost nothing. And if it succeeds, that's great.
Mostly Harmless.
GIR: I'm going to sing the Doom song now. Doom doom doom doom doom doom de-doom doom doom doom doom doom doom...
When I first read the title, I thought "Hitchhiker's Guide To Being Made Into A Movie" like the article was about a howto on being turned into a movie :)
:)
on topic:
Wasn't there already a movie made of this? Or was it just one book? (sorry for my ignorant attempt at on-topic-ness
--
Seeing is believing; You wouldn't have seen it if you didn't believe it.
I can't imagine anyone BUT Terry Gilliam pulling this film off properly.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
ANSWER: 42
come on fhqwhgads
Actually, I've always seen Jeff Goldblum as Ford Prefect; the description of someone whose social behaviors are just a little 'off', who smiles a little too eagerly and too earnestly, and who very deadpanly explains the end of the world just somehow pings off in my mind as his traits (especially look at his earlier, campier performances, like Buckaroo Banzai or Earth Girls are Easy)
-Hentai [in vita non pacem est]
Correct me if i'm wrong, but you wouldn't happen to have given any thought to the fact that that's the entire fucking point?
sometimes I actually enjoy my light reading to be... well, um, light. If it can be silly and witty and not just a little irreverent to the genre or life in general, I think that's great, too. Hell, if you can't appreciate tongue-in-cheek humour, don't bother reading HHG, by all means, take things too seriously and you can keep your ulcers to yourself.
So long, and thanks for all the Hrrmfs!
You don't need Geeksintraining if you're on Slashdot.
they are getting some other script writer to finish off Douglas Adams final installment (I pessimistically wonder how awful this will make it.)
:-) ....ok ok...that's really mean, but even Adams himself insisted that he kept on writing the series because his fans kept on wanting it, not because he thought that it should continue being written. he never really liked the new stuff anyway.
As opposed to how awful Adams himself coulda made it?
"...before they took him seriously...."
If they're taking him seriously, they're even more insane than I thought! (I got a headache just trying to read it!) Although, it would explain a lot about Hollywood...
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
Please do not ruin this excellent story and serial like you have so many other foreign and US scripts. Please please please. Isn't LOTRs enough for starters. Keep Hollywood cash out of your culture, and especially out of my fucking culture.
And it was hilarious. I actually saw Douglas Adams once (he was a speaker at Java One, which I attended that year). I had heard of his work but never actually read any of it.
I laughed outloud many times while reading Hitchhiker. I'm planning on getting "The Penultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which contains all 5 books in the series.
If you've never read his work I highly recommend it, you will not regret it.
I look forward to seeing the movie, but, like many other posters, I am concerned it will not make justice to the book.
Heffel
Expert Java EE Consulting
This makes no sense at all. How many book do they intend to span with the first movie? I would think they would have a hard time doing justice to even the first book in a single movie. If they are going to get to the final book it will be a disaster. There is certainly no reason to do anything with the final book until after they see if the first movie is a hit.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I say Hugh Grant
Even though I don't like him, he has a certain amount of British charm... I dunno if he can pull off the sarcastic wit of Dent though...
But some of what I felt was best about HHG was the fact that you used your imagination. It was intangible, and you had to fill in the blanks. To me, it's like the monster under the bed - nothing could possible top what you could make up for yourself.
Putting a movie shell on this would ruin things a bit - perhaps a lot - for me. I look forward to this with dread, not anticipation.
Then again, it /is/ HHG... i'll probably have to see it. =) Same thing with Ender's Game, if they ever get that off the ground, and i'm not thinking that would be an easy one to pull off in the least, either.
You don't need Geeksintraining if you're on Slashdot.
I don't seem him being able to get past his own ego/personna. Dent was 1) British, and 2) didn't make silly child voices.
Robin Williams would probably be a better choice, though.
Arthur "Patch Adams" Dent we don't need. Again, Dent didn't make silly voices and mug for the camera. He cowered and wimpered and was a very small fish out of very large water. I wouldn't mind seeing Alan Cumming play Dent. He can "seem small" well enough I think.
Jim Carey as Zaphod would truly suck. I can't think of who would not suck, though.
How about Steven Root as the Vogon Captain? Every see Tripping the Rift?
The Rolling Stones(old and dead) would make a good Disaster Area, or perhaps The Who...(loud and louder)
I think you hit this one dead on.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
2001: A Space Odyssey.
Both Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick collaborated on the book AND the movie. They both had input on each other's work (in fact they came up with the whole plot together) and the book came out at nearly the same time as the movie (a little bit later even though it was supposed to come out first).
Since it was planned to be a book and movie all along they compliment each other perfectly, with each giving a unique perspective on the story.
Unfortunately, its otherwise pretty much impossible to make a decent movie from a book without being unfaithful to the book itself. They are just so different mediums. In the best case you end up with Harry Potter which is boring because its identical to the book or LOTR, which may be the only exception -- but I still like the book waaay better (the songs, the elvish script, - its all necessary).
This is not to say you can't make a great movie based on a bad book - its just rare to have both become classics.
As for the other method - writing a book based on a movie - well, we all know what that is about.
It seems a shame that Hollywood had to wait until his death before they took him seriously...."
Actually Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been listed on the Hollywood Stock Exchange for a while.
not my favorite, but is British so can do the accent, is tall, is charming when he mopes, and it will need the star power.
"Adams spent years trying to persuade Hollywood to take the project on and had become cynical about the project before he died."
...Hollywood won't have a clue how to pull this one off
BABEL FISH:
come on fhqwhgads
It's been about fifteen years since I saw it and from what I recollect it was fairly true to the original story, I seem to recall they stole some small bits from "Restaurant at the end of the Universe".
Personally, I don't think it should go through the Hollywood Bland-o-Mizer(tm). Douglas Adams just writes things into stories that you just can't act out-- like in "Mostly Harmless" where they find that guy on the beach 'who lives inside his house which is really outside of the rest of the world'-- it's just much much more fun to read.
It won't make any difference to me if they make a movie for HHGTTG becuase there is no way you could convince me it's better than reading the book!
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
No matter how horribly the screenplay is botched,
No matter little of the original book and radio show survives,
No matter how inaapropriately cast,
No matter how badly it's done,
No matter how many figures it costs to make,
just remember...
DON'T PANIC.
(This message brought to you by the
Sirius Cybernetics Complaints Division)
It's the same vein of comedy as Douglas Adams, with just as goofy cast. Chances are, if you loved Douglas Adams, you'll absolutely love LEXX. The show is a riot, and hits the same damn funny bone every episode.
Weep.....I think I need a towel : )
Arthur Dent - This is going to be a tough call, but my gut says recycle Mr. Bean.
Ford Prefect - Jeff Goldblum, as I said before.
Zaphod Beeblebrox - Brad Pitt all the way. Look at Fight Club. Look at Twelve Monkeys. Look at Se7en. The man can do 'nutball'.
Trillian - Tia Carerra. I know, it never said Trillian was asian, but my image of her was always this exotic, immigrant British. If not her, than Mariana Sirtis (sans Troi accent, thank you).
Slartibartfast - Gary Oldman.
Vogon captain - Dennis Leary. Think about it.
Voices for Trillian's Mice - Robin Williams and... Robin Williams.
Wonko the Sane - Jim Carey
Marvin - personally, I think they should use a voice synthesizer and generate all his lines synthetically.
Anyone have any other ideas?
I will also give this movie mad, mad props if they somehow manage to put a cameo of the entire cast of Red Dwarf in the scene where Zaphod steals the Heart of Gold.
-Hentai [in vita non pacem est]
Carl
Vote Libertarian
... That they can top the BBC version. Its just so eighties and well, I think the cheesey production kinda captures the essence of who Douglas Adams was. I dont think he was meant to be big budget, but then again I am going to see this when it comes out. So I could be wrong. But if you havent seen the BBC version, and enjoy Douglas Adams, rent it. Now.
The dead swans lay in the stagnent pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occassionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal. Paula Nacy Millstone Jennings 37 Wasp Villas Greenbridge Essex GB10 1LL
Coming Attractions has a very detailed and up-to-date listing for HHGTTG.
The write-up is obviously by a fan; includes this little known tidbit under "Rumors":
"Word has it the ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is asking for a cameo or else he'll eat one of the associate producers."
My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
Isn't Arthur Dent really the only one that needs a British accent? Xaphod, Ford, Trillian, etc. aren't from the UK, so why not let them have any old accent?
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
... that this happens time and time again: Great artists aren't recognized until after they're dead.
There has been talk about a HHGG movie for at least 10 years now in alt.fan.douglas-adams. I'm glad to see that it's finally happening. It's funny how similar the comments here on /. are to the 8 and 10 year old discussions on Usenet. Particularly, I remember how the who-should-play-who thread goes:
Someone gives their ideal cast, which includes some Yanks. This is immediately followed by someone demanding that the entire cast should be British. Then someone points out that Ford could be played by an Yank, since he was an alien, and not really true Brit...
...If you've never read his work...
Somehow, I think that you're very unlikely to find many Slashdot readers that fall into this category.
Actually, for this venue, I'd wager this is roughly akin to saying "For those of you who've never heard of Tolkein", or looking for readers who've no idea what Star Trek is/was.
anyone else notice how bbc news omited "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul" from their list of other notable works...
Good luck in hell.
"All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition." Pixar's bright, plastic style of character modeling would fit like a glove :)
Also, since Zaphod Beeblebrox has two heads, are they going to get two actors to play him? And if so, who's body are they going to use? And what about the arms? :P
It was Reitman. Check Neil Gaiman's "Don't Panic"
-- Yoz
As a mini series... I've seen it, and it does no justice to the book. I think I fell asleep during watching it more than once.
IMDB Entry
The current unfinished novel is a Dirk Gently story. There are letters by Douglas Adams saying that the universe of the novel had become much closer to a Guide sort of universe than a Dirk Gently sort of world, and that he planned to convert it to a Hitchhiker's Guide story. It remains, however, a Dirk Gently story.
He had apparently completed parts of three drafts, and the published story has chapters from all three drafts. I don't know how many people here have read "Salmon of Doubt", but I personally found the story extremely intriguing. Unfortunately it ends prematurely, leaving the reader hanging at a very interesting point in the story - "Extreme Winds... May Exist". I highly recommend it, if for nothing more than the insight it provides on Douglas Adams' writing process.
My other sig is also a
I never thought a movie might be made about hitchhikers... is it an independent studio or what?
Oh, wait...
The guy said, until they could get the rights, which clearly involves the assumption that copyright still runs. Maybe Adams did not want his work butchered by Hollywood, and they had to wait for him to die before they could get the rights. Clear now?
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
This movie would come off perfect if they gave it to one man....Guy Ritchie. No...really...think about it....Lock Stock and Snatch were TERRIFIC movies, with a style and humor similar to HHGTTG. I want Jason Statham as Arthur Dent. All the man needs is some hair and he's perfect. The type of droll wit neccesary to carry the role. And, I actually like the idea said before about Pixar providing the special effects.
it seems a shame that Hollywood had to wait until his death before they took him seriously...
You're not supposed to take him seriously; he is (was) a comedy writer.
RMN
~~~
Clearly, the only man who can play Zaphod is Bruce Campbell. Just pull out your copy and let his voice read some of the lines in your head. Trust me, Bruce is the only man who could deliver, "If there's anything more important than me, I want it caught and shot." (Yeah, I probably misquoted. I'm too lazy to reach the two feet away my copy is sitting and look it up.)
I hope someone gets this script to Bruce... I'd love to see the role go to him.
How many people saw the early 80s mini-series of THGTTG. On the whole, I rather liked it. It had a lot of the same people as the radio series, Simon Jones as the Book, Peter Jones as Arthur and the same guy for Ford Prefect.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
If the movie is finished it can only be a shadow to what could have been. I'd rather have the crappy 70's version that Adams didn't participate in than a version where someone tries, and fails, to finish where Adams started.
Jack
Hrmm, given some of the colourful titles in the Xanth series that might not be such a good idea.
Would you tell your girlfriend you and the guys were off to see "The Color of Her Panties"? I'd love to see that... somehow I don't think you'd have long to live though.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Frankly, I have always thought that H2G2 would be best done as an animated movie. My choice to do the honors: Pixar, with John Lasseter as director. This would mean that Pixar would be forced to do a movie with a fair amount of humans in it, but considering how well they did humans in Toy Story II and Monsters Inc. they are up for the task.
Back when Disney had the movie rights, this would have actually had realistic chances of success. Now that Disney and The Ego Who Ate The World, aka Steve Jobs, are feuding and Disney apparently lost the rights, this is highly unlikely.
H2G2: International Guidebook Of Mystery? It doesn't look good folks...[sigh]
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I grew up on Douglas Adams' work, and my series GOLDEN CITY is based on it! I should complete the script! Read GOLDEN CITY at my site.
In case anyone is not aware, the HGTTG web site the article mentions is http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/. It's the most ambitious, IMHO, of Douglas Adam's projects. Basically, it's an online Guide that you submit information to, the way the Guide in the books is described. It's been running for a few years now, and has quite a bit of stuff.
The page that DNA submitted about the site can be found here.
Of course, I'm such a nerd that I've actually submitted an article. Yes, I know I'm a geek....
Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
I can't believe it! what a way to find out. On slashdot no less. geeze. I hope the movie doesn't suck tho..
Actually, a DVD collecting all episodes was just released. The video quality is limited by the original video.
But...but...but...they had me move the planet 4 times already, and they took my stapler...and...and....well, I guess I'm going to have to burn the planet down...
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Therefore it make no sense to complain that the movie will not match the book, as it is to be expected. HGTTG is not about a specific plot, but a set of characters and ideas. In a way, this makes it harder to adapt, because the ideas do not lend themselves well to the standard Hollywood movie. On the other hand, with the proper support, a wonderful movie is possible.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I thought HHG was very similar to Monty Python stuff...except er... funnier :P
We've always been at war with Eurasia.
I don't care what anyone says - the actor playing Arthur Dent must be British. Like Doctor Who, there is a fundamental britishness to the character that is difficult to mimic effectively for anyone non-British (and I say this as an Australian). I think someone else in this thread suggested Alan Cumming, who I think would be a first-class choice. They did the right thing insisting on British actors for Harry Potter, and I think they should do that here too, at least for this character.
:)
Ford Prefect - David Dixon, who played Ford in the TV series, was spot on - that slight alien-ness to the features. This was actually one of the reasons why the director of the the TV series didn't use Geoffrey McGivern (who played Ford in the radio series) for the role on TV, because McGivern looked "too ordinary". Dixon is too old now, unfortunately. If he or David Bowie were 20 years younger, they'd be a great choice.
Zaphod Beeblebrox - An American could easily play this role, since the character is so clearly intended to be a caricature of the American psyche anyway - unbelievably brash, loud, whim-driven, egocentric and vulgar. Find an American actor with a good sense of irony and self-deprecation, and you've got a winner. Michael Keaton might be good. - he did play Batman, after all.
I'm of two minds (no pun intended) about the whole 2-heads-3-arms thing; it was originally written as a throwaway line in the radio play, but when it came to TV, the director decided it had to be implemeted, with questionable results. It could probably be done more easily and better now with CG. We kind of expect it now because of the TV series, but I often wonder how much it actually brings to the story.
And Ian McKellen would be great for Slartibartfast - you'll need a really talented actor to pull off the wonderful weary distractedness that Richard Vernon (may he RIP) played him with.
And maybe Michael Palin for The Book.
SofaMan -- Occasionally Battling Evil With His Mighty Powers Of Indolence.
Apparently they are getting some other script writer to finish off Douglas Adams final installment (I pessimistically wonder how awful this will make it.)
To be fair... that might make it better! A decade or so ago when I was reading the radio scripts that the books were based on, I discovered that some of the parts I liked best (the entry for the universe for one) weren't written by Doug Adams at all!
It seems that when he was doing the radio show, the Dr. Who people called him to finish some episodes he had been contracted to do. During that time someone else (whose name escapes me) wrote several of the episodes.
... This is definitely a S.E.P.
"The vogon ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
This illustrates why a movie version will never approach the quality of the written one.
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The only hope is in the idea that the Chicken Run author will be responsible for the script... Will we see Dent and Prefect in clay now?
... if that whole "Superman" thing doesn't pan out ;)
click ;)
Amazon actually has both the vhs and dvd for your viewing pleasure
Hmn. Two upcoming movies based upon the two premier British Sci-fi comedies. How interesting. I'm actually looking forward to the Red Dwarf movie as it maintains the same cast and the same creative team (thank god!).
I hope this movie stays true to the original books. Many hollywood movies are all "hollywood" and no entertainment.
The script is not a revision of the "final installment", the script is a revision of Douglas's last screenplay attempt. As someone pointed out, he spent virtually his entire adult lifetime trying to get it turned into a movie and finally had a deal that looked like it was going to happen (he had moved to California to be close to the movie production), when fate denied us all.
Note, of course, that the BBC doesn't read either, as they refer to The Salmon of Doubt as the sixth H2G2 novel. While Douglas had conveyed to his editors that he had decided it made more sense as an H2G2 installment, it began life as the third Dirk Gently novel, and the readable version that they were able to edit together for the book (two thirds of which is just collected writings of his, which are wonderful and superior to the abortive novel at the end) is still clearly a Dirk story.
To move on from rambling... I fear the movie. Yes, it's comedy, but it's cerebral, and simplifying the humor for the sake of visuals turned out AWFULLY in the TV series (admittedly, they were working with a budget whose scale had been vastly miscalculated for this galaxy). And there's simply no action. Hence, it makes a wonderful radio series, an incredible book (and a second...and a third...), and even a revolutionary (text-based) computer game, but how does looking at it improve anything? Maybe I'm wrong, after all, Douglas wanted to see it made into a movie. But if *he* made it into a movie, it would have tons of new material, be retold to take advantage of the medium, and generally be unshackled by the other versions. There's no way an unrelated screenwriter will get that freedom (and no doubt we'd all scream murder), which means it'll just be a rehash.
And for that, a much better solution is a trip to the library to check out the cassettes and novels. You know you haven't recently enough.
here.
Its an excellent, done-in-1981-but-with-a-late-70s-feel movie. Its extremely low budget, but absolutely hilarious.
.
In the inimitable words of fark, Reno Smash Puny Humans.
but yea, I mean, it will take for ever for it to come out. I mean think of all that waiting...oh god, I'm so depressed. I'm not getting you down am I? I mean, you think you have problems, what are you supposed to do with a manically depressed robot?
"Teachers leave us kids alone
...and it's not good news. Let's just say that it doesn't look like they're focusing on talent, here...
I was so stunned by this news... my arms fell off.
Now all I'm worried about is how can I use my digital watch!
(AFAIK Douglas Adams did court Hollywood to make a film but then became unstuck with the BBC threatening legal action)
Another opportunity to say that Douglas Adams shall be missed, not only for his novels but for his insight (and occasional vitrolic criticism of Microsoft's products)
-- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
-- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
When you get to the end of the (3rd?) season just before they get to Earth.. Stop watching it. Run away. Seriously.
You remember when your friend told you that "when you think AI is over, stop watching"? - this is worse.
Cheers,
Backov
In the law there is no overlap between theft and copyright infringement whatsoever.
I totally thought Zaphod was supposed to be shorter and squat...yeah, that's the ticket. He also has to be really conniving. Lovitz would be perfect. He talks like he has 2 heads already...
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
47 is Weird Al's favorite number, he sticks it in all his songs.
Yer.
I respond to your sigs
Douglas Adams books is among the most screwed up books ive ever read in my life and i read quite a lot of books. The language and the totally cranked up fantasy of the books makes it pretty hard to make a movie that makes them justice. For us that has read them its almost bound to be ugly since we all have our own picture of how a vogon looks etc.
LOTR was in my opinion pretty good but it didnt do the books justice. To make good books into a good movie is almost impossible because the different ways the work. A good book can be almost without visual references but you yourself fills the blanks with whatever suits you. A movie serves everything on a dish and can if it dont match your imagination dissapoint very much.
Hollywood havent been that good at sticking to whatever the book is but rather what the big star and the producer want to see in the movie. I suspect that this movie will be like most other hollywood movies. A frency in effects and not much work on the real script. Its almost like the scripts is worked out around the FX and not the other way.
Give the script to the same guys that made LOTR and maybe it rocks but hollywood? The same guys that gave us Roxanne?
Puuleese!
HTTP/1.1 400
when he was here promoting the game Starship Titanic (got an autographed copy in my bookshelf, hoping to get it running under wine/winex some day :) :)
he mentioned the making of a film, but he wanted things done right.
He felt that the technology for visual effects had then begin to be more satisfying..
I remember that he mentioned that he bought back the rights to the film (don't remember from which company). He also mentioned a certian rubberface being proposed to play Zaphod.
hope to see he finished movie.. been very curious since 1998
- I choked on the red pill and now I'm stuck in limbo
at the time of his death. But as all DNA fans know, he 'loved to hear the wooshing noise' deadlines make as they go by.
Hopefully the fellow they got to finish it off is good - he did Chicken Run.... and it should be directed by Jay Roach of the Austin Powers films. Hopefully the will get Hugh Laurie to play Arthur Dent - he was the fellow that played the moronic friend to Blackadder in the BBC series...
Eric Aitala
www.f1m.com
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
"A Salmon of Doubt was the sixth episode of the Hitchhiker series."
Erm, no it wasn't!
A Salmon of Doubt started out as a Hitch Hikers novel but Adams decided that the concepts involved were better suited to a Dirk Gently story.
The published version (although apparently there were many other revisions) of A Salmon of Doubt is actually half a Dirk Gently story.
Z.
not another good book ruined by hollywood. Books like this will not benefit from this:
(Fat man in suit sits at a desk. Looks at his digital watch at the time. Opens up his expensive PDA, trys to turn it on, gives up and uses a pen and paper. In barely legible writing he lays down)
- spend money on fight scenes
- spend money on special effects
- spend money on big name actors
- spend money on advertising
'ok that looks like it.. hmmm cant help thinking i've forgot something.. oh yes.'
- write a script
Hmm 'Terry!?' (tea boy look up from linking paperclips together) 'Got a little job for you, shouldnt take you more than half a day'
----
Hes not being 'taken seriously after his death' as you say, but since hes dead they dont have to take him seriously anymore since the people that will give them the rights will be lawyers who you can appease with money rather than a good film. The radio version of HHGG was great, thats because Adams wrote the script.
We cant even hope for an amazing tea boy since the script would then be vetoed. Oh God I'm so depressed.
The premiere will be held in the Restaurant at the end of the Universe.
"It Stinks!"
or am I being ridiculous about assuming that about any Mc* name?
Mc or Mac implies Scottish it means son of (Ni is daughter of but is only used by Gaelic speakers). The Irish equivalent is O'.
--
Reverse outsourcing: it's the future
Look at the hobbits in LoTR, the actors real size no longer matters when it comes to casting a movie, to bad they didn't have it figured out in time for TPM Anakin and Padme...
"At best, it is a mildly funny fantasy story..." Am I the only person who laughed so hard the first time I read it that I had to clear my eyes and start breathing again so I could continue on? It's a journey, the "climax" of these stories are generally unimportant (yes the answer to ...Everything is unimportant!), it is the story that is relevant, that's why a cliff's notes would be useless. With time jokes about digital watches loose their luster but the commentary on man's struggle with time and mortality is timeless, the satire is needed to stomach it. I just wish that everyone got everything out of these books that I did, it was well worth the time.
was better than the books. Well from my point of view. After hearing the radio series the books seem boring. I didn't hear the entire series only to the old man in the hut episode -- the real ruler of the galaxy. The radio series had humour and a flow that was just missing from the books. The TV series was OK but only covered a small portion of the story.
For example, remember the scene where Arthur Dent hears Marvin humming ... except its "Wish You Were Here" and comments in amazement about him humming Pink Floyd ? Just doesn't transfer well to a book in my opinion. Actually I wish they did it as a mini-series so they could get the whole story. Get the guys who did Third Rock From the Sun to do it ... that has a HGTTG feel about it.
Bitter and proud of it.
Of course, Peter wasn't the author of the story, but the idea is that when someone else tries to fill in a missing piece of a story, it can have some horrible consequences. Let us hope this doesn't happen here.
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
there was an article, i think i saw it on fark about a guy who plays huge pranks all the time, and a movie sutdio waned to make his life into a movie, but refused to pay what he wanted. Then he faked his own death complete with funeral, then the movie studio started calling again, thinking he was dead, offereing even less than what they had before for the movie rights to his story. it's all about money people. Douglas and HGTTG is just more money to be made, like Jim Carey and the grinch, another fond childhood memory ruined.
at $8 american a pop of course.
Everybody denies I am a genius--but nobody ever called me one!
Obviously you've never read Candide? Satire does exist far beyond socio-political climate in which it was created, *if it's good enough*.
My guess is that 100 years from now, Hitchhiker's will be required reading in some College level courses.
But my guess is that you've never read either book I've cited here, as, judging by the drivel you spouted, I doubt you're literate beyond the Junior-High-School level.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
This is obviously a hoax. The real Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal would eat all of the assoicate producers.
This happens a lot in the entertainment industry as a whole.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Great idea, aside from the thorny legal issues, but who cares about those. :) If I had modpoints you'd be snacking on 'em now.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Motion Picture could be so bad that you'll need to wrap a towel around your head to avoid having your eyes and ears bleed. Or drink a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster before the opening credits.
I've heard it will open with a reading of Vogon poetry. Since they can't find any Vogons they'll use a movie studio executive instead. I realize this isn't being nice to the Vogons, but who wants to be?
And finally did anyone have the foresight install a tachometer on Douglas' headstone so we can see how fast he's spinning in his grave when H2G2:TMP is released?
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
I just bought the DVD of the TV show, and I had seen it when it was originally broadcast and liked it well enough to buy the VHS tapes. In any case, a couple of weeks ago I went to see a live performance of the musical "Carousel" with my wife. Not the kind of thing I did before I got married! However, when I was watching HHGG a few days later I noticed a new gag I never "got" before.
When the Heart Of Gold is being attacked by the missiles from Magrothea and everyone thinks they're going to die, Mike the computer starts singing:
"When you walk through a storm keep your head up high..."
Yeah, "You'll never walk alone" from Carousel. I had to play it back a couple of times before I believed it.
We all know this has been in the pipeline for *years*, but as DNA says in The Salmon Of Doubt(well its quoted in The Salmon of Doubt - he said it somewhere else first):
"The holywood process is like grilling a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it."
Maybe they should drop the idea of a live action HHG movie, and set Nick Park on the project of a claymation HHG movie.
Nick Park is the genious animator behind "The Wrong Trousers", and other Wallace and Gromit films.
I love the HH series, from the radio drama to the novels and the horrible TV series. Mostly Harmess was a bad way to end it, and Mr. Adams more or less admits to it in Salom of a Doubt. There were a lot of very good writings in that book, including the biscuits at the railway station, and the draft of Salom. I had meant to write both his wife and his publisher a letter of thanks for sharing the last scraps of genious from such a wonderfully tallented man.
The movie will flop if they try to do it as a live action flick. Maybe get those actors to do the voices, fine, but visually it needs to be done in 'Claymation' style (ala Chicken Run) or full CG (ala Shrek).
[If you can't recognize the tune, you're in the wrong generation. Run along and play until the grownups are done.]
When I find myself in times of trouble,
Douglas Adams comes in view
Speaking words of wisdom: "Forty-two."
And in my hour of darkness,
He is the light that shines on through
Speaking words of wisdom: "Forty-two."
Forty-two, forty-two, forty-two, forty-two.
Whisper words of wisdom: forty-two.
What are the broken-hearted people
Living in the world to do?
There will be an answer: Forty-two.
For though they may be parted,
There is still a chance to see what's true.
There will be an answer: forty-two.
Forty-two, forty-two, forty-two, forty-two.
There will be an answer: forty-two.
[Cue the choir and repeat ad infinitum.]
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Exactly like bricks don't.
How are you going to put that quirky wit in a movie without a lot of narration. And if you have enough narration to do Douglas Adams' wit justice, you can't hope to have an entertaining movie. Maybe a book on tape.
Let's face it. The little insites into the world around the characters is almost all of what makes the books worth reading. The story is slightly interesting, yes, but how long did it take you to figure out what was slightly unpleasant about being drunk.
He's already got a brain the size of a planet, and a synthesized voice.
It's "swutting," man... Belgium.
-If
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
His only non-MP producing credit is the classic Time Bandits! :)
Ok, apart from the obvious link to 'How to get ahead in advertising' I'd say he'd be excelent. Although a bit old (according to IMDB he's 55, he's played the cock-sure, dashing Scarlet Pimpernel.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --- Albert Einstein
I think Howard Stern is the rockstar comedian that I couldn't place. I think he would be a good over-the-top Zaphod B. - better than Brad Pitt. Brad is a good nutball, but Zaphod's not a nutball, he's just a boozing, womanizing, charismatic bastard... Stern is perfect.
-If
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
Have you ever seen anyone as whiny, morose, aloof, and sarcastic as Charles Grodin?
I can't even picture how they would make Marvin look... He was a plastic joke in the TV series, but I guess that's kind of what you would expect from the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with!" So he needs to be depressingly goofy and "user-friendly," yet futuristic.
-If
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
Please, do not put Matthew Lillard anywhere near this movie. What, were you impressed with his performance in Hackers? Next you'll want Jennifer Love Hewitt as Trillian, Jamie Kennedy as Ford Prefect, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Arthur Dent. That's just wrong and bad.
-If
Sorry if that came of combatative, I just really dislike the whole Matthew Lillard/Scream/I Know What You Did Last Summer/Teeny-Bopper Get Laid Movie crowd of actors.
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
Will they ever be able to match the special effects used to generate Zaphod's second head on the BBC?
Hitchikers Guide To Be Made Into A Movie
Isn't it supposed to be Hitch h ikers ?
Or is this a 'enry 'iggins kinda thing ?
Damnit. "extra arm and head", not "extra arm and leg".
I think we underestimate how important it is to keep his memory, and moreso, his "humour ethic" in mind as we face daily life..
I should have a HHG desktop wallpaper up soon here.