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Will Smith as I, Robot
BuR4N writes "It looks like Asimov's sci-fi classic, I Robot, is going to be a movie. Shooting starts April next year staring Will Smith and directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City and The Crow).
Being a huge Asimov fan I have not made up my mind if this is a good or bad thing.
"
I'd say that 'I, Robot' augth to be far more serious that MIB or any other movie Smith has starred, so I'll bracing myself for a big disapointment. But, hopefully, I'm wrong!
When a movie comes out based on a book, it stirs people to read the book. If the movie never came out, then those people would never read it.
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First Law:
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law:
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law:
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
Fourth Law:
???
Fifth Law:
Profit !!!
As a real Asimov fan (I even named my daughter Bliss after the character in Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth) I'm still surprised no one has taken the Foundation series and brought it to the screen. It seems such a natural movie script, with at least four or five great movies to pull out of the series.
Anyone know why it has never been proposed as a project by Hollywood?
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
Plus: Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow)
Minus: Will Smith
Plus: Asimov premise
Minus: Hollywood adaptation
Plus: Will Smith as a robot wouldn't strain his acting ability
Minus: Smith might play the human
Plus: clever ideas, cool story
Minus: probably will be shot as a scifi/comedy
This could be interesting. For the love of god, though, don't let Will Smith play his "normal" character (remember Wild Wild West? That was supposed to be Jim West?). Give him someone else to play - we know he can act, even if he chooses not to.
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from the article: The movie is a futuristic thriller in which a detective investigates a crime that might have been perpetrated by a robot, even though that seems an impossibility given those three prevailing rules.
Doesn't this sound more like Caves of Steel?
Interestingly, Caves of Steel has been made into a TV movie before
As HAL is killing the astronauts
Asimov: "They're violating the three laws of robotics!"
Clark: "So strike them down with lightning, Issac."
Kind of tells you something about the two of them, doesn't it?
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- Douglas Adams
Basically Fox bought the rights, transplanted the name onto an existing script and then added a few elements from the book to avoid rejection. Either that or the script was a complete rip-off of the book anyway that they just brought in a few elements that were missing....
Only time and release schedules will tell.
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Back in 1989, when Michael Keaton was cast for Tim Burton's Batman? And after the franchise has run its course, Keaton is arguably the best of the "Dark Knight" movie versions.
Will Smith has done great drama like "Six Degrees of Separation" (and tried again in "The Legend of Bagger Vance"), so I recognize the potential.
Will Smith will not make or break the movie on his own. Alex Proyas gives me high hopes, and it's still up in the air who will co-star (Joanne Woodward was envisioned when Ellison wrote his version of the screenplay).
Also:
The project originated as "Hardwired," a futuristic script by Jeff Vintar that was amalgamated with elements of "I, Robot" when Fox bought rights to Asimov's landmark book. Subsequent drafts of the script have been done by Hillary Seitz ("Insomnia") and Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind" scribe Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the last draft and is expected to be a prevailing presence on the picture.
This script has much parentage, and whether it meshes together as something worthwhile is still a big question.
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One film that you should see before you make any judgements about Will Smith's range: Six Degrees of Seperation. He was absolutely amazing in it, and definitely not comic relief.
I'm not so certain. Smith can act in serious roles, it's just that he's more well known for his comedic characters. My initial thought was Will Smith was a bad choice until I hit IMDB to satisfy the voice in my head that said he's never done a serious role well. Where the Day Takes You was a strong non-comedy role of Smith's. Great friggin movie. And though I didn't like Ali much he did a credible job of portraying one of the most well-known sports figures in history.
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I agree. I like Smith, but the ideal actor for this role would be "impassive" (I think that's the word) without being wooden. Smith is too light and breezy. I would have expected someone like Denzel, perhaps; I imagine Tim Robbins could pull it off as well. Maybe Ethan Hawke. They'd also have to look very "ordinary"- good looking, but could have come off an assembly line.
The other problem is that Smith is too babyfaced. I thought the main character faked aging to masquerade as a human, so the actor would need to do an Orson Welles-in-Citizen-Kane transformation. Not too many people could pull that off- and you'd probably have to have a relatively young actor do it too. I just don't think Smith would be credible as an older man.
This is sort of like getting Joe Pesci to play the role of Julius Caesar.
The warning signs will be pre-release robotic rap videos.
Does this mean that doing "the robot" on the dance floor will become cool?
Oh horror, I wouldn't care if they mutilated the story as I would be warned and could avoid seeing it, but if people start doing the robot I might have to lock myself in the basement
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Bicentenial Man, at first, I had thought the movie would be another Robin Williams acting like a crazy entertainer, ala Rainbow Rudolph (Death to Smootchy) or Mork.
However, he provided, in my opinion, one of his best performances ever. Whenever I get the chance to see that film, I take it. The story of his character evolving into something much more then what he was before is unbelievably heart-warming.
It shows that to be human is far more then simply being born as a human. It is a collection of thoughts, emotions and self-determination.
I have to rank Bicentenial Man up there as one of the greatest of Hollywood films. Which is typically the case for true cerebral/philosophical films about humanity.
I am unable to recomend this film enough. If you watched Star Trek:TNG and liked the character of Data, then you will seriously enjoy this film. If you despised Data (and Star Trek in general) avoid this film as it covers humanity and the trappings of humanity, there are no crazy action sequences.
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
First Law:
A robot may not get jiggy with a human being, or, through getting jiggy with it, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law:
A robot must get jiggy with it under orders given it by human beings, except where getting jiggy with it would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law:
A robot must protect its getting jiggy with it as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
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.. but he just isn't what I picture when I read about Dr. Susan Calvin.
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Don't forget his other old standbys:
"Ya'll feel me, ya'll feel me?"
-or-
"Uh uh"
Truly one of the great lyrical artisans of this era.
I think being a huge Asimov fan is always a good thing. Keep up the good work, chap!
Why not Jodie Foster? She did an excellent job in Contact, and this is a similar kind of role.
Doesn't this sound a lot like the book/story line from "Caves of Steel"?
I, Robot is a chronical of the history of a ficticious company, U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, that builds robots! (duh).
Having re-read this book just recently I was interested in scoping out how this book would fit into a "Will Smith" movie script.
First Option:The movie is an adaptation of the entire book as a whole. Doubtful. Its a bunch of short stories tied together in the style of "Interview With a Vampire". i.e. a reporter chronicling the history of US Robitcs & MM by interviewing the company's pricipals (most notable the robot-psycologist Susan Calvin).
So, an adaptation of the whole book would leave only one possible "headliner" role for Will Smith, the reporter. But the reporter doesn't *do* anything. So the first option is definitely out.
Second Option:Adapt one or more of the stories in the book to the screen. This is more plausible. Its hard to condense novels into scripts, but its much easier to do this with "short stories". King's "The Green Mile" is an excellent example.
So, which stories would you pick that would give Will Smith the key role and exposure needed?
"Robbie" - the first story in the book is about a robot used as a domestic nanny that becomes the best friend of the owner's daughter. This is obviously the story that was the basis for Bicentennial Man, so its out.
"Runnaround", "Reason", and "Catch That Rabbit" are stories focused on Gregory Powel and Michael Donovan, the robot troubleshooters for US Robotics & MM. These stories are excellent reads and are very good illustrations of the paradoxes and problems that might arise as the robots go about thier existence while adhering the to Robot Laws. But they are, in my opinion too cerebral for the typical Will Smith moviegoer. (read - they would be too boring).
The two stories I believe would work are "Evidence" and "The Evitable Conflict" which present the possibility of a robot with a human appearance. Lots of conflict in the premise that a robot that is physically indistinguishable from a human might rise to a position of power. I thin that would make a good film.
Whether Will Smith would play the robot or be the guy trying to "out" him, it probably doesn't matter. I prefer the former though.
Of course, one they put in the car(flying saucer?) chases and the snappy one liners, it won't really matter which way they go.....
I've reread "I, Robot" recently, and IMHO the two great strenghts of the books are:
- The pretty deep analysis of the interactions between the 3 laws of robotics. Hollywood's track record in butchering anything subtle or complex in a sci-fi novel is amazing. Think about "The minority report". Dick's original idea is that knowing the future changes it. In the movie, it becomes a boring story about free will. Think about the recent "planet of the apes" or "screamers". It's sad but Hollywood's tendancy is to reduce sci-fi to eye-candy and bland plots.
- The unusual, unnerving, yet strangely attaching character of Dr. Susan Calvin. She's central to the stories as she bridges the gap between robots and humans. I know Will Smith has a lot of talent, but I don't think he can play her role effectively. She's supposed to be plain, cold, arrogant and inflexible. I don't know of any American actress who matches this description. So her character will most probably disappear or its importance be greatly diminished.
So basically, we should expect a poor crime plot (not too complex, Joe Sixpack must understand); we'll see scores of nicely rendered robots joking with Will Smith. And maybe a couple blaster gun fights. So sad...
It would be nice to be sure of anything the way some people are of everything.
I, Robot was a collection of 9 short stories, not a novel. So which one, precisely, is getting the movie treatment? It'd also be interesting to know which character Smith will be playing. A robot? (ho hum... Robin Williams did it so-so in another Asimov adaptation) One of Donovan or Powell? (actually, this might be kinda fun. These two never really did get a fair shake living in Susan Calvin's shadow) Susan Calvin herself? (err... maybe not)
I should note that I, Robot was actually adapted into a screenplay by Asimov himself in collaboration with Harlan Ellison (and with all the teasing between these two you thought they'd never work together). Hopefully their script is being used for the film, otherwise I shudder to think how it might turn out.
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