Slashdot Mirror
Asimov's "I, Robot" Gets Movie Treatment
sdimbert writes "Isaac Asimov's classic collection of short stories about the role robots play in humankind's future is being made into a movie set to release on July 16, 2004, starring Wil Smith. The most notable part of the release build-up is the fact that the movie's trailer, most often seen before screenings of The Returnn of the King plays more like a product commercial (like Apple's flat-panel iMac ads) than a movie trailer. Suffice it to say that most of the audence that saw it with me had no idea they had just seen a movie trailer; they actually believed that someone was going to start selling a "fully automated domestic assistant" some time next year."
Maybe Apple plans to come out with an iRobot.
Sorry, Dean Kamen.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Did you take a poll? The big green screen that stated "THE FOLLOWING PREVIEW..." made it pretty clear to folks in our theater.
It was a good preview, but give RotK fanatics more credit than that.
We already have ""fully automated domestic assistant". See Real Doll.
Quicktime Link from Movie-List.com
go to the official site.
Something tells me that these people probably aren't the target audience of the film anyway.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
iApple will sue, saying they have an iTrademark on iXXX where XXX = noun.
Please do not mark this as a dupe to the first post.
iThank you.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
The good: Directed by Alex Proyas, who also directed a couple of top-notch films in The Crow and Dark City. Basing on Asimov certainly qualifies as "good" in my book as well.
The bad: Will Smith.
Plot Outline: In the year 2035 a techno-phobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
Why does this remind me of Animatrix's "The Second Renaissance"? The "I, Robot" plot is ripped off from The Matrix !!!1!
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
No, Calvin was more of a narator, IIRC. The main characters were the 2 field testers, really. Only the last few stories actually included Calvin to any great extent.
My friend and I were watching ROTK and saw the ad. We both thought it was a product, and the name idea was swiped from Asimov. iPod, iPaq, iRobot - maybe like an inside joke for those who get it.
The website also makes it look like a commercial and like you can start ordering those robots starting in the summer of next year.
How exactly do they expect people who have never read anything by Asimov to catch on that this is a movie? I've seen people I know linking to the website in their journals and saying something like "I want one of these."
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
Caves of Steel was a novel, I, Robot was a series of short stories. They are both based on Positronic Robots, with the 3 laws of robotics, but they are different stories. Caves of Steel is set much futher in the future, for a start (in fact some of I, Robot is set in the past now, because Asimiov was too optimistic)
http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/96ec7e42288f68/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e8177dec6493fc5bcd3c9e0d81/ i_robot_fox320.mov
Enjoy yourselves.
The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi
Unfortunately, this looks like it will be as bad as The Bicentennial Man adaptation that was made a few years ago with Robin Williams.
The best movie that will never get made is Harlan Ellison's I, Robot.
Get the book, read the script. It's the greatest movie you'll never see.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
At any rate, I can't get past Will Smith... I tend to associate him with MIB and stuff like that. He's never impressed me as an actor.
This is a link. AC so I'm not a karma-whore.
Imagine the replacement battery costs on THAT product....
You need a FREE iPod Nano
No, my mind is very good at erasing traumatic memories - you insensitive clod!
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
The country of iTaly, knowing it is a matter of time before Apple's lawyers turn their eye on them, is making moves to official change their name to "Olive Garden" (hoping to still attract tourists wanting to sample the famous cuisine).
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
"Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With!"
Ehhm...
Sorry, wrong book, wrong movie.
Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
I think the Foundation series of books is much better than I, Robot.
Everyone I know who picked up and read Foundation went on and read the rest of the series in less than a week.
That's the whole point. What better way to get everyone to talk about your movie? The site does not give a single indication that this is a joke, it drops a few hints though... if you read it all, it's far too exaggerated and heavy on technobabble, but I bet people are trying to contact them and call them in order to have demos on their TV shows and all sorts. I wonder how long they can keep it up?
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
Time to put in a plug for the exquisite "I Robot" album by the Alan Parsons Project, released in 1977. It's a concept album, but it is not an adapation of the Asimov stories. From the liner notes:
The story of the rise of machine and the decline of man,
which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel...
And a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will
probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image.
The songs "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" and "The Voice" were the only ones I recall receiving any airplay.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
This is obviously *NOT* I, Robot, since there *is* *no* major single male protagonist in the collection. And who plays the middle-aged or older major protagonist, Susan Calvin?
Oh, sorry, that won't play well with the 16-30 age group.
IF THEY WANT TO WRITE THEIR OWN FSCKIN' MOVIE, DO IT, BUT DON'T CLAIM IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S, nor mangle and mutilate someone else's, better work.
mark "and I keep meaning to send a threat
of physical violence to Peter Jackson"*
* And after the Two Towers, if Faramir were a real person, he would have filed a libel suit against Jackson.
Why does it seem that movies are making trailers look more and more like commercials?
I hate to disillusion you, but . . . movie trailers are commercials!
The real star is Bridget Moynahan of Coyote Ugly fame.
think the Foundation series of books is much better than I, Robot.
George Lucas already ripped Trantor and has shown it to us on the screen as Coruscant.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Apparently IMDB gives the screenwriting credit to Akiva Goldsman who apparently also wrote Lost In Space, A Beautiful Mind, Practical Magic, A Time to Kill and Batman and Robin.
Talk about a hit and miss record.
Really, it's a crime that they aren't using Ellison's screenplay. Asimov himself was quite fond of that adaptation, I can't help but wonder how he'd feel about this new one.
lysergically yours
I would have loved to have seen him in something new. Star Trek would have you believe all he can do is say, "Yes, sir!" and push buttons, but after reading his site you sort of get to know the guy...
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
I saw this before a ROTK screening, and also thought it was some kind of new robot. After all, Sony or whomever had just been announcing their "jogging" robot and whatnot.
Anyway, I'm sitting there trying my best to ignore the "ad", waiting impatiently for ROTK to start, and then the "3 Laws Safe" tagline comes up. I about shit my pants. Tried to explain it to one of my buddies next to me, but he just kind of looked at me like "Aragorn did what now?" Oh well, here's hoping they don't fuck this movie up too much.
The self-preservation part of the Laws of Robotics also rules out "Ice Pirates", where the boxy kung-fu robots at one point pulled lynchpins out of their own solar plexii and fell to pieces.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Didn't Robin Williams do this already in Bicentennial Man? There was even a scene where they talked abou the three laws of robotics.
Free your ecomony and enact the FairTax
I, Robot is largely a series of short stories centering around logic puzzles...Susan Calvin and Powell and Donovan figuring out what's wrong with robots by reasoning from the Three Laws. The only story in the book with a real human element is Robbie, and the robot in that one can't even talk. I think the only relation this movie is going to bear to an Asimov work is the title. That's not necessarily a bad thing. (And then I remember Bicentennial Man. Well, kind of, because it was utterly forgettable.) Anyway, much as I like his books, I don't think any of them would transfer well to the screen. Too much brain, not enough gut.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
"No Encoding." Yeah, you've got this whole video thing down pat.
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_Of_Roboti cs
From this page:
Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
But I think battery life is one of the main reasons we don't see more robotic gizmos for sale. That vacuum cleaner disc that they sell on TV looks like it wouldn't hold more than a cup of dirt, and probably has less power than a dust buster. But if it were equivalent to my 12 amp dirt devil upright, then it would look interesting. Batteries are the stumbling block. Blind people already keep their houses 'just so' so that they can use robot-like algorithms to find stuff. ( i.e. the refrigerator is 10 steps to the left of the bedroom door, follow the wall right 3 1/2 steps turn left open a door, one step ahead is the kitchen table, feel it, the fridge is directly behind the secondof four chairs. Quadraplegics might keep their houses Asimo-friendly so that it would be able to fetch things out of the fridge for them or whatever. You could have a simple 'bot for kids that moves any item with a 'toy' rfid tag from the floor to a toybox.
If there were decent batteries, one might see an Asimo type 'bot around the house or even a segway-style stair climbing vaccum cleaner with decent amps right now.
Eat at Joe's.
McDonald's was liable. For one, they should have never served coffee over 83 degrees F. For another, all their coffee cups should have been labeled: "Do not pour coffee on your labia".
Do 3Com still own the USR trademark, or did it go to Palm?
--
E_NOSIG
This:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005256/
could not be Susan Calvin!
Guys at Hollywood, can't you bypass your stereotypes at least for Asimov? Please?
making fresh and relevant...not to mention hip.
As for the claim its not meant to be apple style...come on! You better believe there is going to be an apple tie-in somewhere...and why not? At least in this case it would be APPROPRIATE. Robots and computers go together like peanut butter and jelly.
I got it immediately, but then, I grew up reading Asimov books including I, Robot. However, my wife ( not a big sf fan ) had no idea what it was even after the 3 laws safe part. The trailer isn't going to mean a thing to anyone that has never read Isaac Asimov which is pretty dumb IMHO for a marketing campaign targeted at the general public. Big budget movies based on books reach a broader audience than the books do. Something like 50 million copies of Lord Of the Rings have been sold, but many more than 50 million people have seen the first two movies and will see the third one. I, Robot was a book of short stories. I wonder which one ( if any ) this movie will be actually be based on.. They used to have good books of short stories, I really don't see that format in the bookstore anymore... I wonder what happened?
Eat at Joe's.
I browse at +3, so if someone's mentioned this, sorry. But it's clear from the IMDB entry that this is not an adaptation of Asimov's I, Robot, but rather Asimov's The Caves of Steel. Here's what IMDB says:
That's good, as far as I'm concerned. Lije Bailey was one of Asimov's better characters, and it's the introduciton of a certain R. Daneel. But the imdb credits also list a "Dr. Susan Calvin" as a character -- she's from I, Robot...hm...
Oh, hell, who knows what they doing. I'll wager that the end product bears no resemblence to anything Asimovian.
On the other hand, Bridget Moynahan is in the movie, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
for one, "i, robot" is a collection of short stories. read the robot novels (caves of steel, naked sun, robots of dawn). ironically, in another collection of robot stories (robot visions, i believe) asimov says that he likes his own robot stuff better than the foundation series.
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
Sorry, I just heard Bush on the TV and the way he pronounces it made me think it was spelled that way. My nibble on alternatives:
I find these guys very interesting because they write about the intersections between culture and technology in a pretty through way. All their books are copyleft and available there in pdf format.
What do you suggest?
HAD
The trailer isn't very helpful in explaining what the movie is about. But this might be.
BTW, I have a lot of misgivings about a movie when they say things like 'This film is not a direct adaptation of any of the nine stories in that book, but is instead a prequel of sorts to them, having its origins in a script by Jeff Vintar that was originally called 'Hardwired' that was adapted to fit into Asimov's stories, but not based on any specific one. ' It sounds like they are capitalizing on the Asimov name without actually using his stories.
Seppuku: Your solution to my problems!
You could tell who the real nerds were in the theater (yes I was one of them) - because we chuckled out loud to the claim that the robots are "3 law safe". Pretty ballsy to put something that obscure into a movie trailer. I think this movie might actually be good. Will Smith was pretty good in ID4.
my intention is to critizice hollywood's manipulation of the general american public by the use of actors as objects for the sale of their product. "let see, well, we want them black movie goers and hip-hopper wannabes watching this one, so let's put ol' Willy Smith there."
why i think this sucks?
if this does not explain my non-troll intentions, i can't do much else about it. i'll try to read/talk/write to/with people and see if i can speak/write/act in a clearer fashion.
piss.
HAD
Since there were so many %^$$@#! TV-ish commercials before our showing of LOTR:ROTK, it was kind of hard to distinguish. :P
I, for one, am sick of seeing commercials before movies. Especially 15 minutes worth.
They are actors not "objects", and there is nothing manipulative about choosing good actors to make the film more successful.
i robot is a masterpiece of sci-fi lit This film just uses the name
will smith can't act He most certainly can.
will smith is there to get some asses on those seats So? A movie is made with attention that it will be successful
many *many* people think it's nice of hollywood to put black people on screen, it must be because they love racial diversity, and are lured to ignore *still existing* racial issues In other words, blacks should be barred from all movies until the totally unrelated "racial issues" that you can't even describe are solved
casting a non-acting object such as smith denotes lack of integrity from any director that takes the job No, this just shows your lack of knowledge of Smith's skills which have been proven in such films as Ali and 6 Degrees.
director's/producers which lack integrity *VERY FREQUENTLY* lack artistic skills (who's got time when he/she's chasing dollars?) They tend to get "dollars" if the film succeeds artistically. The system rewards excellence with financial success
I thought the logical choice to play a robot would be Keanu Reeves... just stop him from saying "Whoa" and you're there...
Now, I admit I can't view half the I, Robot movie site because flash is broken on my web browser at work and its impossible to fix without a reinstall, but the credits on IMDB show no evidence of Daneel. If there's no Daneel, its not Caves of Steel.
What it does sound like is a munging of several Asimov ideas into an action flick, and Asimov is decidedly NOT action. Del Spooner isn't even the right character name for Caves of Steel.
I don't think you can call it Caves of Steel, but what you can call it is a licensing of the basic idea around Asimov's universe and adapting it so that the general populace can relate to it in an action movie.
I.E. all you are going to get that's asimov-related are the three laws and a couple of character names.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
This movie is obviously just using the title to promote itself, as just looking at the synopsis on IMDB demonstrates that its closer to 'Caves of Steel'.
In the year 2035 a techno-phobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
I will put money down that this will be nothing like either book really as they've already introduced characters from places theyve never been. Honestly, this looks like a scifi script that was too generic-brand, and so they decided to 'brand' it with something, chose Asimov, slapped the title on the movie and changed around some character names. This looks like another Hollywood attempt at a scifi movie that shall run along the lines of Minority Report: too much action, not enough substance. Don't even get me started on poor Mr. Philip K Dick whos stories are being raped even as we speak (Disney doing a philip k dick book?! An abomination!)
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
I think you've stumbled onto the reason why we're seeing movies like this, Minority Report, and the rest of them. Asimov, Dick, and others of yesteryear wrote about our time. We're catching up to their future every time Intel releases a new processor that ticks along how many billions of times per second, or IBM creates a new mainframe capable of processing how many millions of transactons per minute, or L&H release a speech interpreter capable of handling how many thousands of word, or Sony releases a robot capable of understanding how many hundreds of commands -- you see my point?
We're getting there. It's helpful to take a step back and just look around at the world we're building. What's so intriguing about these concepts is that it no longer takes a huge leap of faith to imagine these things happening... just a little nudge in the right direction...
Michael C. Hollinger
You know, I didn't think about this until I watched Dark City again about a year ago, but does anyone else feel that the concept behind the film was almost entirely ripped off to create The Matrix? It seems that Dark City was the more cereberal film (not cereberal as in "better", but cereberal as in "slower"), and all The Matrix did was take that concept and throw some guns and fancy slow motion fight scenes into the mix... Maybe I'm being too critical.
--
Is it me, or did it just get fatter in here?
This kind of movie ad campaign had already been done by Gattaca in 1997. It advertized in the NY Times, among other places, to have a method of genetically engineering children.
They even had a toll-free number to call, which was pounded heavily. I'm surprised anyone had the gall to copy this strategy... it had some considerably bad backlash, as far as I can remember.
"Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose." --Douglas Adams
Will Smith was very good in the excellent suspense _Enemy of the State_, playing opposite Gene Hackman. _I, Robot_ features James Cromwell, not exactly Hackman's calibre, but possibly pro enough to press Smith into acting. It depends on whether director Alex Proyas brings out their best, or just cashes in on the Asimov brand.
--
make install -not war
Eando Binder actually wrote a tale called "I Robot" in 1939, which predates Asimov's story by 11 years. It was apparently in the "Adam Link" series, and it appeared in Amazing.
Please see this page.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
OK, I, Robot was a great collection of short stories. Harlan Ellison did a brilliant (and then some) job of tying them into a cohesive screenplay. Then, being Ellison, he pissed off some Hollywood types.
Now they're making a movie that's called "I, Robot" but is actually a new story, 'based on parts of the nine originals.' Good grief!
Seriously, if there was ANY intent on the makers' part to do a faithful rendition of I, Robot, they just would have used Ellison's screenplay and be done with it. Given that they have a new writer and a new story, I'll bet real money that this is going to be a crap movie with crap acting and lots of fight/chase scenes, using Asimov's name to sell more seats.
Crap. Why can't someone get it right?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Will Smith isn't a bad actor, and neither should you hold the fact that an actress played a 'hot chick' against her. For a lot of actresses -- especially at the start of their carreer -- that's pretty much all that they get offered 95% of the time.
Being a hot babe doesn't mean that someone is either good or bad at something. Some people make the mistake of presuming that beautiful -> dumb. If you do that, you can miss some real jewels. Of course, presuming that beautiful -> smart is similarly fraught with danger. Having worked in a research lab, I can say that I've been blessed to have met a good number of brilliant women who would also classify as very beautiful... On the other hand, I've also run into a couple of women who seemed to have made their way thru their undergrad degree by batting their eyes at whomever was willing to be beguiled by them. Happily, few of the latter seem to make it into (and fewer through) grad school in the faculty of science (can't speak for other faculties).
Similarly, I'd say that Will Smith is a pretty good actor: He's got two things going against him:
1) he's known as a comedian, and
2) he's black
In a lot of ways, I'd say that comedy is a much harder trade than general acting... It requires a much better sense of balance to avoid crossing the line from comedic and stupid. Historically, comedians have had much more success crossing over into serious work than vice-versa.
As for him being black, there's not much you can do about that. Either you'll learn to live with a black investigator in a non-comedic context or you won't... Thankfully, people have (for the most part) managed to drop that preconception most of the time.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.