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H2G2 Cast Finalized, Starts Shooting in April
akahige writes "According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Freeman (The Office, Love Actually), Mos Def (Showtime, The Italian Job), and Zooey Deschanel (Big Trouble, Elf) have signed on to play Arthur, Ford, and Trillian, respectively. Stephen Moore is once again doing the voice of Marvin. No word on who's playing Zaphod (but wouldn't Eddie Izzard be great?). It worries me when they say things like, "Adams adapted his own novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite." But it's Disney, so what do you expect? Shooting begins in April."
But it's Disney, so what do you expect?
Probably not what you expect..
Multiple Hitchiker toys at (McDonalds|Burger King) so people have to make several visits to buy them all.
Perhaps a Hitchiker Ride at Disney World if the movie proves very successful.
A DVD release followed soon after by a "collectors edition" release.
A re-release of the books all spiffied up for the new consumers.
A movie where quality will be second to the marketting of junk collectibles.
/. needs a "+1, Cynical Bastard" mod.
bah..
Trolling is a art,
But it's Disney, so what do you expect?
Umm... a happy ending?
You probably shouldn't click this.
After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite.
Written in hell. No doubt...
With all the Lord of the Rings ads, I was a little confused about what I was looking at. Usually pictures about the story accompany the story...
Isn't H2G2 "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"?
Or did the author mean H2G?
Or not...? If not.. what the fuck is the H2G2 part for?
It's been close to 20 years since I read the book. I'll need to refresh my memory.
"We're gonna need a bigger boat"
Would he have one head with makeup, and the other without? - Cake or Death, Little Red Cookbook!
...it would've been better if they'd just kept the cast of the BBC television series we limeys made of it.
FloodMT: crapflood Movab
Zooey Deschanel (Big Trouble, Elf)
;)
Wow, I didn't know that the elves started to do movies for Hollywood
The IT section color scheme sucks.
A pan-dimensional Mickey?
For those who don't know ...
HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
But it's Disney, so what do you expect?
Adams on this subject in The Salmon of Doubt:
"The Hollywood process is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it."
What was it that drew everyone to Hitchhiker's? Or did some people gain interest just from all of the different forms?
Disney did The Pirates of the Caribbean". If they do HHG with the same degree of style (and don't screw with it too much) it might be quite good.
For those of us challenged by hip acronyms, someone care to expand on what "HT2G2" is?
I admit that I'm not a fanatic like some, but I have never heard that particular string used as a short way to refer to the Hitchiker's Guide series. I've seen HHGttG once or twice, but usually I just see the whole thing written out.
It took me a moment to figure out the meaning of the headline. I had to actually read some of the additional commentary. If I had to actually read some of the commentary before posting on all articles, how could I shoot off an ill-informed comment that so blatantly exposes my ignorance?
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
....what company will be supplying the towel???
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
H2G2 == HHGG == HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
HTH.
FloodMT: crapflood Movab
Should I take H2G2 to translate to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? If so, say so. Not all of us are fluent in gibberishspeak.
having never read H2G2 i got to say now i whole lot more OSS and freeware product names make sense. until i read comments and what H2G2 ment i was truely baffled about what hollywood had to do with my favorite chat client.
When I read the story, Arthur was black and Ford was chinese. How dare they change the characters all around!
(And what's with them removing the Dutch accent that all the Orcs had in LotR? Everyone knows that's how they talked!)
It always seems like they spend less time poking fun at things like how major motion picture studios do product placement and regurgitate the same old shit and spend more time doing product placement and regurgitating the same old shit.
But I don't know. Maybe I'm just being cynical. After all, it's Disney! The people who brought us Brother Bear and, uh...yeah, Brother Bear!
We need an ultimate movie that sounds good... Let's see, "What's yellow and dangerous?" HHGtTG. Nahhhh.
For me the radio plays will always be the highlight, though, with the books in second place. The animations on the TV series were *wonderful* but everything else looked wrong. Trillian is a sight classier than that, for a start (she's an astrophysicist ffs, not an airhead Essex blonde). Ford and Arthur looked nothing like they did in my head. And Zaphod... spare us. And as someone else said, Marvin doesn't really look like *that* does he?!
Maybe I'm reading it wrong but did this slashdot article say Mos Def is playing Ford?
Maybe I'm retarded but isn't Ford white? I'm not racist but i cant see a black person playing ford.. am i just confused?
Did I read the book wrong and hes actually black?
I just hope they don't continue through all the sequels, no matter how well received the movie is. I mrean, really... How long 'till Pratchet gets the same treatment? I honestly hope they don't get around to him posthumously.
Any generalization is a stupid one.
I think I preferred the casting for LOTR. Martin Freeman looks like a good pick for Arthur, but the actors chosen for Ford and Trillian just do not fit my mental image.
I was taking one day at a time, but then several days got together and ambushed me. (from a Rhymes with Orange comic)
Once upon a time I read that Micahel Keaton was their choice for Zaphod. I think he'd be great. :) This was years and years ago though.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
Go get the book. The games and other media can wait.
Darl is dumbo HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Nothing. Loved the books. Enjoyed the BBC video, enjoyed the BBC radio play. Will not have it ruined by Disney and their idea of a rewrite. I'm so opposed to seeing this that I wouldn't even download it from the web.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Mos Def's one of the most gifted lyricists out there, checkout his album Black on Both Sides.
Don't Panic.
E.
I think my head shall explode. Have loved the books for longer than I can remember. I even adapted part of one book for a play in college - went over well. Have also been boycotting Disney for longer than I can remember. Refuse to give them any money since long before their whole DRM, MPAA etc behavior. Head going to explode! Have I been sent to hell, with this as my punishment?
It worries me when they say things like, "Adams adapted his own novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite." But it's Disney, so what do you expect? Shooting begins in April."
Why does it worry you when people say things like "Adams adapted his own novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite."? This is a really confusing paragraph, d00d.
simple answer:
1) read the trilogy in order [starting with #1 and ending with #5]
2) move on to tv shows, radio drama, infocom game, etc only after step 1 has been completed
enjoy!
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
That's gonna be a tough one to pull off..
Let me just turn on my infinite probab}=20 ]} } } }&..}=3Dr}'}"}[NO CARRIER]
The reason the books are popular is because they are outlandish and enjoyable satire. Very comedic, very fun, very radical. A good read.
Does the casting for Ford Prefect seem odd to anyone else? At least when I read the books, I NEVER pictured Ford Prefect to look like this.
Start with the books.
/., the books are what most people are probably familiar with and generate the most discussion. Chock full of humour and insightful "observations".
While the radio episodes will probably get a good vote on
You should start with that wholly remarkable book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". And get yourself a towel.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
My uncle bought me "The more than complete Hitchiker's Guide", which contained all four books and that fifth one no one really likes to talk about. The books are easily the funniest thing I've ever read.
The Infocom game, IMO, is just about the most frustrating thing known to mankind, even for someone who's read the books many times.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
oh ok Hitchhikers guide blah blah, ok taco, not everyone is as big a geek as you, spell this shit out please
really, really ought to be Tim Curry.
"Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
Start with the books. i was first introduced to it/them through the Infocom game sometime in elementary school. I didn't quite understand the jokes or what was going on (why do i have to put the towel over my head again?) until I had read the book. Which I think I read concurrently with the game after I couldn't get past the introduction of the game. Haven't ever listened to the radio play...
One can play the game online here.
What drew me to the Hitchhikers Guide series?
Humor would have to be number one.
Unpredictability would be second.
Adams takes the reader on many twists and turns to wind up where we least expect.
My favorite aspect of the books is how a single event in one book can be later explained in another book from a wildly different perspective (e.g. a bowl of petunias thinking "not again" in one book is not explained until a later book).
I was taking one day at a time, but then several days got together and ambushed me. (from a Rhymes with Orange comic)
The last thing Hollywood needs is another crappy adaptation of cool Sci-Fi media by Will Smith. Wild, Wild, Wild West and MIB were enough.
Dolemite
_________________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
...that can't be good.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Throughout the history of H2G2, Douglas Adams adapted and re-adapted his works to multiple media. Starting with a radio show, moving to books and TV, even a computer game -- with every adaptation, he fearlessly changed it around as he saw fit, to embrace the strengths of the medium. The computer game is not the same material as the book, which is totally different from the radio series, etc. etc.
In other words, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series is all about change. If the movie is 100% faithful to the books, I'll be very disappointed. I want them to switch it around a little bit, give us some of the stuff we love, but also some new stuff too.
I want to see the wonderful spirit of H2G2 and the sense of humor of Douglas Adams accurately reflected in these movies. If that's done, I don't care if Ford is black, if Arthur Dent is Latino, if Trillian is played by Queen Latifah or if Fenchurch is played by Harvey Fierstein.
So after the Lord of the Rings, comes another well-regarded piece of literature in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hollywood did well by LOTR, let's hope "they" learned their lesson and will let a piece of classic writing stand on it's own and not try to stuff the story into a 2-hour formula.
My great fear of this is that the wit, sarcasm and anti-religious rage will be written out and instead, we'll get...Spy Kids in Space. The anti-religious part will be the first to go, otherwise Pat Robertson will be ranting and railing on Fox News about a horrible, blasephemous film coming from that esteemed home of children's entertainment, Disney. But it's a part of 'The Guide' and should stay in. Otherwise, it becomes...something else.
On the other hand, I suppose Disney should be given a little benefit of the doubt, after all, Pirates of the Caribbean was a highly entertaining film.
It will interesting to see what happens with this. I was hoping secretly Peter Jackson would handle the director's chair, given the respect he gave LOTR as literature. To me, Hitchhiker's Guide is a classic and should not be "messed with."
It's not strange, just imagine Chicken George in Roots being played by Jim Carrey. It makes perfect sense. You are just being racist with you anglo-centric mind.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Offtopic but, I really like Mos Def's music, I watched the Italian Job and had no idea that was him. Wow he is extremely talented, should be a good film.
2 years and no mod points. Join reddit. Because openness is good.
What was it that drew everyone to Hitchhiker's?
I just wanted to be "in" on all the jokes about towels, fish, digital watches and, ofcourse, 42. Then I found out that the books are just ingeniously funny.
Borrow the book from a library or a friend. Read the first chapter. If you chuckle at least once, you need to own it.
One I was hooked I read the books which I loved, followed by the radio play. Thing is I think they're all good for different reasons.
The only worry I have, is having lived in England now for four years I still find bits I didn't get the first time around. So how is that going to translate to the typical Disney audience?
Bable Fish from Altavista? Or are they gonna sue?
Why do they refer to it as H2G2 (Hitchhikers to Guide to)? I would think it should be written HG2G (Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy...
I'm not taking a stab at Douglas Adams work or anything, but I am curious.
(this sig intentionally left intentional)
Not everyone knows what you mean by H2G2. I didn't and had to sift comments about homosexual African-Americans to find out. Let's try and not do that next time, okay?
Joe Six-Pack
That's just sad. Too bad he didn't sell the rights to a UK based production company.
I'm expecting jokes explained to death and lots of 'Belgium' crap.
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
I don't think so. Many people who are unable to visualize things in detail in their minds or have trouble following intricate writing such as Tolkein's can get a great deal of enjoyment from other media, e.g., movies.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Additionally, the first three books are the best (Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Resturant at the end of the Universe; and Life, the Universe, and Everything -- I may have mixed up the order of the last two). So Long and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless are ok, but get worse and worse. The trilogy probably would have been best if it had remained thus.
The draw, at least to me, is the sci fi humor and use of language that Adams used, "Huge yellow spaceships that hung in the air exactly the way bricks don't," and "'Hyperspace travel is rather unpleasantly like being drunk,' said Ford. 'What's wrong with being drunk?' asked Arthur. 'Ask a glass of water,' responded Ford."
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Mickey says, "I didn't say she was odd, I said she was FUCKING GOOFY."
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
- Read the first three books a few times over.
- Play the infocom game
- Read the first three books again
- Buy "The more than complete hitchhiker's guide", read it
- Read the radio scripts
- Read the whole series over again (repeat yearly)
- Read So Long and thanks for all the fish
- Yup, the whole series again
- Download from napster the radio show and listen to it
- Read Mostly Harmless
- Watch some chapters of the TV show
- Series
- Salmon of doubt
Somewhere in there you should read The meaning of liff, the expanded meaning of liff, and of course the Dirk Gently books.we're not going to boycott disney anytime soon, eh?
What?
It's been a while since I read the "trilogy", from the family library at home.
I'll have to get my own copy of the books before they bring out edited, yukky cover, over-priced film merchandise versions of the books.
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
LOL. Made by some foreign Dentrassi slave-wage laborer, no doubt.
The Infocom game where I first learned of H2G2... about twenty years ago.
But it's Disney, so what do you expect?
I expect to see a bunch of disestablishmentarian Slashdotters bitch and moan because they hear the word Disney and make unfounded assumptions. Come on, the company that made Lilo & Stitch can't be all that bad.
Seriously, this is hardly bad news. Karey Kirkpatrick doesn't exactly have a horrible track record if you check IMDB. He scripted Tim Burton's "James and the Giant Peach," as well as "Chicken Run," both of which were required that he adapt an already-existing story from someone else's ideas into a screenplay. It can be reasonably safe to assume that he won't screw with Adams's vision.
As for the casting, it might not be top-notch, but there's something to be said about the fact that these are all relatively-unknown actors and actresses who have proven themselves in low-profile but respectable venues. You might remember Zooey Deschanel from Almost Famous, and MosDef from The Italian Job. The guy playing Arthur is pretty much unknown in the states but has experience in England, and Stephen Moore is even reprising his role. How is any of this bad?
I swear, for all the slavering fanboy rhetoric, nobody here seems to have learned anything from the book. The first rule is DON'T PANIC.
Myself, I'll wait until I hear something concrete about the production before I decide to write it off.
If those with a serious interest in literary comedies had no reason to kill themselves before, they certainly do now.
On the bright side, however, I hear there's going to be a Zaphod-themed drink at McD's, with a dual cup, one side shake, one side soda...!
-----------------------
You are what you think.
...why not, it worked in blazing saddles...
Science Fiction version of Lewis Carroll's work, in space written for adults.
It has the feel of the author telling the reading a fantastic story.
Read the first 5 pages in a book store. It starts fast enough you should be able to tell by then.
t
Sorry, but they don't have the mentality to capture the subtle hilarity of the Hitchikers guide. It's like a industrial drill operator trying to do a brain microsurgery...
I'd like to be surprised though.
"Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot." -- Paul Graham
How much do you want to bet that it's because he's going to be a completely CGI character?
...that Tux will make an appearance as Ford Prefect turns into a penguin (the first movie) since he didn't even make the slashdot poll for favorite mascot!
Seppuku: Your solution to my problems!
Read those too! Those are totally different, but, IMHO, better than the H2G2 trilogy in many ways. I re-read the Gently books more than the H2G2. They're just THAT good. The humor is just as witty in those, and the first chapter in "Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" about the airport is, easily, one of the most perfectly written chapters Mr. Adams ever wrote.
-Jellisky
Come on, the company that made Lilo & Stitch can't be all that bad.
Yes, but the company that made Lilo & Stitch and then proceeded to fire everyone who'd worked on it just might be that bad.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
...makes me want to reread the books so I can be a more informed troll and naysayer when it comes out. Then I remember that I HAVE reread the books. Bimonthly. For the past five years.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one.
Thinking back to "The Italian Job" remix, it could be interesting...
---anactofgod---
---anactofgod---
"Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
"No word on who's playing Zaphod (but wouldn't Eddie Izzard be great?"
I nominate Darl McBride, he's already two-faced!
"Derp de derp."
Well, by-passes are out.. the American 13-18 male demographic don't know what they are.
You can't have drinking to excess (even if it is with peanuts to help offset matter transfer and hyperspace) in a teenager film, so that's out.. It'll have to be Coca-Cola/Pepsi and Doritos instead.
The mid-western 13-18 male demographic wont understand probability, so the infinite improbability drive is out. It must be the particle of the month, just like Star Trek.
Satire isn't funny enough. Eddie the ship board computer will have to be smutty and/or throw custard pies. Marvin will be the cheery, slapstic C3PO look-alike.
I'll just go and drink a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (tm) (c)Zaphod Beeblebrox, (available at a seedy space ranger's bar near you) and drown my sorrows. (Oh, and that'll be canned as well!)
Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"
I'd just like to mention that it's a very underrated book. I bought it (like most people, I suspect) for the Dirk Gently story chapters. I found, however, that the parts I most enjoyed were his essays and interviews. Douglas Adams is a great speaker and essayist, and has a lot of fascinating viewpoints of different areas of life (especially religion). It kind of reminded me of when I saw "An Evening With Kevin Smith". Smith's movies are pretty good (Clerks especially), but his public speaking and storytelling were just outstanding. I had a friend over watching it, and he had never seen a Smith movie (imagine that) but still enjoyed the talks immensely.
"Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased. Thus we refute entropy" - Spider Robinson
RTFB
Everything seemed to be going so nice
'till the end of all beings punched right through the ice
Throughout the history of H2G2, Douglas Adams adapted and re-adapted his works to multiple media.
And you can beat your ass that no matter what anyone else does, it'll be shot down in flames. Just look at all the things they had to change in LotR - if JRR Tolkien had been there and said "We need to do this to make it work on the screen" noone would have complained. But even the things that were absolutely necessary got flamed from here to the moon.
Besides, I'd love to see a good movie version of it as it is, I have the TV series. I just hope they can keep it just as British as the original, not hollywoodify it (as seems to happen to so many movies, whether they were made there or not). And at the same time give me some dazzling CG graphics, a proper 2nd head and third arm on Zaphod (real ones, just CGI attached).
I really hope they can do it. Like that scene where they approach Magrathea, and the book steps in to tell the audience that noone will get hurt in the impending rocket attack. It's as un-hollywoodish as can be. And I love them for it.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
shouldn't that be hg2g?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
It goes on in this vein, but even funnier, over the five volumes (well, Mostly Harmless was probably more depressing than funny, but anyway)...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
"No word on who's playing Zaphod"
Am I the only one who sees Zaphod as being played by Stephen Root in NewsRadio? (with an extra head and arm of course)
--------
It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
I'm still trying to get that goddamned babelfish!!!!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"...and that fifth one no one really likes to talk about."
I know what you mean. When I first read the trilogy, it was only in four parts, but when I finally purchased my own copy, there was the fifth part!
I wasn't too sure about 'Mostly Harmless' the first time I read it, but after numerous readings it certainly grows on you. However, it was definitely written in a different style and you felt that Arthur had changed quite a bit. Nevertheless, it's still an amazing book and I am addicted to Adam's style of writing and his superb range of analogies e.g.
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. ".
As previously mentioned, I'm so glad that I have had the pleasure of reading the Hitchhiker books before the film. I'm also used to the voices of Ford and Arthur from the original BBC Radio tapes, so this will be very strange.
However, after the comparisons with LOTR, I hadn't previously read the books (apart from a few attempts whilst at school) and after seeing the film, I can't wait to read the books...
Flame away, but it's true and I feel obligated to say so. I have seen Eddie Izzard live and he is not funny.
do yourself a favour and start there...
the characters evolve from there, and it makes more sense to go Radio -> Books -> TV Series than any other order...
cheers
Sara
a macgrrl in an NT world
For the uninitiated, go into any bookstore in America and look for the "Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide" - one volume, five+ books, $15. Cheap!
Schnapple
There was a single book that combined the first four H2G2 books plus this Life of Young Zaphod or something like that, which I gathered was an all around bad read.
Just curious. My friend had that book and I loaned him Mostly Harmless so he could get the full 5-book triology. Most of the books are out of print now, though I'm they're available at the library and for sale privately on Amazon.com or Ebay.com.
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
What was it that drew everyone to Hitchhiker's?
A friend simply wouldn't stop raving about this utterly bizarre new comedy on Radio 4, so I tuned in to Fit The Second and was instantly hooked. Then I went to a Stage version at the Theatr Clwyd in north Wales, then the first and second LP's on Megadodo Records. Then book and TV series though I can't remember which I met first. Each medium brought some new embellishments, and all bear re-listening, re-reading, re-viewing.
Oh, well. Let's just hope in the very least he doesn't do another theme song for this movie.
(waiting for another post refering to an "I robot" theme song)
hee hee
Dolemite
________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Everyone seems to be saying read the book first. I disagree - get the radio series (a very nice CD box set came out last year). This is the start of the whole thing - the books were written afterwards. The radio series is where all the original ideas were born. Sometimes they didn't quite work, and the book sorted out some of that and a few inconsistencies... but that's part of the radio series' charm. In addition the sound effects are wonderful (even ground-breaking, for their time), and only enhance the imaginative experience. In other words, the radio series is the "one true source", and everything else is basically a rehash (not that it means they're bad, just best read/seen in the oredr in which they were published).
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one.
Thinking back to "The Italian Job" remix, it could be interesting...
I liked him in that movie, but that doesn't count for much - however, he's been well reviewed in other stuff as well. He was in a play on Broadway at one point, and the NY Times liked him a lot.
If I remember the books properly, Ford is basically uber-cool, slick, a total bad motherfucker but kind of loopy and obnoxious at the same time. I can definitely see Mos Def in that part. He's pretty close to my previous mental image (I never thought of Ford as being any particular race; he's Betelgeusean, anyway). Other actors I can see doing this might be Vince Vaughan, or in an ideal world maybe Nicholas Cage.
I thought everyone knew that Fords could be any colour you like, as long as they're black...
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
i.e. HHGG treated as a mathematical formula. This was very popular in the 80s, for example European Silicon Systems used to shorten their name to ES2 (with the 2 as a superscript). Thankfully the practice seems to have fallen into disuse in these more enlightened times.
Yes, everyone says that your own imagination is better than anything you'll see at the movies.
Bah.
Look at the credits for LotR. We're talking about 100s of professional dreamers, all channeling their combined skills into one magnificent creative act.
They beat me. Their world was more brilliantly imagined, more consistently detailed than my lone brain could come up with reading those books as a kid.
I think this is lazy-speak for another phenomemon. When you read a book, you are triggering fundamentally different feelings than you get watching a movie. There is a pleasure in reading that you don't get from film (and, I think, the converse is true).
But, yes, I admit it. the combined talents of all the creative folk on LotR bested my imagination.
Kudos to them. And good luck to the H2G2 crew, they have a big job ahead of them.
What were you expecting?
Just remember that this is actually being developed by Spy Glass Entertainment which is a subsidiary of Disney. Saying that the movie will suck because of Disney's involvement is like saying that ABC and ESPN are horrible because Disney is involved. Spyglass is the arm of disney responsible for The Insider, Seabiscut, The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable among others. Now you may or may not like those movies, but I don't think they were especially Disneyfied. Saying that this is a Disney picture is like saying Kill Bill is a Disney picture simply because disney owns Miramax.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
I believe the hitchhikers radio plays and books from douglas adams are amongst the most creative and funniest work ever. It's interesting to note that jrr tolkien was adamant that Disney would never make a move over his body of work, especially after what they did to the work of the grimm brothers.
Surely the mice won't all look like Mickey will they? So long and thanks for all the Nemo?
What is the inverse of the Matrix?
Disney is involved with several companies. e.g, they own Miramax which made "Pulp Fiction". That didn't suck.
Spyglass, for exapmle, made "The Sixth Sense", which also did not suck.
Don't look for this to be like "The Lion King" or something.
Be careful which version you get. I finally read all of the "Complete" HHGTTG hardcover (missing Mostly Harmless) that I bought for Young Zaphod Plays It Safe, and the text is the Americanized version -- which can be jarring if you're used to the original version.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Now, please refrain from slashdotting it until I've gone home for the day. I'm trying to listen to Fit the Third.
Read the first three books first, in order (*Hitchiker's Guide*, *Restaurant at the End of the Universe*, and *Life the Universe, and Everything*). Then listen to the radio shows (it is vitally important that you listen to the radio shows and read the books BEFORE you watch the BBC television series). I'd suggest the books first because they are the highest quality, even if the radio series is the fons et origo. Note that there are important differences in the organization of the books and the radio series: but you'll be able to see how DNA reworked the material for the books, and will hear the actors rather than seeing them.
After that, watch the BBC series. The BBC cast used mostly the folks from the radio cast. Thing is, they're radio actors, and they act like radio actors - their movement, blocking, etc. are all a little stiff, even if their voices are superb. Also, the budget was very tight, and the production quality (special effects, sets, wardrobe, and especially the prosthetic head) leaves much to be desired.
Next, read two stories that appear in *The Salmon of Doubt*. The first is "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe* - the version in *Salmon of Doubt* is uncensored in the US, while the on in the *Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide* and the other omnibus editions are censored in the US so that the ending leaves you a little confused (the last line is dropped). The second (though probably the oldest story of all, though I never checked on it) is "The Private Life of Ghenghis Khan".
After you've read those, it's time to read *So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish*. Enjoy. This one is a little more surreal than anything else, but it's still pretty damned funny (the biscuit story, which is absolutely realistic, is funny as hell).
Now, wait until some time when you're in such a good mood that nothing, not enough universal apocalypse, will make you sad. Get your favorite blanky out of the attic, and call up your significant other and ask him/her/shim/sher to remain on standby for a call. You are now prepared to read the last book, *Mostly Harmless*. The whole book is very, very dark, even though it is still quite funny. A lot of people hated it because the ending is rather depressing, and there's some retroactive continuity that's stretched a bit thin, but if you're over 30 you'll get it right away (if not, I've got terrible news for you: this is what life is like).
Then go out and get yourself a nice glass of orange juice and a breakfast sandwich. It will cheer you up.
WTF IS H2G2. I shouldn't have to read the fucking comments to figure it out. sheesh.
Not only is it realistic, it happens to be a true story -- it actually happened to Douglas Adams, who then just had to stick it into his next book.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Between his work in Office Space and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (among many others), I think Stephen Root would make a perfect Zaphod.
The towel story, he said, came from being on an extended vacation in Greece and never having a towel with him when his buddies wanted to go to the beach. The cooler folks always seemed to have theirs along.
Share and Enjoy
Share and Enjoy
Journey through life
With a plastic boy
Or Girl by your side
Let your pal be your guide
And when it breaks down
Or starts to annoy
Or grinds when it moves
And gives you no joy
Cos it's eaten your hat
Or had sex with your cat
Bled oil on your floor
Or ripped off your door
You get to the point
You can't stand any more
Bring it to us, we won't give a fig
We'll tell you, 'Go stick your head in a pig'.
biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
Martin Freeman was Ricky C from Ali G Indahouse! Resssspect!
Communism was just a red herring.
Before it goes into the vault forever. And I do mean forever.
I think If they could get tim burton to help with the creation of the movie it could turn out almost as good as the book was....
almost as good because no movie does its book justice, cuz reading the book always invokes the humans personal imagination.
For example the ideas behind the book/movie 'sphere', when person reads the book, their imagination helps the feel afraid by imagining to THEM what would be scary out there, whereas the movie its forced to generalize that fear to a specific object. but i am going on a total tangent now, so i will stop.
Kyle
Jesus fucking God, you are a genius. That's the funniest thing I've seen on the internet in forever. Fuck, I think I fractured my fucking sternum I'm laughing so damn hard. Bacon, Jesus. Christ, I'm still laughing.
Here's hoping the creative/adaptive tam here has the same spirit of humorous overload!
Looks like Karey Kirkpatrick might be a pretty good choice for this projct since Adams is, well, unavailable. IMDB shows that Kirkpatrick has writing credits on some good films:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Laws of Attraction (2004) (post-production)
The Little Vampire (2000)
Chicken Run (2000)
Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997)
James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Rescuers Down Under, The (1990)
Especially notable is James and the Giant Peach, a great film which did a great job of capturing the intent of Rohl Dahl, an author with a lot of similarities to Douglas Adams. As for Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, well everybody has to pay the bills.
Plus (you've got to love IMDB), his brother wrote the theme song to the TV series "America's Dumbest Criminals".
I'm curious as heck to see if they're going to be able to portray the things "only a mattress" can do...
Just make (for lack of a better word) music, you assholes! Leave the acting to REAL actors! Especially when the movie in question is a screen adaptation of a beloved novel-- did they try to slip Ja Rule or another one of those generic, mush-mouth fucktards into LotR? NO!
How else is shit-ass Disney going to ruin this movie? Only time will tell. We should install a seismograph over DMA's grave, so we can pinpoint the exact second he starts spinning.
Imagine this was LotR. Imagine they'd announced Tim from the Office as Frodo, Mos Def - who IS a great rapper, I only got into him after listening to Scritti Politti's wonder 'Anomie and Bonhomie' alubm but that's a tangent for another time - as Gareth, and that the film was going to be made by Disney.
Ladies and Gentlemen... Disney presents: The Lord of the Rings!
Ah well, what better reason to break out a bottle of Ol' Janx Spirit could you ask for? I may sing a little, it's just been - well, you know how it is.
Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
Hitchhikers to guide to....
Shouldn't that witty time saving acronym be;
HG2G = Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy?
Where are all the geeky editor types?
Mos Def actually came from the theater community before he was a rapper.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Disney is involved with several companies. e.g, they own Miramax
So? Miramax's earnings, like any Disney earnings, still go straight back into lobbying for anti-consumer legislation such as a possible sequel to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and several proposed sequels to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
If you don't want to fund your enemy, here's what to avoid.
And now another British classic is getting the Hollywood bastardisation, sorry, the Hollywood treatment whereby a film is destroyed and the basic plot is taken and Americanised and popularised. Hmm, if the Americans complain about our good humour all the time they're going to burn the cinema down after H2G2. I wonder if they could be made to burn America (USA) down.
...and a bunch of l33t kidd3z who think I sound like Austin Powers.
Xix.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
Im not racist but what the hell?? I thought the whole character was based on an english school boy? Is this another American plot to add in a token black (american) guy, but alas he wont get killed in this? As a proud and English Douglas Adams fan I think he would be turning in his grave. Hey dare I say it but even Hugh Grant would have been a much better choice or they could have chosen a talented English actor. What next will they try to avoid upsetting muslims in the Restaurant at the end of the universe scene and use George Bush instead of a pig?
Is it just me or is it highly weird to have a black Ford Prefect? I mean, nothing against the guy, I'm sure he'll probably turn out to be an excellent actor, but it just doesn't quite seem right for the part.
For those who would rather maintain principles than succumb to cravings for adaptations of DNA's work, there's Losing Nemo.
so I just always assumed that Hugh Grant would play arthur.
Oh well, I just hope it's good.
Can anyone think of any British comedies that have been remade in Hollywood and worked? I recall that Roseanne was going to do a US version of Ab Fab, but it was canned. Then there was the 1992 US version of Red Dwarf (try google for it and you mostly get ring tones).
Xix.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Ford.
A black Ford Prefect??? Are we ready for this?
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. --Ford Prefect
Now how are the suits at Disney (B-Ark people, at best) supposed to understand any of this to convey it in the movie. It is just going to be one grand adventure like their take on Inspector Gadget and all of the satire will be lost in translation.
I like my women like I like my coffee - tied in a sack and thrown over the back of a donkey.
Free music from Jack Merlot.
Zaphod, on the other hand, has to be an American. I always thought that Zaphod was a British take on American assertiveness.
Heavy sigh...
h2g2 (note the lower-casing) is the name of the online guide inspired by The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. It's considered "official" because it was created by The Digital Village Ltd., the new media company that had Douglas Adams amongst its directors, and he assisted in its creation. It is not the name of the book, the radio series, the game, or anything else. Just the online, fact-based guide.
If you want to reference the fictional story or Guide with an abbreviation, I'd recommend HHGTTG. Or HHGG. Or HHG.
-- Yoz, who was one of the four original developers of h2g2.com, and is also horrifically pedantic
"I'm breakin' crazy rhymes,
s ht ml
The suckers can't stand it
I put out the guide
and it says "Don't Panic"
- Meter Versus Yard - "Stars in my pocket like grains of sand"
I suggest you look into the Canadian hip-hop scene as well. Governor Bolts, Buck 65, Sixtoo, etc.
http://museeks.com/artists/1/meter_versus_yard.
indie hip-hop for the bespectacled bookwork nerd in each and every one of us! mangled beats and dictionary rhymes even your grandmother would approve of!
I wish that Terry Gilliam would have been chosen as director.
This movie treatment deserves to be something special/spectacular.
also
DNA narrated all of his books for Dove audio, and added (again) something special.
It would be lovely if they would his voiceover for narration or for the guide itself.
is Bruce Campbell.
eVillager
Call Disney what you want, but their casting is doing a lot better than the TV series' ever did.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Why the hell do they always have to make the cast politically correct? Oh, we need a black guy as one of the main characters. I'm sick of this crap. How the hell do they know that Ford's home planet has "African Americans"?
Yeah, if you find the Americanised version you will be screaming "Belgium!" once you realise you bought it.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
See I think starting with the radio play would be advised, so you know what the story was like before it was refined/moved around a little to become the book. Some bits of the radio series are absolutely priceless and I can't believe they didn't carry over.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
For the love of all which is mighty, I will be taking a towel into that goddamned cinema even if I have to soak it in barbeque sauce and various other condiments as a preparation.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Martin Freeman is playing Arthur...
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
As a victory lap for his Oscar-nominated performance in Pirates of the Carribean, I nominate Johnny Depp.
My father is a blogger.
Cutesy? Here's the Marvin proposal from over at Aintitcool.com
g
http://www.aintitcool.com/image/hgttg-marvin.jp
How the hell could you know about the Infocom games and yet claim to be "non-Hitchhiker educated"?
Those games are probably 20 years old - I say "those games" because at the end of the first game they tell you to buy the soon-to-be released sequel. I guess that never made it...
Mos Def has given me a whole new reason to want to see this. I was estactic when I read that he'd be playing Ford, although I never even thought about Ford being black. In addition to easily being my favorite rapper, he's also a pretty good actor. Should be cool. Let's hope he has a big say in the soundtrack, too.
I hope this movie isn't hacked up as much as I feel it will be. Honestly, I don't know where they will end the movie. Personally, for me my early teen years went, books, radio play, then BBC series, and I think THAT is the way it should be experienced. How many people are afraid that this will be a stake in poor Douglas Adams grave? I love the man .. liff and "last chance to see" are amazing as well, Dirk Gently is a god.
Anyhow .. who is deeply afraid of Disney?
I really do know KungFu
damnit
I was just about to go and read the books and then they announce the movie and rob me of the unfounded feeling of eliteness I'd have afterwards
it should be noted tha disney produced Pirates of the Caribbean, which in my humble opinion is a kick-ass film, not at all disneyfied.
I've read the first three of the pentilogy, can't wait to see this movie. I'll drag my friend (more likly, he'll be draggin me), who can quote every exerpt from The Guide in those books verbatim.
Logistical Chaos Officer http://www.slagg.org - LAN Gaming in Sarasota FL,USA
Hasn't anyone else discovered Adams' alternate storyline? I'm saddened that Peter Jones is dead, he would have brought some credibility to the cast. Most of the actors slated for the current project are less than inspired choices.
Yeah. As we see, he was on TV long before he ever released an album.
To quote an article, "He attended a performing-arts high school in New York, where he worshipped at the altar of playwrights Edward Albee and Harold Pinter and Public Enemy and De La Soul."
I agree that the "stick a rapper in every movie" trend is getting old - imagine if that were popular during the '80s hair metal days. But Mos Def doesn't qualify. No punishing him just because his music career fared better than Nimoy's.
In the Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an edition of the first book with photo illustrations, Zaphod was black and it worked really well.
Ford isn't a color, he's an attitude and I think Mos Def can pull that off.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
They'd save on special FX
The only reason? Surely you're not forgetting the everpresent hotness of Keira Knightley?
I simply hope is isn't like "Contact" where everyone wished that Carl Sagan was still alive so that whole subplots weren't ripped out of the film to make space for too-long special-effects shots. That they rewrote the screenplay after Douglas Adams' death does give ample grounds for concern...
Makes me wish that Hollywood and the BBC resolved their licencing spat right from the start - we wouldn't have this long wait.
But I am going to prepare to be disappointed.
Not mentioned is who will be the voice of the Book - the starring role. They need a good no-nonsence clear-speaking narrator. Also - I hope they don't try to "sex-up" the Book's "computer" graphics... It was part of it's charm was it's green-screen simplicity (but I'll let them get away with real computer graphics with a bit more colour instead of the original hand-drawn ones)
I think film producers love to wait for the death of an author before they make the film... It allows them to completely screw up without the author saying "I told you so!"
Knowing Hollywood, they would use location shots on expensive bugets what the original acheived with a model, a cheap lightbulb and some bedsheets...
-- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
-- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
Already have a Ravenous Bugblatter beast - got a cat who blatts and eats bugs all day!
-- The universe began. Life started on a billion worlds...
-- Except on one where stupidity was there first.
He was a huge fan of interactive fiction (as it was known). I think he hoped that it would become much more mainstream than it did.
:P
Its sad to think that computers became too fast too quickly for this rather cool medium to take off. There really is nothing to compare these kinda games with. A lot of the games were really well written, and very funny. A graphic adventure game is a very different kettle of fish, so its almost like comparing a book to a movie.
Anyone who hasn't played the text adventure of HHGTTG should definately do it (its free now).
Getting off topic (even more), its unfortunate that the second coming of low powered computers (like PDAs, mobile phones and the like) didn't help revive the genre.
*wipes tear*
Aren't ALL blacks from outer space?
The subject says casting is finalized.
Yet the Article says that Zaphod is still to be cast!!!!
Hmmmmmmm
The author and creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, published his first book in 1979. He later credits Heinlein's Starship Troopers as his inspiration. Ergo (laugh when you read that, pls), Heinlein started the so-called "Japanese Giant Robot Craze". I believe Mr. Tomino's remarks are in Grumbles From The Grave. Incidentally, Starship Troopers, was first published in 1959.
To be a bit more on topic - don't forget that if Disney gets in over it's head with a movie (i.e. getting too PG rating oriented) they will just release it through Touchstone Pictures and leave it be. It has happened before - I think it even happened to The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Kulakovich
Well, for some reason my impression of Ford will always resemble the mad, bumbling version on the BBC TV series. I know the BBC series gets a lot of flak for handling the storyline so terribly, but the casting of Ford, Arthur, the Book and Marvin were as good as I thought they'd ever get.
Now, the casting of Arthur and Marvin in this I accepted quickly (can't remember who's doing the Book, if anyone), but the choice of a black Ford works for me for a couple of reasons.
First, the only real requirements for Ford are that he be reasonably inconspicuous and a bit crazed. There are a lot of people that could fill those shoes. Plus, England is just generally more colorblind then we are (our histories are surely to blame) and provided it makes sense (for instance, a black Ford living in Wales is probably less likely than a black Ford living in Manchester) there's no reason why he couldn't, or wouldn't be black.
I know the one thing that's going to suffer from this translation is that, since this is the first real American production of the book, the English-ness will be massacred a-la Harry Potter. Having Mos Def as Ford allows his character to remain fundementally unchanged (still a crazy guy), plus give American audiences something they'll instantly recognize ("Look! A young black male in the supporting lead role! He must be the comic sidekick, like that Chris Tucker guy").
Plus, you know companies like Disney love to play up their multiculturalism.
The main issue I see with the film is that one of the main appeal of Adams' writing is just that, his writing. There's no way in a film to portray "the ships hung in the sky in exactly the same way bricks don't" (hopefully i got that close enough)
That said, i'm looking forward to seeing the movie provided the producers put their imaginations into it.
Is anyone else completely put off by the casting of Mos Def as Ford Prefect? Are there going to be grooving bass lines whenever he appears (he's also an underground hip-hop artist)?
Douglas Adams himself would have disagreed with you. To paraphrase--Disney also put out The Rock, Pulp Fiction, and so on. They're one big entertainment company with a family division, just like Columbia and other studios.
In other words, you look like another disestablishment moron. "It's Disney--well, it's gonna suck." I guarantee you'll see the movie anyway and probably like it and forget you even said that.
I think he's busy after being signed on to the upcoming Superman movie--playing Lex Luthor.
The Superman fiasco over at Warner Bros. is a whole other article. Beyonce Knowles is signed on to play Lois Lane!
Disney sucks. Their movies, sometimes, very rarely, are good. Miramax, the poor bastards, make good films.
I don't have a problem with Miramax. I have a problem with the epitome of sugar-coated BS, constructed in careful accordance with marketing plans for millions of crappy toys. That would be...Disney. Disney didn't buy Miramax to be a "more balanced entertainment empire" or some such schlock -- they bought them because they like the numbers on their balance statement to have as many zeros after them as possible.
Disney owns Miramax. They are really not even close to the same thing.
I am disestablishment...and if people who defend Disney don't like me or what I'm saying, then I'm probably doing something right. Thanks.
here is my "why":
I read the books first, then heard the radio series.
For me, the appeal is in the wit. Adams can poke fun at the way things work, or could work, like no other.
Like the idea that we are decendants from all the ancillary people another race decided they didn't want. These folks sent all of their useless, unproductive people, receptionists, phone polishers and such and sent them on an automated one way journey to someplace else. When they arrived, their presense killed off the real humans who happened to just be getting started learning the basics of grunting.
The idea that our past could be something like this is unusually hard to imagine. Expressing it is highly creative. Most of the story is like that. It is just not something you see every day. In fact, it is not something we should have seen at all really.
The fact that we did is a gift, plain and simple.
The goofy names and phrases played off of the sound of things too.
Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, hoopy, Zaphod Beeblebrox... --Vogons. BTW, have you ever read of a fictional race starting with a V that people liked? Vogons just sound bad, and of course they are in the book. Adams had a sense for that that flows throughout the story. Ever read books that had good stories, but the names and places were just "off"?
Nobody wants to like the Vogons. Why? Because they are Vogons dammit! Don't you know anything? Most people would like a dinner at Milliways. Why? Because it sounds good. What else would you call the Resturant at the End of the Universe?
Seriously, I am not trying to pretend to be funny, but am really trying to make a point. The play on words often found in these stories makes immediate sense while poking fun at our preconcieved notions of things. (Spelling czars relax --it's late.)
I get the distinct feeling Adams had a feel for the written word that most of us really don't grok well enough to create like he does. Reading the books makes immediate sense, but the mindset that would produce such a work is hard to imagine.
Totally out of the box would likely be a better way of saying this.
The scale of things:
Man, the book covers immense stretches of time and distance like they are nothing. {Which they are really, but that is not my point.} You get a twisted tongue 'n cheek look at the history of mankind, a trip to the end of the universe and all of the places in between.
My little comment in brackets is typical of things you will read as well. One moment you are in the story, another you are being told something subtle that should be obvious, but really isn't until you read it. The result is often funny and thought provoking at the same time. (Not that my example is anything like that, but I had to try.)
Crazy ideas like rock concerts with entire planets used for sound... Or Peril Sensitive Sunglasses. (They turn black at the first sign of danger!)
I have never read anything like it since. Probably the only way I can express this is to say that every other story I have read can be compared to other stories. You just can't do that with the Hitchhikers Guide. It is really different. Nobody has ever said Douglas Adams stories are like _______.
Now, having written this, I feel like a total lamer. I suppose that is what I get for trying to say "why", but what the hell, you asked.
Just read the books. Take it slowly at first and let your mind wander. You will be surprised at where it might go. In a twisted sort of way, you will be better for the experience.
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