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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."
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.
Yeah, I love Douglas Adams and I like that he's popular, without becoming too non-geeky. You can tell a lot about a person if they know anything about Douglas Adams' books. Now every four year old is going to have seen a movie about it, robbing them even of the chance to experience the wonderful world of Douglas Adams *first hand*. I can not imagine what it would be like if I hadn't read the books first and based everything off a movie...
This would be one of the worst things that could happen to a kid, literarily. Douglas Adams was a memorable portion of my adolescence escape.
Now every four year old is going to have seen a movie about it, robbing them even of the chance to experience the wonderful world of Douglas Adams *first hand*.
So true. I'd love to know the stats of the people which paid to see the LotR trilogy multiple times, bought the various DVD editions, plastic cups from some fast-food dive but haven't read the books and have no intention of doing so.
I'm not knocking Jackson or the movies, I think he did as good a job as could have been done, but no amount of CGI can beat the infinite movie screen of the imagination when fueled by a good book.
Trolling is a art,
really, really ought to be Tim Curry.
"Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
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."
Here's your stats:
Total: 0.
Margin of error: Not enough to worry about.
People who have not read the books tend to see them each once at the theater, and come out saying "a pretty good action flick, but kinda slow at times."
The psycho-fans who are buying little Gollum statues and set pieces off eBay are people who read The Silmarillion twice (but claim to have read it three times.)
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
My first exposure to Adams was as a child, seeing it on television in England. I didn't read the books until the past 5 years, and I think they were more enjoyable, because I had seen some of the TV stuff already. Anyone who wants to read the books still can. Anyone who wouldn't have read them anyways won't be missing out if they see the movie instead. Take a deep breath and relax.
Whoa. The book doesn't say what colour he is, but he's from another goddamn galaxy. Be glad the actor isn't teal or something, or with a second head sewn onto his shoulder like the LAST H2G2...
I for one am PUMPED to see what the mighty Mos Def can do for this film. He's an incredibly talented rhymer with a very distinct vocal style. His flow will match well with Davis' dialog. I'm already imagining him dropping great lines like "Muscle relaxant. You'll need it for hyperspace, it's unpleasantly like being drunk." "What's wrong with being drunk" "Ask a glass of water."
Hey freaks: now you're ju
For me, given that it was a radio series first, I'll go with your first but not your second point.
To expand a little. Yes Ford can be what ever colour you like, NAP. But Douglas Adams was a _very_ English writer, and if he wrote Ford with an English accent (witness accents on original BBC Radio4 series: mostly, but not entirely, English accents), I'd prefer it to stay that way.
That said, without DNA to keep the director/movie corp in line, I'm re-jigging my expectations for the film.
Disney doing subtle mixed with off-beat English humour <shudder>.
__
Arse
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!"
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?
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.