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H2G2 Cast Finalized, Starts Shooting in April

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the please-don't-sscrew-it-up dept.

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."

22 of 541 comments (clear)

  1. What to expect.. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    bah.. /. needs a "+1, Cynical Bastard" mod.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:What to expect.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:What to expect.. by petabyte · · Score: 5, Funny

      bah.. /. needs a "+1, Cynical Bastard" mod.

      I believe its called "insightful" :)

    3. Re:What to expect.. by thegoofy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, I can see the advertising blitz now...

      "Towels in the kids meals - Yes, Kids! You can hide from your parents simply by placing this over your head!"

      "This weeks special, the so long and thanks for all the McFish"

    4. Re:What to expect.. by Iffy+Bonzoolie · · Score: 5, Informative

      cross-posting this from IMDB boards (yay, a quote of a quote of a quote):

      by The Duke of Dunstable:

      For those of you who are worried about the Disney involvement of the movie, here's what Douglas said about it in December, 1998.

      "First of all, I have not tried to 'downplay' Disney's role in this. Disney is the studio which is making this movie, which is financing it, which will be distributing it. It couldn't really be much more central to the project.

      What I have tried to explain is that people's ideas of who or what Disney is is a little out of date. Yes, it made Bambi and Snow White and Flubber, but it also made Pulp Fiction, The Rock, etc., etc. It is a huge entertainment corporation, one part of which still makes what it originally made, i.e. family entertainment. So to talk about 'Disney-fying' Hitchhiker makes as much sense as saying 'Columbia-fying' it or 'Universal-fying' it. Yes, each studio has its strengths and weaknesses at any moment, depending on who's running what, but generalisations based on Bambi no longer apply. The important issues as far as I'm concerned is - who are the individual people I'm working with? The director, the producer, the studio executive etc. As things stand at the moment, I'm feeling very happy, confident and well looked after. But we have a huge task and huge challenges. Let's see how it goes."

      --
      Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
    5. Re:What to expect.. by TomV · · Score: 5, Funny

      * Counter staff with Genuine People Personalities (tm)

      * A cup of something which tastes almost (but not entirely) unlike tea.

      * Shoes that not only do not fit, but which are actually joined at the heels.

      DNA was always a bit close to the bone.

  2. Disney by funny-jack · · Score: 5, Funny

    But it's Disney, so what do you expect?

    Umm... a happy ending?

    --
    You probably shouldn't click this.
  3. Eddie Izzard - Both Male and Female? by Filmwatcher888 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would he have one head with makeup, and the other without? - Cake or Death, Little Red Cookbook!

  4. On the studios... by brucmack · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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."

  5. Re:H2G2? by tabacco · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

  6. Disney? Might be good .... by Xolotl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  7. they forgot the most important part!! by xao+gypsie · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....what company will be supplying the towel???

    --


    xao
    http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
  8. This must be Thursday. by wildsurf · · Score: 5, Funny

    I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

    --
    Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
  9. Obvious response by elsilver · · Score: 5, Funny
    It worries me when they say things like,...

    Don't Panic.

    E.

  10. H2G2: It changes every time!!! by TheMonkeyDepartment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  11. Re:A black, American Ford? by NaugaHunter · · Score: 5, Funny

    They'll probably change him from Ford Prefect to Ford Taurus, or even Ford F-150.

    --
    R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
  12. "Hollywood" Re-Write of H2G2 Scares Me... by ausoleil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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."

  13. Obligatory Disney Joke by 2names · · Score: 5, Funny
    Mickey Mouse is in court and the Judge says, "I'm sorry, Mickey, but I can't grant you a divorce simply because you think your wife is a bit odd."

    Mickey says, "I didn't say she was odd, I said she was FUCKING GOOFY."

    --
    "I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
  14. So I guess by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Funny

    we're not going to boycott disney anytime soon, eh?

    --
    What?
  15. A Black Arthur Dent?! by thelizman · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...why not, it worked in blazing saddles...

  16. ekoJ OCS diputS by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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."
  17. I once asked Douglas Adams... by Dr.+Zowie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ... where his towel was. It was in a large auditorium at the University of California (San Diego). He was talking about his new book, "So Long, and Thanks for All The Fish". It turned out that he didn't know where it was. But about half of the audience happened to have brought theirs, and started waving them about... :-)

    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.