A Scanner Darkly Film Preview

Jason K writes "Hi, webmaster of PhilipKDick.com here. Thought that the Slashdot community might like to see this exclusive report that was just added to the official Philip K. Dick web site by his daughters about the 'A Scanner Darkly' film production. The film production of A Scanner Darkly is based on the classic PKD drug novel of the same name. It is directed by Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) and stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson. Linklater is using a more sophisticated version of the 'rotoscoping' animation technique that he debuted in 'Waking Life'. This is shaping up to be the most faithful adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel or story to date." Waking Life was a little odd.

Comments

'Most faithful adaptation' is subjective...

[brainstyle]

I actually became more impressed with Blade Runner after reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - because as much as I liked the latter, it's not terribly filmable as written. Roger Ebert's said a number of times that all a movies adapted from a book owes is to be a good movie; whether or not it's line-for-line identical is irrelevant.

Re:'Most faithful adaptation' is subjective...

[Samrobb]

I'd like to think that Terry Prachett is like Monty Python meets JRR Tolken.

In some sense, yes. The Rincewind books are definitely in this vein. On the other hand... the Witches and Guards books, IMHO, have changed significantly from their beginnings, and are no longer humorous. Oh, they've got their funny bits, sure - quite a lot of funny bits, as a matter of fact. But...

"Lords and Ladies"? "Carpe Juggulum"? "Night Watch"? "The Truth"? "Wee Free Men"? Hardly laugh-a-minute riots. They're a little bit darker, a little bit too serious to be classified as comedy. The characters are less caricatures and more believable, more real, and the problems they deal with are... well, problems. The kind that can't be solved by the classic bumbling wizard, or (extremely) experienced barbarian horde, and that sometimes are a bit uncomfortable because they seem too much like real problems instead of parodies of problems.

The change came upon the books gradually, I think, so that it can be hard to notice unless something brings it to your attention. For me, it was "Night Watch", when Carcer and Vimes were up on the University roof, and Carcer said something like:

"I can see your house from up here."

That sent chills down my spine. It wasn't funny. It wasn't melodramatic. It wasn't a parody. It wasn't even scary, in a typical fantasy/horror way. It was an amoral killer casually threatening the life of a woman and a child - nothing at all like either Monty Python or JRR Tolken.

Waking life WAS a little odd

[Anonymous Coward]

In that it was thoughtful and interesting and totally willing to have scenes as simple as an interesting person saying interesting things. Hardly the typical crapfest that slashdotters seem all too willing to gush over.

"most faithful adaptation"?

[bookemdano63]

Think that is a good thing? The Minority Report and Total Recall books were ridiculously antiquated and would have made terrible movies if they hadn't been changed. In Minority Report punch cards were a major plot point.

Re:"most faithful adaptation"?

[Trurl's Machine]

Think that is a good thing? The Minority Report and Total Recall books were ridiculously antiquated and would have made terrible movies if they hadn't been changed. In Minority Report punch cards were a major plot point.

You seem to confuse Philip Dick with Arthur C. Clarke. Dick never wrote science-fiction to anticipate the future. He was more interested in exploring the inner space of human mind. And he was great doing that. You can't credit him as "the guy who predicted satellite TV relays", but you can credit him as "the guy who predicted the atmosphere of corporate paranoia of the late twentieth and early twenty first century". Take a contemporary realistic novel about the corporate world, like Joseph Finder's "Paranoia". It's so phildickian you could mistake it for a lost PKD manuscript. Dick was one of the rare SF writers of 1950's and 1960's who understood that human race will enter the world of powerful future technologies keeping their minds as fragile as ever, and was quite accurate in predicting the outcome (paranoia, drug addiction, escapism, the rise of omnipotent corporate moguls - both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are like characters from PKD novels!). So yes, he thought that punch cards will survive. But he also predicted Microsoft. His books will be antiquated only after a succesful antitrust action against MS, which means when hell freezes over.

Re:Keanu Reeves ?

[beq]

Actually, I think Keanu is perfect. As much as I love PKD, a lot of his characters have very little affect, and seem detached from their surroundings. This is especially true of Bob Arctor, who spends most of the book taking high doses of Substance D, which has disassociative side efects. Arctors increasing detachment from the world (and from himself) drives most of the story, in fact. Keanu's wooden style seems perfect for the character.

Re:Keanu Reeves ?

[aka-ed]

Hold on...Reeves was an unknown at the time, and no one ever expected "Bill and Ted" to be "War and Peace."

People stopped making Tom Hanks apologize for "Bosom Buddies" a long time ago.

I'm more concerned about "Johnny Mnemonic" (less because of Reeves, more because of how W. Gibson talked it up pre-release) and the headache-provoking animation technique of "Waking Life."

Re:Congratulations

[0123456]

Congratulations for not realising that the first 'Lord of the Rings' movie _was_ a rotoscoped cartoon.

YOU are the problem!

[SPYvSPY]

It's nonsense like your comment that causes Hollywood to ruin PKD stories. Have you read Minority Report? Was it necessary for them to create that fucking nonsense about child abusers? How about dulling down the KEY dynamic of Anderton as victim of his own ambitions? What about the dull rendition of Witwer as an ass-kissing punk who is playing Anderton in order ot get his job? What about the military character? How about the fact that precogs, who have been floating in jelly since childhood, can't get up and run around? Oh yeah, and let's completely fucking forget about how precogs work and what "minority report" means, because that's too boring for a film. We'd prefer jet packs and guys who look like they got lost on their way to the set for the Matrix. And God knows Tom Cruise is the kind of "everyman" character that PKD writes about.

As for punchcards being left out--it didn't seem to bother them that the precog results were delivered on balls through pneumatic tubing...LOL.

PKD Rocks.

[wackysootroom]

If this movie does well, I hope the PKD estate allows someone to do The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

That book was quite the head-trip, and with the right director would make an awesome film.

Dick is more descriptive than prescriptive

[Ohreally_factor]

Don't worry if you're "deep enough". You're no doubt of above average intelligence, despite this being /. and all. Please excuse the folowing dissertation.

Probably, it's just that Dick doesn't float your boat. If we all liked tha same thing, what a boring world we'd have.

But I think you've hit on one of Dick's ironies. That people need a box to experience empathy. Remind you of anything?

Anyway, it's not so simple, where one can clear things up by saying whether Dick favored or disapproved Mercerism. In fact, this ambiguity is a major part of the book at the end. Is Mercerism a hoax? Or is it true, i.e., is there an underlying truth to Mercerism that will never be perceivable by the androids?

The love of animals is a central tenet of Mercerism. Yet, as happens in all religions, the expression becomes perverted. Animal ownership becomes a signifier of status, prestige, and even corporate power.

Also, I think that Dick was saying that the values behind Mercerism are central to being human, not whether or not it would be good for humanity.

Anyway, I think that Dick just isn't your cup of tea. Maybe you haven't really suffered, or maybe you've suffered, but haven't suffered enough. If this is the case, I hope you never have to, but if it happens, there are authors like PKD that are great to turn to.

PKD is definitely for the wounded and those that have been crushed. Most of his characters are damaged and flawed, and perhaps they are hard to like if you're not damaged and flawed. Mercer knows I'm plenty of both. I should start a blog or something. =)

Not all his novels are this deep, however. Some of his others, while dealing with interesting issues, are lighter and more fun.

Anyway, sorry if I was a dickhead, but, after all, I am a Dickhead.