Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask 'Hitchhiker's Guide' Exec. Producer Robbie Stamp

Posted by timothy on from the time-to-get-the-hang-of-thursdays dept.

After nearly three years of waiting, the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is almost upon us. I've been impressed with the casting, and with the trailers I've seen of the film -- enough that I'm taking the rather unhappy early review posted the other day with a large grain of salt. Now's your chance to ask whatever you'd like of Robbie Stamp, the film's executive producer; we'll pass on to Robbie some of the best questions and publish his answers as soon as he gets them back to us. (As usual, please -- confine yourself to one question per post.)

4 of 490 comments (clear)

  1. Um. by devphil · · Score: 5, Informative


    Douglas Adams wrote multiple versions of the screenplay, including the one used in the movie. The "new" characters, such as the one played by John Malkovich (sp?), were added by Adams specifically for the movie.

    If Adams wrote it, grilling the producer about it seems pointless.

    Also, fans of the Guide universe(s) will already know that the books, the TV series, the radio series, and all the other media versions have all been contradictory. Douglas Adams himself lost track of how many variant plotlines there were. Having read the interviews and seen the trailers, I'd say they're as close to following "the spirit" of the books as they can be.

    --
    You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
    1. Re:Um. by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Informative
      Douglas Adams wrote multiple versions of the screenplay, including the one used in the movie.

      No!
      Adams had finally written what he considered the final draft, then he died, and the studio rewrote the script. Most probably to undo all the compromises they had to grant the living Adams.

      Here, read how the CEO of the studio spins it:
      It was well over a year after his passing that Douglas' widow, Jane Adams, encouraged us to move forward with the film as Douglas undoubtedly would have wanted. Karey Kirkpatrick, who had written the hugely successful "Chicken Run", was hired to complete the work Douglas had started on a film adaption of the book.
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  2. Re:One question by Yonder+Way · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not very.

  3. Avoid Repitition by Relic+of+the+Future · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please read this most-recent interview with Robbie before posting any (more) questions that have already been answered.

    --
    Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.