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Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears" To Be Filmed
bowman9991 writes "Philip K. Dick's 1974 novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is being adapted for the big screen. A tale of altered reality, drug use, and the meaning of identity, the novel tells the story of TV celebrity Jason Taverner, who wakes up one morning to find that his very existence has been wiped from everyone's memories. Halcyon, the company behind the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie, decided the novel would be the first adaptation under a rights agreement with Philip K. Dick's estate. Hollywood has certainly taken a shine to Dick's work: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Impostor, Screamers and Next have all been based on his short stories or novels. Ubik is in development too. In some cases, as with Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, the adaptations are loose to say the least."
Hollywood has certainly taken a shine to Dick's work: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Impostor, Screamers and Next have all been based on his short stories or novels.
Don't forget Paycheck and Confessions d'un Barjo ("Confessions of a Crap Artist"). As a longtime Dick fan it humors me to see his works start to explode into movies post-2000. Adding to the truth that an artist is never appreciated until he/she is dead.
... never going to rewatch that again though. I didn't even find Blade Runner that great and honestly haven't bothered to watch Minority Report, Next or Paycheck. I got Scanner Darkly but just because it was more independent than the others. I just have an opposite opinion from the get-all-excited-it's-gonna-be-great folks I guess.
The same producer (John Alan Simon) that made the purchase of "Flow My Tears" also purchased the rights to "VALIS" & "Radio Free Albemuth." These last two books are strangely related to The Man in the High Castle (kinda sequel-ish) and he may be thinking of merging the two stories into one movie?
It's also worth mentioning that "Time Out of Joint" rights have been purchased by Warner Bros.
Unfortunately for me, these movies are not really my cup of tea. Total Recall was pretty good when I was 12
My work here is dung.
In some cases, as with Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, the adaptations are loose to say the least.
Given the nature of most of Dick's work, a direct 1:1 film adaptation of his writing would be at best nonsensical. Adapting the theme of the work, and leaving leeway with the details is generally the best approach.
Hell, even with other author's works it's the best approach. They are completely different media after all, and require completely different approaches to storytelling.
How about "Nowhere Man - The Motion Picture"
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
I'm just waiting for the average moviegoer to start complaining about how these upcoming Dick movies ripped off ideas from films like the Matrix, Truman Show, The Net, etc.
I think it's important to note why the adaptations are loose: PK Dick wrote short stories. Very, very good stories, but short. The main idea in the story is told in few words, but well.
A movie also has an obligation to fill 90 minutes of screen time, at least. Some of the actual concepts can be described in under a minute. The rest of the time in the short story or movie is spent exploring the concept.
PK Dick is definitely one of my top 5 favorite authors.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Adaptations of Philip K Dick books are notorious for being put in development hell. Scanner Darkly, IIRC, went through several attempted treatments before we got the rotoscoped version. And there's been attempts off and on to bring us Ubik on the big screen, though the last I heard of that was a few years ago and it was just being written.
...not to say that I'm not still cautiously excited!
Do you really think Neal Stephenson's books would do well on the big screen? Part of me would expect the movie to be about six hours long, with the entire plot wrapped up in a hasty, four-minute expository lump at the end. I can almost hear the cameraman whispering to the director "I've only got 100 feet of film left, can you get this done?"
Another part of me thinks it would be completely awesome to see Snow Crash on the big screen. But my brain has already filled in what I think the metaverse looks like, what the rat-things look like, smart spokes, all those ultra-cool ideas; and then I think of what other filmmakers have shat out trying to portray cool sci-fi toys. The wrong director could easily destroy a great story.
John
Personally, I'd like to see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress done up as a film.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
PKD lover says: screw you. But seriously, have you read more than one of his books or few short stories? Your description of "drivel" seems a very limited view of his works. So many common themes that are beyond just "which reality is real" (which he does very well). Pervasive surveillance/advertising. The meaning of living an authentic life. Effects of modern societies/cultures on lower "cog in the machine" type individuals. Ordinary people fighting struggling whether to accept or fight against large organizations/systems. Mental illness. Alternate history. War. Love/Obsession. Religion.
Belittling his whole body of work as "stoner ramblings" is pretty indefensible in my opinion.
Phillip K. Dick's works were weird and surreal.
Alfred Bester's works were weird and hyper-real. You couldn't get away with hazy camerawork and plot elements that were forgivably nonsensical in a Bester film. You'd need to show how people can jaunt, you'd need to show small-craft space combat, and you'd need to show that glowing guy who shorts out robots near him. In other words, you can paper over many of the images in Dick's work, but with Bester you'd have to show them. And that would cost money. Demolished Man would cost $200 million to produce, and Hollywood isn't desperate enough (yet) to take a chance like that.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
Most fiction and certainly most Sci-Fi can be considered about "altered reality" where something or someone that is not true/doesn't exist in our reality is described in a book. That is what makes it fiction.
As for drug use and meaning of identity, I'd say most of his books DON'T have drug use as a major theme. Meaning of identity is fairly common though. Still, you come off as a hater. The idea of someone being tricked into helping a war effort he doesn't know exists is a pretty cool plot idea and he has many others.
The movie "Impostor" really never even gets mentioned, and it was pretty damned faithful to the original story. Dunno why certain movies, that are no less bad than the rest of Hollywood's ... um... output... get passed over in the Public Attention Lottery.
(i.e. the film version of Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions"... all-star cast, fun performances, pretty close to original novel, and no press / attention whatsoever)
crappy triceratops
I like some of the movie adaptations of his work, but to me, his real life outshadows all the ideas presented in his work.
Check out Robert Crumb's The Religious Experience of Phillip K. Dick . Basically Dick began to have visions of a past life in ancient Rome as a crypto-Christian. These visions literally saved his son's life when he rushed him to the hospital. Turned out the boy had a hernia and would have been dead in hours. Other most interesting events, too.
I heard a few years ago there was supposed to be such a film with Paul Giamatti as Dick, but you know how these things go. I think it might be merged with V.A.L.I.S.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso