Hollywood's Growing Obsession With Philip K. Dick

bowman9991 writes "Even after Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck, Impostor, and Next, it appears Hollywood's lust for movies based on Philip K. Dick material continues. The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Terence Stamp, is the latest, and features some classic Dick themes, including the fragile nature of reality and a fight against a world controlled and manipulated by powerful unseen entities. When Congressman David Norris meets the love of his life after a political defeat, he must peel back the layers of reality to discover why a mysterious group is so desperate to make sure they never meet again. He is up against the agents of fate itself — the men of The Adjustment Bureau. The Adjustment Bureau adaptation follows news that Terry Gilliam will adapt Dick's novel The World Jones Made, that Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said and Ubik are being adapted, and that a remake of Total Recall is being developed by the ironically named Original Films Studio."

Comments

Looking forward to The World Jones Made

[Prien715]

Terry Gilliam is one of the most fantastic individuals in the history of film.

If you're a geek, you know him as a founding member of Monty Python (Patsy in The Holy Grail or Cardinal "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition" Fang). If you're into film, he's done some fantastic dystopian sci-fi films (Brazil, 12 Monkeys). Talk about breadth of talent.

If anyone has what it takes to do Dick well, it's Gilliam (another random piece of trivia: Gilliam was originally chosen by the author to adapt/direct the Harry Potter books. The studios didn't like Rowling's idea and it never happened.)

Re:A Few More and Some Musings

[Anonymous Coward]

So basically, Dick is dead and can't object, and the Trust is monetising his heritage while they still can because the clock is ticking..

But that clock will never run out. You can bet mickey mouse will ensure leeches like the PKD Trust get to make money off the author's back forever. They'll just complain here and there about minor things, and that'll be what they claim is their creativite input. Dick died in 1982, that's almost a third of a century ago, most of his works are from the 60s and 70s. He obviously isn't going to be creating more works, why the need to keep his works locked up with copyright? Copyright is clearly a tool for corporations.

Total Recall... or We Can Remember It For You

[Geoffrey.landis]

"a remake of Total Recall is being developed by the ironically named Original Films Studio."

Wow, mixed feelings at the totally missed opportunity there.

First, Philip K. Dick never wrote a piece called "Total Recall." A few of the major themes from his short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" were grabbed and incorporated into a completely different plot to make the movie "Total Recall," but for the most part, "Total Recall" isn't Phil Dick, and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" was not made into a movie.

So it seems like there is an opportunity here, to make a movie from the story Dick actually wrote.

Instead, though, for no detectable reason they seen to want to remake "Total Recall." I can't see the slightest reason to do this. It was already a fine film-- for what it was, which is an action-effects extravaganza that incorporated some themes from Dick's work into a Hollywood-plotted film-- and I doubt that that film can be remade better.