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Joe Cornish To Write and Direct Snow Crash Movie

Posted by Soulskill on from the fingers-crossed dept.

SomePgmr tips this quote from Geek.com: "Fans of the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash have reason to rejoice today, as it's been announced that the film adaptation of Neal Stephenson's classic has been revived once again, this time with an exciting writer and director at the helm in the form of Joe Cornish. Cornish is known for his recent sci-fi alien invasion flick Attack the Block, which was filmed and released in the UK by the same studio that put out Shaun of the Dead. Cornish's first film came to the U.S. in a limited release in 2011 and did well enough that Paramount took notice and pursued Cornish for the Snow Crash project."

32 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. new ending? by cthlptlk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is Stephenson going to write a new ending for the movie? As I recall the book didn't really have one in the first place.

    1. Re:new ending? by bsane · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The ending was fine... the main bad guy was dealt with and the henchmen slips into the night (figuratively).

      What else do you need?

    2. Re:new ending? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      iirc, it was a big shootout on the tarmac, so hollywood will make that bigger than it was in the book and rub a little feel-good follow-up on it.

      The book did feel like Stephenson just got tired of all the awesome and wrapped it up in a few pages, though.

    3. Re:new ending? by squidflakes · · Score: 2

      Yeah, the Rat Thing plowing through the fuel storage tank and taking out Rife in a huge fireball of awesome seems pretty damn Hollywood to me.

      Sweet Jesus, that whole scene needs to bring the noise.

    4. Re:new ending? by CFTM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...Wow I just about went all internet fan boy...

      So rather than making a declarative statement on my internet soapbox, let me say that it's my point of view that Blade Runner was terrible. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep dealt with some beautiful ideas, the movie bastardizes most of them.

      Dick's writing revolved around less-than-ordinary individuals thrown into extraordinary situations. This mechanism created some deeply powerful moments were Dick was able to make comments on globalized culture and the introduction of advanced technology to culture.

      Time and time again, people try and turn Dick's books into movies and every time the real heart of the story is lost in translation. ...Resisting urge to be Phillip K. Dick fan boy...

    5. Re:new ending? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Two words: doggie flashbacks.

    6. Re:new ending? by Wraithlyn · · Score: 5, Informative

      Are you seriously suggesting that Blade Runner (the movie) has nothing to say about "globalized culture and the introduction of advanced technology to culture"? The visualization of the city alone is an incredible (and increasingly prescient) commentary on these subjects.

      Are you aware that Philip K Dick, while sadly dying before the final film was complete, saw some early footage and LOVED it? A letter he wrote:

      I happened to see the Channel 7 TV program "Hooray For Hollywood" tonight with the segment on BLADE RUNNER. (Well, to be honest, I didn't happen to see it; someone tipped me off that BLADE RUNNER was going to be a part of the show, and to be sure to watch.) Jeff, after looking --and especially after listening to Harrison Ford discuss the film-- I came to the conclusion that this indeed is not science fiction; it is not fantasy; it is exactly what Harrison said: futurism. The impact of BLADE RUNNER is simply going to be overwhelming, both on the public and on creative people -- and, I believe, on science fiction as a field. Since I have been writing and selling science fiction works for thirty years, this is a matter of some importance to me. In all candor I must say that our field has gradually and steadily been deteriorating for the last few years.Nothing that we have done, individually or collectively, matches BLADE RUNNER. This is not escapism; it is super realism, so gritty and detailed and authentic and goddam convincing that, well, after the segment I found my normal present-day "reality" pallid by comparison. What I am saying is that all of you collectively may have created a unique new form of graphic, artistic expression, never before seen. And, I think, BLADE RUNNER is going to revolutionize our conceptions of what science fiction is and, more, can be.

      Let me sum it up this way. Science fiction has slowly and ineluctably settled into a monotonous death: it has become inbred, derivative, stale. Suddenly you people have come in, some of the greatest talents currently in existence, and now we have a new life, a new start. As for my own role in the BLADE RUNNER project, I can only say that I did not know that a work of mine or a set of ideas of mine could be escalated into such stunning dimensions. My life and creative work are justified and completed by BLADE RUNNER. Thank you..and it is going to be one hell of a commercial success. It will prove invincible.

      Cordially,

      Philip K. Dick

      (Source: http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html)

      So as another Philip K Dick fan (and yes I've read Androids), if you want to say the movie isn't as good as the book, fine (an incredibly boring & obvious statement, but fine). But calling it terrible? Something the author himself described in transcendant terms, as a new birth for the genre, and as justifying his life's work? Philip K Dick would punch you in the face, "fanboy".

      --
      "Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
    7. Re:new ending? by RMingin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To build on the AC who beat me to it, they should introduce the Rat Thing as a machine, and not at all make it look dog-like, but have a series of flashbacks when it realizes Hiro is in trouble, having a younger-but-recognizable-Hiro playing with the dog, the dog remembering being kidnapped, remembers a flash of machines in a lab, Robocop-style, flashes back again to the boy-Hiro, calling him. Rat Thing blasts through wall, maybe barking in a techo-distorted fashion, and begins terminal acceleration. You can throw in a variable number of flashbacks from dog POV, running towards the boy, intercutting with shots of Rat Thing going multi-Mach on the highway, to make it even clearer. As the Rat Thing hits the fuel tank, have a slow-mo of it starting to fly apart from the impact, intercut with scenes of the boy and the dog, falling down, laughing and rolling around.

      No sweat. I could do it myself. It's all CGI, so it's infinitely malleable.

      I just want to cry a little for the Rat Thing at the movie, like I did when I read the book. Best unexpected tragic hero figure in years.

      Hollywood, call me. I remember how really good movies worked, and can help you remember.

      --
      The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
    8. Re:new ending? by netsavior · · Score: 4, Interesting

      it was YT's dog. But yeah, same general rules apply, and I would love to get misty for a dog robot thing who sacrifices his life because once a girl fed him when he was abused and starving.

    9. Re:new ending? by SteveFoerster · · Score: 2

      That shows up in Snow Crash 2: The Search for More Money

      --
      Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
    10. Re:new ending? by CFTM · · Score: 2

      It's a subjective thing. The most important element in Do Androids... to me, was the juxtaposition of a less-than-ordinary man in an extraordinary circumstance. Northrop Frye, a 20th century literary theorist, postulated that the hero has undergone an extraordinary transformation starting with our first written stories and moving forward to today. Basically, he argues that things exist on a spectrum and that different ages have different takes on what the story protagonist should be like. In Ancient Greece, they were god-men, and they've slowly taken on more and more human traits. In a sense, protagonists have become more authentic.

      In stories, and especially in film, I want that authenticity. The handsome, brilliant super-man protagonist is boring. It has no life, no character and no artistry. And in the case of Androids, it actually changes the stakes. In the movie, we know Deckard is out-matched but we think he has a shot. In the book, he's the worst cop on the force. He's afraid he's going to get fired. He can't leave Earth even though it's royally fucked. He's boxed in, and has no choice but to move forward, everything is removed from him. The movie never, ever captures this, and to me, it's the most important thread in the story.

      Story's and audiences coexist together, one is not without the other. The consequence of this is a completely subjective realm. I am not saying that Dick is in any way wrong with his assessment of his work. I'm looking at a different part of the story, because it's the part that speaks to me at the deepest level. This is how art works...

    11. Re:new ending? by dbIII · · Score: 2

      Hey! I was one of those scifi loving kids growing up in the 70s! I probably did see Metropolis on TV before I saw Blade Runner though. I had read "When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" a few times before Blade Runner which is probably why I thought of what it could have been instead of what it was - so close but so many little things that just didn't fit together - so many little bits even connected to bits of the book but connected to nothing else in the movie. It's a very different story and a bit of a let down that it's not necessarily a better story for a movie format. I think that's why it's a "cult classic" instead of something as popular as E.T., Trek II, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Ghandi, Firefox, Dark Crystal, Tootsie, even crap like "The Sword and the Sorceror" which all outsold it that year.
      IMHO it was so close to being a masterpiece and had so many good parts to it but ultimately it had a few little bits that let the side down.
      So close, in fact a few cuts and removing the stupid unicorn subplot could have probably turned it into a classic.

  2. Dwayne Johnson as Raven. by AuralityKev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they don't cast The Rock as Raven I will be very disappointed. And still see it opening night.

    1. Re:Dwayne Johnson as Raven. by CFTM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Depending on how long it takes to get this off the ground, my money would actually be on Jason Momoa - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0597388/

      Height doesn't particularly matter on film, they have all sorts of tricks to make someone look taller than they are. And the rock is quite a bit more muscular than I ever pictured Raven but maybe that's just me.

  3. Tagline: by dutchd00d · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone listens to Reason.

    1. Re:Tagline: by Savantissimo · · Score: 2

      Well, maybe if you're dealing with frictionless, spherical cows.
      It will double the momentum of the recoil, not the velocity. The mass of the gun + boat + water moved by the boat is much, much higher than the mass of the projectiles. The drag from the water will go up steeply with velocity, at least the square. Also the damage done is related more to the impulse rather than the momentum per se. The projectile acts over perhaps a two tenths of a microsecond on the hull of the target, the recoil can be spread over perhaps 200 microseconds, and the area ratio is going to be about a factor of 10,000 between the gun mount and the projectile impact point, for a factor of around 1e7 difference in pressure, and more than that difference in damage done to to the nonlinearity in the strength of materials.

      --
      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
    2. Re:Tagline: by Savantissimo · · Score: 2

      What lack of recoil? p.337-8:

      Hiro's feet go out from under him as the raft moves suddenly; he can see Eliot falling down next to him.

      He looks up at Bruce Lee's ship and flinches involuntarily as he sees what looks like a dark wave cresting over the rail, washing over the row of standing pirates, starting at the stern of the trawler and working its way forward. But this is just some kind of optical illusion. It is not really a wave at all. Suddenly, they are fifty feet away from the trawler, not twenty feet. ...
      "Fucking recoil pushed us halfway to China," Fisheye says appreciatively.

      Since I'm on that page, here's the best line:

      "I didn't mean to blow it all up. I guess the little bullets just go through everything."
      "Sharp thinking, Fisheye," Hiro says

      --
      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
  4. If he's allowed free reign... by Vulch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This could be very good. Joe Cornish appears in both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (OK, in Shaun it's as "uncredited zombie") and seems to have much the same interests and outlook on life as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

    I can see The Deliverators run being done as a Bond style pre-credits sequence and being awesome...

  5. Re:I was hoping for by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    There was only one Matrix movie.

  6. Whelp by squidflakes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seeing as how screenplays for Snow Crash have been kicking around almost as long as the book itself, I'm amazed it finally got picked up. Still, I don't have high hopes. What made the book great for me were the odd turns of phrase, the staccato pacing, and the entirely correct number of giant penis avatars wandering around The Street.

    How are they going to represent Vitaly Chernobyl's Nuclear Fuzz Grunge? Are we going to get the glorious Nipponese rap styling of Sushi-K?

    How much in the future will this take place? Are they going to whitewash Hiro?

    Obviously, these are all rhetorical and after what Disney did to John Carter of Mars... well.

    1. Re:Whelp by BetterSense · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have always felt that a Snow Crash motion picture would have to me animated. It's too cartoonish to be live action.

    2. Re:Whelp by firewrought · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seeing as how screenplays for Snow Crash have been kicking around almost as long as the book itself, I'm amazed it finally got picked up. Still, I don't have high hopes.

      Perhaps Stephenson's depiction of a hyper-privatized society struggling with disruptive technologies, unpredictable religious groups, and the complete usurpation of rational discourse (all while a marginalized federal government steeps ineffectually in its own paranoia) has never been more applicable to current events. The text is ripe for exploiting (and commenting on) the current political zeitgeist...

      --
      -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
  7. Re:Am I the ony one who didn't like Snow Crash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Re:Am I the ony one who didn't like Snow Crash? Yes

  8. Cloe Moretz as YT by invid · · Score: 2

    Nuff said.

    --
    The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
  9. Re:Hmm by Jeng · · Score: 3, Funny

    Instead of a Dentata they'll probably do something lame like knock-out lipstick.

    --
    Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
  10. Inscrutable by haapi · · Score: 4, Informative

    I took a class in Mandarin, and was sorely disappointed to learn that KFC is not actually called the "House of the Ancient and Inscrutable Colonel".

    --
    Well, apparently, you only have to fool the majority of people for a little while.
  11. Re:One thing.... by Coren22 · · Score: 2

    The name is meant to be a pun, you missed that?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  12. Tough cram job. What to cut? by Animats · · Score: 2

    It's going to be tough. There's too much in that book to cram into a movie, and most of it contributes to the main plot. What to cut?

    Probably most of the virtual reality. VR was more promising in 1992 than it is now. It's been way overdone in movies. Show Hiro in gloves and goggles gear in his storage space, and others briefly in similar gear when appropriate, but spend little screen time on VR.

    Use Juanita Marquez, Hiro's ex-girlfriend and linguist/mythologist , as the designated explainer for the psycho-religious stuff. Somebody has to do that job.

    If they're lucky, they might be able to get Chloe Grace Moretz ("Hit Girl") as Y.T. That's the toughest casting decision. Any of the usual big hunks can play Raven. A number of older actors could play Uncle Enzo. Ng is a CG character. No idea who should play Hiro.

  13. Re:I was hoping for by Zaphod-AVA · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Correct. There is also only one Highlander movie, no Star Wars prequels were made, there was only one season of Heroes. The world is a better place this way.

  14. Re:Joe Cornish? by SteveFoerster · · Score: 2

    "I want... ROOM SERVICE!!!"

    No... just no. A thousand times no.

    --
    Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
  15. Really? Snow Crash? by bughunter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of all the Stephenson novels to be made into film, why Snow Crash?

    Zodiac is perfect for cinema in terms of scope, relevance, and length. When I read it I thought, "this would lend itself to a screenplay."

    Cryptonomicon. Just wow. It could be a cornerstone of 21st century cinema if it was done right.

    And the Baroque Cycle. It would have to be a trilogy like LotR, but IMO it's far more easily adapted for the screen than Snow Crash. Or at least, it has more of a mainstream appeal. (Come on, the penultimate climax scene where Peter the Great, Isaac Newon, Baron Leibniz, and Daniel Waterhouse come together is epic.)

    Finally. Diamond Age. If there was one C-Punk movie I could ask to be made into a film, by a devoted producer/director, it would be The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. Really, it's like the Ender's Game of cyberpunk.

    The only reason it's Snow Crash is because that title sold more copies. Pure and simple. Name recognition = box office sales. Nothing else matters in Hollywood these days.

    --
    I can see the fnords!
  16. The actual casting: by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 2

    Hiro Protagonist - Hologram Tupac
    Y.T. - Flo from Progressive Insurance
    Raven - Peter Dinklage
    Rife - Michael J. Fox
    Juanita - Sarah Jessica Parker