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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."

16 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 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
    3. 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.
    4. 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.

  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.

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

    Everyone listens to Reason.

  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. 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.
  9. 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.

  10. 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!