from the article: The movie is a futuristic thriller in which a detective investigates a crime that might have been perpetrated by a robot, even though that seems an impossibility given those three prevailing rules.
Cool, I never read that one. I'll have to pick it up. I would suspect though that "Robbie" was the inspiration for "The Bicentenial Man","The Positronic Man".
Can't wait to read more and find out for sure!
How to make a Will Smith moview of I, Robot
on
Will Smith as I, Robot
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· Score: 5, Interesting
I, Robot is a chronical of the history of a ficticious company, U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, that builds robots! (duh).
Having re-read this book just recently I was interested in scoping out how this book would fit into a "Will Smith" movie script.
First Option:
The movie is an adaptation of the entire book as a whole. Doubtful. Its a bunch of short stories tied together in the style of "Interview With a Vampire". i.e. a reporter chronicling the history of US Robitcs & MM by interviewing the company's pricipals (most notable the robot-psycologist Susan Calvin).
So, an adaptation of the whole book would leave only one possible "headliner" role for Will Smith, the reporter. But the reporter doesn't *do* anything. So the first option is definitely out.
Second Option:
Adapt one or more of the stories in the book to the screen. This is more plausible. Its hard to condense novels into scripts, but its much easier to do this with "short stories". King's "The Green Mile" is an excellent example.
So, which stories would you pick that would give Will Smith the key role and exposure needed?
"Robbie" - the first story in the book is about a robot used as a domestic nanny that becomes the best friend of the owner's daughter. This is obviously the story that was the basis for Bicentennial Man, so its out.
"Runnaround", "Reason", and "Catch That Rabbit" are stories focused on Gregory Powel and Michael Donovan, the robot troubleshooters for US Robotics & MM. These stories are excellent reads and are very good illustrations of the paradoxes and problems that might arise as the robots go about thier existence while adhering the to Robot Laws. But they are, in my opinion too cerebral for the typical Will Smith moviegoer. (read - they would be too boring).
The two stories I believe would work are "Evidence" and "The Evitable Conflict" which present the possibility of a robot with a human appearance. Lots of conflict in the premise that a robot that is physically indistinguishable from a human might rise to a position of power. I thin that would make a good film.
Whether Will Smith would play the robot or be the guy trying to "out" him, it probably doesn't matter. I prefer the former though.
Of course, one they put in the car(flying saucer?) chases and the snappy one liners, it won't really matter which way they go.....
Slashdot Mirror
"...Hodges emitted a scream the like of which I hadn`t heard since his scrotum was burned off during my experiment with fluorine gas last year"
Hodges would make a great strait-man, in a cartoon that is...Sounds like Bladerunner to me....
Cool, I never read that one. I'll have to pick it up. I would suspect though that "Robbie" was the inspiration for "The Bicentenial Man","The Positronic Man".
Can't wait to read more and find out for sure!
I, Robot is a chronical of the history of a ficticious company, U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, that builds robots! (duh).
Having re-read this book just recently I was interested in scoping out how this book would fit into a "Will Smith" movie script.
First Option:The movie is an adaptation of the entire book as a whole. Doubtful. Its a bunch of short stories tied together in the style of "Interview With a Vampire". i.e. a reporter chronicling the history of US Robitcs & MM by interviewing the company's pricipals (most notable the robot-psycologist Susan Calvin).
So, an adaptation of the whole book would leave only one possible "headliner" role for Will Smith, the reporter. But the reporter doesn't *do* anything. So the first option is definitely out.
Second Option:Adapt one or more of the stories in the book to the screen. This is more plausible. Its hard to condense novels into scripts, but its much easier to do this with "short stories". King's "The Green Mile" is an excellent example.
So, which stories would you pick that would give Will Smith the key role and exposure needed?
"Robbie" - the first story in the book is about a robot used as a domestic nanny that becomes the best friend of the owner's daughter. This is obviously the story that was the basis for Bicentennial Man, so its out.
"Runnaround", "Reason", and "Catch That Rabbit" are stories focused on Gregory Powel and Michael Donovan, the robot troubleshooters for US Robotics & MM. These stories are excellent reads and are very good illustrations of the paradoxes and problems that might arise as the robots go about thier existence while adhering the to Robot Laws. But they are, in my opinion too cerebral for the typical Will Smith moviegoer. (read - they would be too boring).
The two stories I believe would work are "Evidence" and "The Evitable Conflict" which present the possibility of a robot with a human appearance. Lots of conflict in the premise that a robot that is physically indistinguishable from a human might rise to a position of power. I thin that would make a good film.
Whether Will Smith would play the robot or be the guy trying to "out" him, it probably doesn't matter. I prefer the former though.
Of course, one they put in the car(flying saucer?) chases and the snappy one liners, it won't really matter which way they go.....