woot! A movie version of A Scanner Darkly. Kinda funny how Shiny and I only recently finished reading it.

Directed by the guy that brought us Slacker and Dazed and Confused! woooo. Plus some big-name stars.

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/06/17/1 ... 214&tid=97

Since i haven't read the book, i have no clue what to expect. I did find some screenplay though, but i don't know if they'll stick to the book or use it as a base. Dunno if this is the right screenplay, or if they wrote another one either.

I'm currently reading it, there defenitely is potential in it. But keanu reeves ..

forgot to post the screenplay: http://www.beingcharliekaufman.com/scanner.pdf

Heavy reading material for a friday morning, i'm a bit dizzy now.

yea, Scanner is pretty heavy reading. Apparently the 'Philip K Dick Trust' (ie, his two daughters) endorse the movie and say it'll be the closest to the source material of any PKD movie ever. We'll see.

You didn't happen to read the screenplay (or throw a glance at it) to see if it's the same as the book? I read it whole, it isn't exactly the same as reading the book but i think you get a good idea of the story and characters.

Still i don't see Keanu Reeves play the lead part, if i read this script, i view it in a "The big Lebowsky" content, and i don't see pretty-boy Keanu fit in. But maybe he'll surprise me, dunno. Woody Harrelson, okay, he fits in perfectly i think.

*edit: hey satis they're shooting it in austin, texas, can't you go make some photos or get some autographs "

lol. Sure! They let freaks like me into places like that. heh.

No, I didn't read the screenplay. I'll give it a look if I get a chance, but I can't make any promises.

W00t, one of my fav PKD books being movielized! (yeah i know it don't exist ) That rocks. I hope they manage to stay true to the story like they say, but stuff like the scramble-suits will be hard to implement, imho. And i hope they show the list of ppl he knew at the end, for me it was like an explanation/closing remark for the story and mattered a whole lot. Cast looks nice enough Downey jr. and Harrelson are pretty much cut out for this lol, with their dope pasts. (especially Downey) And Reeves, mm. I know he has a thing for PKD (Matrix was véry Dickian, and Coen brothers also named him as a big inspiration) , and well, he played some rolls as a stoner in slapstick movies when he was young, and that was ok. So he should do ok hehe.

Tnx for bringing it to my attention Satis. I should really visit the PKD site more often. Or slashdot, whaever. This is so cool. *dreams off*

What the hell is it about?

If you read the (130 pages) screenplay you'll know

How about the 1 sentence summary?

That's gonna be hard, I'm afraid. Maybe a few keywords work better

drugs
shizophrenia
madness
sorta distopian city
(morbid) humor

In that order.

It's been some time since this topic got started, but i just noticed there's a trailer out. It's interesting to see to give you an idea what kind of movie it's going to be, how they're working the trips etc. in it.

Btw isn't there a HUGE spoiler in this trailer:

*WARNING DANGER SPOILER AHEAD* the 2 hemispheres thing, i thought the dual personality only gets exposed at the very end?
I could be wrong though.

Oh yeah the link: http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/ ... arkly.html

oooooh well its a couple years since i read it but it was cool so i'll look for the movie

note to self: send ox his book back

to J: You're mixing up books. You're thinking about Horselover Fat and Valis...and in that, yes, the dual-thing is at the end of the book. In this one it's referring to something else, not a split personality.

I saw the trailer when I went to see Constantine recently. I got very giddy. It looks like it's going to be really cool, I think.

Ehm. No. I haven't read those books you're mentioning there

I found this: "in A Scanner Darkly the protagonist starts out knowing that he is one person (and even is aware that he is only spying on himself) at first. Over the course of a few chapters, after he is assigned spying on himself, he starts to think he is two people".

or The plot summary: Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, undercover cop Fred (Keanu Reeves) is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation

I remembered it as it wasn't clear that Fred/Bob Arctor are just one person. But it seems i was kinda wrong. Maybe i'm developping split personalities.

Oh man, that looks totally sweet...and at first glance the casting OWNS, with the possible exception of Reeves.


J; you're confusing the crap outta me but i'll try to explain: in the book an officer named Fred goes undercover in a dopehouse as the dealer Bob Arctor...there is surveillance material in the house and Fred goes to check the tapes every once in a while to look for anything he missed while he was there. But after a while the hemispheres of his brain become 'disconnected' from each other and he can no longer clearly see the distinction between his two 'personae', Arctor vs. Fred, up to a point where he is completely oblivious of the fact that he, in fact, is BOTH men. So yes, as the reader (spectator?) you are very much aware of what's going on...and that's the brilliance of the book: it doesn't take away any of the tension or interest even though you know the 'hook'. For me, anyway. It seems like they don't hold back this info in the movie either, which I think is cool in terms of following the book closely. Plus it puts emphasis on the frightening depiction of drug overuse.


Bleh, I should copy-paste my thesis preliminary instead of typing all this out.

They better don't show it 1.5 months before us in the US or I'll have to kill Satis and co.(with my Belgian army )

btw Satis, how's Constantine? Looked like my kind of movie, so i'm interested in seeing it. Especially the pic of the damned pulling in Reeves was cool.





Omg, you still have the book? lol It would be nice of you if you sent it back yeah...I kinda need it for my thesis (I quoted fraudulously from it in my thesis prelimary, but no one noticed :p )