Will Smith as I, Robot 542
BuR4N writes "It looks like Asimov's sci-fi classic, I Robot, is going to be a movie. Shooting starts April next year staring Will Smith and directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City and The Crow).
Being a huge Asimov fan I have not made up my mind if this is a good or bad thing.
"
Disapointment (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd say that 'I, Robot' augth to be far more serious that MIB or any other movie Smith has starred, so I'll bracing myself for a big disapointment. But, hopefully, I'm wrong!
Brand Name B Movie (Score:3, Interesting)
Why no Foundation? (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone know why it has never been proposed as a project by Hollywood?
tough job (Score:3, Interesting)
Why doesn't anyone attack the Foundation Series ? The Traders will look good on screen and so will the heroics of the various Terminus Mayors
Atari Version (Score:4, Interesting)
If you're not familiar with it, I, Robot [klov.com] by Atari was the first video game to use 3D filled polygons. Pretty darn impressive at the time (1983).
Dichotomy (Score:4, Interesting)
Minus: Will Smith
Plus: Asimov premise
Minus: Hollywood adaptation
Plus: Will Smith as a robot wouldn't strain his acting ability
Minus: Smith might play the human
Plus: clever ideas, cool story
Minus: probably will be shot as a scifi/comedy
This could be interesting. For the love of god, though, don't let Will Smith play his "normal" character (remember Wild Wild West? That was supposed to be Jim West?). Give him someone else to play - we know he can act, even if he chooses not to.
Will Smith? (Score:3, Interesting)
Man. I understand your mixed feelings on this one. It's like being a Judge Dredd fan and wathing Stallone unmask and otherwise butcher a legend. Considering Smith's recent work, I have the feeling I must miss this one, as I just can't see him doing a good serious acting job. Can anyone vouch a good bit of dramatic work he's actually done? Seems like a blunder in the making.
Now Wil Wheaton, that's another story ;-)
Re:Mis-casting? (Score:1, Interesting)
Speaking of the 3 laws of robotics. (Score:5, Interesting)
As HAL is killing the astronauts
Asimov: "They're violating the three laws of robotics!"
Clark: "So strike them down with lightning, Issac."
Kind of tells you something about the two of them, doesn't it?
Re:Disapointment (Score:5, Interesting)
I think theres two options in making this film.
If its authentic to the book, its worth remembering that the book have a sense of humor. Plus with stuff like "positronic brains" and computers the size of buildings , I suspect a tounge will need to be put in the cheek.
*OR* we can completely shuffle the thing and kill positronics etc, and have a dead serious.... and perhaps boring.... film.
A Viewpoint (Score:2, Interesting)
But I do wish to comment on Will Smith. Personally I really like him as an actor. In MIB he was funny. In Enemy Of The State and Ali he played non comic characters in non comic films and pulled it off. Both those films where good [imho] and in Ali he did a great job. I am looking forward to seeing Will Smith on screen again to see how he does again.
So, yes, the point, please dont slate Will Smith before you have seen him in these two [more] serious films as he isn't such a bad actor and may just suprise you.
Re:Mis-casting? (Score:4, Interesting)
The other problem is that Smith is too babyfaced. I thought the main character faked aging to masquerade as a human, so the actor would need to do an Orson Welles-in-Citizen-Kane transformation. Not too many people could pull that off- and you'd probably have to have a relatively young actor do it too. I just don't think Smith would be credible as an older man.
This is sort of like getting Joe Pesci to play the role of Julius Caesar.
Re:Short Stories? (Score:3, Interesting)
Are they going to change the name of US Robots and Mechanical Men Corp to "North American Robotics" again as in "The Bicentennial Man" movie (which is ironic; the reason for the name change is so that it wouldn't infringe on US Robotics, but US Robotics got its name from Asimov's stories!).
Brent Spiner & Other thoughts (Score:2, Interesting)
Is it really I, Robot, or is it Caves of Steel, etc that they are doing.
If you want semi-pornographic Science Fiction, why not more Robert Heinlein ??
I will not watch movie with Robin Williams in the if I can help it.
You have got to see... (Score:5, Interesting)
However, he provided, in my opinion, one of his best performances ever. Whenever I get the chance to see that film, I take it. The story of his character evolving into something much more then what he was before is unbelievably heart-warming.
It shows that to be human is far more then simply being born as a human. It is a collection of thoughts, emotions and self-determination.
I have to rank Bicentenial Man up there as one of the greatest of Hollywood films. Which is typically the case for true cerebral/philosophical films about humanity.
I am unable to recomend this film enough. If you watched Star Trek:TNG and liked the character of Data, then you will seriously enjoy this film. If you despised Data (and Star Trek in general) avoid this film as it covers humanity and the trappings of humanity, there are no crazy action sequences.
People tend to not like Smith, I take it... (Score:3, Interesting)
But as has been mentioned, this kind of argument has been made a hundred times before... Look at the Batman's... some whom we thought would suck were actually quite good. And plus, look at Troyas' other casting decisions - Brandon Lee didn't seem like the best choice at the time either (but he was damned amazing).
Anyway, whatever... you know how these rumours go. I remember hearing that Leonardo DiCaprio was going to be in the Lord of the Rings many years back... (thank gods he wasn't).
Re:Mis-casting? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you think of Daneel as Spock, yeah, he's the charismatic breakout character -- but it's Bailey who is supposed to be Kirk!
Re:5 rules for robotic actors (Score:3, Interesting)
"A robot must always identify itself as a robot"
The writer's name is Luben Dilov Sr.
Re:Speaking of the 3 laws of robotics. (Score:5, Interesting)
This sound like another book? (Score:4, Interesting)
How to make a Will Smith moview of I, Robot (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.....
Will Smith is getting smarter (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not shitting you- it's a fact!
Will Smith will be playing... who? (Score:2, Interesting)
That said, I think that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would make a great Powel & Donoven casting, if they are going for the comedy angle. The stories with these two are great.
Of course, what I'd _really_ like to see is a high cost/profile TV series doing all the robot stories (from both "I, Robot" and "The Rest of the Robots"), with a changing cast (since there's little character continuation), a pile of special effects where called for ("Victory Unintentional") and almost none when that's called for ("Robot L-76 Goes Astray"). Something like "The Twilight Zone" "series".
The worse would be Will Smith playing Dr. Susan Calvin in a "serious" way (re-writing her as a black man instead of a woman). Shudder.
Any bet which extreme is closer to what will actually happen?
This movie will suck for sure... (Score:4, Interesting)
- The pretty deep analysis of the interactions between the 3 laws of robotics. Hollywood's track record in butchering anything subtle or complex in a sci-fi novel is amazing. Think about "The minority report". Dick's original idea is that knowing the future changes it. In the movie, it becomes a boring story about free will. Think about the recent "planet of the apes" or "screamers". It's sad but Hollywood's tendancy is to reduce sci-fi to eye-candy and bland plots.
- The unusual, unnerving, yet strangely attaching character of Dr. Susan Calvin. She's central to the stories as she bridges the gap between robots and humans. I know Will Smith has a lot of talent, but I don't think he can play her role effectively. She's supposed to be plain, cold, arrogant and inflexible. I don't know of any American actress who matches this description. So her character will most probably disappear or its importance be greatly diminished.
So basically, we should expect a poor crime plot (not too complex, Joe Sixpack must understand); we'll see scores of nicely rendered robots joking with Will Smith. And maybe a couple blaster gun fights. So sad...
Starship Troopers (or Yes, it will be that bad..) (Score:3, Interesting)
The making-of book (which I thumbed through at Barnes & Noble) was fairly amusing--the scriptwriter was very defensive about how he had written a faithful adaptation of the original book before the producers hacked it to match their initial story concept. I wish more people in Hollywood had the grace to apologize for what they've inflicted on us... =)
Re:Why no Foundation? (Score:4, Interesting)
Foundation
Genre: Science Fiction.
Studio: 20th Century Fox.
Production Company: Unknown.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It: Unknown.
Who's Making It: Shekhar Kapur (Director); Dennis Feldman (Screenwriter); Vince Gerardis, Shekhar Kapur (Producers); Ralph Vicinanza (Executive Producer); based upon the Issac Asimov novel Foundation.
Premise: In the distant future, psychohistorian Hari Seldon proves that Humanity will fall back into barbarism throughout the galaxy. He creates a new field of science - psychohistory - to try and save some remnants for the survivors of the coming apocalypse.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Asimov's Foundation series of books has been hailed as one of the classics of science fiction. The scope of the book is immense, and it deals with intangible and titanic mechanisms that shape human thought. Adapting it faithfully to the screen is a hard enough task; pulling off and delivering the philosophical richness of the book to movie-goers is going to be a tough job to do.
Back in 1994, TriStar Pictures purchased the movie rights and was trying to develop the property with a French director. The project remained stalled for close to two years until the rights were sold to New Line Cinema in February 1996, and screenwriter Dennis Feldman (Species) hired to work on a screenplay. Feldman has said that he will try and contain as much as the book into the screenplay and remain faithful to Asimov's vision.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
August 31, 1998... At one point a couple of years ago this project was on the start of development; now more than a year has passed and no official word has been heard about the hoped-for film version of Asimov's Foundation. Even though hardly any development has occured with this project, we've been scooped a tiny amount of news over the course of the last six weeks.
In mid-July an anonymous scooper wrote that the Dennis Feldman script had been officially dropped and the project had been placed in turnaround by New Line. Then, two weeks later we were told by another anonymous writer that Atlas Entertainment and the "producer of Twelve Monkeys" were looking for a new writer and hoping to set up the project at another studio shortly.
Another week passed and we heard some more news. The producer that the earlier (same?) scooper alluded to was revealed to be Charles Roven, who apparently also runs Atlas Entertainment. [All scoops submitted anonymously.]
Then, three days ago, another scoop. Another mention of Feldman's script being junked and the project being placed in turnaround -- but this time another mention of Atlas' attempts to breathe cinematic life into Foundation. "ATLAS is having trouble finding another studio who will take it on, mostly because everyone in town has already tried and failed to make it at some point in the past." [Sent in by 'HotDogger'.]
Will Asimov's grand tale reach theaters one day? Perhaps. It can only help this project when the revolutionary advances to special visual effects by computer generated imagery continues on unabated. As well, when other legendary novels are greenlighted that require such grand-scale FX, the chances of a Foundation film continue to grow. With the recent announcement that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is set to be developed as three major features, and with the commitment from such as director as Peter Jackson who's passionate about the original material, perhaps Atlas will find the right studio and director who can also see the scope and vision of adapting Asimov's classic SF tale for the silver screen.
January 7, 1999... All we were told was "Expect ATLAS to have this project running at a major studio by the summer." That's it. [Anonymous.]
June 27, 2000... Faaascinating. Variety published a roundup of Asimov properties, and they stated that this project is over at Fox for Shekhar Kapur to direct. Kapur proclaims himself a big fan of Asimov since he was a kid, and the article says "Kapur turns the evil conqueror into an antihero who fights his own destiny to become 'a prophet of love.'" [Originally appeared in Variety; reported by Widgett and Steve Van Loon.]
October 1, 2000... Gary discovered that the URL www.foundationmovie.com is currently a redirector to Foxmovies.com. So we wondered...what other domains from the Foundation series have Fox nabbed? Well, we poked around a bit in WHOIS and discovered that domains for the first, second, fifth and sixth Foundation novels have been grabbed. That means that www.preludetofoundation.com, www.foundationsedge.com and www.foundationandearth.com are all redirecting back to Fox. Curiously, the third and fourth books in the series, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation were still available. Which makes us wonder, does Fox not have the rights to them? Because otherwise, why wouldn't they have grabbed them back in April and May of this year when they did the others? Curious. [Thanks to Gary J. Harris for making us wonder.]
For those Asimov fans that are more knowledgeable than we, we left out Forward to Foundation since it was the last published and not in Asimov's own listing of the series. We also left out the "Second Foundation Trilogy," which was written by other authors at the request of the Asimov estate. But suffice to say, those URL's are not taken either. For more info on this, do what we did and check out the righteous Asimov FAQ.
November 26, 2002... "After a disastrous first draft and the poor performance of Kapur's FOUR FEATHERS, the fate of this film is resting on the edge of a knife," writes 'The Fox', a fellow who seems to know what he's talking about. "But a new treatment has been written that has finally gotten things right. Let's hope Solaris does well so that Fox does not have another reason to shelve intelligent sci-fi."
The only problem with our latest scoop is that The Fox neglected to tell us who wrote the latest draft of Foundation. Write back! [Scoop sent in by 'The Fox'.]
Hasn't anybody READ the book? (Score:2, Interesting)
However, he could be a GOOD choice for either Powell or Donovan, who represent the "human part" in most stories (in the others is represented by Susan Calvin).