Asimov's "I, Robot" Gets Movie Treatment 522
sdimbert writes "Isaac Asimov's classic collection of short stories about the role robots play in humankind's future is being made into a movie set to release on July 16, 2004, starring Wil Smith. The most notable part of the release build-up is the fact that the movie's trailer, most often seen before screenings of The Returnn of the King plays more like a product commercial (like Apple's flat-panel iMac ads) than a movie trailer. Suffice it to say that most of the audence that saw it with me had no idea they had just seen a movie trailer; they actually believed that someone was going to start selling a "fully automated domestic assistant" some time next year."
Actually Believed? (Score:5, Insightful)
It was a good preview, but give RotK fanatics more credit than that.
Wil SMith? (Score:1, Insightful)
Target Audience (Score:5, Insightful)
Something tells me that these people probably aren't the target audience of the film anyway.
The good and the bad (Score:4, Insightful)
The bad: Will Smith.
I thought it was a product (Score:5, Insightful)
The website [irobotnow.com] also makes it look like a commercial and like you can start ordering those robots starting in the summer of next year.
How exactly do they expect people who have never read anything by Asimov to catch on that this is a movie? I've seen people I know linking to the website in their journals and saying something like "I want one of these."
Re:imdb.com description (Score:2, Insightful)
Looks like I Robot is just the wrong title for the film.
Kargis
Re:Actually Believed? (Score:5, Insightful)
But, it looks like it'll be a mess. It'll turn into a Will Smith and CG robot cheesefest.
Re:Battery debacle (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Shitty Trailers and shittier commercials (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does it seem that movies are making trailers look more and more like commercials?
I hate to disillusion you, but . . . movie trailers are commercials!
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:2, Insightful)
They don't want people to catch on to the fact that it is a movie.
yetIt's obvious that they want to generate interest in this "product", and at some later time they will use that marketing hype to their advantage and say "Oh, that's just a movie we're making, not a real thing"....
I'm not sure it'll work. (Score:5, Insightful)
-Carolyn
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:2, Insightful)
First of all, there is the obvious improbability of a real robot that looks like the one depicted being sold by next summer. That thing looked more like something from a rendered wallpaper or some techy music video than a working product.
Then there is also the term at the end "3 laws safe". I would have thought most geeks would recognize this as the 3 laws of robotics first written by Asimov, although maybe medieval geeks (rotk fans) aren't as familiar with these as sci-fi geeks (star wars/star trek).
Finally, this is a very unlikely means of advertising such a product. Robots and domestic appliances aren't traditionally advertised in theaters (although there were 30 minutes of advertisements before the previews during the showing of RotK i went to). I've never seen any ads for the Segway, Aibo or Roomba in a theater (or on TV for that matter) because they are pretty specialized markets, and a very small percentage of the moviegoing population can afford one.
But yeah, most people shut their brains off when they go see a movie, so that might also have contributed to this mistaken perception.
Re:imdb.com description (Score:1, Insightful)
Because you flunked history?
"I Robot" was written by Issac Asimov over 50 years ago. Matrix is a rip-off of Gibson's "Neuromancer", published in 1984.
Have you heard of, or read, Issac Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy"? Fantastic Sci-Fi, written during a time when authors were truely literate and not self-absorbed by body parts.
Bashing Wil Smith seems to be a popular posting among those who probably can't memorize a script and couldn't act if they could.
Hopefully that's not Daneel R Olivaw (Score:1, Insightful)
It was also that reason that made the protagonist change and appreciate Daneel, to later develop a long lasting friendship, where both admired each other.
U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Apple ads? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Apple ads? (Score:5, Insightful)
So if race isn't specified, the casting should default to white?
Here you go, troll. Here's a cookie. Do you like cookies?
Nerds! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Apple ads? (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a pretty good chance Smith will be filling the niche occupied in the later books by Lije Bailey (yes, I know Bailey and R. Daneel are not in I, Robot... they're in the same universe, though.) How many white guys named Elijah do you know?
The best way to put a black character -- hell, any character -- into a book is to do it in such a way that the character's color never comes up.
Easy to mistake for an ad.. (Score:3, Insightful)
I, for one, am sick of seeing commercials before movies. Especially 15 minutes worth.
There is nothing manipulative about that (Score:3, Insightful)
They are actors not "objects", and there is nothing manipulative about choosing good actors to make the film more successful.
i robot is a masterpiece of sci-fi lit This film just uses the name
will smith can't act He most certainly can.
will smith is there to get some asses on those seats So? A movie is made with attention that it will be successful
many *many* people think it's nice of hollywood to put black people on screen, it must be because they love racial diversity, and are lured to ignore *still existing* racial issues In other words, blacks should be barred from all movies until the totally unrelated "racial issues" that you can't even describe are solved
casting a non-acting object such as smith denotes lack of integrity from any director that takes the job No, this just shows your lack of knowledge of Smith's skills which have been proven in such films as Ali and 6 Degrees.
director's/producers which lack integrity *VERY FREQUENTLY* lack artistic skills (who's got time when he/she's chasing dollars?) They tend to get "dollars" if the film succeeds artistically. The system rewards excellence with financial success
Re:Apple ads? (Score:4, Insightful)
I find it fascinating the so many "fans" will have a hissy fit over changes made when making a movie based on a book. I had a writing Minor in college, and am nearing the finishing stage of my first novel, and one thing we learned is that changes in the medium require changes in the story.
One seminal example is how Agatha Christie changed the plot of "And Then there were None" (AKA "Ten Little Indians") between the book and the play. (Most the movie versions are based on the play)
She inserted a love interest and change who lives and who dies, and it works really well.
One movie adaptation is set in Africa, where the characters are trapped in a valley instead of on an island. It works well and doesn't harm the story. It ads to the visual appeal.
A rote conversion of a book into a movie is dull, boring and doesn't work. You HAVE to make changes in order to successfully move from one medium to another.
And by the way, the PLOT CAN CHANGE!!!!!! Books can be inspirations for, and the foundation of a movie without keeping all the plot points intact. It's a perfectly valid form of interpretation.
Anyone who rants and raves about changes made is revealing their ignorance of the creative process.
Re:Very clever marketing, in fact (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I thought it was a product -- Bingo! (Score:5, Insightful)
We're getting there. It's helpful to take a step back and just look around at the world we're building. What's so intriguing about these concepts is that it no longer takes a huge leap of faith to imagine these things happening... just a little nudge in the right direction...
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:3, Insightful)
Simple. They don't. They want people to talk about this really cool commercial they saw in the theater, to generate a buzz. Then slowly, people learn it's a movie, but the movie will stick in their heads for the next few months, until they start seeing the real trailers, etc. The ultimate hope being that people will go see this movie that they still remember, based on a very neat teaser commercial.
Look at it this way. This commercial/trailer/teaser will stick in the heads of a lot of people. It's a lot more effective than yet-another-trailer with lots of explosions and boobies. Not that there's anything wrong with explosions or boobies... :)
Re:The good and the bad (Score:3, Insightful)
He's a very bankable star. He's likeable on screen, something that many talented actors lack and that's incredibly hard to learn or fake. (I'm an actor myself, so I get to see this effect up close. No, you wouldn't have seen me in anything.)
Like many bankable stars he seems to want to alternate between opening crummy but well-paying movies and being in fun, small movies. I'd love to see him on stage some day.
Re:Apple ads? (Score:2, Insightful)
I've been in a couple indie films, a few commercials, and over 50 plays. Never once have I been asked to passionately kiss somebody of the same gender in a performance.
Would I? Sure. I don't have a problem with it -- but then again, i'm not being marketed as a mans man, man about the town.
But if I were -- my agent would probably advise me (and my director) to use a double..
Re:Apple ads? (Score:1, Insightful)
And therein lies the problem.
I can't tell if you're joking or not, but Wil Smith plays the part of the detective investigating the murder by the domestic assistant (the robot).