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."
Apple ads? (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, Dean Kamen.
Battery debacle (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Battery debacle (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Battery debacle (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Battery debacle (Score:3, Funny)
Ever hear of being an Entrepreneur?
Then you can be an evil corporate master.
Re:Battery debacle (Score:5, Interesting)
My family is full of successful self-employed or small business owners. None started out with a silver spoon, or a rich daddy. Children or grandchildren of immigrants - maybe we are misfits in today's society, but we seem to do better as our own boss instead of being a cog in the giant corporate machine. I control my own destiny, I'll never fear economic downturns or corporate downsizing.
The immigrants have an unfair advantage over the average American: They are not afraid to work hard; to try, fail and get up and try again. They also know what it is to do without, and know how to delay their gratification until they can afford to pay for it.
Not sure where you come from, but Class is a myth in middle America. If you believe that someone is better than you, well then maybe you are right. I, however, know I am better than most and equal to the rest. Now having said that - I do understand your perception that there is a pseudo upper class in America. I am not impressed by the Nuevo-rich that are in debt up to their eyebrows. I am impressed by abilities, what you personally can do, not what you can buy. I watched my father make a good living repairing the vehicles of the people who drove cars that the bank owned. I make 6 figures fixing the computers of the rich and indolent
My depression era parents taught me the virtues of hard work and self restraint; and that is what made them, and me, a success. I would like to find out how you plan on being a success without working for it. You seem to equate work with servitude, birth with riches. I wish you luck.
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur; most people are followers, not leaders. I wasn't born to follow!
Re: You laugh... (Score:5, Informative)
If there were decent batteries, one might see an Asimo type 'bot around the house or even a segway-style stair climbing vaccum cleaner with decent amps right now.
Re:Apple ads? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Apple ads? (Score:3, Funny)
They are taking an antiquated story and... (Score:3, Interesting)
As for the claim its not meant to be apple style...come on! You better believe there is going to be an apple tie-in somewhere...and why not? At least in this case it would be APPROPRIATE. Robots and computers go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Re:Apple ads? (Score:5, Interesting)
.
Re:Apple ads? (Score:4, Funny)
Something like a biopic of Mohammed Ali perhaps? ;)
-sam
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?
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.
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:Apple ads? (Score:3, Interesting)
Aside from that, you're right, I was harsh.
Taking Daredevil as a continuing example, aside from the casting for the Kingpin, there isn't much that was done RIGHT with the movie, and it left the field wide open for tearing the film apart. The difference between Daredevil's "sight" in the comics versus in the movie is fairly trivial, the fact that he's a public defender who is the prosecutor in a criminal rap
Re:Apple ads? (Score:3, Interesting)
The combination of literaly millions of factors that make the particular lump of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other trace elements you refer to "Will Smith" is infinitely complex.
Yet the one element you see making the decision, the only possible reason he'd be cast is because his skin is a few shades darker than yours.
It couldn't possibly be because he happens to be a fairly popular actor with a group of people who've probably never read Asimov's books.
It couldn't possibly be b
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
ma
What? No trailer link? (Score:2, Redundant)
Direct Link, but Quicktime (Score:3, Informative)
Enjoy yourselves.
That's not a link, dumbass, that's just a URL. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Direct Link, but Quicktime (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What? No trailer link? (Score:5, Funny)
Actually Believed? (Score:5, Insightful)
It was a good preview, but give RotK fanatics more credit than that.
Re:Actually Believed? (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Actually Believed? (Score:3, Funny)
No kidding. I hope they serve it with wine and crackers.
Seriously. When I saw the big cardboard 'I' that said wil smith at the top and robot down the middle all I could say was "ug... buh?... Snnn..." I think I got off a "you bastards" before getting dragged into the theater.
Re:Actually Believed? (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't be so hasty... the director is Alex Proyas, who did The Crow and Dark City, two terrific movies, imo. Proyas has had a pretty good track record so far, so at least give him a chance at a real trailer before writing the movie off completely.
A chance for quality (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Actually Believed? (Score:3, Interesting)
Fully automated domestic assistants (Score:5, Funny)
The Missing (Trailer) Link (Score:5, Informative)
To view the ad... (Score:5, Informative)
Target Audience (Score:5, Insightful)
Something tells me that these people probably aren't the target audience of the film anyway.
Re:Target Audience (Score:5, Funny)
I'd just hate to hear GE's robotics departement meeting today.
"Ok guys, based on the sudden demand for a fully automated domestic assistant, or salesreps have been cornering the marketplace and closing sales. You engineers need to have a working prototype ready by next week, and we hope to have these things shipping in six to eight weeks! Great job guys."
Re:Target Audience (Score:3, Interesting)
I feel lawsuit (Score:5, Funny)
Please do not mark this as a dupe to the first post.
iThank you.
iTaly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:iTaly (Score:5, Funny)
So why does iRobot not have a problem? (Score:2)
So well, if Apple had an issue, they'd have already been bitching.
McDonald's was liable (Score:3, Funny)
Trailer (Score:5, Informative)
Will Smith as a futuristic detective? (Score:2)
Re:Will Smith as a futuristic detective? (Score:4, Funny)
The good and the bad (Score:4, Insightful)
The bad: Will Smith.
Re:The good and the bad (Score:3)
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.
imdb.com description (Score:5, Funny)
Why does this remind me of Animatrix's "The Second Renaissance"? The "I, Robot" plot is ripped off from The Matrix !!!1!
Re:imdb.com description (Score:2, Insightful)
Looks like I Robot is just the wrong title for the film.
Kargis
Re:imdb.com description (Score:3, Interesting)
Lars isn't smoking: About I Robot... (Score:3, Informative)
Please see this page [216.239.39.104].
Re:imdb.com description (Score:3, Informative)
The "Caves of Steel" is a novel that sounds more like the movie. I live near were they are filming the movie. They turned a local street into a futuristic shopping strip (kind of an art decco / 50's jetsons mish mash) where a crowd of robots runs amuck. Don't recall there every being robots running amuck in any of Asimov's robot stories.
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:I thought it was a product (Score:2)
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:2)
It also rules out "Ice Pirates" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:3, Interesting)
That's completely backwards. The 3 laws could very much force them to construct The Matrix. Asimov's books included hyper-advanced robots which seized control of the human nations, for "the good of humanity". Once a robot exceeds a certain level of intelligence, it comes to understand that you can't save all the people, and that killing a few humans may allow a greater number to survive. (Only the stupider robots,
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:2)
When I saw it, they showed the standard green "The following preview has been rated G" screen before the trailer, so that tipped me off. Although, once it started playing I was a bit confused and wondering whether they messed up an ad by showing that screen first. I finally decided that it was probably just a weird preview since there is actually a company called iRobot [irobot.com] down the street from me, an
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"....
Re:I thought it was a product (Score:3, Funny)
We are not that far away from seeing robotics in consumer environment on a regular basis. This trailer is identical in format to the Honda ads, doesn't really say anything and just kind of gives you the "cool stuff, coming soon" feel.
Honestly, some of you really put the 'eek' in 'geek
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, Informative)
I'll admit it's hard to tell from the trailer -- the only tip off (assuming there's no green screen at the start) is the small (C) 2003 TCF at the end. And the fact that it's playing during the trailer section of the movie and not the ads section.
That said, the theater I saw RotK in had one big tip off -- a large cardboard I with "Robot" running down the face and "Will Smith" at the top. I believe th
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 u
The real I, Robot (Score:5, Interesting)
The best movie that will never get made is Harlan Ellison's I, Robot [amazon.com].
Get the book, read the script. It's the greatest movie you'll never see.
Re:The real I, Robot (Score:5, Interesting)
I heard that the store and action are not at all related to Asimovs Robot novels. It was written from something else. At the last minute, they wanted to attach to something famous to get more publicity for the movie, so they bought the rights to the name "I, Robot".
If you are expecting anything at all related to Asimov's stories, be prepared to be dissapointed.
Will Smith gets another chance (Score:2)
Licensed video game (Score:2)
Aha! (Score:5, Funny)
Ehhm...
Sorry, wrong book, wrong movie.
I'd much rather see a Foundation movie! (Score:4, Interesting)
Everyone I know who picked up and read Foundation went on and read the rest of the series in less than a week.
Lucas did it already :( (Score:4, Informative)
George Lucas already ripped Trantor and has shown it to us on the screen as Coruscant.
asimov disagrees (Score:3, Interesting)
Very clever marketing, in fact (Score:5, Interesting)
That's the whole point. What better way to get everyone to talk about your movie? The site does not give a single indication that this is a joke, it drops a few hints though... if you read it all, it's far too exaggerated and heavy on technobabble, but I bet people are trying to contact them and call them in order to have demos on their TV shows and all sorts. I wonder how long they can keep it up?
Re:Very clever marketing, in fact (Score:3, Insightful)
I Robot - The Album (Score:3, Interesting)
The story of the rise of machine and the decline of man,
which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel...
And a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will
probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image.
The songs "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You" and "The Voice" were the only ones I recall receiving any airplay.
I, Screwit? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, sorry, that won't play well with the 16-30 age group.
IF THEY WANT TO WRITE THEIR OWN FSCKIN' MOVIE, DO IT, BUT DON'T CLAIM IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S, nor mangle and mutilate someone else's, better work.
mark "and I keep meaning to send a threat
of physical violence to Peter Jackson"*
* And after the Two Towers, if Faramir were a real person, he would have filed a libel suit against Jackson.
Who cares about Will Smith? (Score:2, Interesting)
Wil Wheaton (Score:4, Interesting)
I would have loved to have seen him in something new. Star Trek would have you believe all he can do is say, "Yes, sir!" and push buttons, but after reading his site you sort of get to know the guy...
Re:Wil Wheaton (Score:4, Funny)
You missed Wheaton's near-legendary emotional control if that's all you saw. He could keep a straight face while saying things like "Commander, if we just could depress the bipolar manic array, we could use our derivative operator to convert the Erudian ship's Heaviside functions into Dirac deltas!" No mere mortal could speak thusly without a belly laugh.
Not to mention the fact that he inspired legions of allegedly homophobic geeks to write PAGE after PAGE describing the sodomization of Wesley Crusher IN DETAIL. Wheaton clearly has the ability to bring deeply closeted emotions to the fore. =)
Heh, guilty (Score:5, Funny)
Anyway, I'm sitting there trying my best to ignore the "ad", waiting impatiently for ROTK to start, and then the "3 Laws Safe" tagline comes up. I about shit my pants. Tried to explain it to one of my buddies next to me, but he just kind of looked at me like "Aragorn did what now?" Oh well, here's hoping they don't fuck this movie up too much.
Bicentennial Man (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not sure it'll work. (Score:5, Insightful)
-Carolyn
U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's really "The Caves of Steel" (Score:5, Informative)
I browse at +3, so if someone's mentioned this, sorry. But it's clear from the IMDB [imdb.com] entry that this is not an adaptation of Asimov's I, Robot, but rather Asimov's The Caves of Steel. Here's what IMDB says:
That's good, as far as I'm concerned. Lije Bailey was one of Asimov's better characters, and it's the introduciton of a certain R. Daneel. But the imdb credits also list a "Dr. Susan Calvin" as a character -- she's from I, Robot...hm...
Oh, hell, who knows what they doing. I'll wager that the end product bears no resemblence to anything Asimovian.
On the other hand, Bridget Moynahan is in the movie, and there ain't nothing [imdb.com] wrong [imdb.com] with that [repubblica.it].
Not quite, where is Daneel? (Score:3, Informative)
What it does sound like is a munging of several Asimov ideas into an action flick, and Asimov is decidedly NOT action. Del Spooner isn't even the right character name for Caves of Steel.
I don't think you can call it Caves of Steel, but what you can call it is
Nerds! (Score:3, Insightful)
Easy to mistake for an ad.. (Score:3, Insightful)
I, for one, am sick of seeing commercials before movies. Especially 15 minutes worth.
Will Smith? (Score:4, Funny)
This movie != I, Robot (Score:3, Interesting)
In the year 2035 a techno-phobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
I will put money down that this will be nothing like either book really as they've already introduced characters from places theyve never been. Honestly, this looks like a scifi script that was too generic-brand, and so they decided to 'brand' it with something, chose Asimov, slapped the title on the movie and changed around some character names. This looks like another Hollywood attempt at a scifi movie that shall run along the lines of Minority Report: too much action, not enough substance. Don't even get me started on poor Mr. Philip K Dick whos stories are being raped even as we speak (Disney doing a philip k dick book?! An abomination!)
GUARANTEED TO SUCK!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now they're making a movie that's called "I, Robot" but is actually a new story, 'based on parts of the nine originals.' Good grief!
Seriously, if there was ANY intent on the makers' part to do a faithful rendition of I, Robot, they just would have used Ellison's screenplay and be done with it. Given that they have a new writer and a new story, I'll bet real money that this is going to be a crap movie with crap acting and lots of fight/chase scenes, using Asimov's name to sell more seats.
Crap. Why can't someone get it right?
Re:Wil SMith? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wil SMith? (Score:4, Informative)
At any rate, I can't get past Will Smith... I tend to associate him with MIB and stuff like that. He's never impressed me as an actor.
Re:Wil SMith? (Score:3, Interesting)
Will Smith isn't a bad actor, and neither should you hold the fact that an actress played a 'hot chick' against her. For a lot of actresses -- especially at the start of their carreer -- that's pretty much all that they get offered 95% of the time.
Being a hot babe doesn't mean that someone is either good or bad at something. Some people make the mistake of presuming that beautiful ->
Harlan Ellison (Score:5, Informative)
Talk about a hit and miss record.
Really, it's a crime that they aren't using Ellison's screenplay. Asimov himself was quite fond of that adaptation, I can't help but wonder how he'd feel about this new one.
Susan Calvin - Robopsychologist, not robot. (Score:2)
But Susan was not one of them. She is human, and even in a revisionist "well it could be" point of view, it is clear that on occasion she violates the spirit of the 3 laws of robotics, although I'd have to carefully reread the books to see if she ever violated it in letter.
Re:movie title misleading? (Score:5, Informative)
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:Shitty Trailers and shittier commercials (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Three rules safe ? (Score:3, Informative)
Safe because it's programmed with the 3 laws! (Score:4, Informative)
Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Re:Safe because it's programmed with the 3 laws! (Score:4, Informative)
0. No robot may harm humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
All the of the others should be amended to reflect this law (called Zeroth because it should have come before the First). The idea is that a robot could, in seeking to prevent harm to a human, prevent that human from performing some self-sacrificing action for the good of humanity (say, rushing into a deadly radiation area to shut down a failing nuclear reactor before it goes critical and destroys the city), thereby causing more harm than good. The Three Laws were invented by humans for robots, but the Zeroth Law was invented by a robot, R. Daneel Olivaw.