I just re-read Neuromancer for the third time (and Count Zero and am working on Mona Lisa Overdrive) and was thinking about the potential film in context.

Hayden Christensen is not a bad choice for Case, really. His acting is a little wooden but a good director can get more out of him. remember, when we meet Case he is a burned-out junkie hustler with little more than his instincts going for him, a stray dog looking for his next meal and who he has to bite to survive. As he cleans up, he is still a little flat, almost pathetic, so much so that he has no sense of what is going on around him. This is all within Christensen's range. His role in Broken Glass shows a bit more depth than that he displayed as either Anakin or the character in Jumper.

However, we have to really look at Molly as the "star of the show". she is the one who has as much control as anyone over her own destiny.

Also, the Finn is huge, not only because of his own self, but the various "Finns" we meet along the way.

As far as any possible failure of film to reflect Bill's work based on previous efforts (I take the familiar designation by way of following convention, not that I know the man personally), we must recall that he himself had a great deal of input into Johnny Mnemonic, which I did enjoy, regardless of Keanu Reeves' wooden interpretation or the growth of Johnny proportional to the diminiation of Jane/Sally/Molly.

All that said, I saw a perfect Molly in a film last week - Emily Blunt - in a film called Wind Chill . She did a nice "Sprawl" accent (she's Canadian, I think, but still managed to sound like she was from Delaware) and has a face that would still be striking even if her eyes were completely covered by mirrored lenses. It is essential that she not have some bogus contacts - it must look like mirrorshades. Ms. Blunt has enough facial characteristics to stand up to having her eyes concealed. Many people are dependent upon their eyes for their beauty and with them it just would not work. In this respect, she is much like a younger version (but in her own right) of Angelina Jolie.

The Finn - once upon a time I saw Harry Dean Stanton as the Finn, but Harry's getting a bit feeble and in my re-reading I saw someone new - Steve Buscemi. He's really perfect for the part. I can just hear him saying, "I gotta pair of shoes older than you are."

Riviera - I see Jude Law.

For the Flatline - once I thought Kristofferson, but now I think Billy Bob Thornton.

Armitage/Corto - once I would have liked that part to be Ah-nold (before Total Recall happened) but now I see Christian Bale. I think he could do an excellent job of unraveling over time in a believable manner.

For music, I would use Robert Rich. His ability to create surreal electro-acoustic landscapes would fit the crumbling urban landscape as well as the equally seedy orbital environment.

One more thing - in the forward to the 25th anniversary edition, Bill mentioned hardwired payphones no longer existing. However, there was a war at some point. What if cellphones are made illegal, and the bandwidth they once used seized by governments, or even Turing, for that matter. Then, when Molly and case go into the Finn's junkshop, case and accidentally knock over a box of scrapped cell phones and someone can say, "they used to use these, didn't they?" and the other can say, "Not as stable as a land line."

dayum, d00dzor....j00 gats a po1nt.

She does look right for the part (from my imaginings).

Emily is English but she is dating Canadian singer Michael Buble.

She would make a good Molly, she's a rather good actress, but Hayden is still a problem, not because he's wooden or bad at acting but becuase he always comes off like a whining teenager.

Case is sore loser and an addict but I never saw him as a disaffected, angsty teen.

Heyden doesn't play his own age very well and the money they are funneling to him will likely preclude any other choices of the caliber you cite unless Kahn has some unfortunate early "art photos" that some celebrities did when trying to scrounge money to eat.

Reading the Sprawl Triology myself the second time after more than ten years, I'm not sure if I ever want to see a Neuromancer movie at all. Although (scanning this forum since a few days) I find that ÜberDog has made a few good cases how it could/should look like in another thread ("Johnny Mnemonic vs New Rose Hotel" I believe).

The book is over 20 years old now and I almost can't see other options than a) fucking it entirely up by trying to transform a clear and amazing 80's vision of the future into a modern, but totally dumb and drippy Hollywood-like vision, - or b) by making a homage only enthusiasts would understand and appriciate. Though even a pure homage could be made "wrong", if the script is written from some weird french artist on acid and filmed by a german existentialist with a soft spot for norwegian love stories, thus focusing strictly on the relationship between Case and Molly. Budget: 51.024,55 Euros, filmed with a nokia cell phone in hungary.

Okay, there is probably a third option but this would include producers, directors and actors who actually have a clear idea of what they try to film. Who have a real motivation to put Neuromancer on the screen and not just another fancy movie about the (drum roll) "future". Because it deserves it, because it was and still is one crazy piece of kick-ass SF literature, a true classic. But how likely is this or will be? :-(

At last I'm writing nothing new, I guess. There must have been a gazillion discussions already since Neuromancer was published. I would be already amazed from a little, well made short-movie of "Burning Chrome". It's not that extensive, it would need just a few CGI's, a few almost unknown but perfectly fitting actors. Just to have a glimpse on how "Gibson on screen" probably could look like.

Apart from this, reading Neuromancer again after 10 years is like reading a story from a parallel universe that had "really" existed, but only for a short period of time. Strange somehow ... its so incredible vital because of a 30ish W.G. been so incredible insane, but you know that this universe is already gone for good, flushed back into the big quantum cloud of possible futures.

Just a few thoughts I couldn't hold off, forgive me for beeing slightly offtopic, heh.

Not off-topic at all, really. You raise valid points. However....

...my hope is that whoever takes on the project, from Producers/Writer/Director/Editor to Scenic/Costumes/Location to Acting, all have at least read the book, if not the trilogy, and understand that we are not looking at a sleek, shiny future but more of a Blade Runner-like dystopia where, a book later, ten year old kids are stealing biohazardous material out of dumpsters and where parts of New Jersey have been reduced to plains of refuse and scrap metal.

Even the Space Program has resulted in little but privately owned orbital Freezones.

Bonn nuked? It could still happen. As I mentioned in my previous post, cell phones, the one thing that Bill did not anticipate, could easily go away if wireless transmission of information is made illegal, resulting in a shutdown of towers and removal of communications satellites. We cannot assume because we have these things now that we will have them 20 or 50 years into the future.

Getting that kind of talent might not be as hard as it sounds if the people involved think the project is worthy. I have seen quite a few low budget films that had some heavyweights in bit parts. Did Million Dollar Hotel have a big budget?

Actually, Case is a whiner. He starts whining the moment he finds out he can no longer get high. He is a bit of a teenager. With the mission riding on him, he goes out and gets loaded to the point where he can barely function. He is actually a bit of a hoser.

quote:

Originally posted by Boogerhead:


dayum, d00dzor....j00 gats a po1nt.

What a twit I am. I did not recognize her with lighter hair. In Wind Chill she had dark hair. Heheh. She is THE ONE.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Suilebhain,

Some more ideas (can anyone tell I am obsessed by this?)...

Hideo - Jet Li
Julius Deane - David Bowie (of course)

I honestly think it should be an animation.

i'm starting to agree with Boog... but you have to understand, my dad and i often discuss "who would you cast as who" .
cannot see Hayden as Case. I just can't. I could see Hayden as Riviera if Leo DiCaprio were not embedded in my head as Riviera.
Love Emily Blunt as Molly, she's great. Definately needs a stab at being the ass-kicker.
Neal McDonough has the perfect Armitage eyes, IMHO.
Julius Deane - David Bowie (of course) OF COURSE!!
"Case is a whiner. He starts whining the moment he finds out he can no longer get high. He is a bit of a teenager. With the mission riding on him, he goes out and gets loaded to the point where he can barely function. He is actually a bit of a hoser."
yes, but Hayden... is just so typecast as that whiny victimized person.
pleasepleaseplease not Hayden.

Hayden would not have been my choice, either, if I was the producer and had a Bag O' Bucks to make things happen. I might have gone with Jared Leto, though I would love to see Leto as The Count. the Count should have been Matt Dillon but he is too long in the tooth these days to play a 20-something living with his mother.

I think that te success of WATCHMEN in portraying an alternative 80s future will inform the cinematic possibilities for NEUROMANCER to do the same.

Hayden sucks.

The thought of Neuromancer in cinema gives me belly pangs, but many others, including the vast unwashed masses who've never read the book, want to see it whether they know it or not.

I would probably view it just to resolve my grotesque curiosity.

I think it would work best if conceived of as an intellectual but high-shock voltage thriller, whose future setting is merely a subtle style decision.

If it was conceived from the onset not as sci-fi, much less cyberpunk, but as a tight story with exceptional characters from righteous Rastafari space-tug pilots to creepy psychotic mind illusionist on your team, it could be a right fun flick. (The Bourne Ultimatum versus Blade Runner redux or This is Cyberpunk: The REAL Virtual Thing

The only kids from my trilogic dreamcast to whom I remain unendingly committed:

Hillary Swank as Molly
Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Snake Man
Aishwairya Rai as Dr. Virginia Rambali
Eric Cantona as Terzibashjian

Max Von Sydow as Ashpool
Isabelle Huppert as Marie-France Tessier
Kerry Condon as 3Jane

Me as the Modern's link man
Mia Kirshner as Angie Mitchell/Mona
Gary Busey as Conroy
Michael Clarke Duncan as Lucas

And, in the prequel maxi-series BURNING CHROME on HBO that precedes the movie...(that's how I'd do it, anyway)

Stephanie Ferrell reprising her role as Rikki Wildside


Ohter than that, the producer/director can do what he wants....

Hi, I'm new so this is my first post but wanted to chime in since I've been reading a bit about the movie in the news lately.

To be fair to Hayden, he's only done a handful of theatrical movies and most of those roles were written as so-called whiny characters.

Maybe Case could be seen as somewhat whiny in the beginning but that doesn't mean the movie version Case has to be written whiny.

I think Hayden can pull off vulnerable without being whiny. Some of it depends on the script and director's vision also.

quote:

Originally posted by Universal:
The only kids from my trilogic dreamcast to whom I remain unendingly committed:

Hillary Swank as Molly
Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Snake Man
Aishwairya Rai as Dr. Virginia Rambali
Eric Cantona as Terzibashjian

Max Von Sydow as Ashpool
Isabelle Huppert as Marie-France Tessier
Kerry Condon as 3Jane

Me as the Modern's link man
Mia Kirshner as Angie Mitchell/Mona
Gary Busey as Conroy
Michael Clarke Duncan as Lucas

And, in the prequel maxi-series BURNING CHROME on HBO that precedes the movie...(that's how I'd do it, anyway)

Stephanie Ferrell reprising her role as Rikki Wildside


Ohter than that, the producer/director can do what he wants....

Who the fuck is Virginia Rambali?

quote:

Originally posted by Boogerhead:
I honestly think it should be an animation.

I agree.

I gottadmit, a cutting edge CGI adaptation would be essentially cyberpunk.

Alas.

(Chandlerian voiceover of Case's internal monologue) If they made a movie of this, the actors would all be bots. Why am I here again? Something to do with me and my meat. And toxic fungi, or turning on my former employers, or the death of Hollywood. Remember Hollywod? I do *sigh*.

this discussion is the ultimate loop statement we just keep talking about it over and over and over.. I enjoy just ignoring the fact and ending up surprised when the result occurs, consistent hype is a bit over rated and hard to do - and frankly we've all got better things to do (this is my exact reason for the lack of news with my game adaptation (things are moving along slowly but getting there))

Films are like that though, but if they release some bullshit teaser trailer I won't be happy, I want proof and reassurance that what we're getting is real and not some fanboi youtube clip.

So...animation meaning:

Classic 80s style Saturday morning style cheapness? (something like the first Heavy Metal)

TMNT\Final Fantasy\Beowulf style?

Waking Life\Scanner Darkly rotoscope-age?

Mixed mode? With the traditional 90s divide between "cell" style "real world" and then the Computar Simulated "virtual" Matrix world?

Also, for conversations sake:

What scenes from the book would you leave out when transferring to film?

Maybe the acquiring drugs in Freeside?
Or Molly kissing her hand to say goodbye to Case?
Or that bit with Riviera and the swimming sperm in Case's drink on the flight up the well?

Surely something would have to be cut, so what would it be?