Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Discussion
From Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hip-hop artist/actor Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel (news) and Martin Freeman ("The Office") are thumbing a ride with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a big-screen adaptation of the cult hit novel by Douglas Adams.
Mos Def will play Ford Prefect, an alien disguising himself as an out-of-work actor who sets out on an intergalactic journey with his best friend, mild-mannered earthling Arthur Dent (Freeman). The duo hitch a ride through space with the two-headed president of the galaxy, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Trillion (Deschanel) and a depressed robot while on a quest to discover the meaning of life.
The Disney/Spyglass project begins shooting in April in London under director Garth Jennings. Adams, who died in 2001, adapted his novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite. The cult hit "Hitchhiker's Guide" began as a radio series and launched a book series, television series and video game.
After starting his career as a hip-hop artist, Mos Def is on a roll in Hollywood. He appears in the Kevin Bacon (news) drama "The Woodsman," which was a Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites) hit and was acquired last week by Newmarket Films. Mos Def also has appeared in "The Italian Job," "Brown Sugar" and "Monster's Ball" and recently wrapped HBO Films' upcoming "Something the Lord Made," with Alan Rickman (news). He is set to release a new album on Geffen Records this year.
Deschanel also made the rounds at Sundance with Lions Gate Films' "Eulogy," and hosted the closing-night awards ceremony. Her credits include "Elf," "The Good Girl," "All the Real Girls," "Manic" and "Almost Famous."
Freeman's credits include "Love Actually," "The Debt," "Hardware" and "Ali G Indahouse."
------------------------
FWIW I think I'll hate the film, I'm a huge HHGTTG fan, I listened to the radio series from first broadcast - I even had a tape with the "Paul Milne Johnston" line that got deleted on rebroadcast.
Douglas Adams played guitar on the Disaster Area track "It's only the end of the world again" which is "that band which played from a spaceship orbiting a planet".
I met Adams a couple of times, the best thing he said to me was when I asked him about the differences between writing on a typewriter and a mac.
He said "when you write on a typewriter you spend a lot of time looking out of the window, on a computer the Internet is your window on the world and you can spend a lot more time loking out".
Which I guess in part explains why he got worse and worse about deadlines.
You could boost my ego by voting for my review of the Simpson biog at www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0340824883/customer-reviews/2/ref=cm_rev_next/026-4214589-9207632?show=-submittime
Simon
>> Edited by simonrockman on Friday 30th January 09:56
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hip-hop artist/actor Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel (news) and Martin Freeman ("The Office") are thumbing a ride with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a big-screen adaptation of the cult hit novel by Douglas Adams.
Mos Def will play Ford Prefect, an alien disguising himself as an out-of-work actor who sets out on an intergalactic journey with his best friend, mild-mannered earthling Arthur Dent (Freeman). The duo hitch a ride through space with the two-headed president of the galaxy, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Trillion (Deschanel) and a depressed robot while on a quest to discover the meaning of life.
The Disney/Spyglass project begins shooting in April in London under director Garth Jennings. Adams, who died in 2001, adapted his novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite. The cult hit "Hitchhiker's Guide" began as a radio series and launched a book series, television series and video game.
After starting his career as a hip-hop artist, Mos Def is on a roll in Hollywood. He appears in the Kevin Bacon (news) drama "The Woodsman," which was a Sundance Film Festival (news - web sites) hit and was acquired last week by Newmarket Films. Mos Def also has appeared in "The Italian Job," "Brown Sugar" and "Monster's Ball" and recently wrapped HBO Films' upcoming "Something the Lord Made," with Alan Rickman (news). He is set to release a new album on Geffen Records this year.
Deschanel also made the rounds at Sundance with Lions Gate Films' "Eulogy," and hosted the closing-night awards ceremony. Her credits include "Elf," "The Good Girl," "All the Real Girls," "Manic" and "Almost Famous."
Freeman's credits include "Love Actually," "The Debt," "Hardware" and "Ali G Indahouse."
------------------------
FWIW I think I'll hate the film, I'm a huge HHGTTG fan, I listened to the radio series from first broadcast - I even had a tape with the "Paul Milne Johnston" line that got deleted on rebroadcast.
Douglas Adams played guitar on the Disaster Area track "It's only the end of the world again" which is "that band which played from a spaceship orbiting a planet".
I met Adams a couple of times, the best thing he said to me was when I asked him about the differences between writing on a typewriter and a mac.
He said "when you write on a typewriter you spend a lot of time looking out of the window, on a computer the Internet is your window on the world and you can spend a lot more time loking out".
Which I guess in part explains why he got worse and worse about deadlines.
You could boost my ego by voting for my review of the Simpson biog at www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0340824883/customer-reviews/2/ref=cm_rev_next/026-4214589-9207632?show=-submittime
Simon
>> Edited by simonrockman on Friday 30th January 09:56
Sam Rockwell to play Zaphod
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sam Rockwell (news) should have a lot of face time in the long-awaited screen adaptation of cult novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
The actor, whose credits include "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and "Matchstick Men, will be playing Zaphod, the two-headed president of the galaxy.
Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel (news) and Martin Freeman also star in the Disney film, which begins shooting in April in London with Garth Jennings at the helm.
Mos Def plays Ford Prefect, an alien disguising himself as an out-of-work actor who sets out on an intergalactic journey with his best friend, mild-mannered earthling Arthur Dent (Freeman). The duo hitch a ride through space with Rockwell's Zaphod, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Trillion (Deschanel) and a depressed robot while on a quest to discover the meaning of life.
Douglas Adams adapted his own novel for the screen. After Adams' death in 2001, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite. "Hitchhiker's Guide" began as a radio series and launched a book series, television series and video game.
Rockwell recently finished shooting the title role in "Piccadilly Jim" opposite Tom Wilkinson (news), Frances O'Connor (news) and Brenda Blethyn (news).
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sam Rockwell (news) should have a lot of face time in the long-awaited screen adaptation of cult novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
The actor, whose credits include "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and "Matchstick Men, will be playing Zaphod, the two-headed president of the galaxy.
Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel (news) and Martin Freeman also star in the Disney film, which begins shooting in April in London with Garth Jennings at the helm.
Mos Def plays Ford Prefect, an alien disguising himself as an out-of-work actor who sets out on an intergalactic journey with his best friend, mild-mannered earthling Arthur Dent (Freeman). The duo hitch a ride through space with Rockwell's Zaphod, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Trillion (Deschanel) and a depressed robot while on a quest to discover the meaning of life.
Douglas Adams adapted his own novel for the screen. After Adams' death in 2001, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite. "Hitchhiker's Guide" began as a radio series and launched a book series, television series and video game.
Rockwell recently finished shooting the title role in "Piccadilly Jim" opposite Tom Wilkinson (news), Frances O'Connor (news) and Brenda Blethyn (news).
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
But you've heard of John Malkovich
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=598&e=1&u=/nm/20040416/film_nm/film_galaxy_dc
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=598&e=1&u=/nm/20040416/film_nm/film_galaxy_dc
Oh, dear. It's all going horribly Hollywood!
Leave it alone! It was great on radio - which is where it should have stayed. Every subsequent revision into other media has just got worse - including the books (sorry if you liked them). The TV was a joke. This movie will be Thunderbirds all over again.
The big problem is that Yanks don't 'get' Brits' sense of wit and translating it cross-pond just fouls it up.
Apologies to Yank PH'ers who are a different breed, obviously.
Leave it alone! It was great on radio - which is where it should have stayed. Every subsequent revision into other media has just got worse - including the books (sorry if you liked them). The TV was a joke. This movie will be Thunderbirds all over again.
The big problem is that Yanks don't 'get' Brits' sense of wit and translating it cross-pond just fouls it up.
Apologies to Yank PH'ers who are a different breed, obviously.
I'm worried now that without Adams around to make sure they don't mess around with it, that it'll end up being messed around with ! Like other people have said earlier.....it could go a bit too Hollywood.
On the other hand, maybe it was because Adams was around trying to have too much input that it never got made years ago !
Fingers crossed it ends up being made, and made well enough to be fun........
On the other hand, maybe it was because Adams was around trying to have too much input that it never got made years ago !
Fingers crossed it ends up being made, and made well enough to be fun........
This interview
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com//hitchblog/interview.htm
is promising.
He sounds properly humble.
Simon
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com//hitchblog/interview.htm
is promising.
He sounds properly humble.
Simon
li'l pugs said:
I'm worried now that without Adams around to make sure they don't mess around with it, that it'll end up being messed around with ! Like other people have said earlier.....it could go a bit too Hollywood.
On the other hand, maybe it was because Adams was around trying to have too much input that it never got made years ago !
Fingers crossed it ends up being made, and made well enough to be fun........
As far as I am aware, the reason it never got made years ago was in part due to Douglas Adams wanting too much input. However, I think that was a good thing. He sold the rights so some company who then wanted to rewrite a large part of the story to make it more suitable for an American audiance. Douglas was un happy about this and refused any final say on the script so the project folded.
He then spent many years trying to buy back the rights to his own book (!) so that he could find another producer. Unfortuanately this took far too long. It was just before his death that he got the rights back and found a producer that he was happy with.
Hopefully they will do the book justice and preserve the memory of one of the worlds greatest comic writer.
Another good read is Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency. The bit where the guy tried to get the sofa up the stairs had me in stiches.
I have a signed copy of Mostly Harmless - my Dad thought it'd be a cool present to buy me on my birthday, so I have "To Gordon on your 15th birthday" scrawled inside the front cover.
Hilarious start to the book as (IIRC) it attempts to ascertain whether a spaceship would know it had been hit by an object, when the bit that detects being hit by stuff had been hit....
I also take a leaf out of Dirk Gently's book when I am out hooning - find a car and follow it for miles, on the basis that at least they probably know where they are going
Hilarious start to the book as (IIRC) it attempts to ascertain whether a spaceship would know it had been hit by an object, when the bit that detects being hit by stuff had been hit....
I also take a leaf out of Dirk Gently's book when I am out hooning - find a car and follow it for miles, on the basis that at least they probably know where they are going
I've read as much of Adams stuff as I can find, including bits of stuff he wrote in other people's books and books written by other prople about stuff Adams worked on.
Last chance to See, about endangered species. The 2 books using place names as descriptions for everyday things. (Shoeberryness, the state of walking into a room and completely forgetting why you went in there in the first place)
Last chance to See, about endangered species. The 2 books using place names as descriptions for everyday things. (Shoeberryness, the state of walking into a room and completely forgetting why you went in there in the first place)
rebelstar said:
The 2 books using place names as descriptions for everyday things. (Shoeberryness, the state of walking into a room and completely forgetting why you went in there in the first place)
The Meaning of Liff, and The Deeper Meaning of Liff.
Correct.............10 points. Now, who wrote the book about the intergalactic cruise ship based on his computer game, and what was it's title. (Only 'cos it's at home on the shelf and I can't for the life of me remember)
What do you think of it? I'm a bit disappointed(*) there is too much of it which sounds like it's being read from a book as in "The hitch hikers guide has this to say..." and then rambles for ages. It's not the pithy "expect the unexpected".
But only a bit disappointed, I've recorded the first four.
Simon
But only a bit disappointed, I've recorded the first four.
Simon
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