Wednesday, October 19, 2005

A Scanner Darkly

I'm definitely waiting for King Kong, since Peter Jackson is on my all-time heroes list after Heavenly Creatures and the masterwork Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jackson has taken the revolutionary step of posting extensive info about the production online; check out the fascinating "production diaries" on the Kong is King website.

But my most-awaited pick is Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly. The trailer is a trip; they seem to have adapted the "digital rotoscoping" technology used so brilliantly in Linklater's astonishing Waking Life and added a whole reality-bending element.

Linklater has made a string of extraordinary films over the last ten years or so, including Before Sunrise, its nine-year follow-up Before Sunset, and the aforementioned Waking Life. He also has a pretty sharp commercial sensibility; School of Rock rose above its pedestrian Hollywood roots by combining Jack Black's sweetly manic performance with a keen sensitivity to the kids in the band. A Scanner Darkly looks to be another notch in his belt; even the Philip K. Dick Trust has high hopes for this one.

Linklater himself has a long cameo in Waking Life as a guy (himself?) telling a long story about Philip K. Dick, dreams, and time travel. He seems to be a director comfortable with serious investigations into the nature of consciousness, the contours of reality, and the netherworld between imagination, dreams, and the temporal and spatial consensus reality. In Linklater, Philip K. Dick may finally have found the director he's been posthumously seeking.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just finished the book (A Scanner Darkly) and was shocked (pleasantly) to see it being made into a film; especially with such a groovy cast/crew; and a trailer that made me wanna scream with delight. Bring it on.

PeaceLove said...

No idea who Alan Skerrett is, but this post looks a bit familiar...

Anonymous said...

I'm someone who stumbled across your blog whilst searching for stuff about the Scanner Darkly film. I made a comment because I share your enthusiasm. Is that a problem?

PeaceLove said...

Oops, my bad. Sorry for being a rude host! Welcome to my blog, Alan. I was only commenting that your Scanner Darkly post looked suspiciously similar to mine. Not that I care, particularly, I just thought it was funny.

At any rate, I didn't mean to create any friction...

That iCrucifix (cited on your blog) is a stitch!

Anonymous said...

No probs! I guess my post does look similar, but you can't blame me for using the same image, it is the poster for the movie after all! I assure you I published the post before I ever visited your blog! Anyhoo, nice place you got here, I'll keep popping back.