
William Gibson's cyberpunk classic 'Neuromancer' may finally get to screens - rbanffy
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/05/william-gibsons-cyberpunk-classic-neuromancer-may-finally-get-to-screens.html
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mortenjorck
It's almost certainly too much to hope for, but my impossible dream is that
this gets done up like it's the 1980s with circa-2012 CGI. A bold kind of
retrofuturism we haven't seen yet in film.

Thing is, you can't take Neuromancer out of the '80s. The newness of computer
networks, the ascendancy of Japan, the _aesthetics_ of computer hardware --
boxy, whirring things with stark, green CRTs spewing masses of indecipherable
alphanumeric incantations, big clunky cables, heavy briefcase-size mobile
units; it's all there. And the mash-up of digital and analog technologies is
no less integral than Gibson's opening lines to the book, comparing a halogen-
hazed night sky to the analog noise of TV transmission.

Neuromancer didn't arrive into a world comfortable with computer technology
like ours today. The book stands as a fantastic trip back into a time when
technology could be dark, dangerous, and foreign, a zeitgeist Gibson leverages
to dazzling effect. "Updating" Neuromancer would bring its entire shadowy
world out into the unthreatening, mid-day sun.

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kabdib
Gibson has apologized several times, and notably in the preface to the 25 year
anniversary edition of _Neuromancer_, for the utter lack of cell phones.

In an earlier interview he mentioned the scene with Case walking down the
length of a row of pay phones, each ringing exactly once as he passes, as one
of the first things he wanted to write for the book. I don't remember the last
time I saw a row of phones in the U.S.

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ZeroGravitas
You could have the phones belonging to passers-by ring instead, might even
make the scary location tracking stuff more obvious?

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itgoon
Part of the "spookiness" was that he was so easily found. Not so easy in the
80s. Nowadays? Meh.

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mey
After Johnny Mnemonic, I'm kinda shocked that he'd allow this. Granted film
effects have come a long way, but it'll take a hell of a screen writer and
director to bring that to the screen.

Edit: Guess the point is, even if it is really good, I'm not sure it could
live up to expectations.

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technomancy
On top of that, can you imagine how tiresome the repeated "what a Matrix rip-
off" claims are going to be?

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dkersten
The sad thing is you're most likely right :-(

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jacques_chester
It will however give an opportunity for Eldernerds to post a link to this:

<http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/10/>

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kabdib
Probably too complex to make it to the screen even remotely intact.

When I read it (in one evening, quite a rush) I remember thinking that Molly
was kind of cool, as I imagined her. A few years later I saw a Neuromancer
comic book, and her glasses made her look freaky and insectoid. Maybe a
different artist would have done a better job . . . but some things just don't
translate to the screen.

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aaronblohowiak
It will probably come out similar to Aeon Flux meets swordfish

~~~
stavrianos
This is a very plausible prediction. I don't like it. Frankly, more than a
little bit of me hopes that this gets bogged down in development hell. If it
comes out, I'll go see it, but I can't imagine it living up to the book.

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sunchild
I'm getting old, because Hollywood has let me down so many times that I no
longer have even a hint of hope for this movie. It will take Los Angeles execs
about fifteen minutes to start pushing Jaden Smith, likable characters, a
happy ending, Natalie f-ing Portman, and product placements.

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antihero
I'd prefer if they did Snow Crash. That book was fantastic!

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Nate75Sanders
First 2/3 of the book -- very good.

Ridiculously weak ending, though.

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jowiar
Amen.

Neal Stephenson develops excellent worlds, creates characters that draw
emotion out of readers, and then the endings fizzle. Every single time.

~~~
robterrell
But but but... Zodiac!

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robin_reala
The only person I’d really been excited about directing Neuromancer was Chris
Cunningham[1], but that fell through for reasons unknown.

[1]
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chris_Cunning...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chris_Cunningham)

~~~
uriel
I would have been quite excited if Stanley Kubrick had directed it.

One of the few directors that could take a masterpiece of a book, and make an
even better film from it.

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jacques_chester
I remember reading a bootleg draft of Gibson's screenplay a while back and
thinking "this is terrible".

What I remember about _Neuromancer_ was that after my first reading I thought
"wow, that was cool". But it took a few more re-readings to work out, with any
confidence, what in blazes was actually going on.

That said, with careful pruning and a big budget for effects, I think it could
work on the big screen. I just hope they stay true to the 80s cyberpunk vibe.

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epo
Neuromancer and Chernobyl are intertwined for me, probably because I remember
talking about it to a colleague one day when the fallout may have been
drifting over the UK. Awesome book, I'd read it again but I doubt it would
live up to my memories.

On the subject of adaptations, many years ago I bought a Neuromancer graphic
novel which was entitled part 1. I have never seen the others, did I miss
them?, do I have a rarity?

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ataranto
I can't wait to see this movie and then complain about it on the Internet!

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wallflower
This has been bugging me since I read the book: Does anyone know what could be
the secret name, three syllables that 3Jane speaks as a password?

~~~
slackerIII
I believe gibson has likened it to a bird call -- just 3 syllables of noise,
not words.

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Jun8
If you love _Neuromancer_ , I think you should read James Tiptree Jr.'s
(actually Alice Sheldon) short story _The Girl Who Was Plugged In_
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Who_Was_Plugged_In>), which Gibson
said he was influenced by.

Tiptree is pure genius!

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erickhill
Curious that the article states both "Vincenzo Natali will direct the film"
and "Visual-effects work already has begun."

Don't mean to be pedantic, but it implies art direction has commenced prior to
the director actually starting, which surely must be inaccurate. (Enjoyed
Natali's Cube.)

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Apocryphon
I think they should go for an intentionally retro feel to keep true to the
style and the origins of the book. If they set it in the "modern" conception
of the future, it would seem as incongruous as the Atlas Shrugged film
featuring modern day railroad magnates.

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thwarted
I found the original ad that has had me waiting for the theatrical release for
the past two decades.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/thwarted/5742024292/>

Jan 1989. "Soon to be a major motion picture".

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robin_reala
BBC Radio 4 produced a two-part radio adaptation of Neuromancer around the
turn of the century. It’s pretty good, if (understandably) heavily abridged.
I’d not going to host it, but there are torrents around if you Google.

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jasongullickson
This could be a beautiful film if done by a small production house without a
lot of interference "for marketing purposes" and if it limits the use of CGI
to internal representations of the matrix.

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djm
If it happens I'll watch it, but only because of my william gibson fanboy
loyalty. My first thought when I saw the headline was how bad the Dune movie
turned out.

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Auguste
I can't believe it's taken this long. I hope they do a good job of it.

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nikcub
Let's hope it is as good as Johnny Mnemonic

no, wait, that movie really sucked

