Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Goodshape

What do people think about the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy film their working on?


It's being directed by Hammer & Tongs, who've made some pretty interesting music videos - their style could be good for representing the book itself.

Tim from The Office is playing Arthur Dent, which sounds alright-but-not-great, but the other two confirmed cast members are both American, which sounds like a bad idea to me... Zooey Deschanel as Trillian and Mos Def as Ford Prefect.

It's also being made by Disney

BlitzKrieg

that sounds bad really really bad...

disney!!???!!??? NO WAY MAN!!! please i pray makers of this film use your brain and not try and pass it off as a kiddies film.

(just a quick check is this as in Disney logo stuck to it or mirimax?) cause if disney logo then if mirimax...then there is hope.

Mos def could be allright as ford...i dunno though but i admit i havnt seen him myself that much.


i wouldnt see HGTG the kind of film you'd get music directors in to do. I'd look for people with experiance similer to that of monty python films. I mean alot of the humour in the book is dialogue as well as visual.

mithrandir

I wouldn't knock the fact that Disney are making it. They made two of the best (or at least most successful) films last year in Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Also, Spike Jonze started out as a music video director and has directed 2 brilliant films so far: Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.

I'm not saying that this means this film will therefore be any good but it's two good reasons to be less pessimistic about it.

The writing is the important thing, I don't know how much of it Douglas Adams got to write before he died so it could be a bit dodge in that respect having someone take over from what he had already written. Anyway, it's definitely one I'm looking forward to.

mike65

Oh ****! Ford ws a white, very English sort of Alien the last I knew, now changing races/creeds etc can be fine but Hitch Hiker was a very particuarly middle class, middle England, and lets face it white story in terms of character traits/attitudes. Looking to catch every fecking demographic will simply result in a version not true to the source material...

edit> just notcied Mos Def does hip hop on the side! Heaven help us.

Mike.

feylya

Not trying to be racialist here, but does anyone else think Mos Def is their token black in the film? I've always seen Ford Prefect almost as a Dr Who type. And I don't agree with Trillian. She doesn't look like I imagined her. Here's hoping anyway.

mike65

Originally posted by feylya
And I don't agree with Trillian. She doesn't look like I imagined her. Here's hoping anyway.

The real Trillian (Rula Lenska)



Mike.

Jim

I totally agree with dent's casting. tim is the closest resemblace i can think of [in my head anyway].

dont agree with trillian, or ford. esp ford, wtf? not being racist but i never imagined him black.

wonder whos gonna play zaphod? or will they get two different actors to play the heads or will it be [god no!] cg heads.

feylya

Yes, that's more like it.

Goodshape

yea, that's pretty much what I thought: bad news.

I think the only real hope is that it doesn't carry the Disney logo - I think Spyglass havea hand in it too, so that may be the case.

About Mos Def being the token black guy, I think it's just as likly that Tim 'from The Office' Whatshisface is the token Brit. And seen as The Office is a huge hit in the US these days, you can see why he may have been chosen.


This isn't a film that can be made with the American 16-25 demographic in mind. If that's their plan, I really wish they wouldn't bother.

raphaelS

Originally posted by Jimeatsmenu
...wonder whos gonna play zaphod? or will they get two different actors to play the heads or will it be [god no!] cg heads.

On IMDB, Bill Nighy is part of the cast with the 3 first actors named in the thread... He might be the one for Zaphod, one of them maybe!

I'm afraid it couldn't be as good as the bookS... but it might be good movie!

Raphael

Goodshape

He's playing Slartibartfast. Read that in a few places.

mike65

What I'd like to see is a BBC/HBO co-production. The Brits supply the talent and the Yanks the money. HBO are proberly the best run and most talent led TV network
in the States and so could be trusted...

Mike.

Mark

Ford so clearly wasn't black.

Dont be at yourself

If the guy playing Zaphod doesn't have three arms and two heads, they'll pay in their own blood. I kid you not.

I'm still quite hopeful about this one. I'm still unsure about Mos Def, but the others have been spot on, to my mind.

GuanYin

Originally posted by NekkidBibleMan
If the guy playing Zaphod doesn't have three arms and two heads, they'll pay in their own blood. I kid you not.

I'm still quite hopeful about this one. I'm still unsure about Mos Def, but the others have been spot on, to my mind.

Are you sure Mos Def isn't playing Zaphod?

I thought I read that somewhere.... it would sort of fit, seeing as Zaphod had a bit of uber-cool culture (a more commanding version of Cat from Red Dwarf) about him.

Trillian was played by an american in the original BBC series and I reckon that girl, if blonde, may be a good casting.

Tim is perfect as Dent.

I'm just glad they didn't do mainstream casting.

mike65

Oops I got it wrong! Trillian was played by Susan Sheridan. Rula Lenka played Lintilla who you will remember was cloned 578,000,000,000 times. My brain
needs overhauling....

Mike.

Attractive Nun

It better not be a Disney logo film!! *shakes fist* It should be grand if it ain't - sure didn't Disney make Kill Bill?

Although the idea of making a film based on this book is a bad one for me. They're going to ruin everything! And I tells ya if Disney go and make 5 movies there'll be war!

But I do wonder who they'll get for the voice of Marvin?

GuanYin

Originally posted by Attractive Nun
But I do wonder who they'll get for the voice of Marvin?

apparently its the original marvin voice

mike65

Marvin is the only one who'll sound like the origonal as the voice is vocoded - I could sound like him!

Mike.

GuanYin

Originally posted by mike65
Marvin is the only one who'll sound like the origonal as the voice is vocoded - I could sound like him!

Mike.

What i meant was , the actor who did the voice is the guy they are paying to do it this time

The Brigadier

NO.NO.NO.NO.NO.NO......

Ford Prefect is supposed to be an alien fitting in with the English Middle Classes, in the suburbs, watching cricket, going for a pint at lunchtime,wearing a frigging blazer...He is white for chrissakes...

Some black hip-hop "brother" is all wrong...

Funky

Oh Dear.

stevoslice

Ford Prefect is supposed to be an alien fitting in with the English Middle Classes, in the suburbs, watching cricket, going for a pint at lunchtime,wearing a frigging blazer

Not tryin to be smarmy or anythin,
but can a black man not do this?

i tink he is a good choice because he is will have to TRY to fit in to english middle class, and not actually BE english middle class, if this makes sense...
and i'm sure there are black men from guildford.... hand me my towel please.

Just my thoughts.

plastic membrane

Just heard that Sam Rockwell is playing Zaphod. Bloody good casting by my book..

Owenw

I can see what you're getting at with the white, slightly eccentric, middle-class english stereotype for Ford Prefect.

Whenever I read the books I have an image of the actors from the cheap 'n' cheerful BBC TV series from the early 80's etched into my brain.

Just had a scary thought: Imagine Jim Carey cast as Zaphod! *Shudder*

So who would make a good Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent?

How about Richard E. Grant as Ford?

Drink up.

The Brigadier

Sam Rockwell would make a good Zaphod...

For Ford Prefect....well I do think an english actor, maybe someone like REG or even Paul McGann...

The Brigadier

And yes I know mr Estherhuizen isn't english:D

Owenw

Originally posted by James Melody
And yes I know mr Estherhuizen isn't english:D

But then, neither is Mr. Prefect :D

scojones

Movies ruin the books they are based on. I'm never going to watch this.

Samba

I can just imagine it, you see the trick to flying is......Fully blown disney orchestra predominately playing majors.

I'll keep an open mind until I see it, but I know so many people who have still not read the trilogy, if they do a poor job of the film, ultimately it will ruin the possibility of these peeps ever picking the book up, which is a damn shame, one of my all time favourites.

Tyrrial

i don't think i'll want to see it.. but i'll probably end up seeing it anyway.

artvandelay

Chuck Barris host of the gong show is ment to be playing Zaphod Beeblebrox and the miget from "willow" is playing marvin. It's strange looking at the orignal cast before Adams died, Hugh Laurie from blackadder was ment to be playing Arthur and there was talks of trying to get Jim Carrey was to play Zaphod Beeblebrox. The odd thing about now it is Adams would have never heard of some of the cast playing arthur and that now seeing they only got famous over the past few years after his death.

Goodshape

is it not Sam Rockwell playing Zaphod?

artvandelay

According to upcomingmovies.com its chuck barris, seems a bit wired he hasn't been in many film other than the "gong show movie" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". Seems like there really going cheap on the cast for this movie.

Giblet

Don't knock Zooey

plastic membrane

Originally posted by artvandelay
According to upcomingmovies.com its chuck barris, seems a bit wired he hasn't been in many film other than the "gong show movie" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". Seems like there really going cheap on the cast for this movie.

Er, Sam Rockwell played Chuck Barris in Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. I really don't think that they hired Barris to play Zaphod, seeing as how he's approaching 70.

Jim

Says on IMDB that Adams wrote the script, or at least the first draft. Might not be that bad.

Love the cast so far, Think Freeman is perfect as Arthur, and Sam Rockwell is one of the best actors around imo.

Saw an interview with Freeman, and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. So it looks like the film is actually gonna get made this time.

The guy playing Marvin seems to have been in a lot of Leprechan movies, and their sequels:dunno: Is Marvin not supposed to be the same height as humans?
Hopefully hs only doing the voice (please please please don't make Marvin CGI )

The Brigadier

I'm happy with all the casting apart from MosDef