Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) No! Please no!

Before his death, Douglas wanted to make a HHGTG movie. However the making of THIS movie started long after his death.
Yes, I am picky when it comes to movie because I have yet to see one good movie adaptation of a book I like (LOTR does not count because I never loved LOTR the book).

I said what I think about this trailer. If you think I disagree, I don't give a dead horse about it.

Fair enough about the trailer. Now, what about the movie? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

And you think that Adams wouldn't have changed anything or what? Let me quote a little interview with the current movie's screenwriter:

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WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DECIDE WHAT STAYS AND WHAT GOES, YOU FORMULAIC CHICKEN WRITING BAS%*(&*!

Hey, let’s keep it clean. My mother will probably read this.

Keep in mind, I started with Douglas’s last draft, so I not only had the new ideas and concepts he had invented specifically for the screenplay (brilliant ideas, too -- truly humbling), but also some evidence of what he was prepared to let go of (and in many cases, I thought he had been too hard on himself and put things back in). To familiarize myself with the material, I thought it best to go back and become acquainted with it in chronological order. It started as a radio play. So I was sent all of the radio plays on CD. I would listen to them in my car, and for those blissful 15 to 20 hours was actually oblivious to the deeply loathed L.A. traffic. It was while listening to those radio plays that I first heard what was actually the opening to “Restaurant at the end of the Universe” which was a guide entry that started “The story so far…” It goes on to summarize what happened in HHGG and I realized that was what the script needed. That one summary expressed some ideas and themes more clearly than the screenplay did. And suddenly, it became clearer to me what the script was missing, and I suddenly had some hope that I might be able to fill in some of the missing pieces.

Next, I read the book with pen and highlighter in hand, underlining passages that had been left out that I wanted to try to get back in and making notes on characters and themes that were present in the book but not really playing as well as they could in the screenplay. I was going to watch the TV show, but Jay suggested that I not do that, just so that I wouldn’t have any of those images in my head. The idea was to try to create something rather than re-create (and I don’t think we have the rights to any new material created specifically for the TV show, so for that reason, I never watched it. Do you hear me BBC? I NEVER WATCHED THE TV SERIES). I did, however, buy a book that had the scripts for the radio plays. When I started writing, I had the novel on one side of my G4 laptop and the radio play scripts on the other side. They are both well-worn.

I was also given another invaluable piece of source material. Robbie Stamp, who became an integral ally in my writing process on this film as he was able to answer the “what would Douglas have wanted?” questions, forwarded to me electronic copies of HHGG files from Douglas’s hard drive; notes on his drafts, notes from him to the studio, random ideas and bits of dialogue exchanges, etc. Receiving this was a real thrill. I felt like Moses at the burning bush when I opened these files, a sort of “take the sandals off, you’re on holy ground” moment. It also gave me a peek into his process. There were unfinished scenes, character back stories, notes to himself on areas where he was having problems. I loved reading Douglas’s unedited musings and tried to put in as many of them into the screenplay as I could.

My goal in the writing was to be like an editor on a feature film. If an editor has done his job well, you don’t feel his or her presence. That was my aim here. I thought, if people read this script – especially people who knew Douglas or knew the material well – and can’t tell the difference between what I created and what Douglas did, then I will have succeeded. I was never trying to put my stamp on this material or bring my “voice” to it (whatever the h*#&! that elusive thing is).

I started reading his other works, reading biographies, watching documentaries (graciously sent to me by Joel Greengrass) and I found myself feeling an odd connection to the man I had never met. There were some eerie similarities between us; mutual love of Macs, wannabe rock guitarists, world class procrastinators, avoidance a huge part of the writing process, love of satire, belief that nothing is so sacred it can’t be poked fun at – to name a few. The biggest difference, however, was that Douglas was an amazing conceptual thinker and I tend to be stronger with structure. This, as it turns out, was a stroke of good luck because many of the concepts were already there, they just needed a tighter structure in which to exist and thrive.


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So, even if Adams hasn't directly worked on THIS movie (which I didn't say), he has worked on a screenplay and made other notes, too. What would you have said if Douglas Adams were to be alive and responsible for the current trailer? Would you still blame it for a coloured Ford Prefect or supposedly too many space battles - which of course is in no way confirmed yet?



I don't quite get this now... If I think that YOU disagree, YOU don't give a dead horse? Hmmm... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

Hm, I'd like to read this screenplay somewhere ... but I oubt it's somewhre published ... just curious ... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Hmm... The weel of time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />... The Shore of Women <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />... (Great book btw, if you havn't read it you should. It's written by Pamela Sargent.)

But Death, I doubt you ever will. When reading the book you got all these kinds of pictures in your head of what the book was like, and I really don't think anyone will ever make a movie just like these, and I DO seem like you have VERY high demands on how close it should follow this picture of yours. No offence made. Just don't expect movies based on books you see to be like when you read the book, cos that way you will only be dissapointed.

Übereil

I think that's a great idea! There's no point recreating the TV series because it's already been created.

I got Amazon Prime. I thought...well...only in America... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />