Bloodslick

I was at ifilm the other day and saw a trailer that looked interesting. As I watched, I thought to myself, "That sounds exactly like my favorite Phillip Dick story!"

And sure enough, it was! My dismay was momentous.

The movie stars Ben Affleck. Nutshell blurb, DVD package style: (character name) thought it was an offer he couldn't refuse. (large amount of money) for a simple job. The only catch: he doesn't know what the job is. He never will, either, because the company is going to erase his memory of the entire thing.

(character name) wakes up and goes to collect his paycheck, and instead finds a parcel with (I don't remember, 15?) seemingly unrelated items that will hold the key not only to his future, but perhaps the world's.

Okay, part of my dismay is that that's NOT how the story goes, really. It's close, but it's just not the same. It really bugs me, because this story is my favorite work by PKD, and in my opinion his best-written and best-executed story. Everything links together perfectly, even when it doesn't appear that it's going to. It's a masterpiece, and it's only 29 pages long.

Has anyone else heard about this movie yet? Have there been other movies made from PKD works that you were horribly disappointed with? (Personally, I'm also very disappointed with "Total Recall". Take a good concept, make an action movie with Ahnold? Arg.)

gnort

I've seen the previews for this movie...it looks like it will be an alright flick. I'm a big fan of Blade Runner and Total Recall, although not as great as the stories by Dick they are still good movies in thie own right. I've never read paycheck, maybe ill check that out before/if i see the movie

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Kyp

I hated Blade Runner and Minority Report... (That one was based on one of his stories, right?) Paycheck will probably suck just as much, it got a horrible review I think over at Rotten Tomatoes. Too lazy to look it up right now.

Total Recall was cool, in my opinion. I never read any of the stories though so I don't know how they compare. I had no problems with Total Recall for what it was.

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username

I really like PKD stories and they are awesome, however I don't know how Paycheck will turn out. It is directed by John Woo (major plus) but it has Ben Affleck (major minus) so in the end I think this will probably be another Wind Talkers: cool idea, good looking, but horrible main character.

Of course as a side note, Minority Report was originally going to be Total Recall 2, however the company that funded Total Recall went out of business and lost the rights to it.

Hrothgar

I love PKD and I have read the short story Paycheck. That story was short, smart, and enjoyable. This movie will be dumbed down with big explosions and the hack that is Affleck. John Woo has lost his mojo since comiing to the states.

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sadatx

First of all, Great Thread! I love PKD's short stories and recognized Paycheck as soon as I saw the title.

However, I disagree that Paycheck is Dick's best short story. He did write it when he was in his "man being chased" mode so it is a little action oriented, hence I understand why they chose to adapt it. I do agree that Woo will pump up the action and play down the whole "can one manipulate the future and control his own fate" thing which is what the whole story is about, but Hollywood never cares what the story is really about anyway.

If it were me I'd adapt "Faith our Fathers", "Precious Artifact", or "A Little Something for us Tempunauts" a few of my favorites. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do so.....yet.

About the other adaptations: I actually liked Total Recall AND "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale". The story and movie were different enough in my opinion to like them both.

Minority Report was quite good in some parts, but in general Spielberg and his screenwriter(s) completely ignored Dick's idea of fate(Spielberg, of course, goes for the cliched Hollywood optimism that we can all control our own destiny we just have to choose), "precogs"(yes they're in the movie but they bare little resemblance to Dick's precogs), and the belief that such a system would imprison those living in it. I guess you could argue that this last idea is still in the movie, but, in my opion, Spielberg just settles for the having a cliche bad guy in the end.

I haven't seen Screamers ("Second Variety"). And I liked Blade Runner, but I have yet to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?".

Bloodslick

This is exactly my fear. I'm trying to send out hopeful vibes, though.

Thanks. I think I like the story so much for its perfect (in my mind) execution. Without that perfection, none of it would be believable. That's the only reason it's my personal favorite.
The thing I liked most about Spielberg's Minority Report was the constant advertising. Those of us who have read Dick's stories of the future know he believed it'd come about, and they had a pretty good grasp (I thought) of what he'd envision if he were alive today.

I'm not sure whether I want to see Screamers.
I haven't seen Screamers ("Second Variety"). And I liked Blade Runner, but I have yet to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". [/B][/QUOTE]

GSRIDER

Big PKD fan myself. I'm pretty luke warm to his adeptations. It's been said above already but he writes a good short story. Everything makes sense and works. Stretching that short out and adding the "hollywood" to it usually fucks it up.

Wasn't "Imposter" based on PKD short? I haven't even bothered to see that one yet based on what I've heard about it.

I will admit I've been waiting for Paycheck to comeout and I'll probably see it. I hope at least the ending is the same.

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docbungle

Affleck is capable of some very fine acting. Chasing Amy and Changing Lanes were both solid, textured performances and I believe that with the right script and director, he can be a great actor.

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Bloodslick

I love both Vincent D'Onofrio and Gary Sinise. I enjoyed "Impostor". I also haven't read the story it's based on.

docbungle, . . . you're right, I just don't like to admit it because of the mass of crap also on Affleck's resume. I'm still hopeful; I desperately want to see a really good PKD adaptation.

3zos

i too have yet to read DADOES but the directors cut of blade runner is hands down, my most favorite movie of all time. so perfectly brooding, rutger hauer gives the performance of his career, and the ending is so damn poetic (hauers death scene, so choice... "Time... to die").

Total recall, meh, standard fair Arnold action movie. Imposter was decent, though under the radar for a PKD adaptation. Minority report focused too much on set and visual style rather than plot and solid story flow. Anything that should by all rights be a dark film will not be pervayed well by Spielberg (look at Kubricks AI for reference).

based upon Afflecks recent shite, i dont hold any large amount of hope for it being a good rendition, hehe, nevermind its being directed by the man who has stained his career with windtalkers (how far woo has fallen since his HK production days.. (exception face-off).

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Kyp

Affleck can be an ok actor, it's just that he's in basically every other movie made in the last 5 years, so I get really tired of seeing his face everywhere.

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Bloodslick

Yeah, that sums up my feelings on him pretty well.

Kadath

I wrote a paper in college on this topic for a class on media, addressing BR/DADOES, S/SV, and TR/WCRIFYW. Minority Report wasn't out at the time. In fact, I still have it. My conclusion was this: These stories are far too short to make a film on their own, as a movie must be a certain length if the public is to pay $7.50 to see it. There are, of course, “short films,” which last perhaps 15 or 20 minutes at most, but they are in a different category than full-length movies like the ones discussed herein. Screamers, because it adds nothing to the original story, seems drawn out and boring, since the screenplay writers were forced to add filler to the original story to extend the film. So the stories themselves are brilliant works of science fiction, but need proper modification to appeal to the public in movie form.

Man, I sucked at writing my frosh year...

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GSRIDER

I actually thought Screamers was done quite well. It followed pretty close to the original.

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Bloodslick

I just read somewhere that Uma Thurman is starring in Paycheck with Ben. (I knew this from seeing the preview, but had forgotten.)

. . . I keep hoping. Hoping that this will be an enjoyable movie, that it'll result in better works being made from PKD's stories. I hope that Uma brings the acting skill to this one that she brought to Kill Bill. (That sounds dumb, but imagine how hard it had to be to say all those lines and not crack up laughing or always look like there was a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.)

NeverBorn

I did see the Directors cut of Blade Runner though..I think it was pretty well done

Bloodslick

I know that I've seen the director's cut, but I can never remember which version it is. Does the director's cut have the continual voice-over, or is it lacking?

Spektr

It is absolutely ridiculous that John Woo would direct a PG-13 movie. John Woo directs R-rated movies and that's it. John Woo does NOT market to teenagers. He markets to people who like entertaining, over the top action movies. Goddammit

Reese

A man leaves himself 19 clues to regain his memory and to find out something.. None of these clues happened to be a letter explaining everything...

Now Ben and Matt have both been in movies where they forget who they are.. Great... It will be decent at best.

I don't know how good the movies are compared to his stories, but the movies have been good so far

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Bloodslick

cybermike, the way PKD writes it, a letter explaining things would do very little good. You'll just have to see the movie or read the story to understand why. The main character of the story is smart, though, and can figure things out pretty well.