This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but…Vogon poetry? The brief teaser for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, rumored since Comicon, is now freely available online. Be sure to check out the production slideshow, which shows off the splendid designs of Marvin the Paranoid Android and the Heart of Gold. Oh, and don’t forget your towel. Update: More production art here.
Category: Douglas Adams
Voice of Trillian.
Zooey Deschanel checks in to discuss progress on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, probably my most eagerly awaited fanboy film of next summer (and, yes, unfortunately, I’m counting Episode III and FF.)
Sim and Simulacra.
Two choice links courtesy of Tomb of Horrors: The Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide game gets a 20th anniversary makeover, and a site emerges to preserve the correspondence between Dave Sim and Neil Gaiman.
Oh freddled gruntbuggly…
Also from Comicon, Touchstone previews the Hitchhiker’s Guide teaser. Alas, this is just a write-up…but hopefully it’ll hit the web soon. Update: Don’t panic…it’s here.
Self-Flagellation.
“WHO THE H*#&! ARE YOU AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MUCK AROUND WITH THIS TREASURED PIECE OF LITERATURE, YOU AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD HACK? Ah. Good one. Yes, I can see why a lot of people might be wondering this…” Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick talks about his contribution to the forthcoming Hitchhiker’s Guide film.
Babel Fish Not Required.
From the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Tenth Intergalactic Edition: Director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith discuss the upcoming Hitchhiker’s film, including casting decisions, production designs, funding, and the input of the late Douglas Adams on the script. I’m quite looking forward to this project — Until then, there’s always the classic Infocom game online…
The Prophet of No Tea.
The cast of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy rounds out with John Malkovich as a “religious cult leader called Humma Kavula, created by the late author especially for the long-gestating film.” Hmm, strange. In case you missed earlier reports, the cast also includes The Office‘s Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, Mos Def as Ford Prefect, Sam Rockwell as Zaphod, and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian. Should be better than Vogon poetry, at any rate.
Confessions of Two Dangerous Minds.
By way of Quiddity, the cast of Hitchhiker’s Guide gets rounded out, and I like what I’m hearing. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Mos Def will be Ford Prefect (good race-neutral casting, although I hope he’s still British), Zooey Deschanel plays Trillian (how’d her agent ever manage to stop the Knightley Behemoth? Keira’s got more momentum these days than Kerry) and Sam Rockwell is Zaphod Beeblebrox, president of the universe (That’s classic…but no word yet on how or if they’re casting his second head.) This should be fun.
Sigh.
More news on the Hitchhiker’s front: Apparently Warwick (Willow) Davis will be playing Marvin the Paranoid Android, and this Marvin prototype suit by Jim Henson’s workshop leaks online. I really like this look for Marv, not that he really cares one way or another what a pea-brained humanoid like me finds appealing, mind you.
6×7.
The forthcoming Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film gets its Arthur Dent, and it’s apparently this fellow: Martin Freeman, of Love Actually and The Office, neither of which I’ve seen. Well, he looks like an ordinary bloke, which is half the battle. (The other half is straight-man timing.) Apparently, Bill Nighy (also of Love Actually, but I only know him as the Big Bad in the very lame Underworld) is playing Slartibartfast, and I also think that’s pretty good casting. Now for Ford Prefect…Steve Coogan? Keira Knightley as Trillian? Andy Serkis as Zaphod Beeblebrox’s second head?