Ask 'Hitchhiker's Guide' Exec. Producer Robbie Stamp 490
After nearly three years of waiting, the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is almost upon us. I've been impressed with the casting, and with the trailers I've seen of the film -- enough that I'm taking the rather unhappy early review posted the other day with a large grain of salt. Now's your chance to ask whatever you'd like of Robbie Stamp, the film's executive producer; we'll pass on to Robbie some of the best questions and publish his answers as soon as he gets them back to us. (As usual, please -- confine yourself to one question per post.)
One question (Score:4, Interesting)
Um. (Score:5, Informative)
Douglas Adams wrote multiple versions of the screenplay, including the one used in the movie. The "new" characters, such as the one played by John Malkovich (sp?), were added by Adams specifically for the movie.
If Adams wrote it, grilling the producer about it seems pointless.
Also, fans of the Guide universe(s) will already know that the books, the TV series, the radio series, and all the other media versions have all been contradictory. Douglas Adams himself lost track of how many variant plotlines there were. Having read the interviews and seen the trailers, I'd say they're as close to following "the spirit" of the books as they can be.
My Question. (Score:5, Interesting)
This movie was in deadlock for a long time until Douglas Adams died. In a reasonably short time span after this, things began moving.
My question is what things did Douglas Adams block that have now gone ahead?
Re:My Question. (Score:3, Insightful)
First off, what the Hell does Lord of the Rings have to do with whether this will be a good film or not?
More to the point though, how do you know the film will be close to the book. Even if it were close to the book, it doesn't mean it'll be a good film. Two people can tell a joke and one will make it funny and the other drag it out.
But since DNA didn't even keep true to his original work, how can you criticize?
I haven't criticised, I'm interested in what it was that Douglas Adams was fighting the
Re:Um. (Score:5, Informative)
No!
Adams had finally written what he considered the final draft, then he died, and the studio rewrote the script. Most probably to undo all the compromises they had to grant the living Adams.
Here, read how the CEO of the studio spins it [go.com]:
Re:One question (Score:5, Informative)
Re:One question (Score:4, Funny)
Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Do you realize how many people will miss "Beware of the Leopard?" Almost all the dialogue in that skit is gone, so it's not even a joke anymore.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
I disagree.. (Score:3, Insightful)
The cheapest resource in a book is its words: you can have as many of them as you want really, no matter how
Re:I disagree.. (Score:5, Insightful)
No, the joke is 100% that it's a comedy of excess.
There's nothing funny about a "public display" document being inconvenient to get at. That's what most of us call "everyday life."
However, a "public display" document in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in the back of a disused lavatory with a sign on the door which says "beware of the leopard" is fucking hilarious.
Taking it out would be like re-editing the last reel of The Blues Brothers so they would only be chased for five miles by two or three cop cars. The scene would be shorter, cheaper, still contain everything "needed" to tell the story, but it would not funny.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you can't imagine that dialogue in your head being funny when spoken then you are either not a fan, have a shitty sense of humor, or are entirely devoid of imagination. Possibly all of the above.
HHGG (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:HHGG (Score:5, Funny)
If you were to make the remaining books into movies, would you try to fit it all into 3 movies? If so, should heralded as the "The Increasingly Innaccurately Described as Increasingly Innaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Trilogy"?
Re:HHGG (Score:4, Insightful)
What is the answer? (Score:5, Funny)
It had to be asked.
Re:What is the answer? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:3, Interesting)
"W-H-A...T" What!
"D-O-Y-O"? Doy-oh, "u-G", Do you Get!
*snip*
"...n,u,s-O-n-E!" Plus or minus one!
"What do you get if you multiply six by eight, for values of eight moderated up or down by +/-1?"
(I always thought there was something fundamentally wrong with Slashdot moderation anyways.)
The only question that really matters: Whether he'd have approved or not, would DNA have laughed while watching your "re-imagination" of his work?
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:5, Funny)
This is Double Jeapardy
Re:What is the answer? (Score:2)
Later, he told it to a mattress, right before the Krikkit robots stole his leg for the wicket key. The Question is this:
"What number am I thinking of?"
The Ultimate Question to Life, The Universe... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:2)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:2)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:3, Funny)
Nope, obviously he was simply using base thirteen instead of base ten.
Re:What is the answer? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: What is the asnwer? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What is the answer? (Score:5, Funny)
But you shouldn't take that to mean that only jokes in base 10 are funny.
You know why programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas? Because OCT 31 = DEC 25.
And no, you're wrong, that really is funny.
"I don't write jokes in base 13" (Score:2)
Douglas Adams seems to have not known [that 54 in base 10 is 42 in base 13] but highly approves of the coincidence.
No, more like "disapproves". "I may be a pretty sad case, but I don't write jokes in base 13!" [wikiquote.org].
Oh eBay .... (Score:5, Funny)
Huge selection, great deals on 42 items. [google.com]
Why attempt the impossible? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why attempt the impossible? (Score:2)
a.) Money. Despite the fact that the "real" fans will be disappointed, they will go see it anyways. Most likely more than once.
b.) Raise awareness of the book. When people see the movie or even hear about it, they might be more inclined to pick up a copy of the book and read it. I know I had never heard of this series until I started reading Slashdot.
Re:Why attempt the impossible? (Score:2)
Why attempt the impossible: pleasing sassy fanboys (Score:2)
My, aren't we bold and bitchy this morning? You presume a lot with your question. I haven't read up on all the fanboy gossip about the film, but from the trialers, I have seen, yes, the movie diverges some from the book. Why is this a big deal? As long as the film stays true to the spirt of the works, (i.e. Life is random and absurd, so shutup and enjoy the ride) why does it
So what? (Score:2)
Don't be such an ass.
Which character was the hardest to Cast? (Score:5, Interesting)
Question (Score:5, Interesting)
The books (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The books (Score:2)
Hell if you read the five books "back to back" yo
MJ Simpson? (Score:3, Funny)
Universal appeal to book readers/non book-readers? (Score:5, Interesting)
HHG2G Question (Score:5, Interesting)
No matter what, money's there... (Score:2)
Great Timing! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Great Timing! (Score:4, Insightful)
The movie could turn out brilliant and the trolls here will still complain about the towel reference from page 140 that, unforgivably, is not in the movie.
Wide audience (Score:5, Interesting)
Book to Film (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm curious as to what decisions you made regarding editing, changing, or even adding things to the plot to bring the story to film?
Marvin's look? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Marvin's look? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Marvin's look? (Score:3, Insightful)
Makes perfect sense. "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with" ought to look like he's... made of plastic and... fun... to be with.
I never liked his look in the TV show, early 80's BBC cheeze fest aside. He sounds depressed, but he's supposed to look... appealing. It's a product that is well marketted, but badly made. Remember the commerical in the show? That other r
Re:Marvin's look? (Score:3, Interesting)
I do know I have the habit of overlookin
If.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:If.. (Score:4, Interesting)
DarthBastard: We are hearing from some of the reviews of the film that some of the references to God (such as the second half of the babelfish description) are not in the movie. This is a shame but, given the current political climate in America, is perfectly understandible (though I'm glad the more subtle dig at organised religion - Humma and his sermon - is going to be there). What are your thoughts on this and will we see some of these references on the DVD?
Robbie Stamp: Good first question - there has been *no* pressure of any kind whatsoever to take out any of the " God" references. That Guid entry was cut because the pacing at that stage wasnt working. We had too many entries coming on top of each other too quickly. But there is still plenty of Douglas' atheism in the film and the whole Humma plot is right on the nose when it comes to organised religion. And yes look out for the DVD.
Hey... (Score:2, Funny)
Process question: (Score:5, Interesting)
What do you feel is the single compromise made in the name of satisfying studio demands that the fans of the originals will be least likely to accept?
Panic (Score:5, Funny)
Where is your towel? (Score:5, Interesting)
What took so long? (Score:5, Interesting)
Given the considerable success of his books and their large following, why wasn't a film adaptation released earlier? What hurdles had to be overcome?
Why (Score:2, Insightful)
Mattresses (Score:5, Funny)
Stylistic conflict between filmmakers & Disney (Score:5, Interesting)
It seemed that a lot of the reason that Hammer and Tongs was chosen to do this film was their unique style, and in a lot of ways, it works with Douglas Adams' creative vision. However, it's being distributed by Touchstone Pictures, a division of the Walt Disney Corporation, and the quirky nature of Hammer and Tongs doesn't seem like it'd mesh with the culture at Disney. Additionally, I'd imagine the "suits" would have a lot of problems with a faithful treatment of Adams' work.
My question: how was the working relationship between the filmmakers and Disney (Touchstone)? Were there elements of the movie that were cut by Disney because they "just didn't get it," or were they pretty supportive of the decisions made by the filmmakers?
On casting (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:On casting (Score:4, Informative)
In an interview [theconnection.org] on The Connection [theconnection.org] on WBUR radio this week, Danny Boyle -- indie director of "Trainspotting" and other movies [imdb.com] -- commented on this very point.
Basically, according to Boyle, there's a checklist of British-isms that are believed to cut into the marketability of a film when it is screened in the USA. The bigger the movie, &/or the more likely the producers intend to bring the movie to the American market, the more closely they need to adhere to this checklist. Every checked-box on the list is a compromise for the director -- a little movie like Boyle's Millions [foxsearchlight.com] can get away with mostly ignoring it, but a high profile movie like Hitchhiker "has to" pay more attention to the list.
For better or worse, this checklist comes up all the time. Jokes based on references to "zebra crossings" and "Ford Prefect" will be lost on the vast majority of Americans, for example. (And it's not just the Hitchhikers movie: the green smiling mascot familiar to American readers of the books never showed up in the British editions [at least at first, not sure about later ones]; with the Harry Potter books and movies, some of the names & dialog were changed so that they'd be less alien to American kids.)
If the director has a lot of clout, or doesn't care about the American mass market, then they can get away with this, but with something as prominent as Hitchhiker, they'll feel like they "had" to Americanize it, whether or not fans of the original versions of the story agree with sanding down all the quirky bits that made the stories so fun to them in the past.
"Burn Hollywood, burn."
Re:On casting (Score:3, Insightful)
Judging by some of the past US adaptations of British books, my guess would be parochialism, hubris, and a basic contempt for the material. (No disrespect to the US actors who I'm sure did their best, however miscast).
What would Douglas think... (Score:3, Interesting)
"Us vs Them", a LotR Redux (Score:5, Interesting)
Goals for the Film (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Goals for the Film (Score:5, Interesting)
Was the goal to create a splashy movie that appealed to the general masses that have not read the books, or was the goal to create a movie that appealed to (or at least appeased) DNA fans, with in-jokes and plots only understandable with a-priori knowledge?
Where do you want the final edit to fall on this axis, between those two endpoints?
Examples of many LotR and Dune attempts come to mind. The first Dune movie was doomed, for it made no sense without having read the book.
How much was added/changed after DNA'a death ? (Score:5, Interesting)
While DNA started this one, he was taken from us before its completion.
SO, my question is : Which "divergences" in this version were done (by/under the guidance of) Douglas Adams and which (if any) were done by other folks after his passing.
FWIW, I plan to ignore the critics and go see this film with a child-at-Christmas expectation. It should be great Eye Candy if nothing else.
Question (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Question (Score:2, Funny)
"Can you please tell us why your movie is not crap."
How to choose a source... (Score:5, Interesting)
In the end, how did you choose, from this range of sources, what sort of Hitch Hiker's Guide you actually wanted to make?
The essence (Score:5, Interesting)
Avoid Repitition (Score:5, Informative)
How did Martin Freeman become Arthur Dent? (Score:5, Interesting)
At the time (having no head for celebrity news), I didn't realize he'd been cast already as Arthur, and figured some other, well-meaning but inferior actor had been cast in that role. "It's too bad that they're already shooting 'Hitchhikers,'" I said, "because that guy *is* Arthur! Anyone else will pale in comparison to the flesh-and-blood Arthur who is playing Tim in this bizarre English-type sit-com!" My better-informed co-worker let me in on the good news, and my casting prowess was confirmed (to me, anyhow).
However, I'm curious how he came to the attention of the film's makers -- or was it vice versa? Was it because of his role in The Office, or was it his idea, or what? Was he already an Adams fan, or was this just happenstance?
timothy
Who takes the glory or the fall? (Score:3, Interesting)
United States audiences (Score:3, Interesting)
Motivation (Score:5, Interesting)
... the TV show and the Movie ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Thanks,
The Spirit of Douglas Adams (Score:3, Interesting)
Without Adams to serve as a reality check and oracle for all things Hitchhiker, how did you divine what he would have enjoyed, recommended, etc., without forfeiting or neglecting your own ideas?
Two questons (Score:5, Interesting)
2. Do you believe the movie would be noticeably different if Adams had survived and had more of a hand in its making? If so, in what ways?
Zaphod's Head (Score:5, Funny)
-Peter
Re:Zaphod's Head (Score:5, Funny)
A better way to phrase this question:
Once you decided to rape Duglass Adam's by shitting on his original text with countless corruptions, perversions, and flat out misrepresentations such as the hiding of Zaphod's head in the chest, did you feel that a special circle in hell would be reserved for your eternal torment or that your punishment would take the form of some extreme bowel torture here on Earth?
Still a comedy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Dialogue cuts (Score:3, Interesting)
Trailers (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess I fall into both categories, so I will be there for the humor and the explosions. ; )
SiO2
That OTHER Series... (Score:3, Interesting)
Any Surprises? (Score:3, Interesting)
Dont forget to bring a towel (Score:5, Interesting)
2) With the six books in the series on Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and Zaphod Beeblebrox, how did you choose to keep some material and not show other material? Did you do this with the the thought of a sequel in mind?
3) In the Introduction: Guide to the guide: Some unhelpful hints from the author, will the movie update the contact info on "How to leave the planet" with current contact info to NASA, The Whitehouse, The Kremlin, and the Pope, with the addition of Virgin Galactic at www.virgingalactic.com ?
4)So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
Generic question here, but I'm curious: (Score:5, Interesting)
Have your towel handy (Score:3, Funny)
Any addition to a beloved fandom will always be hated by the "true fans" and H2G2 will be the same.
Director's Cut (Score:5, Interesting)
We have heard a lot about scenes being in and out of various cuts, suggesting that many of the things long-time fans will miss in this movie may have been filmed.
So, my join questions: Are there plans in place to have an extended cut? and Are there any particular scenes that come to mind that you believe should be added back in?
a grain of salt? (Score:3, Interesting)
1 Question (Score:3, Interesting)
No, seriously though, here is my question:
Did you get to work with Douglas Adams before his untimely death? If so, what was it like?
Character Motivations (Score:3, Interesting)
The plot of HHGTTG has always been fluid, but the characters were the same throughout all the plot variations. I think the new PLOT of the movie could have worked just as well as any of the other HH plots, except that the characters are significantly different in attitude, behavior, and motivation.
Social sattire versus plain humor (Score:5, Interesting)
The movie trailers look as if they capture the light-hearted wacky humor, but my big concern is that the movie will fail to capture and blend in Adams' commentary on society. And as others have pointed out, with Disney involved somehow in the making or distribution of the movie, I doubt the suits would have let much bitter or deep underlying social commentary into the film.
Do you think you actually correctly identified, related to, and captured in film format the social commentary aspect of Adams' writing?
Adams had a George Carlin-esque approach that was key: he pointed out the asinine flaws in mainstream human thinking and behavior, which are things we all notice but few dare to explicitly point out or belittle. To lose that would be a an artistic shame.
Towels? (Score:3, Funny)
"Hey, why does that guy bring a towel with him to the movies?"
"Um, I don't know, but let's sit far, far away in case he has to use it for... something."
cultural/linguistic problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is the flim so different from other versions? (Score:3, Interesting)
I understand that the movie is not a movie of the book, just another conflicting version of the whole story. But, why are things that are consistant between the book and TV show (and probobly the radio plays too I suspect) different in the movie?
Why does the production design/costumes/etc differ so much from what the books (and I assume the radio plays) describe and also what is shown on the TV series? (e.g. zaphod's extra head and arm not being as prominent as the book and TV series depict, the heart of gold not being shaped like a sneaker as described in the book and shown in the TV series and so on)