Sunday, April 18, 2004
I, Robot: Preemptive Apology?
I just watched the I, Robot featurette and was a bit confused! It starts off with director Alex Proyas talking about the Asimov short stories which formed I, Robot and how he had really admired them and always wanted to bring them to the screen. This, in itself, is interesting, since I would have thought tha the short stories would have read as some of the most unfilmable words possible, unless you were going to make a short television series out of them (or something to that effect) in a noirish style. However, Proyas goes on to talk about the "spirit" of Asimov's stories and how the film obviously had to change the stories a lot to adapt them for cinema. Given that the trailers are cut to make the film look like a Will Smith action movie with a token science fiction backdrop, I'd say that even spirit might be a bit generous! Now, I'm not sure if it's just me, but does this featurette feel like an elaborate apology to Asimov fans and a warning that this is a film about WILL SMITH and the many angry cgi robots? *sigh*
Oh, and the only way I could even imagine I, Robot trying to stick to the idea that the 3 Laws of Robotics held but could be creatively interpreted and still allow lots and lots of robots en masse to seem to 'go evil' is if Proyas ripped off Marvel's idea of the Sentiels and the laws were read as a directive to protect humanity by taking away their free will and ability to wage war. I hope that's not the case, however, because doing that with Asimov would be lame!
PS If you think this is disheartening, try watching the new trailer for "comedy/thriller" The Stepford Wives . A remake of make you all wish remakes were illegal!
I just watched the I, Robot featurette and was a bit confused! It starts off with director Alex Proyas talking about the Asimov short stories which formed I, Robot and how he had really admired them and always wanted to bring them to the screen. This, in itself, is interesting, since I would have thought tha the short stories would have read as some of the most unfilmable words possible, unless you were going to make a short television series out of them (or something to that effect) in a noirish style. However, Proyas goes on to talk about the "spirit" of Asimov's stories and how the film obviously had to change the stories a lot to adapt them for cinema. Given that the trailers are cut to make the film look like a Will Smith action movie with a token science fiction backdrop, I'd say that even spirit might be a bit generous! Now, I'm not sure if it's just me, but does this featurette feel like an elaborate apology to Asimov fans and a warning that this is a film about WILL SMITH and the many angry cgi robots? *sigh*
Oh, and the only way I could even imagine I, Robot trying to stick to the idea that the 3 Laws of Robotics held but could be creatively interpreted and still allow lots and lots of robots en masse to seem to 'go evil' is if Proyas ripped off Marvel's idea of the Sentiels and the laws were read as a directive to protect humanity by taking away their free will and ability to wage war. I hope that's not the case, however, because doing that with Asimov would be lame!
PS If you think this is disheartening, try watching the new trailer for "comedy/thriller" The Stepford Wives . A remake of make you all wish remakes were illegal!
[Posted by Unknown] [4:53 pm]
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