Keira Knightley will star in the sci-fi thriller "Never Let Me Go" for Fox Searchlight.
Mark Romanek ("One Hour Photo") will direct the cloning-themed pic, which will also star Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan.
Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich are producing through their London-based DNA Films banner. Alex Garland, who penned the screenplay, is producing as well. Film 4 is also involved as a producer.
Film is set to lense in April in London and Norfolk, England.
Story revolves around a trio who grew up in a boarding school with no contact or knowledge of the outside world until they discover they are clones grown for the sole purpose of organ donation.
DNA, which has a longstanding partnership with Searchlight, has teamed with the specialty label on a number of films including "The Last King of Scotland" and Danny Boyle’s "Sunshine" and "28 Days Later."
Knightley is attached to star in several films, including "The Beautiful and the Damned" and the Columbia Pictures remake of "My Fair Lady."
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Seriously, it's ridiculous that the studio and producer thought this was an original idea. Just off the top of my head, there are at least two movies exactly like this one:
The Island
The 6th Day
Seriously, this is just lazy. I have a great idea for a movie. It's an intergalactic space drama about a young boy with strange and mysterious powers fighting on the side of good while tempted by the "not light side" to turn evil. I should sell this one.
LickTheABCs
03-02-09, 05:36 PM
Wait... a rip-off of The Island which was a rip-off of Parts: The Clonus Horror?
Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.
NoirFan
03-02-09, 05:42 PM
Keira Knightley appearing in something other than a costume period piece?? I'm stunned.
PopcornTreeCt
03-02-09, 05:50 PM
Mark Romanek is enough to have me interested in this movie. I'm sold.
Udpint
03-02-09, 06:28 PM
This is an adaptation of the very acclaimed novel "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro (who also wrote Remains of the Day). It received several awards and Time had it on their "100 best English-language novels since 1923" list.
It's not a rip-off of a Michael Bay movie. Clones or not.
Jay G.
03-02-09, 08:01 PM
This is an adaptation of the very acclaimed novel "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro (who also wrote Remains of the Day). It received several awards and Time had it on their "100 best English-language novels since 1923" list.
So the book, at least it's basic plot, is a rip-off of Parts: The Clonus Horror, a film that pre-dates the book by about 25 years.
Udpint
03-02-09, 08:10 PM
So the book, at least it's basic plot, is a rip-off of Parts: The Clonus Horror, a film that pre-dates the book by about 25 years.To some extent they share a premise.
But plot? No, not at all. This is not even remotely similar to the similarities which prompted the threat of lawsuit against The Island.
naitram
03-02-09, 08:11 PM
just one more chance for her to get naked...come on, you're not getting any younger!
NoirFan
03-02-09, 09:44 PM
It sounds familiar because a thread for it already exists:
just one more chance for her to get naked...come on, you're not getting any younger!
Well, she went topless in Domino and The Jacket.. that is, if your television's resolution could make them out.
Solid Snake PAC
03-03-09, 12:14 AM
Well, she went topless in Domino and The Jacket.. that is, if your television's resolution could make them out.
:rimshot:
naitram
03-03-09, 12:53 AM
Well, she went topless in Domino and The Jacket.. that is, if your television's resolution could make them out.
Haha that's awesome...thank god for HD. (off to Netflix!)
rw2516
03-03-09, 05:45 AM
Wait... a rip-off of The Island which was a rip-off of Parts: The Clonus Horror?
Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.
Also thought the Island ripped off a lot from Logan's Run.
Cosmic Bus
03-03-09, 07:29 AM
While the basic plot shares some elements with those others, if you'd read the book, you would know that this is about the furthest thing from being a rehash. It is very much a character-driven drama, intimite, frustrated and tragic, and the cloning aspect, while important, isn't even a particularly major part of the story. Whether or not the film ends up translating any of this successfully remains to be seen, but it's silly to write it off...
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 03:02 PM
Let's boil down the plots of these movies to their basic premises:
The Island: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
The 6th Day: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
Never Let Me Go: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
This is the central plot of these movies. And they are all the same.
Tarantino
03-03-09, 03:54 PM
OMG...movies with the same premise.
The sky must be falling.
= J
Goat3001
03-03-09, 03:58 PM
It sounds familiar because a thread for it already exists:
Let's get a little original here people. -ohbfrank-
Yavin
03-03-09, 04:00 PM
I take it her character is not someone who was cloned for the purpose of harvesting her breasts to implant into someone else. Seriously though, I do find her attactive, I do!
Udpint
03-03-09, 04:52 PM
Let's boil down the plots of these movies to their basic premises:
The Island: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
The 6th Day: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
Never Let Me Go: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
This is the central plot of these movies. And they are all the same.
That is not the plot of Never Let Me Go.
Have you read the book?
Giantrobo
03-03-09, 05:00 PM
Oh shit! A new movie about clones...might be a clone of an old book about clones... which may be a clone of another old movie about clones?! :lol:
Honestly? Who gives a fuck if it's a "copy", "Clone", or straight up "rip off"? If it's a decent flick no one but Uptight Anal Movie Nerds pissing up a storm online will care.
There, I said it.
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 05:05 PM
That is not the plot of Never Let Me Go.
Have you read the book?
The book doesn't have anything to do with it. It's the plot of the MOVIE. We are talking about the MOVIES.
Someone once said we might have a book forum here. I've only heard legends of it, like the Chupacabra.
Udpint
03-03-09, 05:10 PM
The book doesn't have anything to do with it. It's the plot of the MOVIE. We are talking about the MOVIES.
So you've read the script?
No? Then surely the book is the best guide we have to what the plot of the movie will be.
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 05:27 PM
So you've read the script?
No? Then surely the book is the best guide we have to what the plot of the movie will be.
You don't even win the home game with that response.
Udpint
03-03-09, 05:37 PM
This is quite funny.
A movie adaptation of a well known novel has been announced.
You claim to know what the plot of the movie will be, without knowing anything about either the novel or the script. When it's pointed out to you that the source material contradicts your assumptions you pretend it's irrelevant.
Well, I'll leave you to your fact free ranting and raving then.
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 05:42 PM
This is quite funny.
A movie adaptation of a well known novel has been announced.
You claim to know what the plot of the movie will be, without knowing anything about either the novel or the script. When it's pointed out to you that the source material contradicts your assumptions you pretend it's irrelevant.
Well, I'll leave you to your fact free ranting and raving then.
I love it. Looks like we've backed Baby into a corner.
Look Jack, it's not ranting and raving. It's cold fact. That's what the movie is going to be about. If it varies from the book, then that's a different argument.
I love it. Looks like we've backed Baby into a corner.
You can't really be this thick, surely? You must be doing this because you somehow find it amusing?!
Linking to six versions of the exact same story doesn't strengthen your argument. It takes at least twenty. If you look hard enough I'm sure you can get there.
Yes, the story involves clones. Yes, they are harvested for organs. No, that is not the plot. All that is abundantly clear from the book.
You might as well claim all stories where a man is shot by a gun have the same basic plot. You know, like Saving Private Ryan and Reservoir Dogs. Exact same shit. There's even blood in both of them.
UAIOE
03-03-09, 05:51 PM
Because movie adaptations are always 100% faithful to the book.
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 05:55 PM
You can't really be this thick, surely? You must be doing this because you somehow find it amusing?!
Linking to six versions of the exact same story doesn't strengthen your argument. It takes at least twenty. If you look hard enough I'm sure you can get there.
Yes, the story involves clones. Yes, they are harvested for organs. No, that is not the plot. All that is abundantly clear from the book.
You might as well claim all stories where a man is shot by a gun have the same basic plot. You know, like Saving Private Ryan and Reservoir Dogs. Exact same shit. There's even blood in both of them.
It's amazing how the simplest concepts seem to escape you. Rarely on this forum has someone so completely missed the point as you do.
You seem to have a very difficult time separating yourself from the plot of the BOOK and the MOVIE. Just so you know, they are two different things.
This would be remotely the first time a movie adaptation strayed far from the book. Hell, movie studios have made billions doing that to Phillip K. Dick stories alone. Whatever the book may be about, this movie is about clones and organ harvesting.
The level of ignorance you have displayed in this thread is mind boggling. If this is all that you intend to bring to this forum, then perhaps you should stick with the folks at IMBD or AICN, they are far more your level.
Udpint
03-03-09, 05:56 PM
No. They never are. But nothing in that brief Variety story indicates changes to the plot. It doesn't describe the plot at all, in fact. There's just a one sentence description of the basic premise.
In fact it tells us nothing at all about what the plot will be. But if you've read the book you'll know that the fact the article mentions Norfolk as a location is a sign of (at least some) fidelity to the source material.
covenant
03-03-09, 06:02 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Let_Me_Go
sounds like the same basic plotline...except no one tries to escape.
Udpint
03-03-09, 06:06 PM
You seem to have a very difficult time separating yourself from the plot of the BOOK and the MOVIE. Just so you know, they are two different things.
No shit.
Yes, the movie could in theory be about a bunch of kangaroos trying to build a spaceship. We won't really know for sure until we see it - or hear from someone who has. Or maybe someone who's read the script.
This would be remotely the first time a movie adaptation strayed far from the book. Indeed.
However, given the total absence of any other evidence, surely it's only natural to assume it's going to be roughly along the same lines as the book. Without being able to claim any kind of certainty, of course.
And let me repeat myself once again. There's nothing at all in the short Variety story (from which all the others are copied) to indicate any sort of deviations from the plot of the book. That doesn't mean there won't be any, but it does mean you can't use it as "proof" that there will or to say anything about what the inevitable changes will be.
A small hint is given at the start of the article, though. It refers to the flim as a love story. Is that what you'd say The Island is?
DVD Josh
03-03-09, 06:09 PM
Is the Island a love story? It certainly has elements of that, yes.
Udpint
03-03-09, 06:15 PM
sounds like the same basic plotline...except no one tries to escape.
So except for the plot it's the same plot? ;)
The makers of Clonus sued Dreamworks because of what they perceived to be similarities between the two.
Here's a list of those similarities (from the Wikipedia article for Clonus - I'm not allowed to post links):
* There is a secret community of clones who are being grown so that their organs can be harvested in order to extend the lives of people who are wealthy enough to afford it.
* When a clone needs to be harvested they get "randomly" chosen to go to the non-existent utopia that they have been told about: "America" in Clonus, "The Island" in The Island.
* The community of clones is closely monitored by video surveillance and uniformed guards, who closely observe the actions of the clones.
* The main character is an inquisitive clone living in the community who finds clues about the outside world, and eventually escapes the community.
* A woman which the community staff try to keep the main character from getting too close to and who becomes the love interest for the protagonist, urging the protagonist to return to the facility after escaping.
* The project director sends assassins after the character.
* The main character gets betrayed by a genetic parent/sponsor he seeks and contacts in the outside world.
* The President of the United States (candidate for President in Clonus) is known to have a clone.
* The cloning program is exposed at the end of the film.
Not a single one of those nine applies to Never Let Me Go (the book).
Udpint
03-03-09, 06:19 PM
Is the Island a love story? It certainly has elements of that, yes.
So you'd say it's a love story rather than an action movie or a thriller?
I suppose that's quite a subjective question, but it's certainly not the category I'd use for it.
ETA:
this movie is about clones and organ harvesting.This is perhaps the crux of the matter.
Yes, if the movie is at all faithful to the novel it will have to feature clones and organ harvesting.
But "clones and organ harvesting" isn't a plot. And two storylines don't become basically the same because they happen to share those two elements.
Superboy
03-03-09, 07:45 PM
I guess I better trash my screen play for Billy and the Clonosaurus.
whotony
03-03-09, 08:03 PM
Keira Knightley will star in the sci-fi thriller "Never Let Me Go" for Fox Searchlight.
Seriously, it's ridiculous that the studio and producer thought this was an original idea. Just off the top of my head, there are at least two movies exactly like this one:
.
so this is just you saying they thought it was an original idea.
spainlinx0
03-03-09, 08:14 PM
I love it. Looks like we've backed Baby into a corner.
Look Jack, it's not ranting and raving. It's cold fact. That's what the movie is going to be about. If it varies from the book, then that's a different argument.
Let's boil down the plots of these movies to their basic premises:
The 6th Day: Clones grown for harvesting become self-aware
Just to nit-pick, this isn't the basic premise of 6th Day. In that film, the clones are grown to fully replace the original; there's no organ harvesting since the consciousness of the original person is simply transferred to the clone. Also, the clones are grown rapidly in a tank, and have no consciousness until its downloaded into them.
I'd also quibble with the use of the term "self-aware," since that refers to consciousness, which the clones in Island and NLMG already had at the beginning of the story. I think you were meaning to refer to them discovering what they really are (clones), and why they were made (organ harvesting).
Yes, the story involves clones. Yes, they are harvested for organs. No, that is not the plot.
Well, it's the premise, and in both stories, the clones are initially unaware that they are clones and are kept in the dark by their keepers. So there are similarities.
You might as well claim all stories where a man is shot by a gun have the same basic plot. You know, like Saving Private Ryan and Reservoir Dogs.
That's a bad example, since "a man is shot by a gun" is a plot point in each story, not the premise or main plot of either. Also, Reservoir Dogs is a rip-off of another film (City on Fire).
Here's a list of those similarities (from the Wikipedia article for Clonus - I'm not allowed to post links):
* There is a secret community of clones who are being grown so that their organs can be harvested in order to extend the lives of people who are wealthy enough to afford it.
Remove "secret" from this plot point, and it applies to NLMG.
NIMH Rat
03-03-09, 11:11 PM
I have seen Clonus, seen the 6th Day, seen The Island, and *read* Never Let Me Go.
Two of those are very similar (Clonus and The Island), the other two are not.
Frankly I don't see how many radically different types of plots you can have about clones. I mean, why would clones exist? To perform labor or provide longevity to actual people.
Didn't Roger Ebert say it's not what a film is about, but *how* it's about what it's about?
Never Let Me Go is so far from the three "clone" films in terms of narrative, tone, and theme (and, uh, *quality*), that anybody trying to lump them all together simply hasn't seen (or read) them all.
UAIOE
03-03-09, 11:32 PM
To be honest, using "human cloning" for movie plots is really starting to get stale.
iamiam
03-04-09, 12:09 AM
While the basic plot shares some elements with those others, if you'd read the book, you would know that this is about the furthest thing from being a rehash. It is very much a character-driven drama, intimite, frustrated and tragic, and the cloning aspect, while important, isn't even a particularly major part of the story. Whether or not the film ends up translating any of this successfully remains to be seen, but it's silly to write it off...
I think OP pretty much admitted he hasn't. And I agree, it's beyond silly to dismiss a movie based on one-line synopsis.
PopcornTreeCt
03-04-09, 02:06 AM
To be honest, using "human cloning" for movie plots is really starting to get stale.
While I'd like to agree, but there really hasn't been a good one.
UAIOE
03-05-09, 01:06 AM
That probably has a lot to do with the "clones" plot being stale.
Buy: