Flave

Alex Proyas (director of the upcoming I, Robot) talks about the movie on his website (http://www.mysteryclock.com/):

"Many years ago a chap named Peter Rice and I were sitting in a cafe somewhere in LA discussing all our favorite science fiction stories and novels and the ones that would be cool to make into movies. Peter is a good friend and at the time was an exec at 20th Century Fox (these days he runs Searchlight) - I think this roughly coincided with when I was developing DARK CITY at Fox, before we took it to New Line. I, ROBOT was the one we kept coming back to, and though Peter tried to secure the rights they were unavailable at the time. A few years passed and Peter came to me with a really cool script called HARDWIRED, a spec written by Jeff Vintar, that read kind of like the Asimov story he never wrote.

Coincidentally the rights to I, ROBOT became available and it was decided to merge the basic plot of HARDWIRED with the ideas, concepts and some of the characters of the Asimov stories - as a literal translation or combination of the 9 stories into a single movie proved unfeasible. With HARDWIRED we had the specific movie narrative the project needed. However HARDWIRED was really just a spine for our story, countless drafts were done to bring the story in line with the I, ROBOT universe and it was re-conceived as a prequel or an "early days at USR" take on Asimov.

That's the overly simplistic version. One day I'll write the book and go into more detail. By the way, I, ROBOT was created with the intention of it being the first in a series of films - early on I decided there was no way a single 2 hour movie could do justice to all the ideas Asimov explored in his collection of stories. Will there be more films? - we'll have to wait and see."

milo bloom

Well, if it's like a prequel, then showing why they need Asimov's laws of robotics might not be so bad of an idea.

jaeufraser

You know, I'm giving the benefit of doubt to this movie. Everything Proyas' says seems to indicate this movie has an actual story, and could be pretty decent. Granted the trailers in of themselves haven't moved me, but with Proyas' track record, I'm definately going to be there in hope this will be something great.

El-Kabong

Fixed.

squi23

I don't know...
I read this book when I first heard about this movie back in X-mas '03, and I have to say, it seems like this movie is NOT gonna live up to the book.

I know everyone always says that, but from the trailers I've seen, they're just using the essence of the book and some of the ideas and they're still gonna screw it up.

Each of the stories in the book was an intellectual journey into the ideas of morality, ethics and logic based on the "3 laws", and this movie wants to turn them into so much detective, crime-drama crap.

I plan on seeing this movie regardless b/c I'm that curious and I like the book that much, but I feel confident of impending disappointment.

Here's one thing:
In the book, each story (except the last one I think), speaks of robots being outlawed on earth for the most part, yet the preview tells us they plan on releasing 1 robot for every 5 humans in one fell swoop.

I mean talk about sh*ting on your source material.

PixyJunket

Hey, at least Will Smith wasn't quoted as yelling "YO MAMMA!!" to one of the robots.

milo bloom

You know, I had a thought:

Many times, when adapting from a book, especially a long and/or very detailed one, the filmmakers take a step in the right direction and tell the spirit of the story instead of the book on film. Reviews I've read of HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban say that instead of the Hogwarts Years 1 and 2 approach of the first two movies, the director just told the story of the prisoner of Azkaban. This has lead to a lot of reviews saying HP3 is a step up in quality and enjoyment.

Another example that just came to me would be BladeRunner. I've never been able to finish the book, but I love the movie. I think it captured the essence of the story, if not all the details. I mean, can you imagine Harrison Ford having to putz around with sheep on his rooftop? (and not in that way, sicko).


I have actually not read the I, Robot novels, and I may hold off until after I see the movie in case it does turn out to be a stinker. But consider if you will, the movie just being another story in the universe established by the books?

jaeufraser

Well, you would be correct. Alex Proyas has stated that his is like another story within the I Robot ideals, and not a direct translation of any of the stories (which, truthfully, would not come together to make a coheisve film on their own). So what're you're saying is exactly what they're doing with the film. Whether it's good or not is still up in the air, but listening to what Proyas says, and that the film will follow the three rules, it definately still has potential.

DodgingCars

I was unimpressed with the first trailer I saw, but the subsequent trailers that came out have actually made me excited to see this movie. I may go see this one in the theater.