Soderbergh does Solaris!

[Larry Mudd]

When I went to see Minority Report I was pleased to see a trailer for an upcoming adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's Solaris.

Whoohoo!

I was bitterly disappointed with Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 attempt-- probably because Stalker and The Mirror are among my favourite films. But Tarkovsky's cinematic style doesn't lend itself well to antiseptic space stations, and he didn't even try to do justice to the "landscape" of Solaris-- too bad, since one of Tarkovsky's signature pans would have been perfect-- I guess it just wasn't in the budget to construct a set -- even in miniature.

Just as well, it's really the sort of subject that honestly begs for heavy CGI. (For those unfamiliar with the book, Solaris seems to be a conscious planet, or at least there is some agency which appears to "read" people's minds and manifest simulacra out of organic material in the planet's oceans. Imagine travelling to a new star and being "haunted" by a wronged ex-girlfriend.

A brilliant and yet subtle novel-- and the trailer made it look like a decent adaptation.

So... anyone have any detailed info on this project?

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

I really liked Solaris, but I agree: someone needs to update this great story for a new audience. The Soviet version, while suprising, and mystical because of the country where was filmed in 1972, is intriguing, for the average filmogoer it is a borefest.

When is someone going to try and remake El Topo? :9

[partly_warmer]

When I saw Solaris in the theater (I think it absolutely needs to be seen in one) people were so stunned that even after the lights came on no one moved for several moments.

I'd met a friend coming out who was staring at the horizon with his mouth open, and had trouble locating me when I called his name.

I have never, never seen another film that affected an audience this way.

That it wasn't true to the "landscape" of the book, well... if it had had a more "Industrial Light and Magic" gloss, it would take away from a major point of the book, which is the protagonist's reaction to the things going on around him.

[Larry Mudd]

Vinnie Virginslayer: When is someone going to try and remake El Topo? :9I heard about an atrocious-sounding Canadian attempt to do just that a year or two ago. Amazingly, Jadorowsky himself is/was involved. Because of bizarre copyright issues, "The Mole" has become "The Bull". Here (http://www.hotweird.com/jodorowsky/mail.html)'s a message from Jadorowsky about it. It's so weird if it were attributed to anyone else I would assume it was a hoax.Subject: More News!
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998

Dear friends,
I will not be able to do the movie The sons of El Topo because a gangster named Allen Klein stole the rights from me. He prevents El Topo and The Holy Mountain from being shown in the USA. WHY? Maybe he hates me since I saw him eating a huge sandwich full of rotten pork right in front of the orphanage he was expelled from for stinking too much.

I am now working on a franco canadian production called ABELCAIN, which is a new version of the same project. The character El TOPO has become EL TORO. A single slash added on letter P changed a subterrean rat into a charging bull. For a true artist, difficulties become opportunities. And clouds become solid present.

Love
Alejandro JodorowskyAlejandro, you so crazy!

partly_warmer: When I saw Solaris in the theater (I think it absolutely needs to be seen in one) people were so stunned that even after the lights came on no one moved for several moments.Yeah, Tarkovsky films have that effect. Though superficially, Solaris and The Mirror induced the same almost-catatonic state in me, I enjoyed it with The Mirror, while with Solaris I felt as though I'd been through some sort of an ordeal. Ah well, I should give it another shot sometime- it's the only Tarkovsky film I haven't seen repeatedly - I might enjoy it more if I go into it without the expectations I'd brought from the novel.


It seems to me that the stunned silence that followed the first screening of Stalker I saw may have had almost as much to do with the quantities of a certain ergot-derived alkaloid that seemingly everyone in the audience had indulged in. Those were the days. :cool: