# Dick Fans - Trailer for "A Scanner Darkly" now online **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695 "2005-02-24T14:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/1 "2005-02-24T14:04:01Z")
The trailer for the film version of Philip K. Dick’s novel, **A Scanner Darkly** , is now online [here](http://ca.movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/ascannerdarkly.html) and [here](http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2665143?htv=12&htv=12&htv=12). Directed by Richard Linklater, it stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., and Woody Harrelson. Scheduled release date is September 16, 2005. (Linklater also has **The Bad News Bears** coming out in '05.) More information about the novel and adaptation from the Philip K. Dick trust [here](http://www.philipkdick.com/films_scanner-061204.html).Like a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly will utilize live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. The technology was first employed in Linklater’s 2001 film **Waking Life** and has evolved to produce even more impact and detail. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/2 "2005-02-24T14:07:37Z")
I’ve always been a bit :dubious: about _A Scanner Darkly_ as a film, especially as the 60s drug culture is long past. Of course I’ll see it, so it will be interesting to see how they update the film. Robert Downey, Jr and Woody Harrelson are pretty apt picks to play in this film. I expect Keanu is the protagonist? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/3 "2005-02-24T14:11:56Z")
I liked that novel, but I didn’t even hear about the film version until I saw this today :smack: ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/4 "2005-02-24T14:30:05Z")
If nothing else, the style looks pretty sweet. I’d watch it for that alone. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/5 "2005-02-24T14:34:52Z")
I was skeptical when I first heard about this movie, but knowing now that they’re using the same animation technique as in **Waking Life** , I think they just might pull it off. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/6 "2005-02-25T02:16:16Z")
I’ve been waiting for this movie for quite a while. I like the look of movie, the style is well suited to the story. After seeing that trailer I would have to say that my main concern lies with RDjr and Woody. They seemed stoned - yes I realize that may be the intent- but without more context it is hard to tell. Either way, I’ll see this movie and add it to my collection of DVDs of movies based on PKD. [sub]BTW, anybody got a copy of Barjo they’d sell to me?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/7 "2005-02-25T02:26:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Like a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly will utilize live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. The technology was first employed in Linklater’s 2001 film Waking Life and has evolved to produce even more impact and detail. I’d edit the above to say: > [@](#): > > Like a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly will utilize live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. The technology was first employed in **that A-HA video from, like 1983** and has evolved to produce even more impact and detail. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/8 "2005-02-25T12:18:40Z")
It would be great if there was a scene where “Take On Me” was playing in the background and Bob snarls, “Turn that crap off!” ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/9 "2005-02-25T12:55:29Z")
Now \*that \* is an interesting trailer. Not your usual “all the exciting bits” sort of thing at all. It’s ages since I read any PKD but there’s a little part of my mind that will forever be haunted by Scanner. I hope the film does it justice. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/10 "2005-02-25T17:55:44Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I’d edit the above to say: The technology was first employed in that A-HA video from, like 1983 and has evolved to produce even more impact and detail. Actually, it was first developed by [Max Fleischer](http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Max+Fleischer&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1) 90 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/11 "2005-02-25T18:31:24Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > After seeing that trailer I would have to say that my main concern lies with RDjr and Woody. They seemed stoned - yes I realize that may be the intent- but without more context it is hard to tell. Ha! Actually, the inspired casting of Woody and Bob Jr really helps with the vague anxiety I have about Keanu… Bob Arctor’s circle of friends (and Bob Arctor) are spectacularly dysfunctional druggies. Running a number of favourite vignettes in my head, picturing this cast, I feel pretty confident that it’ll work. One poor schmuck talking another into a _folie a deux_ that involves collecting hundreds of (invisible at first) “coke bugs” in mason jars, because research scientists pay big bucks for novel species. A group of them standing around one of the guys’ ten-speed bikes, gobsmacked that someone who did some recent maintenance work “stole” three gears, leaving just the five on the back wheel and the two on the pedals. And Barris (manic and paranoid, well within the ability of Robert Downy Jr to pull off) demonstrating the super-genius method he’d secretly developed for extracting cocaine from Solarcaine. I can see this cast doing a fine job with all that. I just hope they acknowledge PKD’s afterword to the novel, which really knocks the wind out of you and compliments the ending of the story perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/12 "2005-02-25T19:32:23Z")
I’ve given up trying to come up with a witty excuse to post this pic of [Keanu](http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/gossip//index.php#keanu-heaves-034132) in this thread. Warning: work-safe, but not for the squeamish. But, having posted that (and I know you’ll all thank me for it), I’m very, very excited about this movie. Animation is the way to go for the great “unfilmable” science fiction texts. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/13 "2005-02-25T19:37:00Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I can see this cast doing a fine job with all that. > > I just hope they acknowledge PKD’s afterword to the novel, which really knocks the wind out of you and compliments the ending of the story perfectly. My concern is that this is, in essence, an anti-drug piece of fiction, that could end up inspiring or glamorizing drug use. I’m betting that a lot of the audience will be in some sort of “altered state”. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/14 "2005-02-25T21:34:20Z")
I’m cautiously optimistic. The style fits the tone of the book, and Linklater is a Dick fan himself, unlike John Woo and all those other directors that tried to make a Dick movie. Maybe the awesome animation can even offset Keanu’s acting. I plan to be there on opening night. A good PKD film? This is going to be my Star Wars. I agree there will probably be a lot of high people in the theaters. Way to miss the point. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/15 "2005-02-25T22:47:53Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I just hope they acknowledge PKD’s afterword to the novel, which really knocks the wind out of you and compliments the ending of the story perfectly. According to the third link in the OP, the afterword is adressed in the movie. I hope the movie doesn’t have an anti-drug message because I don’t think that was PKDs intent. I read, not the whole thing but most of, the afterword last night and Dick says that drug use isn’t an illness it is a choice - like choosing to step infront of a car. I forgot about the Solarcaine thing. I imagine that if you could turn Solarcaine into cocaine RDjr would have been very sunburnt whilst in prison. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/16 "2005-02-26T01:05:30Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > \*\*Like a graphic novel come to life, A Scanner Darkly will utilize live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. The technology was first employed in Linklater’s 2001 film **Waking Life** and has evolved to produce even more impact and detail. [/indent] Does anyone else find that animation techique annoying? I saw the trailer before Constantine and hoped throughout that it was just a short gimmic for the intro…but I decided by the end that the whole movie was going to be like that. Count me out. ---
**Author:** ![eno801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/17 "2005-02-26T01:44:31Z")
yeah, i find the style distracting too. why not just do full on animation or live action? i would love too see this movie made live action. imagine the scramble suits sort of like the blurry faces in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. i also wonder how linklater’s script is compared to charlie kaufmanns rejected script? ---
**Author:** ![eno801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/18 "2005-02-26T01:52:33Z")
posted too soon. if any one wants to read Scanner or a few other PKD books online go here: [PHILIP K DICK BOOKS]([http://www.american-buddha.com/phil.dick.toc.htm#PHILIP](http://www.american-buddha.com/phil.dick.toc.htm#PHILIP) K. DICK) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-fans-trailer-for-a-scanner-darkly-now-online/291695/19 "2005-02-26T02:56:37Z")
IIRC, PKD dedicated the book to his pancreas. If that’s correct, then I _hope_ they put that in the opening credits, as that’ll be a surefire indication that the film’s _not_ going to suck. PKDs daughter’s control his estate and they’re being _very_ cautious about who they let film his works. I really hope this film kicks ass, it’\*s one of my favorite books by PKD.