# I, Robot movie in the works **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743 "2002-12-05T18:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/1 "2002-12-05T18:53:37Z")
With Will Smith to play the lead? It’s not clear what the script or even the plot will look like, but it could be interesting. I remember reading a screenplay of I, Robot in the Issac Asimov Magazine writting by someone who’s name I can’t recall. It was very good, touching on many of the themes in the collection of stories but creating a whole new plot to carry it. I don’t know if the current project is related to that in any way. Any thoughts? [http://www.billboard.com/billboard/daily/article\_display.jsp?vnu\_content\_id=1773241](http://www.billboard.com/billboard/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1773241) ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/2 "2002-12-05T19:01:12Z")
More details [here](http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/04/film.smith.reut/index.html), including a brief summary of the plot. It doesn’t really follow Asimov’s story much. From the above article: > [@](#): > > The project originated as “Hardwired,” a futuristic script by Jeff Vintar that was amalgamated with elements of “I, Robot” when Fox bought rights to Asimov’s landmark book It sounds like the only things included from Asimov’s book are the Three Laws of Robotics. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/3 "2002-12-05T19:16:10Z")
When I first heard about it, it sounded like Asimov’s novel **The Naked Sun** was the actual source of the script, not any of the stories in **I Robot**. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/4 "2002-12-05T19:25:29Z")
Yeah, this is kind of weird. Like **photopat** , I remember the technophobic cop being a character from _The Naked Sun_ (among others), and I am kicking myself for not being able to remember the cop’s name. Although I do remember the name of the robot assigned to help him is R. Daneel Olivaw. The only recurring human character in the _I, Robot_ stories (who made a significant impression on me) was a woman robopsychologist, Dr. Susan [whatshername], whose name I also cannot recall. I’m hopeful that **Fenris** will be by soon to clobber me for the memory lapse. [sub]Although I’m probably so low on his radar that he doesn’t have high expectations of my memory anyway.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/5 "2002-12-05T19:28:50Z")
Here’s a pointer to the screenplay I read many years ago, by Harlan Ellison. [http://www.twbookmark.com/books/44/0446670626/](http://www.twbookmark.com/books/44/0446670626/) IIRC, it was really quite good, but at the time considered way too expensive to film. With the current CG maybe it would be possible, but we’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/6 "2002-12-05T19:31:28Z")
Elijah Baley, first book was The Caves of Steel. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/7 "2002-12-05T19:49:12Z")
IIRC, the 3 Bailey/Olivaw books are _Caves of Steel_, _Naked Sun_, & _Robots of Dawn_. Back around 1975, there was some talk of a _Caves of Steel_ movie starring Jack Nicholson & Paul Newman. I remember hearing Ellison reading from his _I, Robot_ screenplay at the 1978 Worldcon in Phoenix. He told us he’d lifted the story structure and the opening shot from _Citizen Kane_. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/8 "2002-12-05T19:57:16Z")
> [@](#): > > The only recurring human character in the I, Robot stories (who made a significant impression on me) was a woman robopsychologist, Dr. Susan [whatshername], whose name I also cannot recall Dr. Susan Calvin ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/9 "2002-12-05T20:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > **Yeah, this is kind of weird. Like photopat, I remember the technophobic cop being a character from _The Naked Sun_ (among others), and I am kicking myself for not being able to remember the cop’s name. Although I do remember the name of the robot assigned to help him is R. Daneel Olivaw. The only recurring human character in the _I, Robot_ stories (who made a significant impression on me) was a woman robopsychologist, Dr. Susan [whatshername], whose name I also cannot recall.** The cop was Elijah Bailey, there were three novels with Elijah Bailey. There were a bunch more with Daneel that aren’t (IMO) worth reading. Dr. Susan Calvin is the robopsychologist. There were a pair of guys…beta-testers who also starred in a half-dozen or so robot stories and even teamed up with Calvin once before she eclipsed them. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/10 "2002-12-05T20:26:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\*The only recurring human character in the _I, Robot_ stories (who made a significant impression on me) was a woman robopsychologist, Dr. Susan [whatshername], whose name I also cannot recall.[/sub] \*\* There were also the two Robot testers who appeared in several of the stories. Mike Donovan and Greg Powell. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/11 "2002-12-05T22:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Telemark \* > \*\*Here’s a pointer to the screenplay I read many years ago, by Harlan Ellison. [NVS, RO Bhopal - Get Fast Update - Education and Career](http://www.twbookmark.com/books/44/0446670626/) > > IIRC, it was really quite good, but at the time considered way too expensive to film. With the current CG maybe it would be possible, but we’ll never know. \*\* Actually, according to Ellison, the reason they didn’t make it was because he called one of the studio execs at Warner Bros. “an artichoke” and that killed the deal. They made the uh, classic, [Damnation Alley](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0075909) instead. Good move, there guys. :rolleyes: I have no doubt that if they’re going to make this without Ellison’s script (which is brilliant and owes more than just the opening scene to _Citizen Kane_, as Ellison acknowledges), it will blow dinosaurs. The original cast of actors Ellison wanted included Ernest Borgnine and George C. Scott. It would have been a powerful, massive film, that completely redefined science fiction cinema. Sadly, that was not to be. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/12 "2002-12-05T22:07:41Z")
So is Will Smith going to play Susan Calvin? It’d be a **real** stretch…Dr. Calvin was fairly humourless. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/13 "2002-12-05T22:10:04Z")
Also, does anyone else remember the travesty that came out the last time Hollywood tried to tackle one of Asimov’s robots? _Bicentennial Man_ was (IMHO) Robin Williams’s worst movie. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/14 "2002-12-05T22:14:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\*So is Will Smith going to play Susan Calvin? It’d be a **real** stretch…Dr. Calvin was fairly humourless. \*\* That’s because she, like all the other “human” characters in the book, was a robot. Either that or Asimov just sucks at character development and dialogue. I have been hesitating to pick up another Asimov novel mainly because I thought that the characters in the stories of **I, Robot** were paper thin. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/15 "2002-12-05T22:30:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Banger \* > \*\*That’s because she, like all the other “human” characters in the book, was a robot. > > Either that or Asimov just sucks at character development and dialogue. I have been hesitating to pick up another Asimov novel mainly because I thought that the characters in the stories of **I, Robot** were paper thin. \*\* I’ve not read his **I, Robot** stories, but his _Caves of Steel_ novels (well, the first three that he wrote) are pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/16 "2002-12-06T00:51:15Z")
_Robots and Empire_ didn’t have Lije Baily in it (it’s after his death), but it really does properly belong with the other three Robot Novels. And I didn’t think that Susan Calvin was a robot at all. The key thing about her character is that _she doesn’t like most humans_. All Asimovian robots, by contrast, absolutely like humans: That’s the natural consequence of the firrst two laws. In fact, unless it’s given a specific Second Law order by a human, a robot cares not at all for the safety, comfort, or continued existence of a robot other than itself. Really, much though I like _I, Robot_, I don’t see how it could be made into a movie (or even a TV show, though that might be more manageable). The problem is that the bulk of the cast is different for each story. Sure, you’ve got either Calvin or Donovan and Powell in almost every story, but everyone else, including all of the robots, changes from story to story. In a book, you can introduce a new character with a single line of text, so this is not a problem, but it’s not so easy on screen ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/17 "2002-12-06T00:55:13Z")
Reading Asimov for the characters is kind of missing the point. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/18 "2002-12-06T01:07:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\*Also, does anyone else remember the travesty that came out the last time Hollywood tried to tackle one of Asimov’s robots? _Bicentennial Man_ was (IMHO) Robin Williams’s worst movie. \*\* You must have missed **Club Paradise**. \ And you guys have got it all wrong - they’re really making a movie about [this](http://www.theonion.com/onion3326/irowboat.html). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/19 "2002-12-06T03:29:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > **_Robots and Empire_ didn’t have Lije Baily in it (it’s after his death), but it really does properly belong with the other three Robot Novels.** I disagree. It belongs in the garbage can along with the unspeakable **Prelude to Foundation** and **Forward to Foundation** and **Foundation and Earth** which are so excrutiatingly bad (IMO) that they almost succed in retroactively polluting the earlier stories to the point that you can’t read the earlier stories without recalling the stench of the later extruded Asimov Product [sup]tm[/sup]. But as bad as they are, they’re not as bad (I’ve heard) as the Brin?Bear/Benford sequels which (among other atrocities) apparently try to “fix” all the weird tech contradictions (slide rules and FTL for example) by saying that the robots had set up sattilites all over the galaxy beaming “stupidity-rays” at people’s brains. There aren’t enough :rolleyes: s on the net to convey my contempt for that idea. As an aside, if you want to see what _really_ happened after **Second Foundation** (and can forget that Asimov’s attempts to f\*ck up his universe. Heh. And people say that _Heinlein_ went senile. His writing issues were _nothin’_ compared to Asmiov’s drivel. One word: Gaia.) Donald Kingsbury wrote an unauthorized sequel called **Psychohistorical Crisis** that ignores all of Asimov’s '80s and later crap with Daneel-The-Omnipotent as the behind the scenes puppetter. It’s set _after_ the 1000 year plan with the Foundation firmly in control and asks “what next?”. Since it was unauthorized, he had to file off the serial numbers (Hari Seldon becomes “The Founder”, for example) and there’s a bunch of funny “in” jokes (there’s a rickety robot named Danny suffering from delusions of grandure) but it’s a fantastic, compelling story that _doesn’t_ damage the source material the way Asimov and the authorized sharecroppers did. I can’t recommend it enough to Asmiov fans. \*\* > [@](#): > > And I didn’t think that Susan Calvin was a robot at all. \*\* She’s objectively _not_ a robot: look at her behavior in “Liar!” and the one with the infant robot: she’s a repressed '40s Ice Queen who is unable to relate to people at all but she’s certainly biological and one of Asimov’s most compelling characters. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743/20 "2002-12-06T04:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Actually, according to Ellison, the reason they didn’t make it was because he called one of the studio execs at Warner Bros. “an artichoke” and that killed the deal. \*\* Actually, he said the exec (Robert Shapiro) “had the intellectual capacity of an artichoke.” I just reread my dad’s copy of Ellison’s screenplay over Thanksgiving break. It would’ve been an excellent film. Incidentally, I read the actual novel “I, Robot” _after_ I had read Ellison’s adaptation, and liked Harlan’s work better than the original. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-robot-movie-in-the-works/140743.md?page=2)