Neuromancer

Thinking about what Gibson 😉 said... if it actually holds water, it could be great. It just can't end up looking like some derivative version of Johnny Mnemonic 🙂

There’s been some chatter floating around about CC and Neuromancer lately, but honestly, it feels like just another typical Hollywood situation where everything gets stuck in development hell—there’s a 95% chance it stays exactly there.
Until some board filled with executives who probably know about the book about as much as a cow knows about ballet gives the green light (usually just based on whether they think it'll make a quick buck), nothing is actually going to happen.

Even putting that aside, getting an adaptation made is a massive uphill battle because The Matrix trilogy basically stripped the book's visual identity and ran with it. I mean, what’s really the point of making another movie where a bunch of rebels are released into some gritty deep underworld inside something called Zion?

By the way, I remember a few years back there was some buzz about adapting Count Zero with Michael Mann directing.
And apparently, Cameron wanted to tackle Burning Chrome too.

I still don't get why most Gibson fans—besides me, anyway—didn't dig Johnny Mnemonic even just a little bit... 😕

Look, I know the movie is garbage by any logical standard, but it actually managed to nail that specific Gibson vibe, especially the visuals. I remember walking out of the theater with this huge, stupid grin on my face, and my buddies were basically looking at me like, "No way you actually liked THAT." But I was just trying to explain that even though the movie is a total wreck, there are these visual details that hit perfectly... they actually match how I picture his stuff in my head...

stormywolf39 said:You mean Gibson's😉 ...if that's actually true, it could be great—as long as it doesn't end up looking like Johnny Mnemonic 🙂

William Gibson, or maybe just William, right? 😉

Personally, Johnny was absolute trash for some very subjective reasons 😍
and I am dying to see Neuromancer, 👋 ...especially if Chris is at the helm. 😁
I honestly don't get what people expect from cyberpunk novel adaptations... it’s not like they're making Jacob's Ladder or anything.
I watched both The Matrix movies; the first one worked for me, but the second was just a complete disappointment.
Unfortunately, Gibson's tech is pretty dated by today's standards, but under Chris's direction, this could turn into something truly spectacular... besides, if you set aside everything The Matrix swiped (which is what Richard Hernandez13 was talking about), Neuromancer is visually and intellectually open enough to allow for almost any interpretation 🙂))

With these kinds of films (or projects, whatever), atmosphere is everything... the set design... smart cinematic choices (it needs to feel at least half as cool as a Portishead music video 😍 )... obviously, a fancy CGI render like what we saw in Immortal won't save it if the script is garbage.

Can't wait.
😍

Did they actually nail the visual vibe of Gibson's world?
Honestly, the whole movie looks like it was cobbled together from scraps found in a junkyard!
It basically reduces the entire cyberpunk aesthetic down to nothing more than neon lights, cellophane, and cheap plastic wrap.

Just tacky.

Richard Hernandez13 said:Does it actually capture the visual essence of Gibson's world?
The movie looks like it was cobbled together from literal garbage!
It reduces the whole cyberpunk genre to nothing more than neon lights, cellophane, and cheap plastic wrap.

Pure trash.

Where on earth did you get that from? I didn't even say anything like that in my post.

Seriously, it was always stormyviper11.
😬

That’s what I get—I shouldn't let myself get distracted when I'm reading through all these idiots' posts...😁

Richard Hernandez13 said:Does it actually nail the Gibson aesthetic?
The movie looks like it was cobbled together from literal garbage found in a junkyard!
It basically strips cyberpunk down to just neon lights, cellophane, and cheap plastic wraps.

gross...

I mean, in Gibson's world, pretty much everything IS made out of junk from a landfill...

It’s honestly still so fascinating to me that the Sprawl is the only imaginary world little Daria would ever actually want to live in. 😁

unfortunately, Gibson's work is already so technically outdated

That's a fair point, though I’d personally argue that Will is at his weakest when he's trying to sketch out different cyber-subcultures; someone without any real talent would just reduce everything to a tired mix of cellophane, neon lights, and plastic wrap.
Falabog, Gibson wasn't really interested in the technical mechanics of the concept anyway—to be honest, the guy didn't even realize that networking was basically a solved theoretical problem by then—he was much more focused on how technology shapes society and the individual. Like, how does Joseph Virek feel when he scratches his backside, if he doesn't even have a backside anymore? 😁
The whole idea of cyberspace isn't quite the bombshell it was back in '84 given how much we live online now, but it still remains, as Amy Gomez36 mentioned, a massive playground for visual interpretation since the descriptions in the book are so abstract.
They'd probably be better off starting with Count Zero—by then, cyberspace is already an established reality and doesn't need all that heavy lifting to explain it.

By the way, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Matrix stole from Neuromancer. In SF, just like in any other genre of literature (and cyberpunk is definitely a subgenre), motifs and iconography are constantly being recycled and revisited.

And there's one more important thing regarding film adaptations.
Who actually owns the rights to the book? I remember reading a Premiere where there was an article about Johnny Mnemonic. Gibson mentions that he sold the rights to some second-rate film studio (there were tons of them back in the '80s) who started, and I quote, "screwing up the book." He doesn't say how it all turned out.

stormyviper11 said:In Gibson's world, pretty much everything is cobbled together from whatever junk you can scavenge from a landfill.

But I don't think that applies to absolutely EVERYTHING.

I honestly can't help but feel that Philip K. Dick still holds more weight and relevance than Gibson does.

stormyviper11 said:I honestly still can't wrap my head around why most Gibson fans—aside from myself, of course—didn't find Johnny Mnemonic even remotely appealing... 😕

Look, I'll say it: it isn't actually that bad... I mean, you've got Takeshi Kitano showing up in the movie, haven't you? 😁

And that’s also why Mnemonic ended up being shown in a version that was about ten minutes longer back when it hit theaters in the USA. 😁

stormyviper11 said:I still don't get why most Gibson fans—aside from myself—weren't even a little bit impressed by Johnny Mnemonic... 😕

My vision was a bit different. Sure, everything could be built out of junk, but there should have been way more "high tech" mixed into that trash. Plus, the directing, the camerawork, the effects... none of it really worked.

Yeah, I mean, it obviously boils down to how much of Gibson's vision actually made it onto the screen. For me, it hit the mark pretty well, but for you, maybe just a little or not at all. And honestly, regarding those technical gripes, you're not wrong... everything checks out...