Michel Gondry directing UBIK, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s seminal novel
Michel Gondry is a pretty busy filmmaker, considering every time he’s interviewed a new piece of news drops concerning a project he’s been working on. After just releasing THE GREEN HORNET, Gondry is set to begin work on THE WE AND THE I by this summer. Now, it looks like he’s added another project to his slate and this time it’s a doozy.
Michel Gondry has signed on to direct an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s UBIK. Never heard of the novel? Well, hit the jump for some details.
The novel, a science-fiction farce with a nightmarish tone, was named one of the 20th Century’s essential novels by Time magazine back in 2005. If that doesn’t convince you, check out this short synopsis courtesy of Dick’s website…
“Glen Runciter is dead. Or is everybody else? Someone died in an explosion orchestrated by Runciter’s business competitors. And, indeed, it’s the kingly Runciter whose funeral is scheduled in Des Moines. But in the meantime, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering — and sometimes scatological — messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping in ways that suggest that their own time is running out. Or already has.
Philip K. Dick’s searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation (the latter available in a convenient aerosol spray) is tour de force of paranoiac menace and unfettered slapstick, in which the departed give business advice, shop for their next incarnation, and run the continual risk of dying yet again.”
There aren’t many directors that could handle complicated source material like this, but if anyone can do it it’s Gondry. His unique style should lend itself well to this type of film, as the novel deals quite a bit with the distortion of reality and our perception of time.
Philip K. Dick’s novels have a history of being adapted into great films, with MINORITY REPORT, BLADE RUNNER and TOTAL RECALL all having been drawn from Dick’s work. The latest adaptation, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, is scheduled to hit theaters in March.
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