‘WE THOUGHT THEY'D HAVE RUINED IT, BUT IN FACT THE SCRIPT WAS FANTASTIC'
thought they'd have rttined it. but in taet the xet'ipt wax litritttxlie. l)ouglax wrote it and we revixed it with xereenwriter Kare} lx'irkpatriek (Flue/(4'11 Rim. 'l'lit' [NI/e lump/"rel. Some ol' tlte original plot pointx have been given a little "/ing" in termx ot~ aetion and eontliet. bttt it'x xlill a era/y arid unique lilm and there are xtill timex when the lilm tlirowx itx own narrative xtrueture ottt the window and runx naked down the mountain xereamingf
'l‘rieky thing though. trying to bring xueh a well loved te\t to the big xereen. .-\t'ter all. thix ix a xtory that ix deeply ingrained in the popular pxy elie. .-\xk (ioogle the meaning ol me. the univerxe and everything. and it'll tell you the anxw er ix 43; Radiohead'x ‘l’aranoid .-\ndroid' ix named alter Marvin the robot; and how do you think Level 42 got their name'.’ 'l‘hankx tor that one. l)ougla.x.
\Vliat makex a great lilm interpretation even harder ix that there ix no delinitiv e \erxion to work from. ax eaeh inearnation ol. the xtory ix xlightly dill‘erent. ()ne axpeet ol. the tilm that may get up liztnx‘ ttoxex ix the introduction iii a romance between Arthur and lemale heroine 'l‘rillian t/oey Dexehanel). xomething whieh ltaxn't appeared in any other verxion and expeeially xinee there ix l)i.xney involvement (albeit in dixtribution only ). Ytth Syrupy Hollywood?
But aetually. Martin lireeman ix titre with it. 'I don't think thix lilm would have been made without the love xtory. I think it had to he ineluded to tnake it more or" a einematie experienee. rather than an elongated xketehf he .xayx. ‘I think people are a little too harxh on love. lt‘x all very well xaying in life you don't get the girl. you don‘t get what you want. but aetually .xometimex you do. and w hat‘x wrong with xhowing that'.’
"l‘he xtory ix about human relationxhipx and the nature ol‘ exixtenee. but done in rather a light way. 'l‘here‘x not a heavy philoxophieal traet btrt it lookx at the tneaning of what it ix to be alive and what it tneanx to love xomehodyf
l)e.xpite new bitx. there are nodx to the xtory‘x
previon inearnationx throughout. Wateh out lor
the 'l‘\' .xeriex Marvin in the haekground. the original Arthur Dent Simon Jonex ax the warning hologram beamed to the xhip ahove Magrathea. varioux itnagex ol l)ougla.x Atlatnx and the joyoux recreation ol the TV theme tune. But you don’t have to be a biker geek to get it. aeeording to Martin. 'Thix lilm ixn‘t jtixt l'or Ililt‘lzlrrker'x lanx. liveryone hax to get xomething l'rom it. We will have failed if it‘x only lliIe/rlrikw' l'anx that eome to we it. liqually we will have tailed il‘ no Hitt'hltikt'r lanx like it. They're important and they really want it to be good'.
So. a new leaxe ol‘ lil‘e l'or an old l'avourite. At laxt. Take the front eover ol’ the (am/e itxell' ax inxpiration and imagine itx large friendly letterx. Change ix a good thing: l)on't Panie.
On general release from Thu 28 Apr. See review, page 46.
' 21/1 '31} 231‘, THE LIST 23
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