Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The

By Corona's Coming Attractions     February 16, 2005

Genre:
Science Fiction/Comedy.

Studio:
Hollywood Pictures.

Production Company:
Spyglass Entertainment.

Project Phase:
Released.

Who's In It:
Martin Freeman (Arthur Dent); Mos Def (Ford Prefect); Sam Rockwell (Zaphod Beeblebrox); Zooey Deschanel (Trisha "Trillian" McMillan); Warwick Davis (Marvin); Bill Nighy (Slartibartfast); John Malkovich (Humma Kavula).

Who's Making It:
Garth Jennings (Director); Karey Kirkpatrick, Josh Friedman, Douglas Adams (Screenwriters); Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Nick Goldsmith (Producers); Douglas Adams, Robby Stamp, Jonathan Glickman (Executive Producers); based on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel by Douglas Adams.

Premise:
Arthur Dent starts his morning off by finding out his cozy English home is being immediately demolished to make way for a new highway bypass. By the time brunch is being served, Arthur's morning goes from bleak to miserable as he finds out his cozy blue-green planet is being immediately demolished to make way for a new interstellar highway bypass.

Rescued from the destruction of the Earth by Ford Prefect, Arthur's friend-who-is-really-an-alien, the two 'hitchhike' on-board spacecrafts and encounter the owners, who're often annoyed to see they have stowaways. Thankfully, there exists something to help Arthur cope with his loss of fixed address: the ultimate traveling companion and a necessity for any intergalactic bohemian, a copy of the bestselling book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It's a shame Arthur's still miserable, though.

Release Date:
May 6, 2005.

Comments:
None.

Scoop Feedback:

June 17, 2003... Variety reports that a new director has been put on the long-suffering HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie project. Garth Jennings replaces AUSTIN POWERS hemlmer Jay Roach as the GUIDE's director, with producing partner Nick Goldsmith along for the ride with Jennings.

So who the heck are these guys?

It turns out that Jennings and Goldsmith own the commercial and music video production company known as Hammer & Tongs. Together the two English men have made a name for themselves creating videos for such musical acts as Fatboy Slim and Robbie Williams. HITCHHIKER'S is the first feature-length project for their firm.

Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN) is still associated with the project and will work with the duo on a new draft. The project has been in development for years at Disney, with Spyglass Entertainment trying unsuccessfully to shepherd Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy out of development hell but never succeeding. Let's hope this does the trick.

October 3, 2003... After almost two decades of being trapped in development hell, Walt Disney Pictures has finally given a greenlight for the feature film adaptation of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Filming is scheduled to commence next year in England, with city scenes to be shot in London.

What appears to have finally worked in favor of the GUIDE movie was the introduction of music video director Garth Jennings and his producing partner Nick Goldsmith. Karey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN) wrote the latest draft of the GUIDE movie based on Douglas Adams classic sci-fi comedy novel.

And now the casting begins... [Source: Variety.]

January 12, 2004... Straight out of the blue came our latest scoop, and it's from the same reader that first told us that the new BATMAN movie shooting in Iceland next month. Needless to say that since his scoop turned out to be legit, we're paying closer attention now to what he has to say!

According to our European friend, the long delayed HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie may be quietly preparing to move into gear. The scooper told us that Labrador Pictures will assist the HITCHHIKER'S production shoot in Iceland "either in April or August this year" and that the location will likely be on a glacier, as in the case with the soon-to-be filming BATMAN shoot. It's expected that the exterior shoot will only take up about a week or a little more of time and only cost the production about a million dollars. When our scooper tried to find out more information they were told that the scenes in question "will concern the white and dark planet (don't remember that from the book, though I've read it more than once."

According to the GUIDE series of books, the most likely use of an icy exterior would be either showing the handiwork Slartibartfast, the Magrathean planetary designer who won an award for designing Norway, or for the proof of design that Arthur Dent finds when he explores that region of the planet in a later adventure. (Don't worry: if none of this makes any sense to you, it does to those who have read Douglas Adams' series of novels.)

While it may not be proof positive, a website for the Labrador Pictures company exists and details their past production experience. It also confirms their prior work experience shooting film in the icy climes of Norway and that they offer "complete production services in Iceland."

Cross your fingers and let's hope it's happening...

[Special thanks to our friend for not panicking.]

January 13, 2004... The BBCi Films broke a major exclusive about THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie, namely, which two actors will be starring in the film: Martin Freeman (LOVE ACTUALLY) will play Arthur Dent while Bill Nighy (UNDERWORLD) will play Slartibartfast. BBCi even got a quote from Nighy about his excitement for the project:

"I'm a big fan of the book and the people who are making it are very cool people and I think they're going to do a good job," Nighy told the website. "It's a really good script. It's really, really faithful [to the book]. All the jokes are there and they're big fat jokes. It's wonderful."

This news adds weight to our exclusive scoop from yesterday concerning a start to filming for the GUIDE movie later this year. [BBCi.]

January 16, 2004... Switch on your truth

detector and take this rumor with a pound of salt until it's proven otherwise, but according to this report on the Magrathea fansite (which tracks news about THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY film), a prototype costume for Marvin the Paranoid Android has been accidentally made available on the internet (see photo). Magrathea webmaster M.J. Simpson tells readers in today's news report that the photo in question was brought to his attention by a fan "who innocently looked at a site which turned out to be producer Nick Goldsmith's blog!" Apparently the image was shortly removed from the blog thereafter.

Simpson goes on the record as stating that the photo of the costume, alleged to be one of several prototypes manufactured by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, is not a hoax. "A reliable source at Henson's has confirmed that several other prototype Marvin suits have been produced - though they're all about three feet tall! - and a final selection has not been made," writes Simpson on his website.

While it's impossible to independently confirm the Magrathea discovery since the photo on the blog in question is no more, Simpson's credentials as a HITCHHIKER'S expert aren't in doubt. He's the author of two books about Douglas Adams sci-fi comedy series, THE POCKET ESSENTIAL HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE and HITCHHIKER: A BIOGRAPHY OF DOUGLAS ADAMS. He has also updated Neil Gaiman's HITCHHIKER'S book DON'T PANIC.

The current scuttlebutt is that actor Warwick Davis (best known for his role as Wicket the Ewok in RETURN OF THE JEDI) has been hired to play Marvin the Paranoid Android in the movie. Warwick stands three-foot-six, which meshes with the Magrathea report that the Marvin costumes are around three feet tall in size.

At least one other website is saying that the image is legitimate. The HITCHHIKER'S website Douglas Adams Continuum is also reporting that it's a prototype manufactured by the Creature Shop and thus may not be the final robot design we'll see in the movie.

[Sent straight from anonymous.]

January 29, 2004... Yesterday Dark Horizons was the first to publish the news and today it's confirmed by Variety: the actors assigned to the roles of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Trillian have been signed, sealed and delivered for THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY film. Martin Freeman (from THE OFFICE) will play Dent; Mos Def will play Prefect and Zooey Deschanel will be Trillian.

While Variety's report made no mention of who's in the running to play the two-headed President of the Galaxy and all-around cool frood Zaphod Beeblebrox, Dark Horizons did say that Robert Downey Jr. had been the filmmakers choice -- until Downey asked for a number of changes to the screenplay and a deal for insurance coverage for the actor couldn't be worked out (allegedly.) [Variety.]

February 5, 2004... Sam Rockwell, star of CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND and known to science fiction fans as Guy the security guy in GALAXY QUEST, will be sipping Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters shortly because the actor has been cast as Zaphod Beeblebrox in the HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie. The two-headed President of the Galaxy is one of the two that pick up the last Earthman, Arthur Dent, and his companion Ford Prefect after the Earth has been destroyed by the Vogon construction force. Martin Freeman, Mos Des and Zooey Deschanel have already been cast as Arthur, Ford and Trillian, respectively, in the film.

Filming starts in April with Garth Jennings directing. So who's playing Marvin the Paranoid Android? [The Hollywood Reporter.]

April 16, 2004... April 16, 2004... Actor John Malkovich has joined the cast of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie. Unlike the earlier casting announcements, Malkovich is playing a character not seen in Douglas Adams' novel but one created for the film (at the instruction of the novelist himself.) The character's name is Humma Kavula and he is described as being a religious cult leader.

Filming on the long awaited GUIDE starts this month in London. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

July 23, 2004... We've just received word that the teaser trailer for THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY was shown moments ago at the Pixar panel held at the San Diego Comic Convention. Running between 30 to 60 seconds long, here's how our correspondent described the imagery shown to the audience:

The teaser opens with a tracking shot of the Earth from orbit, like you're flying backwards. Louie Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" song plays over the images.

Suddenly the Earth blows up. Then the shot freezes in mid-explosion.

The words "Don't Panic" appear onscreen.

The explosion of the Earth then continues on, resuming back to normal speed. Debris of the planet fly everywhere. The camera zips through the starscape.

Then the words "The end of the world is just the beginning" appear onscreen.

The starfield resolves itself into a stylized hitchhiker hand.

The teaser ends with the words THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Don't leave Earth without it - 2005.

The THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie is scheduled to open June 3, 2005.

[Big props to David Wharton for being an eyewitness to the event.]

August 9, 2004... We've now added the movie's logo artwork as well as a link to the official website to our page.

January 17, 2005... We've now added the film's first poster to our listing, as well as updated our page to reflect the movie's new release date: May 6, 2005.

Official Web Site:

hitchhikers.movies.go.com