WEIRDLAND: Brave New World film version by Ridley Scott

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Brave New World film version by Ridley Scott

"Ridley Scott is going back to the futurism.

The director who helmed “Blade Runner” will take on one of the most highly regarded dystopian works of literature, Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”
Scott and DiCaprio will produce via their respective Scott Free and Appian Way banners, with Michael Costigan also producing for Scott Free and George DiCaprio producing at Appian. Peter Cramer is overseeing for Uni. DiCaprio is shooting the Christopher Nolan adventure tale “Inception” but does not have a movie lined up after that.“Brave” has had several go-rounds on television, including a Leonard Nimoy-Peter Gallagher pic on NBC in 1998. But Huxley’s idea-rich novel hasn’t had a shot on the big screen.Huxley sets his book in a seemingly perfect 26th century world that has achieved harmony by tightly controlling birth, which takes place mainly in laboratories, and outlawing family. The world is populated by a series of five castes, each with its own defined roles.

Characters who figure in to the story are Bernard, a lower-caste member, and Lenina, the woman with whom he is infatuated.
DiCaprio is would likely play Bernard, who is persecuted when the leaders of the society find his behavior antisocial.George Orwell’s “1984” has had several theatrical turns, including Michael Anderson’s Columbia version in 1956 and the somewhat better regarded John Hurt-toplined take 25 years ago.
The director took the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and turned it into the 1982 futurist pic “Blade Runner.” While the movie divided critics and didn’t enjoy a great theatrical run, it has had a long life on video and become a cult classic".
Source: www.riskybusinessblog.com

"If you had a God, you'd have a reason for self-denial".
"But industrial civilization is only possible when there's no self-denial. Self-indulgence up to the very limits imposed by hygiene and economics. Otherwise the wheels stop turning."
"You'd have a reason for chastity!" said the Savage, blushing a little as he spoke the words.

"But chastity means passion, chastity means neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can't have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices."
"But God's the reason for everything noble and fine and heroic. If you had a God…"

"My dear young friend", said Mustapha Mond, "civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism. These things are symptoms of political inefficiency. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble or heroic. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise. Where there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objects of love to be fought for or defended–there, obviously, nobility and heroism have some sense. But there aren't any wars nowadays. The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving any one too much. There's no such thing as a divided allegiance; you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do."

" Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears–that's what soma is."

"But the tears are necessary. Don't you remember what Othello said? 'If after every tempest came such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death.' There's a story one of the old Indians used to tell us, about the Girl of Mátaski. The young men who wanted to marry her had to do a morning's hoeing in her garden. It seemed easy; but there were flies and mosquitoes, magic ones. Most of the young men simply couldn't stand the biting and stinging. But the one that could–he got the girl."
"Charming! But in civilized countries," said the Controller, "you can have girls without hoeing for them, and there aren't any flies or mosquitoes to sting you. We got rid of them all centuries ago."
The Savage nodded, frowning. "You got rid of them. Yes, that's just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it. Whether 'tis better in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them … But you don't do either. Neither suffer nor oppose. You just abolish the slings and arrows. It's too easy".
Source: www.huxley.net

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