h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yup, but the fact he's dead might cause problems.

I'd heard either Hugh Laurie or Bruce Willis for Arthur and Carrey as Zaphod (I can't really see an unknown like Mark Wing-Davey fronting a major international movie, never mind the fact he must be in his 50s now).

maybe they can do a voice-over?

Well, I suppose so, but they'd have to write the rest of the movie to match the existing tape of Mr Jones' voice. If they could find someone who could do *that* good an impersonation they should just hire him under his own name.

Michael Palin was considered for the role of the Book back in 1978. He's got the right sort of voice, plus he's well known in America, and he was a friend of DNA's. I can think of worse people to do it.

Douglas wanted a female voice for the movie. Because no male voice would match up to Peter Jones, I suppose.

I wonder, *where* do you guys hear all this??

Well, seeing as Jim used to work for Douglas, I've got a pretty shrewd idea where that little insight came from...

ok, but not everyone has the privilege of having worked for dna,so what about the others?

As I said earlier in the thread, Douglas wanted Nigel Hawthorne as Slartibartfast, which is also impossible now.

I think Hugh Laurie as Arthur was mentioned. And Jim Carrey was always being mentioned for Zaphod.

My choice for Ford Prefect was Jeff Goldblum, but another good suggestion was Steve Buscemi.

All totally hypothetical at the moment, though.

IS there a site where i can follow the progress of the film or this all still just speculation?

At the moment there is no progress. The film is in what is usually referred to as 'Development Hell'. There's a finished script by Douglas, which he and the original director, Jay Roach, were happy with. However, the studio (a Disney subsidiary - I forget which one) was unhappy with the budget (getting towards $100m or beyond, I guess). So it's stuck now, until someone is willing to roll the dice on what is perceived by a lot of people as a cult item, with unknown mass appeal.

Sadly, there isn't much more information than that. Since Douglas died, there have been rumours that the studio is more willing to proceed, but until it's actually shooting, I wouldn't hold your collective breaths. There's a lot of wishful thinking going on at this stage.

I think they should be more willing to proceed because they agree on the terms, not because Douglas Adams died. They should dedicated the film to him, but not make as a gesture of goodwill, because that is a very shaky basis to make a film IMHO.

You wouldn't believe how many stupid business decisions can be made with the intention to capitalise on Douglas' death.

They'd be better off looking to next year, and the 25th anniversary of Hitchhiker's.

Regarding the 25th anniversary, are there any events planned to celibrate this?

Not currently. It's a bit too far away to plan anything yet.

There's a new biography of Douglas being written which will be published to coincide with the anniversary. That's all I'm aware of.

k thx!

If they could write a script that didn't change a word of what the book said, no one else but Peter's original recordings would do.

As much as I love Peter Jones's narrations, I think we should have someone else have a go

peace.

Quite....

A female voice for the book? Hmmm - now that's a novel idea... How about Rula Lenska (voice of Lentilla, I think)...

maybe (and yes she was Lentilla).

But, I'm not sure about changing it too much. What about Humphrey Lyttleton? (Chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue). He has that sort of warm, informative, yet comedy voice in the same sort of way Peter Jones did!