Philip K. Dick's dark dreams still fodder for films

When he died in 1982, mere months before the release of "Blade Runner" (a film based on his novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," but with a title borrowed from a novel by another troubled visionary, William S. Burroughs), his name meant so little that the re-release of his novel was overshadowed by a novel churned out from the movie script and spit into supermarket racks.


	Tom Cruise stars in "Minority Report," the latest cinematic adaptation of a Philip K. Dick work. Dreamworks Click for larger photo

In the 20 years since his death, a half-dozen of his works have been translated to the screen, from "Total Recall" (based on "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale") to the just released "Minority Report," directed by Steven Spielberg.

"The Philip K. Dick story only gives you a springboard that really doesn't have a second or third act," explained Spielberg in his recent trip to Seattle. "Most of the movie is not in the Philip K. Dick story -- to the chagrin of the Philip K. Dick fans, I'm sure."

In fact, most film adaptations retain little more than the basic, brilliant premise of Dick's work, which explains why his short stories are more attractive than his complex, hard-to-tame novels.

"I think what appeals to Hollywood is the idea of a high concept in Phil Dick's works," observes Mark Steensland, director of the documentary "The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick." "These things that can be summed up in a one-line pitch."

Even the seeds of his concepts, however, sprout resonant ideas that the biggest special effects can't destroy, and they have pollinated the creative ground of many other films, from the moral quandaries posed by technology in "The 6th Day" to the paranoia and sanity-threatening conspiracies of "The Truman Show" and "The Matrix."

Dick is an unlikely guru for modern science-fiction cinema: a pulp philosopher turned godfather of the 1960s sci-fi wave whose stories became a meeting place between the physical and the metaphysical.

"Unlike many previous science-fiction writers, he's not a very hard tech kind of guy, he's more free floating in his speculations," says Steven Shaviro, a University of Washington professor of English. As technology complicates our lives and presents new moral dilemmas, Dick's primal themes -- what is reality and what does it mean to be human -- seem all the more relevant. "He speaks to the way people react to this overstimulating world," explains Jason Koornick, webmaster of philipkdick.com, the Internet meeting place of all things Philip K. Dick since 1997.

In contrast to the courageous and gifted sci-fi heroes of so many novels who embark on affirming voyages of self-discovery, the protagonists of Dick's 36 novels and more than 100 short stories are working stiffs thrust into situations that defy their comprehension while grasping an increasingly precarious sense of identity. Novels such as "Time Out of Joint," "Ubik," "A Scanner Darkly" and "Valis" are shot through with schizophrenia, paranoia and the inability to know what is real.

There's a desperation to these odysseys and a panic in his prose, as if Dick was rushing to pour out his ideas on the page before they evaporated in his head. Fueled by alcohol and amphetamines, the wildly prolific author seemed to uncork his imagination and download his fantasies as fast as he could type. Gary Goldman, co-writer of "Total Recall" and the first screenwriter to tackle "Minority Report," describes his style as "riffing, like a beat poet or a Kerouac" on the ideas swirling around his head.

Dick's novels careen this way and that, plots spinning out of control while events become more insane. Says Goldman: "It feels like you're going crazy and he's trying to come up with the whole world that would make that reasonable. He's using his imagination to try and explain away the madness."

Dick's life finally imitated his art in 1974 when he experienced what was either a drug-inspired spiritual experience or a paranoia-laced nervous breakdown. Steensland's book explores this event and its aftermath. "He became obsessed with trying to figure out what had happened to him. Had he really had an experience of the divine, and what did that mean?"

"I'm not going to say he was the most literary writer or the most consistent," Koornick says. "It's all about the ideas."

That's the draw for screenwriter Goldman, who likes to push the envelope of expectations: What if "Total Recall" actually takes place in the character's head? What does that say about our understanding of reality? What if the predictions of the future in "The Minority Report" come true even when the participants know those predictions and seek to change them? What does that say about free will?

In the transition from script to screen, these ideas become less statements than echoes, yet they nonetheless reverberate through the work.

Perhaps Hollywood isn't ready to fully embrace the dark dreams and paranoid visions of Dick, but his ideas continue to inspire filmmakers. At least three more properties are currently in development according to "Variety," including the short stories "King of the Elves" (a wry fantasy being developed as a kid's film) and "Paycheck" (a conspiracy thriller about a man with no memory).

A more fascinating project is the novel "A Scanner Darkly," which would be Dick's first novel brought to the screen since "Blade Runner." The paranoid study in drug addiction and government conspiracies is being developed by Richard Linklater ("Waking Life") for producers Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney, and its complex story and schizophrenic point of view will prove a challenge.

But then Dick's ideas have always been difficult for Hollywood to tame. Even happy endings can't erase the contradictions and ramifications inherent in the madness of the dilemmas his ideas pose.

A PHILIP K. DICK FILMOGRAPHY

Adaptations:

"Blade Runner" (1982) from the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" -- the film that put Dick's sensibility on the cultural map.

"Total Recall" (1990) from short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" -- turns premise of manipulated memories and shifting realities into an action film.

"Barjo" (1992, France) from the novel "Confessions of a Crap Artist" -- a rare non-sci-fi book.

"Screamer" (1995) from the short story "Second Variety" -- the evolution of technology becomes a Darwinian nightmare; the most faithful adaptation to date.

"Impostor" (2002) from the short story "Impostor" -- the classic Dick theme of identity under fire, and a less than classic movie, but what an ending!

"Minority Report" (2002) from the short story "The Minority Report" -- morality is the last thing to catch up with technology.

Inspirations: a few highlights:

"Videodrome" (1983) -- David Cronenberg's dark fantasy of media, technology, and flesh evolving into a nightmarish reality.

"The Trouble With Dick" (1987) -- comedy about a sci-fi author with writer's block, loosely inspired by Dick.

"They Live" (1988) -- alien conspiracies, consumerist satire, and one of the few films to capture Dick's sneaky sense of humor.

"Open Your Eyes/Abre los ojos" (1997, Spain) The original of the Hollywood remake "Vanilla Sky" (2001).

"Dark City" (1998) -- reality as an ever-shifting construct.

"The Truman Show" (1998) -- just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world isn't watching your every move (see his novel "Time Out of Joint").

"The Thirteenth Floor" (1999) -- meditations on the nature of reality and existence.

"The Matrix" (1999) -- talk about living in a fantasy world!

"eXistenZ" (1999) -- technology and biology merge, fantasy and reality blur.

"The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick" (2000) -- the documentary portrait of Dick's life-changing vision in 1974.

"The 6th Day" (2000) -- identity in a world where cloning can stamp out a perfect copy, right down to the memories.

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