Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
The Kennedy-Marshall Company.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Marco Brambilla (Director); Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Screenwriter); based upon the
Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash.
Premise: In the future world where everyone can 'live' in the digital realm through the persona of an 'avatar', Hiro Protagonist's day job isn't nearly as cool as his near-legendary avatar reputation makes him out to be. Hiro's life takes a cosmic tumble one day when his best friend is destroyed by something called 'Snow Crash' - a digital virus that can effectively destroy a human being just by viewing it. As Hiro uncovers the evidence pointing to who (and what) was responsible for the virus' creation, other parties with their own hidden agendas begin to track down the root of Snow Crash. And, before you know it, the future existance of mankind hangs in the balance.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash revived the nearly-dead genre of cyberpunk; in that, it echoes the debut of Neuromancer, the William Gibson novel that introduced the concepts of cyberspace to citizens entering the cusp of the digital epoch. Stephenson's book is a collage of ideas and paradigm-shattering philosophies; concepts are thrown about, discarded, expanded upon and then fused to create a near-future storyline that the reader can easily see occurring. At times the book delves into deep logic and thought idologies: how human language is itself a form of virus, how information will be the future power base for all empires, and how it may have been the same for a civilization thousands of years in the forgotten past. The next moment, Hiro finds himself trying to dock with the floating shanty-town that encapsulates a nuclear carrier, or wielding his katana against the assassin Raven, or dodging cars doing fifty-five kph on the freeway on his pal Y.T.'s hi-tech skateboard.
Because Stephenson's novel is so dependent on its array of fast-moving action and imagery, it would make a visually dynamic motion picture. At the same time, because Stephenson's novel incorporates six or seven plot devices, four or five major locales, flashbacks to the Second World War, extensive scenes inside a fully-realized digital world and the possible end of the human race as we know it, it'd be a hell of a job to pull off into one-hundred and twenty pages of screenplay material. On one hand, it could be the movie that eclipses Blade Runner; on the other hand, it could utterly confuse and bore its audience by favoring style over storytelling.
Here's hoping we're just being overly pessimistic.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
September, 1996... Marco Brambilla is announced to direct the Snow Crash adaptation. [Info and project annoucement courtesy of 'shape'.]
December 2, 1996... Jeffrey Nachmanoff lands the gig to adapt Stephenson's novel. Variety magazine quotes Nachmanoff that he believes the book is "...about the disintergration of American society in the information age." Nachmanoff hopes to start fresh on his take of the story; other screenwriters had turned in previous drafts of the work with no one ever advancing the status of the project. [Scoop sent in by 'shape' and 'pkalapa'; some material acknowledged to Variety.]
October 21, 1997... Nothing new has been reported about the development of the project, except for this one scoop we received: "The project is dead." With nothing new to report of in months the film may very well be trapped in limbo. [Scoop submitted anonymously.]
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