Happy Birthday, Isaac Asimov

[filkertom]

On this date in 1920.

There's no way I could put together a list of favorite Asimov stories -- it's like trying to list your favorite flavor. So let's play a different game: There have only been a few attempts to make movies based on The Good Doctor's work, and they have been (to be charitable) not all that successful. (I would love to see Harlan Ellison's script for I, Robot produced.) That has to end somewhere, sometime, and it might as well be with us.

So: Pick one of Dr. Asimov's stories and cast it. Living actors, please, although you can include a fantasy casting. And these don't have to be full-length movies by any means; imagine an anthology TV series if you like, or short films shown on SciFi.

I think mine would be the short story "Billiard Ball". Bruce Campbell would play Edward Bloom (basically the same role Hugh Jackman played in The Prestige) (although Anthony Bourdin would be perfect if he was an actor); Andy Serkis or Paul Reubens as James Priss (because Burgess Meredith is no longer with us); and Brian O'Hallaran (Dante from the Clerks movies) as the reporter.

Comments

[spotshouse.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't want to try to cast a whole story, but ever since I saw Ashton Kutcher all cleaned up, hair combed, etc. I thought he should be R. Daneel Olivaw from Caves of Steel.

[nelilly.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking today "Why hasn't anyone decided to do a series based on Foundation?" on my ride into work today.

Paul Reubens as "The Mule" - all other casting would be extraneous.

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Reubens would be good, but I'd go with Adrian Brody.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I could cast it -- the cast could be quite large -- but ever since seeing a planetarium dramatization of "The Last Question" (in which there were only voice actors) I've wanted to see a really good full-action version of it.

[delayra.livejournal.com]

Well, spotshouse beat me to mention of Caves of Steel, but I'll still use it. This is a cast for all the pre-Empire Robot novels as a series of movies, though

R Daneel Olivaw / Roj Sarton - Denzel Washington, for the quiet confidence and absolutely the ability to play the part
Elijah "Lije" Baley - Tim Allen, this was the hardest one to imagine, for me, and I chose Allen because he CAN act when he chooses to
Gladia Delmarre - Kate Hudson, because when I originally read the books, I thought of Goldie Hawn in the role -- and Kate's even better for the role than her mother
R Giskard Reventlov - Daniel Radcliffe, in a suit or just voice, or if they change it enough to make Giskard a Humaniform
All other roles should be filled with B, C, and D listers...

On another note, when I did my 2005 year-end interview meme, the last question was to quote a song lyric that said what you felt about the year... my choice was a bit from What If... (I Were a Superhero)

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

I'm actually about 2/3 of the way through my first read of "Foundation" as we speak, and the only other Asimov I've read (aside from a few short stories) is "I, Robot." So I'll suggest casting Will Smith as NOBODY and leave it at that.

I got about 5 more Asmiov novels for Christmas, so maybe for his next birthday I'll be able to contribute something more worthwhile. :)

-=ShoEboX=-

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Great Galactic Spirit, are you trying to make my head explode? I'd be willing to see his science fact books made into films, let alone the fiction!

That said... uff. Here we go. I'd have to make "Liar!", were I to choose just one. Bebe Neuwirth as Susan Calvin. No, seriously. And I think all else follows naturally.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I want to see Dame Judi Densch as Susan Calvin. Especially in "Liar!"

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Maybe. She's not icy enough, though. Susan is to be feared and respected, not liked. Which is among the reasons I like her. :)

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

That...would be neat. :)

-=ShoEboX=-

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

We've gotta get you some of the short stories, too. "Nightfall", "The Last Question", "Billiard Ball", a few others, and maybe some of the Tales of the Black Widowers, if you like mysteries.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Keep the Neuwirth version of Susan Calvin in mind, then go re-read 'Lenny' and 'Little Lost Robot'. :)

[spotshouse.livejournal.com]

Bebe Neuwirth would make an awesome Susan Calvin!

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

I would love to somehow see Caves of Steel done as a movie. When I read it, I went "oh my god!! this isn't sci-fi, this is a murder mystery set in the future!!" And yes, it most indeed is sci-fi, but the actual plot of the book surprised me since I did not expect that genre in that setting. Too many sci-fi books make the setting the main part of the plot, while The Good Doctor went in an entirely different direction, much to my reading joy. I have no idea how I would fully cast it, although I would love to see Peter Jurasik as Elijah Baley and Andreas Katsulas as R. Daneel Olivaw, they worked so well together!!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Andreas would've made a fascinating R. Daneel. I always saw Rob Lowe as R. Daneel, but he's cragged up some. Not badly, just not robotically.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Jurasik. Baley. <TheBrain>YES.</TheBrain>

[kshandra]

I want to cast the Black Widowers, but I think that might be blasphemy. ;-) (I'm a weirdo, and prefer the good Doctor's mysteries to his SF.)

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Today's Hollywood has yet to produce an actress whom I feel would be plain enough for Dr. Susan Calvin. Plain women don't go into acting anymore and "plain" roles are too often played by truly beautiful women, dressed down but you cannot disguise their exquisite underlying structure. Julia Roberts in "My Best Friend's Wedding" as the "plain" friend just didn't work at all. For that matter, let's face it, even "Ugly Betty" is much too cute for her own role.

Fantasy casting: how about Margaret Hamilton? No glamour puss she, and strong enough for Calvin I think.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Maybe Glenn Close as Susan Calvin? Age would be an issue, at this point, but even when she was younger, she wasn't the glamorous beauty that so many leading ladies are. Maybe Jodie Foster could pull it off; she has the looks to play down, as well as up, and I can see her in the role. Possibly Renee Zellweger, as well, though her constant pout isn't at all the expression I see on Susan Calvin's face.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

On reflection, I think that in addition to Bebe Neuwirth, Calvin could also be ably played by Mira Furlan.

[wizwom.livejournal.com]

The problem, as I see it, is that Asimov's work is fairly dense with scientific ideas. The action is put in only to illustrate the idea.

So, perhaps - take one of his lesser known works, like, say The Stars, Like Dust - the story of a hunt with a surprise ending. But I am lousy with names, and couldn't cast it for dreck.

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

It has few if any named characters, and would be more like a pilot for a TV series, but I'd like to see someone do "Hellfire". And I'd like to see Alan Alda has the man who actually sees the face in the cloud.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to give the whole casting thing some more thought. But I'm wondering if anyone else here had the profound misfortune to see the 1988 film based on the title (and little else) of Asimov's "Nightfall."

Not merely a bad adaptation, it is infact one of the worst films ever made, period; the fact that it is a bastardization (one astute IMDB reviewer called it a "sodomization") of what has been called the greatest science fiction short story ever written is just insult to injury. Why it never got the MST3K treatment is beyond me.

Seriously, this film makes baby Jesus weep. It is the cinematic equivalent of chewing on tinfoil.

Interestingly, IMDB's listing for director/screenwriter Paul Mayersberg lists among his credits the screenplay for "The Man Who Fell to Earth," a fine -- if extremely challenging, and not always in a good way -- film, which suggests that he is not only a competent scenarist, but is capable of competently translating science fiction from the page to the screen.

On the other hand, further perusal of his CV suggests that the disjointedness and incomprehensibility of Mayerberg's "Nightfall" is no fluke. His 1990 film, "The Last Samurai" (which he also wrote and directed) seems to share these qualities. Perhaps it was Nicholas Roeg's direction that made the difference).

Rather than run on even more, since I'm already off-topic: check out the IMDB listing for Isaac Asimov. There have apparently been a bunch of obscure adaptations of his work over the years, including a 2000 production of Nightfall, produced by Roger Corman, which seems to have also sucked, if not as thoroughly.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

It has been a while since I read any Asimov, so I'll forgo any casting ideas. I will point out that the first Asimov that I ever read was his novelization of FANTASTIC VOYAGE (probably my all time favorite movie), so I will state that Raquel Welch turned me on to Isaac Asimov.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I think Raquel Welch in that white wetsuit turned a lot of us on, period. :-P

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but given the "dirty old man" image that Dr. Asimov tried to cultivate, I think he would appreciate the idea. :)

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

"The Caves of Steel" with Brent Spanner as R. Danyl Olivau(sp?), Patrick Stuart as the Outworld liaison, and either Michael O'Hare or Jeff Conaway as Elijah Bailey.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

I have no problem choosing my favorite story.

"The Last Question".

Asimov once called it "the best SF story ever written", and even now I'm hard pressed to argue that.