Back in 2003 I got a call from Christian Charles, whom I'd done some promotional work for on COMEDIAN, the documentary he directed for Jerry Seinfeld (highly recommended btw). A lifelong fan of "Hitchhiker's Guide" (and a Brit who'd geek-gasmed to the original BBC series) he was on a short list of possible directors for the movie, and he wanted some concept art for his presentation. I did the work for free since he would have been in a position to hire me if he got the movie. That didn't happen, but I spent a fun couple of days having the book explained to me (Yeah, I never read it! Fuck off!) and bouncing designs back and forth. He later made good on the favor by hiring me on a McDonalds commercial.
Christian pictured Hugh Laurie as Arthur (pre-HOUSE).
The Vogon design. We pictured them as beat-down warehouse drones. The idea for the cut off tusks was to suggest that they were a race of once-majestic creatures who'd neutered themselves. No longer having use for their tusks they harvested them from their own kind. Their workspaces would be decorated with romanticized posters of tusked Vogon warriors on the wild plains of their ancient homeworld. Kind of like the Aztec warriors that decorate the taco place near my apartment.
Marvin the depressed android. Christian put a 70's camera in front of me to demonstrate the old-school, chunky-tech vibe he'd envisioned. I really love this design. But I have to admit the movie Marvin was brilliant.
Slarty. In the original sketch I had him holding a toilet brush in the other hand. For some reason that was funny enough to me that I fought to keep it. It's not a toilet brush, I explained, it's a super computer that only looks to you like a toilet brush because you can't comprehend it. That sounded pretty Douglas Adams to me. (Christian gave me a withering look.)
Exterior and interior of the Vogon ship. The concept was straight up Wal-Mart; horrendously ugly, depressing, soulless, lots of wasted space, absolutely nothing cool about it. (Finally something I feel qualified to draw.)
The desing for Deep Thought: a single eye at the focal point of an immense technological cavern modeled on a logic flow chart (or something)...
...and another scene where Deep Thought has detatched his core from the rest of the computer. I think the idea was that he had a little workshop in the basement somewhere, where he'd occasionally take a break from computing and watch a little TV.
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Edie's latest obsession is one of those little toy strollers that a kid can put a doll in. She pushes it around the apartment all day. A few times we let her bring it out on the street and push it down the sidewalk, but decided to stop. There were some mighty tantrums about leaving it behind, I can tell you. But she really does learn if you're firm about enforcing a rule. Now when we're leaving she takes hold of the toy stroller and looks at me imploringly. "Ah Shroyer?" ("Want stroller?") I tell her no and carry her out the door. In a tiny voice, to herself, she says, "bye bye... shroyer." And that's that.
4 comments:
Kevin, having read the books I can flat-out state that you nailed it. You fucking nailed it! One look at the characetrs and I knew exactly who and what they were, no text needed by way of explanation at all. I particularly love your take on Marvin, his emotional state perfectly conveyed through his posture alone.
As for you not having read the book, forget about it. That book is very much a marker of its time and something of a touchstone for those of us who were there for it when it came out, making it kind of a "you had to be there to really get it" kind of thing. The prose is very much late-1970's/early-1980's "ain't I clever and glib," exactly what you'd enjoy if you were fourteen or fifteen, but not as you're pushing forty.
And regarding Hugh Laurie as Arthur Dent, I'm not down with that casting. I know Laurie from his hilarious days on BLACKADDER, and even there I found him quite physically imposing. Arthur is just an ordinary human schlub, so if I were casting it from today's stable of known Brit actors I'd go with Simon Pegg. He's not much to look at, can deliver the funny without seeming too arch, and can convey a sense of futile exasperation like nobody's business. In other words, Arthur Dent.
And I know you'll think I'm nuts, but for me the ideal Ford Prefect would be Brian Setzer, rockabilly hairdo and swing band outfit included, especially with the Teddy Boy shoes. And who else for Zaphod but a two-head Billy Idol or David Bowie? Seriously, think about it.
Thanks man! Gad you liked it. But why you gotta tell people I'm pushing 40? I'm trying to look young and hip here! Damn. May as well throw out the hair dye and take off this corset.
You're right about Simon Pegg. I have no doubt he would be cast if they were making it today. But in '05 that guy from the Office was the go-to shlubby British guy.
And I'm especially glad you liked Marvin. I busted my ass on that. At one point we were stuck on him and Chrisian called up Seinfeld to ask what he thought. Seinfeld said, make him look short, fat and bald. Obviously he was spot on because that's exactly what they did in the final movie version. But I thought I knew better of course, so I was all like, "oh, so he basically said to make him into George Costanza? Hasn't he had any new ideas in 15 years?" The genius strikes again.
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