Philip K. Dick has slowly but steadily become a cultural icon with his works of mind-bending fiction. His first novel debuted in 1955, and ever since, his cumulative works have sold roughly 20 million copies and been translated to 25 different languages.
Considered by some measures to be the most adapted science-fiction author in the history of film, Dick has created futuristic worlds in many of his works, several of which have been adapted into feature films: “Blade Runner,” based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?; “Total Recall,” based on the short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale;” “Screamers,” based on the short story “Second Variety;” the French film “Confessions d’un Barjo,” based on “Confessions of a Crap Artist;” and “Minority Report,” “Impostor” and “Paycheck,” based on works of the same name. The movies have brought new fans to Dick’s work.
Never out of print in its 27-year existence, A Scanner Darkly is one of the three top-selling Dick novels and only the second novel of Dick’s to be adapted. The story of how A Scanner Darkly became a film begins with a respect for Philip K. Dick shared by writer/director Linklater and producer Tommy Pallotta—a mutual admiration often talked about on the set of “Waking Life.”
In crafting the adaptation, Linklater wanted to convey as much of the comical perspective as possible. “To remain true to the book is to attempt something that is more difficult in film than in literature, which is to be both a comedy and a tragedy at the same time. I wanted the film to capture the humor and exuberance of the book but not let go of the sad and tragic. It’s a tonal challenge for sure, but that is the heart of the story.”
“Because his stories and novels often involve futuristic elements, they are a popular source for movies. People have taken core ideas from his stories, and have turned them into big actionthrillers. A Scanner Darkly is a different kind of story though. It’s not plot-driven in that way. It’s really about these guys and what they’re all doing in their alternate world and what’s going through their minds is really what keeps the story moving. So though it’s officially in the genre of science fiction, it’s much more character-based than plot driven. In that way, it’s different than many portrayals of the future. In this, you have people who are living their lives, hanging out, just trying to get through their day,” explains Linklater. Pallotta adds, “We felt the material called for a really faithful adaptation of Dick’s uniquely, humorous perspective of a very dark and disturbing issue.”
Linklater’s first foray into animation had been “Waking Life,” a film Wired magazine called “the first independent computer-animated feature film ever made in America—an abstract, psychedelic, digital video improv that takes the Disney/Pixar formula and turns it on its perfectly coiffed head.” He thought A Scanner Darkly lent itself to trying animation again.
To stay true to their goal, Linklater and Pallotta enlisted the help of two of the stewards of the Philip K. Dick trust, Dick’s daughters Laura Leslie and Isa Hackett. “We were originally approached by Tommy with the enticement of a faithful adaptation,” say Leslie and Hackett. “When we read Richard’s screenplay, and then had the opportunity to meet with him and discuss his and our visions of ‘Scanner,’ we knew this was the right way to go.”
Linklater recalls the Bay Area meeting with the author’s daughters. “I think they appreciated the fact that I wanted to stay faithful to the book and tell the whole story,” he explains. “I wasn’t going to be cavalier with the drug aspect. They were very frank—they said, ‘You know, if it wasn’t for drugs, our dad would still be writing today, instead of dying in 1982.’ It’s been a wonderful addition to have Phil K. Dick’s daughters on board with us spiritually.”
“‘A Scanner Darkly’ is one of our father’s most personal stories because much of it is based on his own experiences,” add Leslie and Hackett. “For this reason, it was especially important to us that it be done with all of the right intentions. His struggle with drug abuse is well documented, and he (and we) have witnessed many casualties along the way. The novel is filled with his humor and his own tragedies, and Richard’s screenplay managed to capture these key elements.”
Linklater’s script also grabbed the attention of the acting community. “Richard wrote a really great adaptation and representation of the book,” comments Reeves, who is no stranger to science fiction with turns in the “Matrix” trilogy. It was Reeves who would tackle the complicated role of Bob Arctor.
“There is a clear line in the beginning when there’s Arctor inside of Fred. Then they start to come together and mesh, and there’s a point where they are all destroyed, or brought to neutral,” explains Reeves of his complex role.
These split personalities made for an interesting few weeks. “While I was playing Arctor I learned about Fred, and when I was playing Fred I learned a bit about Arctor,” says Reeves. “They both definitely feel differently about themselves internally. There were days where it was confusing, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of the experience of playing those scenes and figuring it out.” “The success of this movie depends on how much you care about Bob Arctor and his situation,” says Linklater. “Keanu brings out that kind of empathy. You feel something for him in his situation. You care about him and what he’s going through.”
Robert Downey Jr., who signed on to play Jim Barris, responded to the script as well. “I thought it was probably the strangest script I’ve ever read,” he admits. “But I knew Keanu was doing it and Richard was directing it, and I thought, ‘these guys are pretty smart and know a good role. I wonder how this will turn out.’” Downey Jr. describes the flamboyant Barris this way: “This guy’s off the hook. He reminds me of those propeller-head guys that you knew in high school who knew how to take apart a bike and put it back together and other freaky stuff. I thought it would be really fun to play him.”
“Rick called me up and said, ‘I wrote this part for you,’” says Rory Cochrane, “I actually was concerned because I didn’t want to repeat the performance I did in ‘Dazed and Confused.’ So I thought it would be challenging to try to do something different. Freck’s probably the most tweaked out. The guy’s lost it,” says Cochrane of his offbeat character. “Most of the characters don’t have a real sense of reality anymore, but he’s probably the farthest out there. I don’t think Freck relates to anybody. He probably has the intention of relating to people, but he just can’t.”
Woody Harrelson, who came on board to play the role of Ernie Luckman, admits he was somewhat puzzled by the script at first. “It’s a bizarre kind of story; it’s stories within stories, strange realities within strange realities,” he explains. “You don’t know what’s real and what’s illusion.” Harrelson had no problem grasping the essence of his character, however. “Luckman has an innocence about him, even though he’s kind of crazy and messed-up in so many ways. There’s a lot of duplicity with all of these characters, except for, oddly enough, Luckman, which really suited me. It’s interesting that he’s the only one who’s not pretending—at least that’s the way I believed it and played it.”
“It’s one of the most complex, layered, unusual and challenging pieces of literature that I’ve ever read—both the book and Richard’s adaptation,” says Winona Ryder, who joined the cast as Arctor’s girlfriend, Donna. “The script, which really captured the feeling of the book, is almost impossible to describe. To me, it’s ultimately about identity — loss of identity, search for identity—but there are so many different levels.” Ryder was personally familiar with Philip K. Dick through family connections.
“I did know some things about him because my godfather, Timothy Leary, was friends with Philip Dick and my father was sort of in that circle as well. I knew that he was an incredibly sweet, caring father and that a lot of his paranoia was about the world that he was bringing his daughters into.”
“There are no ‘weekend warriors’ on the D. You’re either on it, or you haven’t tried it.”
Arctor, Barris, Luckman, and Freck create a “kind of surrogate degenerate family,” in the words of Downey Jr. “It’s the general dysfunction that happens in a house where you have three guys sharing a sink. What binds them together is this agreement to be insane and cosign each other’s demise.”
The dynamic of the foursome reminded Linklater of his own experiences from years ago where friends would end up moving in with friends. In the movie, these guys somehow ended up as roommates in Bob Arctor’s house. Now it’s this house for ne’er-do-wells who are living totally outside the mainstream.”
The environment can bring out the worst in the foursome, but the more disturbing catalyst for their behavior is Substance D; a powerful drug with the ability to produce a pervasive paranoia in its users— a paranoia about their own substance use, about the government, about other people.
“These people are wrestling with their demons. The drugs push them to this level of fear. Then they feel sublime and happy… then fear again,” says Harrelson. “The characters ricochet back and forth between all these emotions.” Under the influence of Substance D, paranoia is the elevated emotion.
By extension, surveillance becomes the only perceived way to survive. No one and nothing is as it seems – a central theme in the movie. Dick has been described as “the master of the psychological pratfall, the metaphysical freefall, the political conspiracy within a conspiracy within a conspiracy. He is an astute guide to the shifting realities of the twenty-first century.”
“Five years ago, Philip K. Dick’s vision of the future seemed at the very least a bit fanciful or paranoid, but now it seems like a highly plausible possibility,” says Mark Gill, president of Warner Independent Pictures, of the story. “There’s so much surveillance and counter surveillance and people ratting each other out and paranoia about whether or not you can trust the guy that you’ve been hanging out in the living room with for two years,” says Downey Jr. “It’s your general garden variety mistrust.” “You don’t really know what anybody means. Or who you can trust,” adds Linklater. “In this kind of paranoid world that they create for themselves, suddenly everyone’s suspect.”
Echoes Ryder of the double-crossing relationship between Donna, Arctor, Barris, Luckman and Freck: “You don’t know who is telling the truth, who’s working for who, who’s screwing who over. You never get all the answers. It’s like rats in a cage—the government makes people turn against each other by giving them false information, making them confused while getting them hooked on drugs to be undercover.”
“It does make you wonder—something like 70% of your life you’re either on camera or being documented in terms of your transactions,” says Reeves. “What does that do? What do you become? Who’s wielding the camera? What are they doing with the information?” Linklater agrees that the story resonates loudly in light of today’s political and social climate. “The paranoia that these guys feel is similar to our own paranoia in the world, with the all-encompassing war on terrorism. It kind of puts a cloud over all of us as a culture. It’s like the new McCarthyism, the new witch hunt. In the film, we’re able to present this environment but with an often humorous perspective as laid out by Dick in his novel.”