http://www.moviehole.net/news/200601...s_to_1984.html
Tim Robbins returns to 1984
Posted by Clint Morris on January 15, 2006
Tim Robbins is eyeing a return to the director’s chair.
The “Shawshank Redemption” and “Zathura” star tells Empire Online that he’s trying to get a film version of George Orwell’s 1948 novel “1984” – which predicted a dark dystopian future in which a totalitarian government watches its subjects relentlessly – off the ground.
Robbins, currently directing a stage version of the novel for his LA theatre troupe, told Empire Online that the film is in paper form at the moment.
“I’ve got a screenplay of it,” he told us (presumably written by Michael Gene Sullivan, who adapted the novel for The Actors’ Gang). “And now I’m starting the process of trying to put it together.”
The story takes place in a nightmarish dystopia where the omnipresent State enforces perfect conformity among members of a totalitarian Party through indoctrination, propaganda, fear, and ruthless punishment. The novel introduced the concepts of the ever-present, all-seeing Big Brother, Room 101, the Thought Police, and the bureaucrats' and politicians' language of control, Newspeak. Some commentators have drawn parallels between today's society and the world of 1984, suggesting that we are starting to live in what has become known as Orwellian society.
“In the book, Big Brother says we’re not really concerned about 85% of the people because they’re so stupefied by poverty and overwork that they’re never going to be part of the problem,” he added. “What they’re really worried about is the other 15%.
“When we think about the authoritarian world that Orwell painted, the catchphrases are one thing, but when you read the book again, the specifics and relevance for now are stunning.”
The film is quite a while off, he says.
“It’s really a matter of whether I can raise the money for it,” he said. “We’ll see if there’s an appetite for it. Orwell may have been twenty years off, but I know that I find it incredibly relevant.”
Reply With Quote
