io9: Neuromancer

Will a surprising villain appear in The Hobbit?

Kelly Faircloth — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:00:00 PST

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Besides playing Smaug in The Hobbit, Benedict Cumberbatch says he'll also voice another familiar villain. Plus Karen Gillan talks abpit leaving Doctor Who, J.J. Abrams explains Star Trek's 3D conversion, and Sam Neill hints at his Alcatraz role. More »

Does Newt Gingrich want to make Neuromancer come true?

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:40:00 PST

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U.S. Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich calls himself a futurist, and never tires of prognosticating. Beloved of Future Shock author Alvin Toffler, who coined the term "futurist," Gingrich co-authored a "conservative futurist" book in 2006 called The Art of Transformation (available in paperback for $70.00 on Amazon). He's also a fan of alternate history, and has written a number of bestselling alt.history novels. (We reviewed his novel 1945 here.) More »

Storyboards make the abandoned Neuromancer movie look like a conventional action flick

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:40:00 PST

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People have been trying to make a movie of William Gibson's Neuromancer since the mid-1980s, and now Splice/Cube director Vincenzo Natali is trying to make it happen. But for a few years, Joseph Kahn, the director of tons of music videos plus Torque and Detention, was hard at work on a Neuromancer film. More »

The long-awaited Neuromancer is courting a major star... but for which role?

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:00:00 PST

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Aaron Eckhart's post-apocalyptic Frankenstein movie chooses a location. Director Bill Condon says something shocking about Breaking Dawn's special effects. Army reservists reveal secrets of being an Avengers extra. Plus showrunner Jeff Pinkner explains why Peter had to disappear on Fringe! More »

The 1986 infomercial for the Neuromancer movie that never was

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:30:00 PST

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And now, something completely different. Commenting gladiator LightningLouie has alerted us to this downright amazing promotional video from the late Eighties that was filmed to sell potential investors on a Neuromancer movie. This is the godhead of weird ephemera. More »

10 Debut Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels That Took the World by Storm

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:08:35 PDT

This month, many of us are trying to pound out a novel. The ultimate dream is to break into the publishing world with a debut that makes people sit up and take notice. And there's some good news on that front — some of science fiction and fantasy's most beloved writers have made a splash with their very first published novels. More »

An iconic Batman location returns for The Dark Knight Rises! And just what is going on with the script for Star Trek 2?

Alasdair Wilkins — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:00:00 PDT

Emma Stone explains why Gwen Stacy loves Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man. Edgar Wright is making progress on Ant-Man, and an iconic Batman location returns for The Dark Knight Rises. Plus official descriptions for Battleship and the Oz prequel! More »

The Powers TV show finds its Deena Pilgrim. Plus Vincenzo Natali explains why his Neuromancer movie will live up to William Gibson's novel!

Alasdair Wilkins — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:00:00 PDT

Darren Aronofosky is making a Noah's Ark movie, but that doesn't mean he's making a religious film. We try to sort out what's going on with Doctor Who. Plus a new behind-the-scenes look at Cowboys & Aliens! More »

Nicholas Hoult explains why this is a whole new Beast in X-Men: First Class. Plus tons of new details about Dark Shadows and Steve Carell's apocalyptic comedy!

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 19 May 2011 06:00:00 PDT

J.J. Abrams explains why his new mysterious-island show Alcatraz won't be another Lost. Torchwood: Miracle Day just keeps adding awesome guest stars. Plus a cool new Super 8 poster and our first look at the third season of Warehouse 13. More »

The ultimate Neuromancer t-shirt

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:00:00 PST

If you want to show your love for William Gibson's classic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, then there's no better way than with this incredible "Wintermute Recordings" tee from UK outfit The Affair. Yes it's a bit pricey at $43, but it's so gorgeous I'd be willing to consider shelling out for it. Plus, The Affair has a handful of other lovely literary reference shirts for fans of Kurt Vonnegut, H.P. Lovecraft, and more. You can grab this Wintermute tee here, or search through The Affair's other offerings. More »

12 Fictional Glasses That Would Give Lady Gaga a Run for Her Money

MikeTheGirl — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:49:15 PST

Lady Gaga is bringing futuristic video screen glasses to the world, but movies and television have already expanded our eyewear horizons. Here are a dozen specs, lenses and goggles with powers that go far beyond video play More »

First look at the time-traveling horror comedy we can't wait to see

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:34:43 PDT

Chances are, Joseph Kahn directed one of your favorite music videos: He's worked with U2, Britney, Eminem and Lady Gaga. He's just finished shooting a time-traveling horror comedy called Detention, and he gave us the inside scoop and exclusive photos. More »

Natalie Portman won't do Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity after all. Plus Vincenzo Natali's finished a Neuromancer script draft.

Alasdair Wilkins — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:00:00 PDT

Like Angelina Jolie before her, Natalie Portman passes on Cuaron's astronaut epic...but another star's in the running. Vincenzo Natali knows how he wants to depict Neuromancer's cyberspace. Idris Elba's taking on another Marvel role. Wallace Shawn joins Eureka. Spoilers alive! More »

Check out concept art from the Neuromancer film that never was

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:00:00 PDT

Last year, the internet was abuzz over the idea that famed music video director Joseph Kahn was going to direct a Neuromancer movie. That didn't happen, but this sick concept art gives us a hint of what might have been. More »

It's official: Vincenzo Natali is directing Neuromancer

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:46:51 PDT

He's been talking it up for weeks, but now he's officially got the job. Seven Arts Pictures just put out a press release saying Splice/Cube director Vincenzo Natali will adapt William Gibson's Neuromancer. And it'll be an all-Canadian production. More »

Take a closer look at the worlds of Splice and Inception, plus new hints about Neuromancer

Alasdair Wilkins — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:00:00 PDT

There are clips and interviews aplenty for Splice. A new trailer takes us further inside the world of Inception. Plus Neuromancer, John Carter of Mars, Doctor Who, Stargate Universe, The Sorceror's Apprentice, and - for old time's sake - Lost. More »

Michael Bay Promises Less Robot Stereotyping. Plus A Super 8 Poster And Your First Look At Alt-Astrid!

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:00:00 PDT

Today's spoilers include Neuromancer hints, a Transformers 3 promise, and a Super 8 poster. Is Twilight: Breaking Dawn in trouble? Meet Fringe's alt-Astrid. Plus Lost, Ghostbusters, X-Men, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Chuck, Smallville, V, True Blood and Ashes To Ashes spoilers. More »

Natali Explains How He'll Adapt Two Classics: Neuromancer And High Rise

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:34:22 PDT

Splice director Vincenzo Natali has two huge movie adaptations in the pipeline: William Gibson's Neuromancer, and J.G. Ballard's High Rise. In an exclusive interview, Natali explains to us how he updated High Rise, and his hopes for Neuromancer. More »

Splice Director Vincenzo Natali Is Writing/Directing Neuromancer Movie

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:23:42 PDT

The director of one of the year's most startling science fiction movies will take on one of the genre's greatest classics. Vincenzo Natali, whose film-festival favorite Splice is getting a wide release on June 4, has signed up to write and direct the movie version of William Gibson's Neuromancer. [The Hollywood Reporter] More »

The Sexiest Mutants, Cyborgs And Posthumans Of All Time

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:50:07 PDT

Our post-human replacements don't care if we find them sexually attractive, because we're a throwback as far as they're concerned. But that doesn't change the fact that mutants, cyborgs and other post-humans are hot as hell. Here are the sexiest. More »

10 Science-Fiction Heroes Who Don't Need Origin Stories

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:30:00 PST

These days, every science-fiction hero needs to have an origin story — as if they're all superheroes. But some heroes are actually way better off without cookie-cutter origins. Here are 10 classic scifi heroes whose origins should remain mysterious. More »

12 Of Scifi's Best (And Worst) Brain Upgrades

Alasdair Wilkins — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:00:00 PST

Chuck returns tonight for its two hour third season premiere. As Chuck deals with his new and improved Intersect abilities, it's worth taking a look at other characters who received amazing brain upgrades... and some who weren't so lucky. More »

Want To Know How The Neuromancer Movie Ends? So Does William Gibson

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:30:00 PST

It's been quite some time since we've heard any news about the Neuromancer, but director Joseph Kahn is apparently still working on it. He tweeted about it over the weekend — and William Gibson tweeted back. More »

Six Hours Of William Gibson's Neuromancer... Starring Sasha Grey As Molly

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:30:00 PST

The Neuromancer movie may never get off the ground, but a performance/video installation version is coming to New York next week. When Sasha Grey accepted her Fleshbot award via video last night, she mentioned she's co-starring in a Neuromancer performance. More »

A Map Of Your Future Mega-Cities And Megalopolises

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:00:00 PDT

The cities of the future are massive, sprawling, beautiful monsters, covering entire coastlines — and in some cases, entire continents. Whether it's Judge Dredd's Mega-Cities or William Gibson's "Sprawl," future cities always devour land. Here's a map of future megalopolises. More »

The Lost Posters Of William Gibson's Neuromancer Movie

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:44:24 PDT

The Neuromancer movie seems to be on hold. Rumors say the 2011 film will star Hayden Christensen, but we fear it's forever in development purgatory. Still, check out the waspy posters of what might have been. [Quiet Earth] More »

Is There Such A Thing As A Gloriously Unfilmable Book?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:00:00 PDT

Click to viewHollywood has taken everything, from your childhood toys to the novels that haunted your dreams, and turned them into splashy vehicles for young Scientologists to gallop through. Are there any books that Hollywood absolutely can't turn into movies? Or shouldn't? More »

Science Fiction Books That Launched Their Own Genres

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:28:11 PDT

Science fiction is all about discovery and invention, but only a few books have actually created whole new genres. Here are 10 books that pioneered a new type of science-fictional story. Do you have what it takes to join them? More »

When Did Japan Stop Being The Future?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:32:04 PDT

U.S. science fiction used to be fascinated with Japan, from Blade Runner to Neuromancer. Everything Japanese was cooler, sleeker and shinier than our grubby American aesthetic, and Japan was destined to dominate. And then, Japan's futuristic status waned. What happened? More »

Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven

Charlie Jane Anders — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:00:00 PDT

Is there life after death? Maybe, if you're wired. After all, death is just a failure of storage media. Science fiction is full of people who've died in meatspace, only to live on in cyberspace. Here's our inventory of cyber-Heaven. More »

Do Liv Tyler Neuromancer Rumors Mean The Film's Actually Happening?

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:30:00 PDT

A recent Production Weekly news blast from Twitter says simply, "Liv Tyler in talks to star in Joseph Kahn's adaptation of Neuromancer, based on the seminal novel by William Gibson." Does this mean it's out of Development Purgatory? And if so, does that mean we still have time to get Hayden Christensen kicked out as the rumored lead Case? [Production Weekly] More »

The Not-So-Secret History of Scifi Rock

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:41:10 PST

Aversion lists some of the best (and, occasionally, worst) mashups of rock culture and geek culture in the world of music. How did I miss Billy Idol's homage to Neuromancer? [via Aversion] More »

Son Of "Where Are My Cybernetic Implants?"

Terry Johnson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Welcome to Ask a Biogeek, a column where you ask UC Berkeley researcher Terry Johnson any question you want — no matter how weird. There seems to be a strong correlation between my posting an article on a subject, and my RSS feeds filling up with exciting new research, which I then wish I'd been able to include. The usual post-article deluge of goodness, combined with the poster for a Neuromancer movie practically forced me to revisit the burning question: Where are my cybernetic implants? More »

First Look at the Poster for the Movie Version of Neuromancer

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:00:00 PDT

We've all been dubious about the idea that anybody could make William Gibson's classic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer into a movie, but this poster gives me hope. I love the abstract, steampunk-meets-dada look of it. Maybe director Joseph Kahn will give us an extraordinary new vision of the book, which captures both its hard science edge and spiritual trippiness? One can only hope, though the fact that Hayden "Anaken" Christensen is playing the console jockey Case is not exactly a good sign. [ First Poster for Joseph Kahn's Neuromancer via Quiet Earth] More »

Neuromancer, As Performed in a Missouri Barn by Hippies and Baptists

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:28:02 PDT

If I were to tell you that a theatrical version of William Gibson's famous novel Neuromancer was going to be performed in a rural Missouri town, starring a radical leftist activist and members of an amateur theater troupe from a local Baptist church, what would you say? It probably wouldn't be: "Yeah, and wouldn't it be great if all the cyberspace scenes were done with cardboard cutouts that people move around on stage, accompanied by Indonesian Gamelan music?" And yet that's exactly what Brody Condon is going to do, next summer, with grant money from the Rhizome Foundation. I know it sounds insane, and that's precisely the point. More »

Whatever Happened To These 7 Awesome Movie Projects?

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:17:00 PDT

Remember when we were promised a remake of Fahrenheit 451, or a new Barbarella starring Rose McGowan? What happened to those movies? I want to see a futuristic Guy Montag (please cast Christian Bale.) The movies we get most excited about often seem to fall into the black hole of "in development." We've collected a list of some of more interesting announced scifi movies and provided you with the best updates available for each. More »

How Will You Stop the Flood of Spam in 20 Years?

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:36:49 PDT

Every day somebody releases a new spam solution, but just as often you hear dire predictions about how spam loads are growing exponentially. How will future generations deal with spam floods in 2030? Though some pundits claim email is becoming obsolete, it's unlikely that most people are going to give up on what is still one of the easiest ways to move data around the net. Plus, spam transcended email a long time ago: ads for viagra and scammy mortgages lurk in pretty much any web service you can name. With spam bots getting smarter and smarter, you'll have to turn to science fiction for solutions. Here are five strategies for dealing with spam of the future. More »

Where Are My Cybernetic Implants?

Terry Johnson — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:00:00 PDT

A reader who would like to remain anonymous asks:

As a disabled person whose body is basically falling apart (details too gross to go into), I've been wondering for a long time when I can get my cyborg transformation underway. What's the status of materials that are compatible with being implanted in the body?

First of all, Anonymous, my best wishes. I hope that the next advance coming 'round the bend is a comfort to you. There are two fundamental approaches to organ-level repair: the biological approach, which includes transplants and tissue engineered organs, or what we'll call the cybernetic approach, which creates replacements out of artificial materials capable of appropriately interacting with the body. Keeping this in mind, let's take a look at the cutting edge of human-machine interfaces. More »

Two Gibson Adaptations, But Only One Peter Weir Movie

charliejane — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:00:23 PST

Hayden "Anakin" Christensen will star in a movie adaptation of William Gibson's classic novel Neuromancer, directed by Joseph Kahn. So far, Kahn's only credits are the low-budget biker movie Torque, and some Britney Spears music videos. (Torque does feature lots of spooky flickering neon lights, which is a start.) The slightly more experienced Peter Weir (The Truman Show) will be directing the movie of Gibson's Pattern Recognition. More »