When we last heard about Vincenzo Natali’s adaptation of William Gibson’s legendary novel NEUROMANCER, it was spring of last year. Natali was promoting SPLICE and I was lucky enough to sit down with the man to talk about then-recent news that he was in line to helm NEUROMANCER. Natali said that he thought it could be “an amazing film”, and was considering making it as an indie effort. (For the full interview, head on over HERE.) Since then, however, it’s been slim pickings on the news front…
That’s not to say the project is dead. In fact, a press release issued by Seven Arts Pictures indicates that it’s quite close to actually moving forward. Read on for the details:
Seven Arts Pictures and GFM Films announced today that “Neuromancer,” written and directed by Vincenzo Natali and adapted from the William Gibson best-selling novel, has secured sales from distributors in the first three days of Cannes. Territories licensed include: South Korea and Thailand (Noori), Taiwan (SSG), China (HGC), Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India (PT Parkit), CIS (Luxor), Poland (Vision), and the Middle East (Phars).
“Response to this cult cyberspace thriller has been tremendous and the film ticks a lot of boxes with distributors. The film will be a Canadian-European co-production with principal photography occurring in Canada, Istanbul, Tokyo, and London. Work on the visual effects has already begun, with an anticipated start date in the first quarter of 2012,” said Kate Hoffman, Chief Operating Officer of Seven Arts. GFM also reported advanced discussions in Germany, the UK, France, and the USA.
So there you have it: Looks like early 2012 is when NEUROMANCER will actually get going. Better late than never.
The book’s synopsis: Case was the hottest computer cowboy cruising the information superhighway–jacking his consciousness into cyberspace, soaring through tactile lattices of data and logic, rustling encoded secrets for anyone with the money to buy his skills. Then he double-crossed the wrong people, who caught up with him in a big way–and burned the talent out of his brain, micron by micron. Banished from cyberspace, trapped in the meat of his physical body, Case courted death in the high-tech underworld. Until a shadowy conspiracy offered him a second chance–and a cure–for a price…
SPLICE star Sarah Polley