Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

I know, I know... a lot of sites ran this one over the weekend. And I meant to. I just got sidetracked as Harry and were putting up all the Sundance stuff on Sunday night. Looks like the rumor mill is ramping up on the Spyglass Entertainment production of THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Garth Jennings of Hammer & Tongs is still onboard as director, and Carey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN) is said to have contributed the final draft, with Douglas Adams actually signed off on. Personally, I’m rooting for this film. I adore the work of Adams, and I’d love to see a version of this film that was both loyal to the subject matter and that truly embraced the cutting-edge of FX in order to create something we’ve never seen before. There are so many amazing big ideas in the books Adams left behind, and an adaptation of any of his work has a lot to live up to.

One thing that will make it easy is the right casting, and the entire internet seemed abuzz with the rumors that Bill Nighy (LOVE ACTUALLY and UNDERWORLD) had been hired to play Slartibartfast (the name I used to give pizza delivery guys when I phoned in orders), and Martin Freeman (LOVE ACTUALLY and THE OFFICE) had been tapped to play Arthur Dent. If that’s true about Freeman, then consider me officially freakin’ rejoicing. Freeman’s the English Topher Grace, a young actor with remarkable comic timing and dry self-deprecating wit that makes him enormously likeable. He’d be a great Arthur. It skews the film a little younger than I typically would imagine, but that’s fine. As long as they’re hiring good actors that fit the roles, I’m in.

Lots of sites also picked up the story that originally appeared here, on a Douglas Adams fansite regarding some alleged design work on Marvin The Paranoid Android. Now, I can’t verify their story. Seems like a well-kept site, but still... this has all got to be filed as rumor for the moment. That aside, I love the design, said to have been created so Warwick Davis can play Marvin onset.

It’s nothing like I would have imagined it, but it’s a great design, and if that’s the sort of style Jennings is steering the Jim Henson Creature Shop towards, then I have a feeling HHGTTG is finally in good hands.

And I can’t WAIT to see his Vogons...