I have never read The Hitchhiker√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Guide to the Galaxy. Everyone says I should, and now I guess I’d better do it before the movie comes out. If I can overcome my procrastination I may even read it before the trailer comes out… next year. The Internet Movie Database page doesn’t have much on it right now, but an interesting article over at CHUD talks a bit about the film and some casting controversy that is already popping up it’s head:
While fans of The Hitchhiker√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Guide to the Galaxy have been raising their Pangalactic Gargleblasters in celebration of the film finally going forward, this new casting may cause a couple of spit-takes. The Spyglass/Disney sci-fi comedy will have Martin Freeman (of the BBC√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s great series The Office) as Arthur Dent, the hapless British gent swept away during Earth’s final hours, but he√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll be escorted on his adventure across the galaxy by√¢‚Ǩ¬¶ Mos Def? Yes, the laid-back raptor (last seen in The Italian Job) will be playing Ford Prefect, the interstellar tour guide who takes Dent on a trip filled with towels, babel fish, Vorgon poetry and a ship powered by probability. I dig Mos Def√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s music and he√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s proven to be a fairly charismatic actor, but this casting is√¢‚Ǩ¬¶ unexpected, to say the least. At least there should be some heavy bass grooves on the soundtrack.
Slinking into the (I hope) skintight garb of space babe Trillian is Elf gal Zooey Deschanel, who√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s only about a decade too young for the role. No word yet on casting for her traveling partner, two-headed space president Zaphod Beeblebrox, but Bill Nighy (Love, Actually) is lined up to play planet-designer Slartibartfast, and those Marvin designs you saw with little-person actor Warwick Davis inside are a reality. After bouncing around development hell for the past two decades, cameras will finally roll in London with commercial/music video director Garth Jennings at the helm, and his “Hammer and Tongs” partner Nick Goldsmith co-directing and producing (the pair previously worked on videos for the likes of Beck, Blur and Fatboy Slim). Chicken Run scribe Karey Kirkpatrick last pecked at the script.
