A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writers (WGA):

Philip K. Dick (novel)
Richard Linklater (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

What Does A Scanner See?

Plot:

An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Substance | Substance D | Undercover | Undercover Cop

Awards:

2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Rory Cochrane	...	Charles Freck
Robert Downey Jr.	...	James Barris
Mitch Baker	...	Brown Bear Lodge Host
Keanu Reeves	...	Bob Arctor
Sean Allen	...	Additional Fred Scramble Suit Voice (voice)
Cliff Haby	...	Voice from Headquarters (voice)
Steven Chester Prince	...	Cop
Winona Ryder	...	Donna Hawthorne
Natasha Valdez	...	Waitress
Mark Turner	...	Additional Hank Scramble Suit Voice (voice)
Woody Harrelson	...	Ernie Luckman
Chamblee Ferguson	...	Medical Deputy #2
Angela Rawna	...	Medical Deputy #1
Eliza Stevens	...	Arctor's Daughter #1
Sarah Menchaca	...	Arctor's Daughter #2

Also Known As:

Una mirada a la oscuridad (Argentina) (DVD title) (Spain) [es]
A Scanner Darkly (Greece) [el]
A Scanner Darkly (France) [fr]
A Scanner darkly - Der dunkle Schirm (Germany) [de]
A scanner darkly - Un oscuro scrutare (Italy) [it]
Hämärän vartija (Finland) [fi]
Karanligi taramak (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Mracni skener (Serbia) [sr]

MPAA:

Rated R for drug and sexual content, language and a brief violent image.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | Italy:T | Singapore:M18 (cut) | New Zealand:R13 | Argentina:16 | USA:R (certificate #42344) | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18PL (DVD) | Brazil:16 | Japan:R-15 | Germany:16 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Sweden:15 | Norway:15 (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)

Trivia:

The brand on the earphone of the woman in the surveillance room reads »Phil D.«.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Arctor's residence, on the computer screen, is shown as Anahiem, California, a misspelling of Anaheim. The associated zip code, 98345 is for Keyport, Washington.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Freck: [on the phone] I looked them up. They're aphids. They're in my hair, on my skin, in my lungs. And the pain, Barris, it's unreasonable. They're all over the place. Oh, they've completely gotten Millie too.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Be My Oswald (2006)

Soundtrack:

Black Swan

Great movie...Someone finally "gets" it...

Hollywood has tried so many times to capture the feel of Philip K. Dick terms of his style and writing. Films like Total Recall, Paycheck, Minority Report, all were playing to the lowest common denominator and really lost a lot of the feel that Dick conveys in his writing. Blade Runner came close, but it still missed the essential darkness that Dick brings to each and every one of his works.

Enter "A Scanner Darkly", aside from the Interpolative Rotoscoping that the film maker used to put the graphical images of this movie together and give it an amazing visual feel all its own, the vision and imagery conveyed by the film are as true to Dick's original as any movie has come. I left the theater feeling overwhelmed, touched, and changed, much the same way as when I'd finished the book. This is rare, and it is decidedly a beautiful thing.