AI is supposed to be based on a Brian Aldiss short story called
SUPER-TOYS LAST ALL SUMMER LONG. The story has no real plot, but it
involves a little boy who tries to write a Valentine's Day card to his
mother. His robotic stuffed bear is helping him. Something like that.
(S.Cl.)
I've seen no script, of course, not being in the business -- but
following the information others have supplied regarding the assumed
source material for the film -- the Brian Aldiss short (very short)
story called "Super-toys Last All Summer Long" -- I was inspired to
track it down to see just how Kubrickian it might be. It seems to have
appeared in the late 1960s, and is more a set-up than a full-blown plot
for any feature film treatment, but it does seem right up Stanley's
alley: an over-populated world of the near-future, with a growing
industry of mechanical critters of at first no and then "controlled"
intelligence. Much speculation on what is or isn't "real" and I thought
reminiscent of the HAL 9000 situation. The melted ice-cap stuff must
come from some other source. [A Variety press release -- B.K.] FX from
the Aldiss story would seem to involve a talking Teddy Bear (who seems
to have more on-the-ball than its little boy companion) and holodeck-
type stuff where an ordinary apartment can be "transformed" into a
stately Georgian house surrounded by a garden in eternal summer. Nothing
so insurmountable here, so I figure the difficulty must originate from
some other part of the script.
By the way, I do recommend the Aldiss story -- you can find it in a
collection of the author's sci-fi stories called "Man in his Time."
(P.D.)
According to the last CINEFANTASTIQUE, conceptual artist Chris Hall from
JUDGE DREDD is already working on the initial sketches of Kubrick's AI.
Based on private conversations between fx people in West Coast, it seems
that ILM will win the bid for the film's visual fx, because of the CGI
power of the facility (180 SGIs and more to come for the next two years
because of the new Star Wars installments).
(C.Ch.)
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