Alex
Proyas,
Executive Producer; Director
The Crow; Dark City
What we Think About This
He's actually not the director we would have
thought of for this series, but the more we think about it, the more we like
him. The Crow remains a cult favorite, and demonstrates a director with a
specific creative vision that is just cutting his teeth. His next film,
Dark City, was nothing short of brilliant, quite possibly the best dark sci-fi
film to come out since Blade Runner.
But what makes Proyas perfect is not the fact
that he can do sci-fi (and appears to enjoy it greatly), but that he can mix disparate
genres into a cohesive central theme. For instance, Dark City is not just
a science fiction film. Perhaps more so, it is a taut psychological
thriller with overtones of paranoia and self discovery. It is a journey
from the darkness into the light of knowledge.
Both stories revolve around a man's struggle
with a seemingly insurmountable goal, leading eventually to a power shift from
the dark designers and into the hands of the lab rats.
Upon this close examination of Dark City and
the Riverworld Series, the similarities between them become quickly
obvious:
- Murdoch, the main character, is apparently
accidentally awakened during a medical procedure. Everyone else is
unconscious as the Strangers prepare a new city for the people with new
memories. It slowly becomes apparent that Murdoch was not accidentally
awakened at all, and has been pushed toward his destiny by a traitor within
the Strangers' ranks.
- Burton, the main character, is purposely
awakened during a procedure in which all the humans around him are
unconscious and unaware of what is going on around them. The Ethicals
are preparing these humans for a new world, with the populace completely
unawares of the true goals of the experiment. It slowly becomes
apparent that Burton is being pushed toward his destiny by a traitor within
the Ethicals' ranks.
This examination is not to show that Proyas
stole his ideas from the Riverworld series; rather, I aim only to demonstrate
that he is the perfect director for this kind of project. Here's
an excellent quote (from this
site) by Proyas that not only highlights a potential personal reason for his
interest in the Riverworld, but perhaps gives us a glimpse into his goals for
the Riverworld television series (though he was not talking about the show
directly):
"To me, the soul is
really what makes us human. Is there a soul, and is that where humanity comes
from? As an individual we dress and act in a certain way. But that's not truly
who we are -- it is something else, a spirit from somewhere else that makes us
what we are. That essence will go on and carry on past the physical life. I find
it very hard to believe that you die and the lights go out and that's it. That's
the most horrific concept of existence -- I can't accept that."
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