"I want my molecules back!"
-- Nick Halloway (as played by Chevy Chase)
-- Nick Halloway (as played by Chevy Chase)
Generally speaking, I am a fan of the old being made new ... to an extent.
Taking a property like H.G. Wells' novel "The Invisible Man" and tweaking it in such a way as author H.F. Saint did with "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" is admirable. Published in 1987, it's described as a thriller with the occasional droll humor thrown in for good measure, but it was popular enough to earn Saint an incredible $2.5 million back in the day ... a payday so good that, apparently, the writer never picked up the pen ever again. Wikipedia.org states that he retired and -- in a way -- became invisible.
But the book never collected dust, as they say.
Warner Bros. won the bidding war over the rights to produce a motion picture adaptation of it. The Horror Master himself John Carpenter was hired to direct, and a script was prepared by Robert Collector, Dana Olsen, and William Goldman. Funnyman Chevy Chase was cast as the lead, Nick Halloway, the eventual invisible man; and the cast was rounded out with such hires as Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, and Stephen Tobolowsky.
What could go wrong?
Well, the film opened to some pretty awful reviews. Again, taking a cue from the information on Wikipedia.org, it would appear that the respectable performances and solid special effects work truly went nowhere with a script that stuck a bit too close to predictable. For those unaware, here's the plot summary as provided by IMDB.com:
"After a freak accident, a company executive turns completely invisible, goes on the run and becomes hunted by a treacherous CIA official, whilst trying to cope with his new reality."
Taking a property like H.G. Wells' novel "The Invisible Man" and tweaking it in such a way as author H.F. Saint did with "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" is admirable. Published in 1987, it's described as a thriller with the occasional droll humor thrown in for good measure, but it was popular enough to earn Saint an incredible $2.5 million back in the day ... a payday so good that, apparently, the writer never picked up the pen ever again. Wikipedia.org states that he retired and -- in a way -- became invisible.
But the book never collected dust, as they say.
Warner Bros. won the bidding war over the rights to produce a motion picture adaptation of it. The Horror Master himself John Carpenter was hired to direct, and a script was prepared by Robert Collector, Dana Olsen, and William Goldman. Funnyman Chevy Chase was cast as the lead, Nick Halloway, the eventual invisible man; and the cast was rounded out with such hires as Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, and Stephen Tobolowsky.
What could go wrong?
Well, the film opened to some pretty awful reviews. Again, taking a cue from the information on Wikipedia.org, it would appear that the respectable performances and solid special effects work truly went nowhere with a script that stuck a bit too close to predictable. For those unaware, here's the plot summary as provided by IMDB.com:
"After a freak accident, a company executive turns completely invisible, goes on the run and becomes hunted by a treacherous CIA official, whilst trying to cope with his new reality."
As is often the case with box office failures, it's a bit unclear as to why the film truly failed to build any momentum. Today, I've read that it's a kinda/sorta cult film for some who still admire it, but the reviews available on the Information Superhighway still make it clear that it's a middling production, at best.
IMDB.com's Trivia Page for the film indicates that director Carpenter had nothing but troubles working with both leads Chase and Hannah, going so far as to suggest they'd threaten to have him fired if they were unhappy with his work on set. (I've read that the actor had already had director Ivan Reitman removed from the project in pre-production.) Known to be somewhat difficult to work with, Chase apparently had issues with the film's tone (whatever that may mean), perhaps struggling to find a comfortable performance between its seriousness and the suggested comedy.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
IMDB.com's Trivia Page for the film indicates that director Carpenter had nothing but troubles working with both leads Chase and Hannah, going so far as to suggest they'd threaten to have him fired if they were unhappy with his work on set. (I've read that the actor had already had director Ivan Reitman removed from the project in pre-production.) Known to be somewhat difficult to work with, Chase apparently had issues with the film's tone (whatever that may mean), perhaps struggling to find a comfortable performance between its seriousness and the suggested comedy.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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