A Scanner Darkly Release Date: July 7, 2006 Starring: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson Directed by: Richard Linklater
You’re not paranoid if you’re really after you: In the latest sci-fi thriller to come out of writer Philip K. Dick’s oeuvre (other adaptations include Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report), Reeves stars as Fred/Bob Arctor, an undercover narcotics agent with a drug-related split-personality disorder whose primary target is . . . himself. “It’s like he lives out your biggest paranoid fantasy,” says Linklater, who shot on location in Austin, Texas. “[Keanu and I] had so much fun because we’d be doing a scene and we’d look at each other and go, ‘Okay, at this point he’s certifiably insane,’ and just cackle. He loved going down that path with this guy.” To complement the surreal nature of the story, Linklater used the same digital animation technique that he first employed in 2001’s Waking Life. “I like that dialogue between naturalism and formalism,” says Reeves. “That’s kind of up my alley.”
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