Vincenzo Natali, the mind behind such cult sci-horror hybrids as Cube and, most recently, Splice, is confirmed to to be adapting the much revered sci-fi novel Neuromancer by William Gibson. The book, which is the first in a trilogy, centers on the story of a washed-up computer hacker, Henry Dorsett Case, who is hired by a mysterious employer to work on the ultimate hack while living in a dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan. The combination of compelling story, setting and character, an atypical drug addict anti hero, should be a winning combination for Natali’s style. Here’s some more info from the press release about Neuromancer:
The novel legitimized cyberpunk as a mainstream branch of science fiction literature. It is among the most-honored works of science fiction in recent history and appeared on Time magazine’s list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. The novel was also nominated for a British Science Fiction Award in 1984. The author, Gibson, popularized such terms as ICE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics) and “cyberspace” through their use in Neuromancer. Eventually cyberspace gained enough recognition to become the de facto term for the World Wide Web. [Marketwatch]
Having enjoyed Splice and being a huge fan of the novel, I am truly looking forward to this adaptation as long as Natali stays true to the source material, which I think or rather hope he will.
Are you excited about Vincenzo Natali’s Neuromancer? Have you seen Splice? Cube?