A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Summary

In the near future, a group of slackers battle drug addiction and attempt to out-narc each other.

Director

Richard Linklater

Downey Factor

High (describing both the amount and state of his screentime).

Character

James Barris, whacked out futuristic drug dealer.

Looks

Short haircut, wears glasses. Also, thanks to rotoscoping he (and the entire movie) were turned into a realistic-looking cartoon.

Performance

Crazy, but in the good way. Fantastic and amusing both on his own and paired with Woody Harrelson.

Dies, Gay or Villain

No, no, it's debatable.

Cast

Woody Harrelson, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane

Connection

Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers.

Winona Ryder in 1969.

RDJ Says

I thought it was probably the strangest script I've ever read, but I knew Keanu was doing it and Richard was directing it, and I thought, these guys are pretty smart and know a good role ... I didn't read [Philip K. Dick's books] at all, I left that to the other professionals. I figured Woody Harrelson would come in and decide that if I did something off-beat, he'd do something more off-beat. And Keanu did all the research and Winona looked pretty, so we had everything covered ... Woody and I were basically in a scenery chewing competition. At one point I shoot off this silencer and I hear thud. I go, did he just fall out of the tree without a crash pad underneath him? What is he trying to do—this is my scene! I look over and he's like, "That's lunch!" ... [My character is] off the hook. He reminds me of those propeller-head guys that you knew in high school who knew how to take apart a bike and put it back together and other freaky stuff ... I saw School of Rock and I was like, "Why haven't I worked with Richard Linklater already?" By the time I got him, I said I was really pissed off and he owed me some retroactive swag, so he gave me the ten year anniversary Dazed and Confused t-shirt I still wear with relish. I just got a call and I read the script and I thought, "This is nuts. I bet this will be cool." And Keanu was playing the lead. So I went to the Chateau and we started to have this spitball session, we talked about the characters and all that ... The great thing about Linklater is we'd be futzing around and rehearsing in some Austin, Texas Hilton boardroom and some girl would come in with the eggs, and she'd have, like, a really big zit on her neck or something, and I'd go like "Wow, nice bug bite" when she left. Next day, you come in and there in the rewrites, I'm calling someone a bug bite. So I guess everybody has a little creep in them, that kind of self-conscious thinking about other people, thinking about people in a derogatory way, thinking about how you can manipulate and alpha-dog the situation. In A Scanner Darkly, everybody's pretty much such a wreck that it's that scramble to get an upper hand while you're losing your mind ... We were all staying at this Hilton hotel. Woody wouldn't put on his air conditioning. Keanu had his bass in the next room. Winona was like, "You guys want to go to a movie?" I was like, "No, I want to make a fucking movie! I'm studying!" "Alright, you're kind of serious about this light-hearted part you're doing." I was like, "Shut up! You study your fucking lines too!" I was so uptight. Because it was hard! I went to work and when I wasn't shooting on the set I was studying, I went to the gym and studied at the gym and then I went and ate at the same restaurant every night. I went in like it was fucking boot camp ... You'd think [our personal experiences with drugs] would [inform the movie], but it's such a technical endeavor. For me, it was just a lot of memorization and a lot of choreography, because it was a very short schedule ... The great thing about [Linklater] is that he's real specific. He calls shooting "the Ground War." It's this very incremental move towards the finished product. He works you like a rib, but he's so collaborative ... [The rotoscoping] just gave us a lot of leeway that we may not have otherwise been afforded. If your body mic is sticking out, if your hair needs a trim ... It's just like "Oh, we'll fix it later." It would be kind of great to do every movie like that ... I kind of forgot [that the movie would be animated], to tell you the truth. I forgot and then I was really pleased. There's the greatest smoke ring blown in the history of cinema, and that's no small feat ... It's the general dysfunction that happens in a house where you have three guys sharing a sink. What binds them together is this agreement to be insane and co-sign each other's demise.

Lit Reference

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
Richard Linklater's script is based on this 1977 novel.

Time & Place

The near future (late 2010s), Anaheim, California.

Availability

Released in theaters 7 July 2006. On DVD in regions 1, 2, 3 and 4; also on Blu-Ray.

Foreign Titles

Brazil: O Homem Duplo (The Double Man)
Estonia: Läbi hägu (Through the Blur)
Finland: Hämärän Vartija (Twilight Guardian)
Germany: Der dunkle Schirm (The Dark Screen)
Mexico: Una Mirada a la Oscuridad (A Look at the Dark)
Poland: Przez Ciemne Zwierciadlo (Through the Dark Mirror)

Rotten Tomatoes

69% fresh | 170 reviews

Critical View

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Two hyperarticulate slackers who share Bob's Anaheim abode [...] are played respectively and to the manner born by Woody Harrelson and, in the film's flashiest and most ferociously entertaining performance, Robert Downey Jr.

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Downey gives a nicely honed performance as the motormouthed, paranoid James Barris, who's obsessed with proving his questionable genius.

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Downey (who qualifies as an expert on substance abuse) steals every scene he's in with a hilarious, bravura performance.

Does It Hold Up

In the years since this came out, Robert Downey Jr was in so many huge box office smash type movies that A Scanner Darkly is never going to be the first thing that comes to mind in his filmography, but it's definitely one of the best from this "rebuilding credibility" period of his career.

2 Reasons to See It

1. The dialogue between Downey and the other supporting characters is fascinating and hilarious.
2. The rotoscoping makes this film unlike any other.

Overall

Like a stoner, it skirts profundity without actually achieving it. But, thanks to Downey and the rest of the supporting cast, it's a surprisingly palatable movie that's as much trippy comedy as paranoid sci-fi.

If You Like It

You might also like Wonder Boys (2000), The Route V50 (2004), Pink Floyd

Photos

Video