In what is sure to be a contriversal move, actor Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) will be playing a black man in his latest film. The movie is comedy based, which may give him a free pass from total backlash. Also in the film is a near albino Jack Black and Ben (I’m in 1,048 comdeys) stiller. Downy realizing that this roll might get his ass kicked while driving around Los Angeles said this,

“Downey Jr told a US magazine: “If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago. If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”

(note: Spoiler Warning. Be forewarned. And I may ramble on a bit. Again, be forewarned )

I remember how excited I was when I first heard of A Scanner Darkly’s impending release on the big screen. I, along with at least 200 other people, eagerly anticipated the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s drug-mired future dystopia. (The film ended up grossing $391,672 its opening weekend….not stellar numbers by any means).

While a great number of the film’s enthusiasts got on board because of their appreciation for Philip K. Dick’s writings, I was not among them. Like every nerd, science fiction holds a dear place in my heart, but over the last decade I’ve not cracked open a science fiction novel, save rereading a few classic favorites (you can’t front on Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land or Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange). My nerdliness taking a shift towards music & art rather than Dungeons & Dragons, and never being a particular fan of Dick’s writing in the first place, I was on board because of a particular name attached to the film. And this name was not a part of A Scanner Darkly’s leading cast — all in their real lives inextricably linked to delinquency and drug-usage (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder) or, failing that, dumb-as-dirt-ness (Keanu Reeves) — but instead, the film’s director and screenwriter, Richard Linklater.

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