Woo vs. Dick

We're salivating already. John 'Balletic Violence' Woo is in negotiations to direct a futuristic tale from the pen of Hollywood's favourite sci-fi author, Philip K. Dick. Marking the ninth feature film adaptation of the amusingly monikered writer's work, Woo's effort Paycheck will, however, have its work cut out to live up to the past cinematic treasures inspired by Dick's cerebral scribblings. The first to jump start the bandwagon was, of course, 1982's pretty darn wonderful Bladerunner adapted from Dick's 'Why Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' followed by Arnie's Total Recall inspired by the short story, 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.' And with the uber-duo of Spielberg and Cruise making a grand job of Minority Report so recently, Woo's going to have pull out all his stylistic stops to stake his claim to be the best adapter of Dick yet. Typically revolving around Dick's favourite theme of memory and identity, Paycheck tells the story of a man who's rather inconveniently forgotten what he's been up to for the past two years. In a storyline that fairly smacks of Memento, the ditzy chap must piece together the huge chasm in his memory by using everyday items such as ticket stubs and bus tokens as the only clues to the truth he's got. That he uncovers a government secret from these everyday items which normally find their way to the back of your sofa shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Replacing K:19 The Widowmaker director Kathryn Bigelow and also hot young thing Brett Ratner (Red Dragon) in the running for the director's chair, our money's on John Woo and all his slow-mo skill to make this Dick adaptation the best yet.