“Canada Gains A Noted Science Fiction Writer”

“Canada Gains A Noted Science Fiction Writer”: by Michael Walsh 

Thanks to Frank Bertrand for contributing this long-lost article to philipdick.com. 

According to Dick the preservation of humanity is preferable to the preservation of systems, possessions, principles, or positions. “Our flight must be not only to the stars but into the nature of our own beings. Because it is not merely where we go, to Alpha Centaurus or Betelgeuse, but what we are as we make our pilgrimages there. Our natures will be going there, too. ‘Ad astra’ — but ‘per hominem’. And we must never lose sight of that. 

Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Alfonso Cuarón are partnering for Jane, an Amazon feature project based on the personal life of beloved science fiction author Philip K. Dick from his daughter Isa Hackett.

The genre-bending project is based on the relationship between Dick and his twin sister, Jane, who died six weeks after birth. The death affected Dick personally, and also influenced his creative work.

Theron, Cuarón and Hackett will produce the project, which is being developed with an eye for Cuarón to direct and Theron to star.

 

Dick’s work inspired many Hollywood projects, including Blade Runner, Total Recall and the Amazon series The Man in the High Castle, which counts Hackett as a producer.

“The story of Jane has been with me for as long as I can remember,” said Hackett. “Jane, my father’s twin sister who died a few weeks after birth, was at the center of his universe. Befitting a man of his unique imagination, this film will defy the conventions of a biopic and embrace the alternate reality Philip K. Dick so desperately desired—one in which his beloved sister survived beyond six weeks of age. It is her story we will tell, her lens through which we will see him and his imagination. There is no better way to honor him than to grant him his wish, if only for the screen.”

Electric Shepherd Productions, Denver and Delilah Productions and Esperanto Filmoj will produce the film. Gabriela Rodriguez, Beth Kono, AJ Dix, Sarah Scougal and Kalen Egan will produce alongside Theron, Cuarón and Hackett. Lila Rawlings of Esperanto Filmoj will executive produce.

Theron and her Denver and Delilah banner, repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson, are currently working on the sequel to Netflix hit The Old Guard, The Old Guard: Force Multiplied.

Cuarón and his Esperanto Filmoj banner are currently in production on Disclaimer for Apple TV+, starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. He is repped by WME and Johnson Shapiro.

Hackett and the Estate of Philip K. Dick are repped by Tricarico Chavez