By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Sweet Keanu, Scowling Hawke: 'Scanner Darkly' Takes Lincoln Center
The Reeler visited the Walter Reade Theater last night to see what there was to see before a special screening of Richard Linklater’s animated sci-fi yak-a-thon A Scanner Darkly. The fanboys were out in force–or at least in the stand-by line (“I dunno,” said the video game player to the guy in the University of Texas shirt, discussing previous Philip K. Dick screen adaptations. “They screwed up all the other ones!”)–and the Julliard summer camp crowd summoned a chorus of shrieks to announce the arrival Scanner star Keanu Reeves. Perhaps practicing an act of karma to compensate for Ethan Hawke’s own glowering entrance, Reeves dutifully did his press and sweetly joined the kids for an impromptu autograph and photo session.
On the depressing side of things, Robert Downey Jr.’s appearance elicited more than one “Who?” among the Tiger Beat set, and Linklater himself was a no-show, apparently having experienced a delayed flight out of Austin. I was informed he would be on hand for the post-screening Q&A–a fairly inconvenient circumstance considering A) I did not have a ticket for the screening, and B) you could not pay me to sit through Scanner again (or at least the 20 minutes I endured before walking out the first time) anyway. My heart ached at the reality of hard questions that would forever remain unasked and unanswered, but a Frappucino and a pleasant walk home pretty much assuaged all that.
So thus passes The Reeler’s triumphant coverage of A Scanner Darkly‘s incursion into New York. I could not be prouder.
Linklater made it for the post Q&A, which was wacky and profound just like the movie. Philip K. Dick’s daughter and Jonathan Lethem also joined. All in all, a trip and a half.
met linklater today on the press rounds for scanner. He signed my poster which i’ll post on my site. Seemed like a decent guy, a little odd but cool.
Awesome job on catching keanu though reel, i was at the matrix premiere and couldn’t get close to him.
Jada pinkett smith on the other hand was just chillen at the snack counter
I think this was a personal movie. Robert Downey Jr. was good. It was anti-government in the end. Makes you wonder about the DEA.