MOVIES: Snow Crash getting the film treatment?

There are few books that have had a huge impact on my life, but Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash was a tale that capture my imagination in the pre-dawn Internet days, when everything was still green, and 3600 was the way the cool kids connected to the cyber world.  So imagine how surprised I was when I learned H’wood was pushing ahead with a movie adaptation.  The same H’wood that made Johnny Mnemonic… granted, that was a different writer, but still…

According to Deadline, Attack The Block’s Joe Cornish has been approached by the studios to write the adaptation of the story that was originally snapped up by Paramount when the book was first published in 1992.

At the beginning of the novel, the main character, Hiro Protagonist, discovers the name of a new pseudo-narcotic, “Snow Crash”, being offered at an exclusive Metaverse nightclub. Hiro’s friend and fellow hacker falls victim to Snow Crash’s effects, which are apparently unique in that they are experienced in the Metaverse and also in the physical world. Hiro uses his computer hacking, sharp cognitive skills, and sword-fighting to uncover the mystery of “Snow Crash”; his pursuit takes the reader on a tour of the Sumerian culture, a fully instantiated anarcho-capitalist society, and a virtual meta-society patronized by financial, social, and intellectual elites. As the nature of Snow Crash is uncovered, Hiro finds that self-replicating strings of information can affect objects in a uniform manner even though they may be broadcast via diverse media, a realization that reinforces his chosen path in life.

I guess the biggest concern in adapting the movie is that today, technology has nearly surpassed the techno-verse Stephenson and others created 20 years ago.  I’m not saying it can’t be done, but… Johnny Mnemonic…

via Deadline