A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Movie

The long delayed film version of the Douglas Adams' classic book.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. First published in 1979, it took the story of the Earth's destruction and the quest for the ultimate question to Life, the Universe and Everything, first written by its creator Douglas Adams for a BBC radio series, and turned it into an international bestseller. Four more books would eventually appear in the series and the story would be adapted into a television series, a computer game, record albums, and even a stage show. The one medium into which it failed to make the leap was movies. Despite early attempts in the 1980s, when director Ivan Reitman was attached, the project languished in development hell until the late 1990s.

"I am very confident that the film will actually go into production any decade now. When? I want to know when, too," Douglas Adams, July 1995.

Reportedly, it was the success of 1997's Men in Black that put the wheels of a movie version in motion again. That film proved that there was a market for science fiction comedy. Despite renewed studio interest and the attachment of a new director, Jay Roach of Austin Powers and Meet the Parents fame, the challenge of converting the episodic story, with its lack of a traditional three act structure, continued to prove difficult for Adams.

Sadly, before he had the chance to complete his adaptation, Douglas Adams died of a heart attack in May 2001. He was only 49 years old.

"I think he would like to be remembered as someone who created a complete other world through his work," Stephen Fry, friend and voice of the Guide, in Douglas’ obituary.

Robbie Stamp, close friend and business partner of Adams, with the help of Director Jay Roach, refused to allow Douglas' dream to die with him. With the permission of Douglas' family, they decided to move ahead with the film.

The first step would be completing a script. They offered the job to Karey Kirkpatrick, an American scriptwriter with a reputation for writing that contained structure and tone; two elements that Douglas' unfinished draft needed. Honored, Kirkpatrick almost didn't accept the job, because as he puts it, "I didn’t want to be the guy who screwed that up." Stamp and Roach were able to convince him to take the assignment despite his trepidation, and once he accepted Karey decided that rewriting the beloved classic would have to be an egoless affair. "If you can’t tell where Douglas' writing ends and mine begins, then I’ve done my job," he says. "The credit belongs to him. If one of my jokes gets a laugh, then that will be my secret pride."

With script in hand, the search then turned to finding a director. Roach, unable to take on the task himself due to scheduling conflicts with Meet the Fockers, remained on board as a producer and recommended Spike Jonze to replace him. Jonze in turn recommended the young British Producer and Director partnership of Nick Goldsmith and Garth Jennings. They, like Kirkpatrick were hesitant at first; "There was one moment right at the start when we thought to ourselves, 'how do we do this tremendous story justice?' but I think we couldn't resist the idea that we had been handed an amazing opportunity that we should grab by the horns. We felt that as long as we passionately embraced the core of Douglas Adams' work – that unbridled intelligence and humor – we could take it almost anywhere."

It was their youthful enthusiasm (evident to anyone who talks to them, particularly director Garth Jennings) that helped win over Adams' family to the idea that this was about more than a studio out to make money. Says his sister, Jane Thrift, "…when we met Nick and Garth, we saw the level of creativity, integrity and devotion. …I walked away from the film set, thinking 'this is going to be an amazing movie' and 'oh my God, I'm so proud.'"

"When it comes down to it, my principle is this - Arthur should be British. The rest of the cast should be decided purely on merit and not on nationality," Douglas Adams on casting for the film.

Both Stamp and Jennings, confident that the 'star' of the film would be the Hitchhiker’s brand itself, realized that they were free to cast the lead roles based upon who they thought was right for the part and not on name recognition.

Jennings' first choice for Arthur was Martin Freeman, most famous for his role of Tim in the British television series, The Office. According to Stamp, when he saw Freeman’s audition tape and heard him utter the classic Hitchhiker's line, "This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays," with a freshness that made the line his own, he knew that unquestioningly they'd found their Arthur Dent. Freeman didn't hesitate once offered the role, "I would say that getting the opportunity to play the last man on Earth is always attractive to an actor. I quite fancied that."

It was in the casting of hip-hop star Mos Def in the role of Arthur's alien best friend and roving reporter for the Guide that sparked the most controversy among certain fans; not only was he an American, but also black, both changes from the character in the books. Stamp commented, "Some of the objections bordered on racism." All of the people working on the film agreed upon one thing; Mos Def is one of the coolest humans on the planet. "He's Fonzie", said Sam Rockwell. "He knows absolutely everything," agrees Zooey Deschanel. Jennings points out, "What I love about Mos Def in this role is that he is such a contrast to Martin Freeman. Whereas Martin plays your typically tightly wound Englishman, Mos is this very wise, very cool, very funny, very opposite foil for him."

The two other lead characters, the ex-galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox and astrophysicist Trillian, went to Sam Rockwell and Zooey Deschanel. To create the character of Zaphod, Rockwell combined traits from Vince Vaughn, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. With Trillian, Deschanel was aided by the expanded role written for her character in the movie version. According to Deschanel, "The Trillian character isn’t really much in the books. She’s just sort of pissed off at people." With the enhanced love triangle, a subplot only hinted at in the books, in this version of the story, more than any other, her character is given more to do.

"Having been an English literary graduate, I've been trying to avoid the idea of doing art ever since. I think the idea of art kills creativity. I think media are at their most interesting before anybody's thought of calling them art, when people still think they're just a load of junk," Douglas Adams.

Whether or not the millions of fans of the books, television series, radio show, or computer game, embrace this version of the story, one thing is abundantly clear. This is not a quickie studio ploy designed simply to profit off the name. This is a movie made with love and respect for one man by a dedicated group of people working together with real care for the material.

"Often, when I was on the set, looking at all these remarkable creations come to life and hearing the cameras rolling, I couldn’t help but think that my friend Douglas would have loved nothing more than to be there. He always said that this story should be a movie, and everybody involved seemed determined not only to prove him right, but to do him proud," Executive Producer, Robbie Stamp.