Tagline: Don’t leave Earth without it.
You are about to join the most ordinary man in the world on a most extraordinary space adventure across the universe to the furthest edges of irreverent sci-fi comedy in The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. So grab a good towel, stick your thumb out at the stars and get ready for a mind-boggling ride of cosmically funny proportions.
Twenty years in the making, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy brings the story that became beloved by millions – and a part of the world’s pop cultural zeitgeist – at long last to the movie screen.
Mix-mastering science fiction, comedy, adventure and philosophy into one original entertainment experience, acclaimed author and renaissance man Douglas Adams’ novel was always considered ahead of its time. But now a new day has dawned on the story with this motion picture version that Douglas was intimately involved in creating prior to his tragic early death of a heart attack.
It all begins with Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), a typical guy having a very bad day. Arthur’s house is about to be bulldozed, his best friend turns out to be an alien and, to top things off, it appears that Planet Earth will be demolished in mere seconds to make way for a hyperspace freeway. Arthur’s only chance for survival: hitch a quick ride on a passing spacecraft, with the help of his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def).
Jetting off into the complete unknown, Arthur makes some major, mostly harmless, discoveries about the true nature of the universe. He finds that a towel is the most massively useful thing a person can carry. He uncovers the precise meaning of life. And he learns that the answers to everything anyone ever wanted to know – and plenty that no one in his right mind could possibly have expected — are all to be found in one fantastically entertaining electronic book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
That’s right. There’s a guide to this crazy cosmos of ours – or at least that’s the way Douglas Adams imagined it, and nothing has quite been the same afterwards. Indeed ever since Adams’ first wrote the story of Arthur Dent and his accidental discovery of the largest collection of cosmic wisdom this side of the Big Bang, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy has been blowing minds, tickling funny bones and revealing to its fans just how fun Life, the Universe and Everything in it might turn out to be if only we could spend the weekend at the edges of time and space.
Propelled by a mischievous wit, populated by creatures unlike any ever dreamed up before, unafraid to poke fun at sci-fi traditions and yet featuring a thoroughly thought-provoking view of life’s most gigantic mysteries, the world created by Adams soon became a powerful influence on pop culture. From physicist Stephen Hawking to former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to fantasy filmmaker George Lucas, artists, scientists, philosophers and hipsters around the world fell in love with Arthur Dent and his uncanny adventures on the other side of reality. The story, which originally started as a radio series, went on to become a five-part trilogy of novels, a BBC TV series, a groundbreaking computer game, the subject of college courses and more. The only journey the story never made was to the movies. Until now.
Inspired by Adams’ runaway creativity, the film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a.k.a. “H2G2”) pays homage to the spirit of irreverence and invention that have made this story so enduring. Using an eye-popping mix of state-of-the-art and old school special effects, the film propels audiences – whether long-time fans or the as-yet uninitiated – right out of everyday reality and into a side-achingly alternate universe that plays by its own set of rules.
Says producer Roger Birnbaum: “We always felt that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy could be to science fiction movies what Austin Powers was to James Bond: a loving send-up but also an incredible adventure all its own. This wonderfully fresh version of the story pays tribute to the amazing creativity of Douglas Adams while providing a thrilling ride for a new generation being introduced to the great fun of The Guide for the very first time.”
A Little Guidance on The Guide
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. — Douglas Adams
So, just what is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and where did it come from, anyway?
In 1978, BBC Radio 4 listeners were treated to a spectacular new play unlike anything anybody had ever heard before. Part sci-fi space odyssey, part laugh-out-loud satirical comedy, and part inquiry into the nature of reality, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy managed to spin tales of robots, space oddities and intergalactic encyclopedias, all the while meddling in some pretty massive questions – What is the nature of the universe? How did the universe begin? What is reality? Can we know meaning of life? – without ever taking itself too seriously. The result was that the audience had a blast – even as they were blasted into a world beyond ordinary belief.
The author of the play radio series was a young man by the name of Douglas N. Adams – or, as he liked to call himself DNA (proud that his initials spelled DNA)– who had studied English literature at Cambridge, had an intense fascination with the very edges of scientific discovery and was a comedy writer to boot, having worked with Monty Python member Graham Chapman. Convinced that there really ought to be some sort of manual or guide to the everyday operation of our frequently perplexing and constantly wondrous universe, Douglas soon realized there was little chance of finding one unless he wrote it himself.
With his sharp tongue firmly planted in his cheek and his vast imagination unleashed, Adams did just that, penning the improbable but unforgettable tale of Arthur Dent, who escapes an imminently exploding Planet Earth only to jet off into space on a sleek starship without even packing his bagsin his pyjamaspajamas and robe. Luckily, Arthur soon discovers The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which famously features some of the galaxy’s most excellentbest advicebest advice — “DON’T PANIC!” – on its cover. The standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom A compilation of all the knowledge ever known, The Guide has advice which ranges fromranges from the supremely practical to the sublimely ridiculous, The Guide ultimately reveals to Dent a joyous new view of life – one in which almost anything is possible and darned near everything is worth a laugh.
Based on the success of the radio play, Adams was soon approached by a publisher who asked him to write a novel based on the play and he quickly found himself a galactic star of the literary world. His book became a near-instant classicclassic best seller, and he would go on to write five more books in the series and to sell more than 15 million copies in the series before the end of his life.he died.
The Hitchhiker’s books became more than just bestsellers; they were a cultural phenomenon in their own right. Fans debated them, reading groups pored over their every rib-tickling linethe ideas, invention and engaging humourhumor, and even world-famous scientists such as the Darwinist Richard Dawkins and the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking discussed them in the same breath as the latest scientific theories. Two of Douglas Adams’ hugest biggest heroes – John Cleese and Paul McCartney – went on to collaborate with Adams on other projects.
Adams would continue to be an innovator and a far-flungoriginal thinker – becoming an early proponent of the Internet and multi-media technology. In addition to his writings, he performed with the rock band Pink Floyd ( a(a present for his birthday); designed interactive computer games; founded a multi-media company; started the “real” earth edition of the guide at h2g2.com; and campaigned passionately on behalf of endangered species, especially the mountain gorilla and rhino.
Having turned The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy into a radio show, novels, a television series, computer games and more, Douglas Adams knew his book was destined one day to be a feature film. But first Hollywood had a little technological catching up to do. With the advent of digital movie-making, Adams watched as his sci-fi comedy extravaganza began to influence a whole new genre of Hollywood films. For nearly twenty years, he had battled with writing a screenplay. Finally, in 1998, Adams signed a deal with Disney and hunkered down to give it another try. Much to the world’s shock, shortly after he finished his first second Disneysecond draft for Disney, Adams died quite suddenly of a heart attack.
His friends and fans were devastated by the loss, hosting memorials worldwide in more than 15 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Germany and, of course, the UK. Since his death, two planetary objects have been named in Adams’ honor: one entitled Arthurdent after his most famous character from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the other named Asteroid Douglasadams.
These production notes provided by Touchstone Pictures.
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Starring: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Chancellor, John Malkovich
Directed by: Garth Jennings
Screenplay by: Garth Jennings, Karey Kirkpatrick
Release Date: April 29th, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements, action and mild language.
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $51,085,416 (48.9%)
Foreign: $53,393,000 (51.1%)
Total: $104,478,416 (Worldwide)