Utopia

[RottingCorpse]

Your dementia's setting in!

Where are my car keys?! I just had them in my hand!

[nacho]

Your dementia's setting in!

Where are my car keys?! I just had them in my hand!

Check the freezer, Pop-Pop!

[RottingCorpse]

Your dementia's setting in!

Where are my car keys?! I just had them in my hand!

Check the freezer, Pop-Pop!

Oh, look! It's that hooker's arm I thought I buried.

[nacho]

Don't say that on a public forum, Pop-Pop!!

[nacho]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/david-fincher-will-direct-the-entire-first-season-of-hbos-utopia-in-2015-20140929

David Fincher Will Direct The Entire First Season Of HBO's 'Utopia' In 2015

While David Fincher is no stranger to the small screen format (see our ranking of the 55 music videos he's directed to date), when it comes to actually getting behind the camera for TV episodes, he's hasn't quite jumped completely in the pool. At least not yet, but he's about to make the leap. As the executive producer on "House Of Cards," he only helmed the first two episodes. But as we recently noted, that's about to change. Fincher is about to shift away from movies into TV in a big way. And with his upcoming series "Utopia," it looks like Fincher is borrowing a page from his pal Steven Soderbergh, who dropped movies and headed to Cinemax to film the entire first season of "The Knick" (which you absolutely need to be watching if you're not already).

Chatting with The Guardian, Fincher revealed that he will be behind the camera for every episode of HBO's remake of the U.K. series "Utopia." The project, which has been brewing for a while, was given a series order by the network earlier this year, with "Gone Girl" author Gillian Flynn also on board to produce. The show (which has two seasons overseas) follows a group of people who get their hands on a cult graphic novel called "The Utopia Experiments," which seems to have predicted no shortage of disasters. An organization known only as The Network hunts them down as the group tries to prevent the next disaster predicted in the pages of the manuscript from happening.

“I like the world of it,” Fincher told the paper. “I like the characters – I love Dennis’s [Kelly, creator of the U.K. show] honesty and affinity for the nerds. I mean, I’ve always been a bit of a junior conspiracy theorist because I don’t have time to connect them all! But it’s nice to see that somebody has.”

Fincher joins a growing number of directors taking their auteurist approach to the more freeing world of television. Need some examples? Okay, there's Sean Durkin ("Southcliffe," the excellent mini-series now streaming on Netflix), Jill Soloway ("Transparent," one of the best of Amazon's new shows), Jane Campion ("Top Of The Lake"), Cary Fukunaga ("True Detective")....you get the idea. Clearly, Fincher sees where the artistry is going and is following suit.

The gig will keep Fincher busy for much of 2015, and after that, he says he doesn't know his next movie yet and that's likely because he has at least two more TV shows in the works.  “Oddly enough,” he says, “I did a remake of a literary adaptation, then I did a remake of a television show. Now I’m doing a literary adaptation [and then remaking another show]. I don’t know: the pattern is not clear to me exactly what it is that I’m doing. But I’m sure it’ll be illuminated for me. Your job is context. I’m just a hamster on a wheel!” And we can't wait see where that wheel spins next.

And HBO just killed this. So passes Utopia...

[RottingCorpse]

It was it's own beautiful thing.

[nacho]

It was it's own beautiful thing.

It died so GoT could get bumped to 8 seasons AND start a prequel spinoff series. 

[monkey!]

I started to rematch Utopia. It holds up beautifully.

'Where is Jessica Hyde?'

[RottingCorpse]

I watch the first episode every couple months for inspiration.

[RottingCorpse]

I will of course watch it.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/sasha-lane-utopia-amazon-1203122296/

Sasha Lane to Star in Amazon Drama Series ‘Utopia’

Sasha Lane has been cast in a lead role in the upcoming Amazon series “Utopia,” Variety has learned.

Based on the British series of the same name created by Dennis Kelly, “Utopia” follows group of young adults who meet online and are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come in to possession of a near mythical cult underground graphic novel. They discover the conspiracy theories in the comic’s pages may actually be real and are forced in to the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world.

Lane will play Jessica Hyde. Described as tough and feral after a life on the run from a mysterious and dangerous group, Jessica believes all the answers about her perplexing life story may be hidden in the graphic novel “Utopia.”

“As I’ve been writing ‘Utopia’ and trying to imagine the actor who could possibly embody Jessica Hyde, Sasha Lane has constantly kicked her way into my mind,” series creator Gillian Flynn said. “She has the shape-shifting ability to feel at once raw, unpredictable and a little unnerving while also making you want to wrap your arms around her. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her play this utterly unique character.”

Lane made her onscreen debut in the 2016 film “American Honey.” She has gone on to star in films such as “Hearts Beat Loud” and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” She will next be seen in the film “Hellboy” and “Weetzie Bat.”

She is repped by WME, The Long Run, and attorney André Des Rochers.

Amazon ordered a nine-episode first season of “Utopia” back in April. The original series aired two six-episode seasons on Britain’s Channel 4 between 2013 and 2014.

The series is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America and Kudos, an Endemol Shine Group UK production studio, and Amazon Studios. Flynn will serve as executive producer and showrunner with Kelly also set to executive produce. Jessica Rhoades, who collaborated with Flynn on “Sharp Objects,” will also executive produce along with Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson, and Diederick Santer. Sharon Levy, president of unscripted and scripted television for Endemol Shine North America, will oversee production for Endemol Shine.

Flynn is best known for writing the novel “Gone Girl” as well as the screenplay for the blockbuster film adaptation of the same name. Her novel “Sharp Objects” was also adapted as an HBO miniseries by Marti Noxon with Amy Adams in the lead role. Flynn wrote multiple episodes of the series in addition to executive producing.

She first became attached to “Utopia” in 2014 when it was set up at HBO with “Gone Girl” director David Fincher set to direct and executive produce. But the series stalled in 2015 when Fincher and HBO were reportedly unable to come to terms on the show’s budget. That will likely be less of a problem with Amazon, as the streamer has undergone a major programming shift in recent months. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has called for the streaming service to develop large-scale dramas with global appeal, such as the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” television adaptation.

[nacho]

Oh, man... Utiopia became such a shitstorm in season two, and the American/HBO remake nonsense. It's almost exhausting to see this now. Like, I watched this horse die five years ago and was spattered by its blood.

[RottingCorpse]

That first series is still one of my favorite anythings ever.

[nacho]

That first series is still one of my favorite anythings ever.

It is amazing, yes. But I've never wanted to go back to it because of how terribly they dropped the ball....and how much that dropped ball has bounced for half a decade.

[nacho]

So! The US Utopia is fascinating. It's almost a shot-by-shot remake. The Americanization of it means that they've added an extra layer explaining the background -- mainly to give John Cusack something to do. Building up Cusack and giving us a glimpse at what Harvest is actually all about initially feels like a mistake, but then it sort of grows on you. Ultimately, it's handled very well. It removes some of the mystery, and it definitely softens the twist. The big twist from the original is still there, but now it's less of an impact because we've been so distracted by Cusack.

The casting is also a little flawed. In some places it's brilliant (the sadly underused Milna, Wilson Wilson, Grant, etc). All of those characters are almost carbon copies. The big hole is Jessica Hyde, whose creepy alien-ness is removed entirely and replaced with a violent street urchin.

The show also focuses on Utopia as opposed to Jessica. It's no longer "Where is Jessica Hyde," but, instead, "Where is Utopia," and the comic itself is actually important as opposed to being a macguffin.

All this makes US Utopia just...not quite as amazing. I almost wish they had broken completely from the original and done their own thing. Then, maybe, it would have been as impressive as the original. But aping the original so loyally and, yet, missing the most key elements feels...well, deflated.

MEANWHILE: Dennis Kelley, creator of the UK Utopia, has rebooted The Wicker Man in HBO's The Third Day. But, here. he's completely dropped the ball. The first three episodes are the Wicker Man reboot we always wanted. The fourth episode (with two more to go) is the Wicker Man reboot we never wanted.

[RottingCorpse]

The trailer for Utopia totally underwhelmed me. I'm with you in that they should take the basis of it and then run and do their own thing. (Which I read in an interview with the writer is what they're eventually going to do.)