The h2g2 Hitchhikers Movie News Page
Created | Updated Aug 17, 2005
As the whole vision behind h2g2 came from the unique mind of our founder Douglas Adams, it's only fitting that we're very excited that the movie version of his most famous work - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - has finally started production. We've set up this page to keep a track of any official news that comes our way, and we hope to be able to bring you a number of exclusive peeks into the making of the film, courtesy of the executive producer, Robbie Stamp who - rather conveniently - was also a founder member and co-founder of h2g2.
Please Note: Although we've been very lucky to have the support of Robbie and the production team, we're afraid that we can't answer specific questions on the film or enter into speculation as to what it might be like (although that's not stopping you from speculating). All we can say is we're as excited as you are and just as eager to see it!
The Cast and Crew
This is how the confirmed cast is looking at the moment:
- Martin Freeman (Arthur)
- Mos Def (Ford)
- Sam Rockwell (Zaphod Beeblebrox)
- Zooey Deschanel (Trillian)
- Warwick Davis (Marvin, the Paranoid Android)
- Alan Rickman (Voice of Marvin)
- John Malkovich (Humma Kavula)
- Bill Nighy (Slartibartfast)
- Steve Pemberton (Mr Prosser)
- Anna Chancellor (Questular)
- Bill Bailey (Voice of the Sperm Whale)
- Nigel Plaskitt (Vogon High Command)
- Stephen Fry (Voice of the Book)
The film is directed by Garth Jennings, based upon a script by Douglas Adams, Karey Kirkpatrick and Garth Jennings.
Latest News
17 August 2005: New Behind-the-Scenes Clip
Well, the movie's been released and you've probably seen it, so what more news can there possibly be? Only that the forthcoming DVD release will contain lots of great extras, including a new documentary by Grant Gee called Don't Crash - and we've got a clip of it for you, starring Bill Bailey.
Thanks to Disney, we've got the clip in both Windows Media and Quicktime formats, which you can see here.
19 April 2005 - Watch the Premiere on the Internet
There will be a web cast of the HHGG Premiere on The Film Factory on Wednesday 20th April Commencing 18.15 until 19.15 (approx finish time) and will be able to view for a couple of hours after the end of the web cast.
Presented by Jenny Faulkner (Ex-GMTV), it will be as if you are attending the premiere yourself. You will see all the stars on the red carpet, see all the interviews, together with exclusive clips from the movie. You might even see a few people from h2g2!
14 April, 2005 - Win Tickets for the UK Premiere of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
We have 20 tickets to give away for the UK Premiere of the long-awaited movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Head over to our new competition page for more information on how to enter.
13th April 2005 - Reviews are appearing
The movie is now finished, and press screenings have started. Reviews have started to appear. Some old-time (and current) h2g2 denizens have written reviews:
Empire magazine have also Reviewed it giving it four stars.
11 February 2005 - Release Date Moved Forward (UK)
Great news for British fans - we're getting the movie a week before the Americans (and quite right too!). So, set your alarms for 29 April. And don't forget your towel.
6 February 2005 - Director & Producer Q&A
Thanks to Jim Lynn we're able to bring you another round of questions and answers with director and producer of the film Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith. Find out what they had to lose from the final cut and which bits they don't want you to find out about before you see the film itself.
8 December 2004 - More Design Sketches
We're very pleased to be able to share a couple of new design sketches for the movie. As before, we're not going to tell you what they represent, but feel free to speculate in the conversation forums underneath the images.
16 November 2004 - Design Sketches for the Movie
With the provisional release date now listed as 6 May 2005, our friends in the design department on the Hitchhikers's movie have sent us three beautiful design sketches that give a teasing hint at what we might expect to see next spring. Take a look at these gorgeous design sketches...
25 July 2004 - First Movie Trailer Shown at Comicon 2004
The first teaser trailer for the movie has been shown at this year's Comicon convention in San Diego. Shown as a special surprise during a presentation for Pixar's new film, The Incredibles, and, according to Ain't It Cool News: 'The cheer for the trailer was one of the loudest for any trailer show so far'
The trailer doesn't feature any actual footage from the movie (early teasers almost never do) but it does feature a logo of the guide which, we're told, is the logo which appears in the movie. But no more spoilers. Watch it yourself, and tell us what you think here.
5 July 2004 - Hitchhiker's Photo Competition Winner Announced
After much deliberation, the h2g2 Editors chose our ten finalists for the Hitchhikers Photo Competition on the evening of Friday, 25 June 2004. The following Monday we sent the finalists over to Robbie Stamp, who presented them to the judge...
... who, by the way, was Arthur Dent himself, Martin Freeman!
We've put together a gallery of the shortlisted entrants - including the one Martin selected as our winner, but just to end the suspense, the winning entry was taken by Adrian Cockle from Surrey.
However, that's not the end of it - far from it. Over the next few weeks, we'll be adding some of the best submissions to the Edited Guide so even if you didn't win you might still see your picture illustrating h2g2. And even better, for those non-UK Researchers who were unable to enter, we'll soon be launching a brand new photography scheme on h2g2 that will be open to all.
Many thanks to the hundreds of people who sent in photos, and congratulations to Adrian, who will be making the first of his two visits to the set at the end of this week.
'Win a Part in the Movie' Competition
We're again indebted to Robbie Stamp for giving us the chance to offer one lucky winner the chance to be an extra in the film. Detail can be found on the Competition Page. Get your cameras at the ready and see if you can shoot the winning snapshot!
Exclusive Set Report
Jim Lynn of the DNA team was lucky enough to visit the set of the movie last week. See what he has to say about in his journal about being the luckiest Researcher in the world...
Behind the Scenes on the Very First Shot of the Film
The cameras are rolling on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, and just to prove it, here's an exclusive look at what was happening behind the cameras when the movie's very first scene was shot:
Slate 1, Take 1 (Requires RealPlayer).
Some background to the clip:
The first scene shot for the movie is the Islington party where Arthur and Trillian meet, and Zaphod picks Trillian up.
The person doing all the shouting is not the director (Garth Jennings) but the First Assistant Director, whose job it is to shout on behalf of the director. The First AD in this case is Richard Whelan.
Keen-eared researchers might notice a slight change in the sound after he calls 'Playback'. Executive producer Robbie Stamp explains: 'The reason that the sound quality on the voice shouting action sounds different from the rest of the sound is because it is. On the original we used the playback of the song we are likely to use in the movie and the Action and the playback overlapped so we had to record a voice (it's actually producer Nick Goldsmith's). We didn't want to give anything away at this stage and even two notes would have been recognised within hours!'
The Producer and Director Speak!
As principal photography on the Hitchhiker's movie was about to start, h2g2's Jim Lynn spoke to Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, director and producer respectively.
1 July, 2003: Robbie Stamp and the Hitchhiker's Movie
Robbie Stamp, executive producer on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie spoke to us to give us his perspective. Read his exclusive initial comments on this exciting project.
