We have a lot to unpack here, so I’ll start with the basics and then delve deeper into this promising new project. It is the year of our lord Verne 1920 and a new play by a talented Czech writer Karel Čapek just had its premiere. R.U.R. AKA Rossum’s Universal Robots introduced to the world the word Robot for the very first time. A hundred years later, we’re still using it and the play is just as relevant now as it has ever been. RUR is taking place in a special factory where robots build other robots. Helena, the daughter of a tech tycoon visits it, eager to find out how these strange machines are made.
Domin, the general manager tells her all about it and how Rossum created it. From there, through a series of twists and turns, things go bad, very bad. I don’t want to reveal too much of the story but you can read the original script if you want to know more. With that out of the way, it’s time to focus on the other most important person in this project. If you’re a science fiction fan, I believe you’re already familiar with Alex Proyas. He’s an Australian filmmaker who brought us such classics as The Crow, Dark City, and I, Robot. His last movie, Gods of Egypt didn’t do so well but I liked it nonetheless.
It’s a fun romp through ancient Egypt full of excellent special effects and exhilarating action. However, his upcoming RUR movie will be an independent production, far away from Hollywood. I’m 100% confident that he has not just the knowledge but also the vision to make this play into a cinematic masterpiece. Something he already did with the highly influential 1998 Dark City. This brings us to the next twist in the story, as RUR will be quite a strange movie. Proyas describes it as a blend of Dr. Strangelove and Young Frankenstein, a “broad comedy but with a very dark tone”. A cynical, nihilistic, and, ultimately satirical story about the inevitable fate of humanity.
This is something stemming from the original Čapek’s work. To make things even more bizarre, there will be a lot of singing, dancing, and physical comedy here. So, a science fiction comedy musical featuring a healthy amount of action and poignant dialogue. It’s an ambitious project, you have to admit. If this was any other filmmaker, I would immediately tell you that this is going to be pretentious and artsy garbage. However, Alex Proyas is different, and I think he’s on to something. To bring his vision to life, he won’t be relying on those dirty Hollywood dollars but on you, the viewers. Yes, RUR is an independent production and you can be a part of it.
Your name can actually appear during the end credits and there are all these other perks you’ll have access to if you join this RUR Indigogo campaign. In one of the updates, the end date for the campaign was November 16th. I’m not sure if that’s exactly true but you can also check out Alex Proyas’ Patreon page if you want to follow him and his work more closely. He says that Hollywood is no longer willing to support directors with a vision. A vision that deviates from their safe and commercial approach. If you’re not making a franchise movie or something to do with graphic novels, you’re a lot of trouble. All these Marvel movies follow the same old tired formula.
Paper-thin story, melodramatic conflict, and flashy visuals make for movies you’re going to forget all about in a couple of days. I completely agree with him and it was about time someone tried to do something about it. To make his vision come to life, Proyas will shoot the movie using a brand-new technology called Virtual Production. Almost everything will be filmed in front of the green screen drastically reducing production costs. And judging by these clips and screenshots, the quality rivals any other modern Hollywood movie. It’s funny to think that they will be using Artificial Intelligence during this process. A process that might finally offer an alternative to the woes of classic filmmaking.
Without those greedy studios meddling in the artistic vision of writers and directors, we might actually get some original and groundbreaking science fiction movies. All the visuals you can see were done by the talented Heretic Foundation team. And they have many more projects in the works. When it comes to the cast, we only have one name: Lindsay Farris. You might remember him from TV shows like Lethal Weapon and Ash vs The Evil Dead. More recently he played Steven Hirsch in the miniseries Pam & Tommy.
Ambitious and authentic, RUR is a movie that could become a cult classic. We can expect its arrival somewhere in 2025 as Proyas shared an image of his cutting room just a few days ago, on January 6th, 2024. Finally, I just want to add that I love the themes that we will be exploring in this movie. Exploitation in a modern capitalistic society and the rise of AI are just some of them. Beneath the surface, there are many more poignant concepts wrapped in an entertaining absurdist comedy package.
