The Project Gutenberg eBook of William Gibson Interviewed, by Giuseppe Salza

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William Gibson Interview

by Giuseppe Salza

http://www.sct.fr/cyber/gibson.html

Copyright Giuseppe Salza,gift ideas with magnetic blocks for siblings [email protected]

STANDARD DISCLAIMER:This document can be freely copied under the following conditions:it must circulate in its entire form (including this disclaimer);it is meant for personal and non-commercial usage. This entiredocument or parts of it are not to be sold or distributed for a feewithout prior permission. Send permission requests to"[email protected]". This document is provided "as is", withoutexpress of implied warranty. In other words, use it at your own risk.

INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM GIBSONby Giuseppe Salza

****This interview will be included in the book "Net-Surfers"(tentative title) by Giuseppe Salza, to be published by"Theoria Edizioni" in Italy in Spring 1995

CANNES. William Gibson was in Cannes in May 1994 to promotethe filming of "Johnny Mnemonic", a $26 million science fictionmovie based on his short story, and starring megastar KeanuReeves as the main character. Directed by the concept artist (andGibson's pal) Robert Longo - with a few music video and TV credits,but for the first time in charge of a feature, the film also stars Ice-T,Dolph Lundgren, Takeshi Kitano (of the cult "Sonatine"), Udo Kier,Henry Rollins and Dina Meyer. William Gibson also wrote thescreenplay of his original story, which was published in the anthology"Burning Chrome". "Johnny Mnemonic" goes into wide releasein current 1995.

In this interview, William Gibson talks at length about "Johnny
Mnemonic", movies, SF, net culture and issues.

What are your initial impressions on how "Johnny Mnemonic" isturning out ?

I have just seen the pre-assembled 10-minute show reel. I think it isfantastic! It felt very good seeing the universe of "Johnny Mnemonic"taking a life on its own. If it had been different, I wouldn't probablybe here. But it can be safe to say that "Johnny Mnemonic" has beenthe optimal screen experience so far.

Robert (Longo, the film director) and I kind of had a mutualexperience with it. We first tried to make a screen adaptation of"Johnny Mnemonic" back in 1989, so we started pitching it aroundfilm companies, asking for money. Didn't work out. We realizedafterwards that our major mistake was asking too little money.Our aim back then was to make a little art movie, we figured thatwe would need less than 2 million dollars. Jean-Luc Godard's"Alphaville" was our main inspiration back then. We should haveasked more money.

We went through several script drafts and stages. It became verypainful pursuing the project. If it were just for me, I would havegiven up long ago. It was really Robert's faith and persistencein getting this film done that made it possible.

Have you written any film scripts before, besides this and the ill-fated drafts for "Alien3"?

Yeah, I have done a couple of screen adaptations that never gotmade. One was "Burning Chrome" (ED.Kathryn Bigelow wasinvolved in it for a while) and the other was "Neuro-Hotel".

What happened ?

I don't really feel like talking about them. Let's just say thatthese projects have been… developed to death. It was gettingmore and more frustrating, and I didn't like that.

Have you ever been involved in any other movie or TV projectbefore that ?

I was gonna write a story for the "Max Headroom" series, but thenetwork pulled the plug. My friend John Shirley did a couple ofscripts for them. He's the one who convinced me I should havewritten one, too.

The only thing which was left of your script for "Alien3" was theprisoners with the bar code tattooed on the back of their necks.What do you think in retrospect of this misadventure ?

My script for "Alien3" was kind of Tarkovskian. Vincent Ward
(ED.the director of "The Navigator") came late to the project
(ED.after a number of other directors had been unsuccessfully
approached), but I think he got the true meaning of my story.
It would have been fun if he stayed on. (ED.he eventually quit.
"Alien3" was finally directed by David Fincher)

You seem very detached from your previous experiences in movies.
"Johnny Mnemonic", on the other hand, seems very personal to you.
Why is that ?

I wrote the original story in 1980. I think it was perhaps the secondpiece of fiction I ever wrote in my life. It held up very good after allthese years. "Johnny" was a start for many creative processes:it was in fact the root source of "Neuromancer" and "Count Zero".It is only fair that the first script of mine that goes into productionshould come from that, from my early career.

The world of "Johnny Mnemonic" takes for granted the Berlusconicompletion process, I mean the media baron becoming one of theCountry's leaders. I think the distinction between politicians andmedia is gonna disappear. It already has, in effect. It is very sad.

It's like saying that the theories you imagined in your science fictionstories are becoming real…

Yeah, but people shouldn't look at science fiction like they look at"real" fiction. They shouldn't expect that this is what the futureis gonna look like. We (ED. science fiction writers) are sort ofcharlatans: we come up with a few ideas and we make a living out of that.

When I wrote "Neuromancer", I would have never imagined AIDSand the collapse of the USSR. We never get the future right.I always thought that USSR was this big winter bear that wouldalways exist. And look at what happened. In 1993 I wrote anafterword for the Hungarian version of "Neuromancer". I wrote thatnothing lives forever, and that it's time that the winds of democracyblow over the East. But now, after the arrival of people likeZhirinowsky, I have second thoughts again and I fear for them.

Now you also write "geo-anthropological" reports…

That's right. I did a portrait of Singapore for "Wired Magazine".
That place gave me the creeps.

You are considered the true father of cyberpunk. What do you thinkof how this word has spread in the world and has gained new meanings ?

It depends whether you believe in such a thing. "Cyberpunk" hasbecome a historical word, one of these words which you use todescribe a definite period of time. The risk is that it could suddenlybecome outdated, passe. Now it is a very fashionable thing to say:wearing cyberpunk outfit or behaving cyberpunk has become hip:you see it on MTV. I was never comfortable with this interpretation.Billy Idol (ED. he released in 1993 the album "Cyberpunk") hasturned it into something very silly.

Finally, I think that cyberpunk is one of these journalistic terms,that media like to rely on. I am aware that most young writersare delighted being considered cyberpunk authors. But I'm older.I remember well the Sixties. I know that once you have a "label"attached onto you, it is over.

Let's go back to "Johnny Mnemonic". Which direction have yougiven the screenplay ?

"Johnny" is about the politics of Information. It's an action filmof course, but it doesn't forego for flashy and graphic FX: there's toomuch of that already on MTV. Besides, Billy Idol burned that look.We preferred opting for an anti-realistic look: we want to plungethe audience into a very strange but consistent universe. In short,we have decided to tell a story. That's what science fictionliterature has often managed to achieve, unlike most films.

Which science fiction movies you like most ?

I like "Blade Runner", Andrej Tarkowski's "Stalker", Chris Marker's"La jetee", and also the British pilot for the "Max Headroom"series. (ED. it was directed by Rocky Morton & Annabel Jenkel)

"Johnny Mnemonic" has a superstar, Keanu Reeves. What do youthink of his portrayal of your character ?

Keanu is fantastic! I have this problem: I have never been able todescribe the character of Johnny, until he came aboard. One day inthe early stages of developement, we were discussing the character,and I wasn't making a good job of doing that. But he reallygot Johnny from day one. It helped me better understand thisperson that I had imagined, so I was able to make smalladjustments to the story. I have always had a good attitudetowards actors, and Keanu helped me reinforce that idea.Once "Johnny" got its second chance, Robert (Longo) and I havetalked to each others on the phone at least once every day.Subsequently, I was often on the sets during the filming, doingrewrites. The sets of this picture were awesome! Everything washung 50 feet up in the air. They were quite dangerous: you reallyhad to watch where to put your feet. But I was able to not black out.

You and Bruce Sterling are the forefathers of the new science fiction.Isn't it ironical that he is very fascinated by hackers and the new edge,whereas you're not a technical person ?

Bruce practically lives on the Internet. I don't even have a modemor e-mail. My computer is outdated by any standards of criteria.I never was a technical guy and never will be. I'm a writer,and poetry and pop culture are the two things which fascinate me most.I'm not deeply excited by hi-tech. The Edge of the U2 was over herethe other day and he was showing me Net stuff. He showed how hecould telnet to his Los Angeles computer and he was very excited.I'll never be like that. However, I feel obliged to be ambivalenttowards technology. I can't be a "techie", but I can't hate it, either.

You have written "Virtual Light". So, what do you think of Virtual
Reality ?

If we take what I consider the "Sunday paper supplement" of VR,I mean Goggles & Gloves, I think that it has become very obvious,very cliche. I think that real VR is gonna come out from the newgeneration of visual effects in movies. I met Jim Cameron when hewas editing "Terminator 2": he showed me the clips of the T-1000emerging from fire in the L.A. canal. He said they were gonna usethe actor for the whole shot, but it was easier for them to do it indigital. This is the future. One day there will be entire virtualreplicas of real actors.

Incidentally, the book I'm writing now is about virtual celebrities.It's the story of a guy who becomes obsessed with the virtual replica ofa star, and falls in love with her.

You're not fascinated by technology, and yet you come up with ideason the edge…

When I write my books, my favorite part is always "art direction",not the plot. I admit I like giving people a visual impressionof the world I'm creating. Then, I have to remind myself thatI have to tell a story, foremost.

Another issue you focus on are Information Superhighways.
What actions have you taken ?

Bruce Sterling and I went to the National Academy in Washington toaddress the Al Gore people. We told them that this is the lastchance to give the poorest schools equal chances than the richest.In a few years it will be too late and we won't be able to fill up the gap.

To me, Information Highways are best described by the mostinteresting image I've seen on TV during the Los Angeles riot.A Radio Shack shop (ED. a chain of shops selling consumerelectronics gear) was being looted. Next to that there was an Appleshop, and it was untouched. People wanted to steal portable TVsand CD players, not computers. I think this clearly indicated thegaps of culture, or simply the gaps of chances, in our society.Besides, the Information Highway issue gives the public a falseperception. They don't wanna offer you exhaustive accesses toinformation; they wanna offer you a new shopping mall.

What do you think of the Clipper issue ?

The NSA wants to legislate that every computer manifactured in theU.S. will have a chip built inside that will allow the Governmentto decrypt the information. The worst thing is that people are notinformed of what is at stake here. Who would buy a computer with aspy inside? The Clipper chip is an admission of incompetence.They say they wanna be able to decrypt the information that wouldjeopardize National Security. But to can prevent the Medellin cartelto buy - say - into a Swiss corporation which comes up with a newencryption system which totally cuts out the Clipper ?

Encryption programs are stronger and stronger. There is a new onecalled Stego, which is free on Internet. It takes written material andhides it in visual elements. I send a digitized e-postcard fromCannes and there is half a novel hidden in its data. I've seen it work.I haven't understood the half of it yet.

Man, the Clipper chip is fucked anyway. Most of the new edge guysare into computers, and they're coming up with new gear nobodyhad the slightest clue about five years ago. I saw recently aprototype which looked like a beeper, but it was a virtual telephone.Unfortunately, we have to deal with more paper than before. We aresubmerged by tons of paper!

Wait a second. A few minutes you said you're not into hi-tech, andnow you're raving about it…

I'm not a techie. I don't know how these things work. But I likewhat they do, and the new human processes that they generate.

What is in your opinion the most important technologicalbreakthrough of our society in recent years ?

My favorite piece of technology is the Walkman. It forever changedthe way we perceive music. The Walkman has given us the opportunityto listen to whatever kind of music we wanted wherever we wanted.

The Fax machine is also an amazing thing. We live in avery different world because of that: instantaneous writtencommunication everywhere. It is also a very political technology,as the Tien An Men Square events told us.

What about e-mail ?

E-mail is very glamorous. Way too glamorous.

Copyright Giuseppe Salza, [email protected]

STANDARD DISCLAIMER:This document can be freely copied under the following conditions:it must circulate in its entire form (including this disclaimer);it is meant for personal and non-commercial usage. This entiredocument or parts of it are not to be sold or distributed for a feewithout prior permission. Send permission requests to"[email protected]". This document is provided "as is", withoutexpress of implied warranty. In other words, use it at your own risk.

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End of Project Gutenberg's William Gibson Interviewed, by Giuseppe Salza

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