Well it only took them like 23 years to sort out the details, but it appears that William Gibson’s landmark cyberpunk novel Neuromancer may finally grace the silver screen in the near future. And who should be the visionary director at the helm ensuring that this modern sci-fi classic gets the adaptation it deserves? Why, none other than… Joseph Kahn, director of Torque and such music videos as Korn’s “A.D.I.D.A.S.” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic”.

I have to admit, I’m a bit disappointed by this news. Neuromancer is a movie I would love to see on the big screen, but I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it just wasn’t going to happen anymore. Now it just seems like they’re 10 years too late. After all the failed attempts to make this movie, this is the best they can do? I’ve never seen Torque, but it doesn’t seem to fit the bill. As much as the term cyberpunk conjures thoughts of The Matrix or another, less-favourably reviewed William Gibson adaptation Johnny Mnemonic, Neuromancer itself is a pretty heady story with a lot of surreal imagery and not a ton of action. If they were going to go with a music video director, they should have stuck with Chris Cunningham, who had been pursuing the project since 2000 and would have at least brought some trippy visuals to the table. I simply can’t imagine this being the version of the book that all the hackers and uber-geeks have been waiting so long to see.

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