JOHNNY MNEMONIC (Robert Longo, 1995)

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Pre-screening ticket

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I don't remember if I already posted TV spots for the theatrical release

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A very interesting interview with composer Brad Fiedel about his film scoring career and more...
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t ... 0517597211
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6CdxYjExvdU9N0pLpXROtz

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Hear me out: why Johnny Mnemonic isn’t a bad movie
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/a ... iam-gibson

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There's a UK digital release (no Blu-ray) on May 10 and it's getting a fair amount of press (even The Guardian published a review)
https://www.starburstmagazine.com/revie ... monic-1995

There’s also Dolph Lundgren, whose so-called ‘Street Preacher’ is massively underused, as he’s one of the film’s best components. Whether Lundgren is good or bad in the role is irrelevant, because he’s absolutely hilarious in it. The Street Preacher is basically a Terminator with more charisma – and as a result, all Dolph has to do is punch some people and shout lines like “Jesus is here!” before stabbing someone in the face. Good stuff.

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As I mentioned earlier in the review, JOHNNY MNEMONIC isn’t afraid of having a bit of fun with scenes and lines throughout the movie but the best has to come from a hired assassin. Hidden behind a beard and long hair, Dolph Lundgren stars as Street Preacher; a religious nut who’s had that many augmentations and implants, he’s definitely more tech than human yet has a fixation on Christ and sees himself as a deliverer of God’s wrath… for the right fee. He’s a fearsome character, despite the hilarity of it, due to his overpowering strength and size. With Lundgren’s physique, I think they cast wisely and Lundgren seems to be having a ball playing Street Preacher with such camp delight. Though he feels a little shoe-horned into the movie, his presence is still welcomed and is without a doubt a memorable character, even if purely for the surreal absurdity of it.

https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2021/05/j ... onic-1995/

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Lobby cards from Czech Republic

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5 years ago Robert Longo mentioned the possibility of releasing a black and white of the movie:

Don't know if it's serious but the one interesting thing is Longo talking about releasing his own black and white 45 mins version (à la Godard's ALPHAVILLE and Chris Marker's LA JETEE as it was first envisioned) of JM for the 25th anniversary... Look for it in 2020 (almost the year the movie takes places)!

And Longo kept his word!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPZKk1NFv-D/

robert_longo_studio



26 years after the original release of Johnny Mnemonic I’ve converted the film into black & white. It will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11th, co-hosted by Rockaway Film Festival. This black & white version is a bit closer to my original intention, but in 1995 the film industry “powers that be” weren’t ready, so this version is a bit of a redemption for me. I’m thrilled that William Gibson and Keanu both like it too. Can’t wait for everyone to see it.

https://tribecafilm.com/films/johnny-mnemonic-2021

FEATURE | 96 MINUTES
JOHNNY MNEMONIC

The first and only feature film from visual artist Robert Longo, Johnny Mnemonic is a sci-fi prophecy of the current world. Johnny, played by a pre-Matrix Keanu Reeves, is a human data courier in the dystopic future 2021. He battles corrupt corporations and internet overlords during a global pandemic, all to recover the memories he exchanged for data storage.

26 years after its original release Robert Longo has revisited his cult classic Johnny Mnemonic, converting it into black & white. This marks the premiere of Longo’s black & white version of the film.
Co-hosted by Rockaway Film Festival

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Johnny Mnemonic: Behind the Scenes at Sony Pictures Imageworks
https://gndn.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/j ... mageworks/



Story Outline and Cover Letter
https://propstore.com/mobile/product/jo ... er-letter/

The 10-page outline, dated 10/22/93, features the film's plot and storyline in a concise breakdown with scene, location, and visual effects specifications. The cover letter dated 10/25/93, describes the new changes.

Collection of Production Storyboards
https://propstore.com/mobile/product/jo ... oryboards/




Fantasy II Visual Effects Breakdown
https://propstore.com/mobile/product/jo ... breakdown/




Visual Effects Breakdown - October 12, 1993
https://propstore.com/mobile/product/jo ... r-12-1993/

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtajaElPwf/

robert_longo_studio

Johnny Mnemonic in black & white premieres one week from today, Friday June 11th, at the Tribeca Film Festival. Get your tickets at link
https://tribecafilm.com/films/johnny-mnemonic-2021

Screenshot 2021-06-04 at 22.41.20.jpg (150.58 KiB) Viewed 565920 times

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William Gibson @GreatDismal

Best description of the version of Johnny Mnemonic the studio ultimately released was that it looks like two dogs sewn into a single skin. There’s most of our movie in there, struggling to get out, but you can’t see it.

https://twitter.com/GreatDismal/status/ ... 9111100419

Bob Clark @NeoWestchester

How does the Japanese cut compare?


William Gibson @GreatDismal

The Japanese cut is longer, so contains more of the director’s cut.

https://twitter.com/NeoWestchester/stat ... 6823333895

(Robert Longo confirmed in his audio commentary that the Japanese cut is "closer" but not entirely his director's cut)

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Interview:
Room Service Redeemed: Robert Longo Revisits Johnny Mnemonic
https://www.screenslate.com/articles/ro ... y-mnemonic


Excerpts:

Patrick Dahl: I watched the black-and-white cut last night. It's really fantastic and I'm excited for other people to see it. What led you to consider doing this now?
Robert Longo: Well, I always had this fantasy that on the 25th anniversary I would try to get some redemption in relation to this film, because making it was really difficult. And I, at one point, thought about re-editing, but then I realized if I just turned it black-and-white that would be the best, easiest thing to do, and the most radical way of kind of imprinting how I really wanted it, because I wanted to make it in black-and-white originally. I wanted it to be like a contemporary version of Alphaville or something like that. Anyway, the movie, by dealing with Hollywood, had gotten out of control. Keanu had just blown up with Speed. Tristar wanted it to be their summer movie. It was kind of crazy. For me, for William, and for Keanu, this is a bit of redemption. They really love this new black-and-white conversion. And it looks like a shitty, million-dollar movie. It has a bit of a grunge to it and an attitude to it, which I think is really great.

Completely. The black-and-white knocks several million dollars off of the price tag.
Yes, it does, in a good way.

Originally, when I decided to make this black-and-white conversion, I ripped a Blu-ray and turned it black-and-white. I contacted one of the film’s original producers who was also a good guy, Don Carmody. I said to him, "I'm doing this, and I'm going to dump it on the 25th anniversary. I'm going to dump it on YouTube,” or something like that. And he said, "Wait, let me see it." So, I sent it to him, and he got really excited. "This is really great. We should show this to Sony." I hesitated to get Sony involved at first, but the problem with the Blu-ray version is that the quality would not be good enough to project it in a theater. So, Sony gave us the footage to work from, and they may release this new version on Blu-ray There's never been a director's cut. Ironically, there is a version that some people misunderstand to be a “director's cut,” the Japanese version of it, but it's not a director's cut. It's basically got more Takeshi Kitano in it. That's basically what it is.

So, I got the hi-res footage from the studio, and we graded it into black-and-white. I worked with Cyrus Stowe, who was the colorist on this version. Basically, we went through it scene-by-scene, and he was really great. He's really a very talented guy.

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rockawayfilmfest
Friday’s premiere of the new B&W version of JOHNNY MNEMONIC was epic and surreal.
Thank you @Tribeca for partnering with us for these special Rockaway screenings.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQGzZNlHnkJ/

rockawayfilmfest
Sony is putting out a disc in the fall.

Wonderful.

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Another screening of Robert Longo's B&W version will be held August 17 at Guild Hall 90 in East Hampton, NY (along with Longo’s exhibition, A History of the Present)
https://www.guildhall.org/events/screen ... -mnemonic/



EDIT:
Fan-made comic
https://issuu.com/seanmorganillustratio ... y_book_web

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A very rare advert from when JM was presented/promoted in Cannes 1994 (by Dolph and Dina Meyer notably) while it was still in production