Apple TV+ is adapting one of William Gibson’s sci-fi cyber-punk stories, almost thirty years after this infamous Keanu Reeves film took a swing.
Apple TV+’s upcoming Neuromancer ten-episode series is already shaping up to be an engaging expansion of the streamer’s sci-fi offerings — but the Keanu Reeves-led Johnny Mnemonic highlights how author William Gibson’s sci-fi work has always looked at for on-screen adaptation. As the sci-fi genre has evolved on-screen over the last thirty years, it’s become a much more experimental brand of story. Shows like Silo highlight how the right platform can help bring massive and thought-provoking stories to life, without the overt influence of studios changing the stories that inspired them.
This wasn’t the case decades ago, when William Gibson’s influential and award-winning prose was reimagined through the lens of the Hollywood blockbuster system. The result was one of Keanu Reeves’ most forgotten films, which was both a critical and commercial bomb when it was released in 1995. However, with nearly thirty years separating Johnny Mnemonic and the Apple TV+ Neurmancer, it’s worth revisiting one of Reeves’ most infamous bombs to see how that era of filmmaking approached Gibson’s works.
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The Cult Classic Sci-Fi film Bombed When It Debuted In Theaters
Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Mnemonic was a cyberpunk adaptation of William Gibson’s works, giving it an intrinsic connection to the upcoming Neuromancer adaptation to the Apple TV+ streaming service. The film focused on Johnny, a data courier in a cyberpunk version of 2021. After getting valuable information downloaded into his brain implant, Johnny finds himself on the run from a dangerous assassin known as the Street Preacher. On top of trying to avoid the killer and his Yakuza employers, Johnny has to race to get the information out of his head before it causes him fatal brain damage.
Johnny Mnemonic Official Trailer
The film suffered from a troubled production, as Gibson’s short story was originally set to be a more artistic piece. Directed by Robert Longo, the unexpected success of Speed resulted in the film being forcibly retooled by the studio into something expected to be more profitable with mainstream audiences. Although the film was initially a box office bomb that failed to impress critics, it has since developed a passionate cult following among sci-fi fans. The film’s concepts have only grown more resonant as technology marched forward into the 21st century, and William Gibson’s works have become more relevant than ever.
William Gibson’s Neuromancer Universe Is Getting A New Adaptation On Apple TV+
William Gibson’s Works Have Been Influencing Sci-Fi For Decades
While Johnny Mnemonic was one of Gibson’s earliest short stories, his first full-length novel was Neuromancer. The first entry in the Sprawl trilogy of books, Neuromancer focuses on a former hacker named Henry Case. Having faded into obscurity after losing his ability to hack into the virtual reality known as the “Matrix,” Case is recruited for one last big score by the mercenary “rollergirl” Molly Millions. Together, the pair end up unraveling a sprawling conspiracy as they search for more information about a powerful new artificial intelligence.
Neuromancer became a critical hit when it was published in 1984, serving as an early benchmark of the cyberpunk genre. The story is now set to be adapted into a series for Apple TV+ following the streamer’s other successful sci-fi adaptations, Foundation and Silo. Notably, Neuromancer is set in the same universe as Johnny Mnemonic, with characters crossing over from one to the other. This could allow elements of that story to bleed over into the new adaptation of Neuromancer. However, there are some key differences between the Keanu Reeves film and the latest adaptation of Gibson.
How Johnny Mnemonic Ties Into Neuromancer
The Original Johnny Mnemonic Short Story Has A Crossover Character With Neuromancer
Johnny Mnemonic takes place in the same world as Neuromancer, and the original short story actually featured the introduction of Molly Millions. Molly is a recurring character in numerous William Gibson stories. However, believing the character had potential as a stand-alone character in film, Molly was removed from the Keanu Reeves-led Johnny Mnemonic. Instead, the character was replaced by the functionally similar Jane. Played by Dina Meyer, Jane was also a cybernetic mercenary working alongside Johnny. The new Apple TV+ series will likely follow Gibson’s original stories far closer than the Johnny Mnemonic film,
The announcement of this new Gibson adaptation still demands a rewatch of the Keanu Reeves cyber-punk cult classic, just to highlight how adaptable the author’s concepts are to film. Gibson’s work has served as a major inspiration for sci-fi for years, with Neuromancer and Johnny Mnemonic having clear influences over The Matrix franchise. Neuromancer may have found the ideal home with Apple TV+ but the shadow of Johnny Mnemonic likely hangs overhead until the new take on Gibson’s work proves that it’s more focused on the heady sci-fi elements of the original instead of trying to turn it into an action blockbuster.
