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New Stephen Hawking Movie in the Works

Posted by timothy on Sun Oct 15, 2006 03:38 PM
from the reinvention-to-best-bono-or-tom-jones dept.
Space Media Movies Science
Simon Behler writes "The Sunday Times is reporting that Stephen Hawking is making a new movie. FTA: 'Professor Stephen Hawking, Britain's world-renowned physicist, is to switch from theories of multidimensional space to the three dimensions of the Imax cinema by starring in a film that sets out his ideas on the origins and fate of the universe. The film, Beyond the Horizon, will tackle some of the most daunting theories espoused by Hawking and other cosmologists, from the idea that space has up to 11 dimensions to the cause of the big bang itself.'"
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  • 3D Imax? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Wilson_6500 (896824) on Sunday October 15 2006, @03:40PM (#16445801)
    to the three dimensions of the Imax cinema

    So, is the third dimension apparent depth? If Imax shows are still displayed on flat screens...
  • This is great news. We need more movies to completely blow stoners' minds! Trippy visuals and ideas that are completely outside the thought patterns of most people make for a great mix.

  • But more important (Score:4, Funny)

    by rolfwind (528248) on Sunday October 15 2006, @03:42PM (#16445817)
    Will he rap in it?

    http://www.mchawking.com/ [mchawking.com]

  • The real question is.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 15 2006, @03:45PM (#16445845)
    Will he be doing his own stunts?

  • Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Turn-X Alphonse (789240) on Sunday October 15 2006, @03:59PM (#16445941) Journal
    Why are they even making a film? The BBC did an excellent TV series about his life, it was not only entertaining but showed his youth which many people arn't aware of.
  • IANAP but I happened to chat with a real string theory
    theorist recently, he did not seem at all impressed with
    Hawking.

    Anything that sparks the interest of a student or anyone
    to enter science is a fine thing. I'm looking forward to
    it even though the artists rendition of 11 dimensions will
    likely be more psycadelic than mathematically accurate.

  • British?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by MrP- (45616) <rob.elitemrp@net> on Sunday October 15 2006, @04:08PM (#16446017) Homepage
    Stephen Hawking is british?? I never knew.. what happened to his accent??
    • I don't know, but I was sorta hoping they'd get James Earl Jones to do the voice-over work... he does a lot of voice over work...
      • In reality, after getting the first - of several - voice systems, he remarked that it gave him a California accent. True story - I'm too lazy to google the link at the moment.
  • I thought it was a new Stephen King movie coming out for Halloween.

  • Unfortunately... (Score:5, Funny)

    by coupland (160334) * <dchaseNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Sunday October 15 2006, @04:16PM (#16446085) Journal
    The part of Hawking will be played by Tom Cruise, as a rogue astrophysicist who only has 24 hours to develop a unified field theory, and prevent terrorists from opening a black hole in downtown Manhattan!

  • meh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Karma Sucks (127136) on Sunday October 15 2006, @04:21PM (#16446131)
    I'd be way more interested in a movie on that Hubert Farnsworth guy. It's amazing to me that the professor is still putting out new inventions at his age.
  • "... from the idea that space has up to 11 dimensions ... "

    Does this mean the movie will cover String Theory? I wasn't aware that Stephen Hawking worked in this area. Does anyone know what his position is on String Theory? I remember reading recently that some people thought it was all rubbish.

    If you're interested in learning a little about string theory, "The Elegant Universe" by Briane Greene is a great place to start. Its more of a popular-science type book, using simple and interesting example. NO
    • Hawking has been working in string theory lately. He gave a public lecture at the Strings 06 conference in China this past summer, and his recent-ish work on the entropy of black holes (reported here maybe last year) was done in the framework of string theory.

      I should be careful, though: it's a pretty large field. By some reckonings strings are everything in theoretical high-energy physics *except* the theories that are explicitly not string theory (loop gravity, the field of recent Slashdot-ee Lee Smoli

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by anubi (640541)
        Finally, a serious thread in this story...

        I would love to see Hawking's reply to String Theory.

        After trying to read the "Elegant Universe", I became more convinced than ever that String Theory as really grasping at straws, but when surrounded by darkness, a straw is better than empty space.

        I haven't the foggiest idea where the truth really lies. Maybe Hawking does. In any event, there are not many more illustrative ways of communicating one's ideas than a good animated presentation.

        Dont ya know Eins

  • I'm reminded of a joke [wikipedia.org] on The Critic. I wonder if the real film will be at all similar.
  • Hawking is a Brit? How come he talks with an American accent? They couldn't give him a voice box with an English accent?
  • Physicist Stephen Hawking crashes his car on a snowy Colorado road. He is found by Annie Wilkes, the "number one fan" of Hawking's heroine Misery Chastaine. Annie is also somewhat unstable, and Professor Hawking finds himself crippled, drugged and at her mercy. Annie forces Hawking to spend his days examining her black hole, confined to his wheelchair.

  • Alternate Theory of the Universe (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Digital Vomit (891734) on Monday October 16 2006, @07:19AM (#16451265) Homepage Journal

    I'm still waiting for my buddy's theory of the universe to be disproven:

    "Matter [and energy] is nothing more than carefully arranged empty space."

  • Cause of Big Bang? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by kalirion (728907) on Monday October 16 2006, @08:46AM (#16451935)
    Isn't it accepted by most cosmologists that time came into existance with the Big Bang? Kind of makes it hard for a cause-effect relationship, doesn't it?
    • Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood because my pet just died, but isn't it depressing that all of the medical technology in the world can't give one of the greatest minds in the world a semblence of a healthy body?

      Still, it's good that such a smart man is getting all of this media attention. The world could use more role models in movies, instead of relying on the ones that take steroids to break sports records.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by RsG (809189)

        isn't it depressing that all of the medical technology in the world can't give one of the greatest minds in the world a semblence of a healthy body?

        Why single out Hawking? He isn't the only person in the world with ALS. Nor is he the only person who has contributed to our scientific knowledge to suffer or die from an incurable disease.

        It's not like the medical technology we have today is miraculous. Advanced, yes, but medicine is still a work in progress, and probably always will be. People still die of

      • Re:Oh god (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Rosco P. Coltrane (209368) on Sunday October 15 2006, @04:25PM (#16446177)
        Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood because my pet just died, but isn't it depressing that all of the medical technology in the world can't give one of the greatest minds in the world a semblence of a healthy body?

        You know, just because technology doesn't give Hawking the body of Arnold Schwarzeneger doesn't mean it didn't help: without technology, Hawking would probably have ended up in a rocking chair, his family taking his motionless, speechless body for that of a gibbering imbecile. Instead of that, his power wheelchair give him a semblance of mobility, and his speech box give him the ability to express himself. So in reality, technology gave us one of the greatest mind in the world.

        As for movies, Stephen hawking did play in Star Trek TNG. Granted, it wasn't a Jackie Chan role, but still...

        • Re:Oh god (Score:5, Funny)

          by mgabrys_sf (951552) on Sunday October 15 2006, @05:48PM (#16446931) Journal
          re:"As for movies, Stephen hawking did play in Star Trek TNG. Granted, it wasn't a Jackie Chan role, but still..."

          Well with a little more CG FX, he COULD have had a Jackie Chan role, and I think the world is ready for the full on Stephen Hawking / Jackie Chan experience in "RoadHouse 2, Quantum leaps of fury". "Entropy takes a beating in the summer of 2007"
          • Well, nevermind Jackie Chan... He's passe... Pair Hawking up with some kewl F/X, and Stephen Chow! They could do a remake of Kung Fu Hustle, or Shaolin Soccer. But, first, I want to see them side-by-side in those yellow catsuits with the black stripes. They can do twists and turns in quick cuts to the tune the old Purina Cat Chow:

            "Purina Cat CHOW, CHOW! CHOW!! Purina Cat CHOW, CHOW!!! CHOW!!!! Chhh-chhh-chhh chow-chi-chi-chow-chow-cheowwww!!!" (yes, they have to do it real gay-like, too, but then Hawkings m
        • Just remember, the even-numbered Stephen Hawking movies will be bad, and the odd numbered ones good, and then there's the one where he invents transparent aluminum and saves the whales. That one's awesome, especially where he talks into a mouse.... what? Yes, Mom, I did take my Ritalin today! Go away, I'm busy online.
      • You should remember that ALS is a horrific disease that kills almost everybody within a couple of years after diagnosis. It's truly a miracle that Hawking is still alive. Let's be grateful for that.

      • Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood because my pet just died, but isn't it depressing that all of the medical technology in the world can't give one of the greatest minds in the world a semblence of a healthy body?

        Some time ago Dr. Robert J. White http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/06/29fe aturea.html [salon.com]>proposed exactly that. Since non-nerve stuff is mostly mechanical, perhaps Futurama is closer than we think...

        Xix.

    • Since Stephen Hawkins makes appearences on the Simpsons and Family Guy, do you think they will make an appearance in his movie.

      "Spit in my mouth."
    • My experience with physics classes has been that the best explanations of theory are generally (almost) explanations of discovery. An emphasis on why something was thought tends to make it much easier to understand what was thought.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by east coast (590680)
      You think you're cute, bitch, but you'll be thinking otherwise when you see MC Hawking roll up with Samuel L Jackson and Ice Cube in their '64 and bust a few caps in your ass with their A-Ks.

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