I, Robot (2004)

“I think Isaac Asimov would be proud of this film,” says producer John Davis. “It’s very respectful of his work. It has a director who has created the future in a dazzling visual spectacle, using state-of-the-art technology; and it has a great leading man who’s heroic and leads us through this world.”

“You don’t need to be an Asimov fan or a sci-fi fan to enjoy and relate to this movie,” says producer Topher Dow, “but if you are an Asimov fan, this story is a great companion piece to the I, Robot book and his great science fiction lineage.” “The Three Laws of Robotics”

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

At the core of all of Asimov’s robot stories are The Three Laws of Robotics. All of his robot stories begin and end with the Three Laws, which are hardwired into each robot. The puzzle in each story is how and why the laws malfunctioned in each particular case.

“Asimov’s robot stories are little intellectual puzzles,” says Jeff Vintar. ‘In each I, Robot story, he presents a problem that challenges The Three Laws of Robotics. I think that’s what’s fascinated readers of those stories for decades – he constantly presents a challenge to something and then shows you the resolution.”

“The movie is inspired by Asimov’s work, but it’s not really a direct translation,” says Alex Proyas. “It’s been a tough one to translate to the screen because trying to derive one concise narrative from the original collection of nine short stories is virtually impossible. We’ve taken, obviously, quite a bit of license to create our own story within the confines of Asimov’s world and ideas. So we tried to follow the spirit of what he created while cinematically bringing a fresh take to his world.

“We basically do exactly what Asimov did in many of his stories,” Proyas continues. “The laws are hardwired into the robots and they cannot be broken. Yet somehow the robots seem to find a way to apparently circumvent them.”

For Proyas, the most interesting question posed by the film is, how are we going to deal with robots? I think they will come, there’s no question. It’s always interesting how human beings eventually adapt to their technology. Eventually we decide to believe that the technology, for better or for worse, can make our lives better and we accept it. Is that a good or a bad thing? It certainly is the way that human beings seem to operate and, I think, will continue to operate in the future.”

---