Film Adaptation of Ubik by Philip K. Dick Planned

Allocine.com is reporting that Michel Gondry (The Green Hornet) is planning on directing his own adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1969 metaphysical comedy of death and salvation, Ubik.

In the book, Glen Runciter is dead. Or is everybody else? Someone died in an explosion orchestrated by Runciter's business competitors. And, indeed, it's the kingly Runciter whose funeral is scheduled in Des Moines. But in the meantime, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering -- and sometimes scatological -- messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping in ways that suggest that their own time is running out. Or already has.

Interestingly, Dick himself was asked to write a screenplay from the novel, which he did in 1974. Nothing became of it, but several years after the author's death, Corroboree Press published a copy of it. It was more recently republished by Subterranean Press, and is available to purchase (Ubik: The Screenplay by Philip K. Dick.)

You can read the first chapter(s) of Ubik below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.