Will Smith and Isaac Asimov

MR. ROBOTO
Smith will battle robots

After spending several movies hunting renegade aliens, Will Smith is ready for a change. Now, he'll hunt renegade robots in ''I, Robot,'' based on the pioneering android stories written by Isaac Asimov in the 1940s. According to Variety, he'll shoot the film for Twentieth Century Fox in April, with Alex Proyas (''Dark City'') directing.

Asimov's ''I, Robot'' short story collection, which inpired much of the android-themed sci-fi that followed, imagined a world where robots live among humans and are forbidden to harm their flesh-and-blood masters. In the movie, Smith will play a droid-phobic detective investigating a murder who suspects that a robot committed the crime, believing that the 'bots have found a way to evade the laws of robotics. ''The big idea here is that if the robots have found a way to violate the laws, there is nothing to stop them from taking over, because the human race is so dependent on robots and automation,'' Fox president Hutch Parker tells Variety. Judging by some of the perfunctory movies that have come out this year, including Smith's ''Men in Black II,'' the robots may have already taken over Hollywood.

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This bodes badly for any Asimov fan. Now, I don't hate Will Smith. The acting chops he displayed in Six Degrees of Separation (and Ali) was fantastic. His acting in Independence Day, MIB, MIB II, Enemy of the State, Wild Wild West (shudder), and Bad Boys was all about comedy and attitude, however (and, okay, rightfully so, due to the script treatment). So which type of Will Smith character will show up for the role in I, Robot? Unfortunately, I'm expecting another ID4-like character in what will probabaly be a vapid, hipper Blade Runner with a Will Smith attitude (and plenty of one-liners). This sucks, because I'd rather have a cerebral action movie (see: Minority Report) devoted to Asimov's text rather than the loose premise of "killing bots and getting the chicks." I don't blame Will Smith here, and I won't blame him if this movie becomes what I think it will. I'm just mad that some movie exec (who doesn't give a crap about anything but money) would take a perfectly good book and churn it through the Hollywood mill to produce a hip, mindless sci-fi romp (complete with MTV music video-like action scenes). Am I positive this will happen? No, but the casting of Will Smith is dubious at best. Here's hoping Proyas bucks the odds (and ignores all the stupid memos written by stupid executives with stupid ideas at Fox) and produces a great film worthy of Asimov's material (like Ridley Scott did with Blade Runner). Unfortunately, I'm pessimistic at this point because I just... don't... feel Smith is right for this film. Worse, I feel this might spur other greeeeeaaaaaaat casting moves by idiotic movie execs in the future. Can't you just see it now:

Ben Affleck is Paul Atreides in Dune: Let's Hunt Some Harkonnen!!
John Travolta is Ender Wiggins in Ender's Game IV: Bugger Bloodlust!! John Leguizamo as multi-racial brother Peter Wiggins!!
Robin Williams is Hari Seldon in Foundation: The Conquest of Patch Adams!!
Jennifer Lopez is Eowyn in the NEW LOTR tale, LOTR: The Nazgul Ate My Baby!! (Title song by Lopez, too.)
Justin Timberlake as a young Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode III!! Justin Guarini as Chewbacca!!
Chris Rock is "Case" in Hackers 2: Neuromancer!! (Directed by Michael Bay)
Dr. Dre is Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!! Ludacris as Ford Prefect!! Britney Spears as Zaphod Beeblebrox!!

Okay, so the above casting is obviously a joke (duh) and a vain attempt at geek humor. Still... it could very well happen, and that's just plain scary to me....