US film looks at the future through dark lens

CANNES, France, May 26 (Reuters) US director Richard Linklater has turned a bleak 1977 science fiction novel into an animation film starring Keanu Reeves, and believes its vision of a country ruled by fear and heavy surveillance proved prescient.

''A Scanner Darkly'' is based on a Philip K Dick novel of the same name, and tells the story of a group of friends who end up spying on each other as the authorities seek to crack down on ''drug terrorism''.

US troops are fighting abroad to stamp out the menace, and in one scene a protester complaining about the erosion of civil rights is brutally restrained and arrested. The movie also deals with drug addiction, mental breakdown and paranoia.

Linklater, whose ''Fast Food Nation'' is also being presented at the Cannes film festival but in the main competition, is wary of drawing direct comparisons between Dick's vision and today's reality, but he told reporters yesterday.

''You can read something written 30 years ago and by and large think it is your present, which is how I feel about Scanner Darkly to a large degree,'' he said.

While some journalists watching the film drew parallels with the way the United States and its allies have sought to fight terrorism and with the use of surveillance cameras, Linklater said he was dealing with broader issues.

''I think he saw the future pretty clearly about how governments and corporations use power and how that can alienate people from one another and themselves.'' DARK US FILMS His ''Fast Food Nation'' is a critique of the big US burger chains, and ''Southland Tales'', another US film in the main Cannes competition directed by Richard Kelly, portrays the country on the verge of social and environmental disaster.

A Scanner Darkly uses an animation technique called ''rotoscoping'' which, by imposing animation over film, makes the four main actors recognisable on screen. They are played by Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder.

Post-production took 18 months, and every minute of the film took around 500 hours to animate with the help of computers, Linklater explained.

He saw his movie, due out in July, as part of a move towards making animation that appeals specifically to adults.

''I'm for animation for adults,'' he said.

''I think in our industry animation is cool, but it's really for kids. It's hard to get anyone excited about this. Even though adults watch animation at home on television, there's a general feeling that they won't go see a cartoon in a theatre.'' Downey, who has been in trouble with the law for drug possession, joked about his past.

During the press conference, when his answers were as surreal as the film, Downey said he used a pair of slippers ''that really helped me to dig into my character ... aside from the 25 years of drug research I've been doing.'' But, with tongue firmly in cheek, he denied that his involvement in A Scanner Darkly and last year's ''Good Night, And Good Luck'' about McCarthyism in the 1950s, said anything about his political affiliations.

''Doing this and Good Night, And Good Luck, it's not like I'm some left-wing Larry,'' he said.

''I really have no political designs or ideas. In fact I have a really nice big picture of my wife and I and the Bushes on top of our refrigerator ... I like him. Is that OK?'' REUTERS SRS BD1100