What do a hospital reporter, a barn-builder, a chicken-shed cleaner and a bodyguard all have in common? They were all Douglas Adams at one point, before he became script editor of Doctor Who , which led on to life, the universe and everything - or The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy as it's better known. Growing from a BBC radio programme to a cult 1978 novel that spawned four sequels and a movie screenplay before the untimely death of author Adams in 2001, The Hitchhiker's Guide*, if prompted, perhaps would describe thus:
*The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a hippy alternative to the popular science-fiction series 'Star Trek', but with less uniforms. Debt-ridden students with bad body odour quickly made the book a big seller and in the late twentieth century the inhabitants of earth requested the book replace the rather more popular Christian Bible. The outraged Christians demanded free towels with every copy if they were to comply, which was a bit of a stretch considering the towels would actually cost the publishing houses more than the book itself. So the request was denied and the stoners had to settle for a BBC TV series instead. (Ironically Derek Moggins, the head of the BBC at that time, slipped on a wet towel and broke his neck in the bathroom the day before turning down the proposed programme. His replacement was rather more of a fan of said book and the rest is history).
 So what is the secret to the book's success? Is it the enduring search for the meaning of life? The number 42? Or is it simply that Adams' hero Arthur Dent is the perfect everyman upon whom we can place all our philosophical questions? "I loved the story," says Martin Freeman, who after his success in The Office, makes his official big screen debut as Arthur, "because it's about so many things - some of them ludicrous and some of them profound. In a way, I see it as being about what it's like to be alive - to be alone, to be in love, to be flummoxed and to be amazed."
Director Garth Jennings: "I knew no matter how inventive the script and design might be, it all had to come to life in the performances. This cast that we put together is an extraordinary bunch of very weird and wonderful people - and in their own ways, they're a lot like their characters." Joining Martin Freeman is Mos Def as Arthur's less-than-human best friend Ford Prefect, Sam Rockwell as the eccentric President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and Zooey Deschanel as Zaphod's long-suffering girlfriend Trillian. To play Trillian, the only other earthling to survive Earth's destruction, the filmmakers searched for an actress with an offbeat but undeniable charm and found that mix in Deschanel, whose previous credits include Almost Famous . "(Trillian is) equal parts smart and tough," Deschanel ventures, "which I love. I saw her as someone who had been sort of held back on Earth but really blossoms in space." And what of her character's newly written love triangle for the movie? "I think Trillian sees Zaphod as this sort of good-time guy who is her ticket to outer space, but with Arthur, things aren't quite that immediate. It's only later that she realizes that there's more to the galaxy than zipping around trying to figure out the Ultimate Answers."
 These oddballs and their journey to the big screen is almost worthy of a film in itself. The Guide has flirted with numerous incarnations over the years; at one point in the early eighties Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd were interested, followed by Jay Roach with Jim Carrey as Zaphod (Roach retains a producer credit in the final film), and finally Spike Jonze, which led producer Roger Birnbaum to current director Garth Jennings: "On Spike's recommendation, we flew Garth to the U.S. When he came in ready to go with an armful of sketches and a head filled with terrific ideas about how to shoot the story, we all fell in love with him on the spot."
This being the Nth incarnation of THGTTG (don't forget the computer game), it's fair to say that Jennings had a lot to live up to, especially since this is his debut movie. Until now he's been busy carving a career making music videos with pal Nick Goldsmith (also a producer on the movie) under the pseudonym Hammer & Tongs, who gave us memorably quirky videos for Blur (the one with the milk carton) and Supergrass (the one with the muppets). So perhaps Jennings was the right guy for the job after all. And you know what they say on MilkyMilk 4: ' A cute milk carton and muppets playing instruments do a good feature director make' . "There just aren't very many stories like this," explains Jennings, an Adams fan since the age of nine, "and we felt incredibly lucky to have it come our way. It felt as if not only did a few stars align in our favour, but the whole galaxy lined up and said, 'off you go then'."
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was, ironically, finally given the well-needed push into production by the death of its creator Douglas Adams at his local gym in May 2001. It's eerily like something from the book where, for example, Zaphod wipes his own memory to allow him to steal a revolutionary spaceship capable of travelling anywhere in the universe instantaniously, but then can't remember why he wanted to steal said ship in the first place and isn't particularly interested in finding out.
 Adams wrote several versions of the script for the aforementioned parties, yet he wasn't precious about updating the script for today's audiences, seeing it as a liquid entity that should change with the times. But the essential story we know and love remains the same; Arthur Dent wakes up with a hangover to discover his house is about to be demolished in the wake of a new motorway bypass. Funnily enough, Vogon ships arrive to destroy the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass not five minutes later and Arthur's mate (and closet alien) Ford Prefect is the only one who can get Arthur to safety by hitching a ride on said Vogon ship. It turns out that Ford is a researcher for a highly popular book called The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. "What I love about Mos Def in this role is that he's such a contrast to Martin Freeman," comments Jennings about this surprise casting choice for Ford. "Whereas Martin plays your typical tightly wound Englishman, Mos is this very wise, very cool, very funny, very opposite foil for him." Whilst some argue the style of Douglas Adams' humour is distinctly British, Def found that the character appealed just as strongly to his own very American style: "To me, the great thing about this kind of humour is that it's sharp and sweet and modern without ever being malicious. I think there's so much going on in this movie. Every person who sees the film, no matter who they are or where they're from, will take away different laughs, different favourite lines and different crazy ideas they'll never forget from it, which is a pretty cool thing."
After a nasty confrontation involving bad Vogon poetry, Arthur and Ford are rescued by Zaphod in his newly stolen Improbability-drive spaceship and are whisked away on an absurd adventure through the galaxy to discover the meaning of life (something to do with mice apparently). One of the characters they meet along the way is planet-designer Slartibartfast, played by Bill Nighy, and Humma Kavula, a new alien (possibly based on Art Garfunkel judging by the hair) not found in the books and created by Adams specifically for the movie, played by that guy from Being John Malkovich.. .forget his name.
And what of the most important character? Even die hard fans must admit having Sam Rockwell play the ever eccentric Zaphod Beeblebrox is truly inspired casting, right up there with Connery as Bond, or Halle Berry as Catwoman. Erm...well maybe not that last one. Jim Carrey may have been perfect as Zaphod in the nineties. Aykroyd in the eighties. But fate brought Rockwell to Jennings via a long complicated story involving five melted ducks, a cracked lamp and a trip to Stone Henge, none of which we are permitted to divulge here for legal reasons. Rockwell: "I was struck by this very strange idea for the character that Garth and Nick liked. The idea was to sort of combine Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton and Freddy Mercury into this sort of rock-star-style President of the Galaxy. There's even a little George W. Bush in the character. (Zaphod's) main role is really to provide comic relief, so I thought it would be great to really go wild with him."
It's also interesting to note that Rockwell and Rickman (try saying that two times fast) are no strangers to goofy sci-fi movies; both having appeared together in Galaxy Quest as washed up actors who earn a living by feeding off the glory days when they were in a popular sci-fi show. A preview of their lives after The Hitchhiker's Guide? Well judging by the warm response to the new movie, their careers are safe for now, but only time will tell if the movie introduces a whole new audience to Douglas's bonkers vision of the universe or if it will be forever dismissed as 'that sci-fi movie about towels'. The former, surely, so all aboard for The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.
Tom Ramsbottom
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