A Scanner Darkly (film) - Quiz
  • 1. What percentage of reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive for A Scanner Darkly?
A) 68%
B) 85%
C) 73%
D) 50%
  • 2. How many reviews were compiled by Rotten Tomatoes in total for the film?
A) 33
B) 189
C) 150
D) 200
  • 3. What is the weighted score of the film on Metacritic out of 100?
A) 68
B) 90
C) 73
D) 85
  • 4. Based on how many critics is the Metacritic score calculated?
A) 50
B) 100
C) 189
D) 33
  • 5. Whose novel is A Scanner Darkly a faithful adaptation of?
A) Philip K. Dick
B) Manohla Dargis
C) J. Hoberman
D) Tom Long
  • 6. Who wrote in The New York Times that the film has a kind of hypnotic visual appeal?
A) Manohla Dargis
B) J. Hoberman
C) Andrew Sarris
D) Carina Chocano
  • 7. Which publication did Carina Chocano write her review for?
A) The Village Voice
B) Los Angeles Times
C) The New York Times
D) The Washington Post
  • 8. According to Carina Chocano, the real world has come to resemble the dark world of what?
A) Video games
B) Fairy tales
C) Comic books
D) Novels
  • 9. Who wrote the review for The Village Voice?
A) Andrew Sarris
B) Kim Newman
C) J. Hoberman
D) Desson Thompson
  • 10. Which previous film by Linklater is mentioned in relation to the computer-rotoscoped animation used in A Scanner Darkly?
A) Slacker
B) Dazed and Confused
C) Waking Life
D) School of Rock
  • 11. Whose performance did J. Hoberman praise as the performance to beat in mid-2006?
A) Philip K. Dick
B) Robert Downey Jr.
C) Michael Booth
D) Tom Long
  • 12. Who wrote the review for The New York Observer?
A) Andrew Sarris
B) Desson Thompson
C) Kim Newman
D) Owen Gleiberman
  • 13. As what did Andrew Sarris describe Mr. Linklater in his review?
A) Visual visionary
B) Master of animation
C) Hollywood newcomer
D) Austin auteur par excellence
  • 14. How many stars out of five did Kim Newman from Empire magazine give the film?
A) Four
B) Five
C) Two
D) Three
  • 15. Who wrote the review for The Washington Post?
A) Desson Thompson
B) Amy Biancolli
C) Peter Bradshaw
D) Jack Mathews
  • 16. What process did Desson Thompson say underscores the grave new world with pop-arty creepiness?
A) Live-action filming
B) Rotoscoping
C) Stop motion
D) CGI animation
  • 17. Which publication did Amy Biancolli write for?
A) Houston Chronicle
B) Denver Post
C) Detroit News
D) Dallas Morning News
  • 18. What rating did Entertainment Weekly give the film?
A) D
B) C−
C) A
D) B+
  • 19. Who gave the film a C− rating for Entertainment Weekly and found its storyline goes nowhere?
A) Owen Gleiberman
B) Tom Long
C) Roger Moore
D) Chris Vognar
  • 20. Who wrote the film review for The Guardian?
A) Chris Vognar
B) Jack Mathews
C) Michael Booth
D) Peter Bradshaw
  • 21. Who called the film a murky, dialogue-heavy tale of intrigue in The New York Daily News?
A) Tom Long
B) Jack Mathews
C) Roger Moore
D) Owen Gleiberman
  • 22. Which publication did Roger Moore write his review for?
A) Detroit News
B) Denver Post
C) Orlando Sentinel
D) The Guardian
  • 23. Who from the Detroit News stated that his audience's collective brain is going to be hurting mightily for the first hour of this film?
A) Jack Mathews
B) Chris Vognar
C) Tom Long
D) Michael Booth
  • 24. Which publication did Michael Booth write his review for?
A) Denver Post
B) Orlando Sentinel
C) Dallas Morning News
D) Detroit News
  • 25. According to Michael Booth, what gets in the way of thrilling plot twists?
A) The dialogue
B) The short runtime
C) The artiness
D) The poor acting
  • 26. Who stated that A Scanner Darkly talks too much and doesn't say enough?
A) Michael Booths
B) Chris Vognar
C) Roger Moore
D) Tom Long
  • 27. Which publication did Chris Vognar write for?
A) The New York Observer
B) Dallas Morning News
C) Empire magazine
D) Houston Chronicle
  • 28. Which actor did Linklater initially think of for the dual roles of Arctor and Fred?
A) Robert Downey Jr.
B) Woody Harrelson
C) Keanu Reeves
D) Rory Cochrane
  • 29. Why did Linklater initially hesitate to cast Keanu Reeves?
A) Reeves was busy filming another project.
B) Reeves was too expensive for the budget.
C) He thought Reeves would be reluctant to make another sci-fi film after The Matrix.
D) Reeves refused to work with the director.
  • 30. What attracted Robert Downey Jr. to the film?
A) Hearing that Reeves was going to star and Linklater to direct
B) The high salary offered
C) His love for the original book
D) The promise of an award-winning role
  • 31. What did Robert Downey Jr. think of the script?
A) He thought it was boring and predictable.
B) He thought it was the strangest one he had ever read.
C) He thought it closely matched the novel.
D) He thought it was too short.
  • 32. For which character did Linklater write the role specifically with Rory Cochrane in mind?
A) Barris
B) Arctor
C) Freck
D) Fred
  • 33. What was Rory Cochrane's concern about appearing in the film?
A) He did not want to recreate his role in Dazed and Confused.
B) He felt the pay was too low.
C) He disliked the shooting location.
D) He had scheduling conflicts.
  • 34. Which two actors agreed to appear in the film based on the script?
A) Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder
B) Rory Cochrane and Alex Jones
C) Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr.
D) Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane
  • 35. Under what financial terms did Reeves and Ryder agree to work?
A) Screen Actors Guild scale rate plus back-end profits
B) Minimum wage with no extra incentives
C) A percentage of the box office only
D) A flat multi-million dollar fee
  • 36. Who made a small cameo in A Scanner Darkly, just as he did in Waking Life?
A) Shane Kelly
B) Alex Jones
C) Irshad Ashraf
D) Bruce Curtis
  • 37. How long did the cast spend rehearsing in Austin, Texas before principal photography?
A) One month
B) Three days
C) Two weeks
D) Six weeks
  • 38. What was the result of the pre-production rehearsals in Austin?
A) A completely rewritten script that ignored the book
B) The removal of several main characters
C) A script written entirely by the actors
D) A fusion of Linklater's writing, the novel, and actors' input
  • 39. How did Rory Cochrane prepare for his role?
A) He came up with his character five minutes before getting on the elevator to work.
B) He spent months studying real-life drug addicts.
C) He relied heavily on the original book.
D) He memorized his dialogue using run-on sentences.
  • 40. How did Robert Downey Jr. memorize his dialogue?
A) By listening to audio recordings on loop
B) By writing it out in run-on sentences, studying them, and converting them to acronyms
C) By improvising every single line on set
D) By reading the book repeatedly
  • 41. How did Keanu Reeves prepare for his role?
A) He wrote his own dialogue in run-on sentences.
B) He relied on the book, marking down each scene to the corresponding page.
C) He refused to read the script beforehand.
D) He improvised his scenes based on rehearsals.
  • 42. When did principal photography begin?
A) May 17, 2004
B) December 2004
C) June 1, 2004
D) April 15, 2004
  • 43. How long did principal photography last?
A) Two weeks
B) Six weeks
C) Ten days
D) Three months
  • 44. Why did Arctor's house require few modifications by production designer Bruce Curtis?
A) The director wanted it to look pristine and modern.
B) The previous tenants had completely renovated it.
C) The previous tenants left it looking like a run-down home.
D) It was already a fully decorated film set.
  • 45. How many houses did the filmmakers look at before settling on Arctor's house?
A) 100
B) 10
C) 60
D) 25
  • 46. Where did Linklater shoot a lot of the exteriors?
A) Austin, Texas
B) Anaheim, California
C) Dallas, Texas
D) Seattle, Washington
  • 47. When were the exterior shots from Anaheim composited into the footage?
A) Before principal photography began
B) Live on set
C) During pre-production rehearsals
D) In post-production
  • 48. Why were makeup, lighting, and visible equipment like boom mics less of a concern during live-action filming?
A) Because the film was shot in black and white
B) Because natural lighting was used exclusively
C) Because the cameras were automated
D) Because the live action footage was to be animated over later
  • 49. What did cinematographer Shane Kelly keep in mind when composing shots and using a color palette?
A) The original book's cover art
B) The studio executives
C) The film's theatrical lighting crew
D) The animators
  • 50. What occasionally happened to the actors because the movie was shot digitally and then animated?
A) They refused to wear costumes.
B) They forgot they would later be animated as they worked through a scene.
C) They thought they were shooting a documentary.
D) They forgot their lines completely.
  • 51. What specific action did Robert Downey Jr. perform while forgetting the scene would be animated?
A) He performed a dangerous stunt without a double.
B) He improvised a ten-minute monologue.
C) He worked through several takes to produce a smoke ring for Barris' first closeup.
D) He changed his costume midway through the take.
  • 52. Where was extensive on-set footage of A Scanner Darkly featured?
A) In a Hollywood behind-the-scenes featurette
B) In an American news broadcast
C) In a UK documentary about Richard Linklater
D) On a promotional website for the studio
  • 53. Who directed the UK documentary about Richard Linklater that featured on-set footage?
A) Irshad Ashraf
B) Bruce Curtis
C) Shane Kelly
D) Alex Jones
  • 54. When was the documentary featuring the on-set footage broadcast?
A) May 2004
B) December 2004
C) July 2005
D) January 2004
  • 55. Which Philip K. Dick novel did Richard Linklater originally toy with adapting?
A) A Scanner Darkly
B) Paycheck
C) Ubik
D) Minority Report
  • 56. With whom was Richard Linklater talking when he began thinking about A Scanner Darkly?
A) Russ Galen
B) Laura Leslie
C) Tommy Pallotta
D) Isa Hackett
  • 57. What budget did Linklater want to keep A Scanner Darkly under?
A) $5 million
B) $20 million
C) $50 million
D) $10 million
  • 58. Who is the literary agent for the Philip K. Dick estate mentioned in the text?
A) Isa Hackett
B) Russ Galen
C) Laura Leslie
D) Tommy Pallotta
  • 59. In what year was the film A Scanner Darkly released?
A) 2006
B) 1977
C) 2007
D) 2004
  • 60. What animation technique was used for the film?
A) Interpolated rotoscope
B) Traditional hand-drawn animation
C) CGI motion capture
D) Stop-motion animation
  • 61. Who is listed as one of the executive producers of the film?
A) Keanu Reeves
B) Philip K. Dick
C) Steven Soderbergh
D) Richard Linklater
  • 62. Which company gave the film its wider release on July 28, 2006?
A) Warner Independent Pictures
B) Paramount Pictures
C) Universal Pictures
D) Warner Bros. Pictures
  • 63. What is the name of the powerful drug that causes bizarre hallucinations in the film?
A) Substance A
B) Substance Z
C) Substance D
D) Substance X
  • 64. Approximately what percentage of the population is addicted to the drug in the story?
A) 50 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 5 percent
D) 10 percent
  • 65. What is the undercover name used by Bob Arctor at the police station?
A) Fred
B) Luckman
C) Barris
D) Hank
  • 66. What device does Arctor wear at the police station to maintain privacy?
A) A digital helmet
B) A stealth cloak
C) A scramble suit
D) A hologram mask
  • 67. Who is Arctor's senior officer at the police force?
A) Luckman
B) Barris
C) Mike
D) Hank
  • 68. From whom does Arctor buy Substance D in hopes of reaching her supplier?
A) Donna
B) Hank
C) Mike
D) Audrey
  • 69. Who secretly informs on Arctor to 'Hank' while angling to be hired as a cop?
A) Donna
B) Mike
C) Barris
D) Luckman
  • 70. Where does 'Hank' have Donna take Arctor for rehabilitation?
A) Anaheim
B) New-Path
C) A labor camp
D) The police station
  • 71. What is Donna's real name according to her police work with Mike?
A) Audrey
B) Fred
C) Helen
D) Sarah
  • 72. How does the film describe its overall box office performance?
A) Performed poorly at the box office
B) The highest-grossing animated film of the year
C) Moderate financial success
D) A massive blockbuster hit
  • 73. What format was the film transferred to after principal photography was finished?
A) MP4
B) Windows Media
C) AVI
D) QuickTime
  • 74. How long did the animation process take?
A) 18 months
B) 6 months
C) 12 months
D) 24 months
  • 75. What is the name of the animation process used after the film was transferred?
A) digital vector manipulation
B) interpolated cel tracing
C) second order magnified contrast separation
D) magnified contrast layering
  • 76. What camera was used to film A Scanner Darkly digitally?
A) Panasonic AG-DVX100
B) Sony DSR-PD150
C) Canon XL1
D) Panasonic HVX200
  • 77. What proprietary graphics editing program was used to animate the film?
A) Flash
B) Toon Boom
C) Rotoshop
D) After Effects
  • 78. Who created the Rotoshop program?
A) Ashraf
B) Richard Linklater
C) Ralph Bakshi
D) Bob Sabiston
  • 79. In whose documentary did Linklater discuss the ideas and inspiration behind his use of rotoscoping?
A) Bakshi's
B) Sabiston's
C) Bob's
D) Ashraf's
  • 80. What personal experience did Linklater link rotoscoping to in the documentary?
A) nightmares
B) hallucinations
C) lucid dreaming
D) childhood memories
  • 81. Whose rotoscope style is traditional rotoscoping similar to in some respects?
A) Ralph Bakshi
B) Walt Disney
C) Bob Sabiston
D) Richard Linklater
  • 82. What does Rotoshop animation make use of?
A) raster pixels
B) vector keyframes
C) bitmap layers
D) polygonal meshes
  • 83. How did Linklater describe the animation phase for himself?
A) A breeze
B) A short task
C) An enlightening experience
D) A trying process
  • 84. When was the film originally supposed to be released?
A) March 2006
B) October 2004
C) July 2006
D) September 2005
  • 85. Where were most of the animators hired from?
A) Internationally
B) Disney animation
C) Locally
D) Hollywood studios
  • 86. Who asked for a status report in late November?
A) Ernesto Pallotta
B) Richard Linklater
C) Mark Gill
D) Bob Sabiston
  • 87. How long did some animators work per day under pressure to produce a trailer?
A) 12-hour days
B) 24-hour days
C) 10-hour days
D) 18-hour days
  • 88. When did Pallotta change the locks and seize workstations?
A) October 2004
B) September 2005
C) January 2005
D) December 2005
  • 89. What credit did Sabiston's four team leaders ultimately receive?
A) Additional animation
B) Executive producers
C) Main animators
D) Lead directors
  • 90. What production ethic did Pallotta institute?
A) A loose indie production ethic
B) A rapid-fire digital ethic
C) An experimental avant-garde ethic
D) A traditional Disney-esque production ethic
  • 91. What was the final release date chosen for the film?
A) March 31
B) December 31
C) September 1
D) July 7
  • 92. Which Pixar film was A Scanner Darkly put up against upon release?
A) Finding Nemo
B) Cars
C) Toy Story
D) The Incredibles
  • 93. Who composed the score for A Scanner Darkly?
A) Graham Reynolds
B) DJ Spooky
C) Radiohead
D) Jack Dangers
  • 94. When did Linklater approach Reynolds about creating the score?
A) 2005
B) 2006
C) 2003
D) 2001
  • 95. Where did Linklater first see Reynolds perform before approaching him?
A) A film festival
B) A Broadway show
C) A club performance
D) A classical concert
  • 96. Who was featured in the short 'Live from Shiva's Dance Floor'?
A) Timothy "Speed" Levitch
B) DJ Spooky
C) Thom Yorke
D) Jack Dangers
  • 97. How long was the short 'Live from Shiva's Dance Floor'?
A) 20-minute
B) 10-minute
C) 45-minute
D) 60-minute
  • 98. Was the score synthesized?
A) Partially
B) Only for percussion
C) No
D) Yes
  • 99. Which Radiohead song appears uncredited in the film?
A) Black Swan
B) Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
C) The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
D) Fog
  • 100. Which Thom Yorke solo song is included in the film?
A) Skttrbrain
B) Fog
C) Black Swan
D) The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
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