Bicentennial Man

Chris Columbus is adapting two Asimov texts, not one: Nicholas Kazan’s screenplay draws on the short story and on The Positronic Man, the novel Isaac Asimov wrote with Robert Silverberg. Andrew went to Tim Allen first; when he passed because of his Galaxy Quest commitments, Robin Williams took it and refused to let a double wear the robot suit. He had no peripheral vision inside it and described the movement as stand, scan the room, go. The trade: Williams has no face for the opening stretch, so the performance rests on gait and voice. He is given a human face only in 2068, and the story runs to 2205. Embeth Davidtz plays two generations, Amanda, the child Andrew raises, and Amanda’s granddaughter Portia, so the romance is built on a face he first knew as a girl. The World Congress rejects the petition and grants it only after Andrew makes himself mortal; the ruling is read at his deathbed. Greg Cannom was nominated for makeup and Topsy-Turvy took the award. The 100 million dollar production returned 58.2 million dollars in North America. A good fit if you accept a science fiction question settled by a congress ruling and a farewell. Not for you if you want the robot laws argued rather than shown once in a presentation and dropped.