The First Poster For The Neuromancer Movie That Never Happened
A Neuromancer movie was one of the great white whales of science fiction filmdom. There had been rumors and announcements, and rumors of announcements, nearly as long as the book itself has existed (first published in 1984, for those keeping score).
William Gibson’s Neuromancer novel became one of the definitive tomes of the cyberpunk movement, and elements of it have influenced countless films, shows, and games in the years since.
Back in 2012, with director seemingly Vince Natali in the director’s chair, it looked like we were finally going to see a Neuromancer film in theaters. And then it became that much more “real.” when a teaser poster appeared for the film.
The Neuromancer image was posted by the folks at Coming Soon, after they spotted it at the American Film Market (AFM). While there’s not much to the above poster, what there is feels right. The merging of biological and technological is at the heart of both Gibson’s book and the cyberpunk genre as a whole, and this simple image conveys that theme quite effectively.
At the time, Natali had made a name for himself with several edgy science fiction films in the past, writing and directing both Cube and 2009’s Splice.
He even worked as an uncredited storyboard artist on the forgettable Gibson adaptation Johnny Mnemonic in 1994. While he wasn’t a household name, his style and feel for the genre suggested that the long-awaited Neuromancer movie might just prove to be worth the wait.
But after this Neuromancer poster, there wasn’t much that happened with the Neuromancer movie. As often happens, the production stalled considerably. Even though Gibson had even helped write the script, that version of the movie just wasn’t to be.
But though the Neuromancer movie was never made along these original production timelines, a television series AppleTV+ got the nod. So, no movie version, but a series for the fans to dive into.
