Sci-Fi Guru Again Inspires Hollywood

It has been nearly two decades since author Philip K. Dick died of a heart attack at 53, but the sci-fi guru whose plots spawned such films as “Blade Runner� and “Total Recall� continues to be a source of inspiration for Hollywood filmmakers.

On Friday, Dimension Films will release a new movie based on Dick’s writings titled “Impostor.�

A psychological thriller set in the distant future, the film stars Gary Sinise as a government scientist who creates the ultimate weapon to save the planet from aliens bent on our annihilation, only to wake up one morning accused of being an alien replicant spy with an undetectable weapon of mass destruction implanted in his chest and then becoming the target of a nationwide manhunt.

The film, directed by Gary Fleder (“Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead,� “Kiss the Girls�), is taken from Dick’s 1952 short story of the same name, which is considered a classic of psychological science fiction. The film also stars Vincent D’Onofrio and Lindsay Crouse.

Throughout his career, Dick produced an astonishing amount of material, writing nearly 100 short stories and some two dozen or so novels in the ‘50s and ‘60s alone, including “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,� upon which Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner� was based. Steven Spielberg’s new film, “Minority Report,� which stars Tom Cruise and comes out in June, is also based on a Dick short story, this one about a cop in the future working in a division of the police department that tracks down killers before they commit the crimes.

Dick’s final years were haunted by what he alleged to be a 1974 visitation from God or a godlike being, and biographies say he spent the remainder of his life writing copious journals about the encounter.