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