Philip K. Dick’s life to be remembered for us wholesale in upcoming biopic

Philip K. Dick, one of the most revered names in science fiction, didn’t have an easy life. Beset by drug usage, paranoia, a suicide attempt, and the death of his twin sister in infancy, the Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep author explored his fractured psyche through his work. And throughout the middle of the 20th century, Dick wrote some of the most famous and beloved works of science fiction, including the inspirations for movies and TV shows like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and The Man In The High Castle.

After decades of cinematic adaptations of the late author’s work, his life story will now hit the silver screen. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jon Shetack is producing a biopic based on the Dick biography Only Apparently Real by Paul Williams, a friend of the late author. Michael Richter wrote the script and is producing, too.

Following in the paranoid tradition of Dick’s work, Only Apparently Real focuses on a dark time in Dick’s life. Amid his fourth divorce, an amphetamine addiction, writer’s block, and concerns that the U.S. government was spying on him, Dick was the victim of a break-in in the early 70s, with the culprit making off with his manuscripts.

“His life was as surreal as his books,” Shestack told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a high-level functioning person and you never know, even when reading his journals, what is real and what isn’t.”

Shestack is a veteran Hollywood producer known for the Harrison Ford vehicles Air Force One and Firewall. Interestingly enough, he’s also listed on IMDb as a producer on Lisa Frank. Shestack is the only name besides Frank, who got a “Based On Art Work By” credit. Lord knows that Lisa Frank, if it does exist, would make a fine double feature with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

No word as to when this movie will hit theaters or streamers or whatever. But it is partly financed by some crypto blockchain thing, so we can all look forward to watching this movie in the Metaverse.