In the future world of writer William Gibson, nuclear annihilation, alien invasion, and sword-and-sorcery space operas are not preoccupying factors.

Information and its dissemination are. Information is power and those who control it, he argues in his cyberpunk stories, control the world. Governments are rendered obsolete as multinational corporations, who trade on bio-engineering and valuable bytes of information control entire economies.

Despite Gibson's meteoric success in the science fiction publishing world in the mid '80s, Hollywood didn't seem quite sure what to do with him. As early as 1987, producer Edward R. Pressman (Phantom of the Paradise) announced he was developing Gibson's story “New Rose Hotel” for the screen. But, while “Hotel” is still caught, seven years later, in development hell—three screenplays (two by Gibson himself) and two directors (Kathryn Bigelow and Abel Ferrara)—another Gibson story, “Johnny Mnemonic” will be the first to reach the big screen, early next year.

Gibson—who came to fame in the science fiction realm when his first novel Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula and Phillip K. Dick awards—has been credited by his peers for breathing new life into the science fiction genre by rejecting the tried-and-true approaches of alien invasion and post-apocalyptic visions and instead turning to a view of the future which presupposes that the control of information is mankind's most frightening development.

“My stories tend to get under peoples' skin,” said Gibson. “When I wrote “Johnny Mnemonic,” the Macintosh computer had not yet arrived. The speed with which the present has caught up with the future is astounding to me. Who would have thought that the Internet would be born from what is left of the military establishment in this country?”

Originally published in Omni magazine and later collected in the book Burning Chrome, “Johnny Mnemonic” tells the story of one dark night in the life of Johnny, a bio-enhanced, silicone chip-implanted information messenger. He transports valuable information loaded into his head through an interface with his brain's computer-enhanced memory cells. The price he pays is high, getting caught up with the underbelly of the future world who buy and sell information as a red hot commodity on the black market.

When Johnny wants out, he makes his stand, one night, only to be met by a hard-boiled, but beautiful female street bodyguard and together the two embark on a journey through the very depths of a futuristic “hell” into the heights of “heaven” and their ultimate salvation. The TriStar Picture/Alliance production of Johnny Mnemonic stars Keanu Reeves as Johnny and is directed by Robert Longo based on a script adapted by Gibson himself.

To stretch his spare 21-and-a-half page story into a feature length film, Gibson expanded on the action, creating new characters and adding additional plot twists to develop a more “cinematic” pacing. New to the story as it reaches the screen is the notion that Johnny's head will overload and explode if he does not release the stored information in time.

As he approached the project, Gibson found it easier he noted “to expand a short story than to compress a novel” into a screenplay. “It was fun to expand the story and create new characters,” said Gibson. “I wasn't as concerned with staying true to the source as I was in creating the correct movie flow.” Gibson added that he came under pressure to shorten certain parts of the script which resulted in the loss of “little points of irony.” But, ultimately, Gibson feels “we have a rich enough mix. We should be okay. There's no danger of Johnny Mnemonic becoming just an action film,” assured Gibson “There was more introspective scenes shot than chases.”

Working with Gibson were first time director Robert Longo and production designer Nilo Rodis (Poltergeist). Gibson is pleased by the amount of involvement he was allowed in the production, especially given the fact that this is Longo's first feature. The two had worked together previously when Gibson wrote the text for a performance piece of Longo's. “We got to invent a working relationship as the production unfolded,” said Gibson of Longo, “which is almost unheard of.” But even with the amount of latitude given, Gibson admitted that the film has “gone through a lot of changes.” Originally envisioned as a $1.5 million black-and-white art house film, Johnny Mnemonic, only caught the fancy of Hollywood, said Gibson, when a “serious budget was suggested.”

The production—which took place primarily in Toronto—was a rocky one, faced with a mid-stream change of producers and a one-month halt of production that kept the future of the film in the balance. The sudden success this past summer of Reeves' film Speed has now spurred renewed interest in the promotion of Johnny Mnemonic, with the hopes that Reeves will draw a mainstream audience into the theaters.

“I love the physical nature of making movies,” said Gibson. “People standing in the freezing cold, the pressure to keep it going is all very dramatic.”

Gibson visited the set twice during production and was amazed by how Rodis was able to capture in his set design the look of a world that had only existed on paper (and in Gibson's mind) up to now. “The main set was extraordinary,” said Gibson. “I only regret that audiences won't be able to see all the detail on the screen. Nilo was a genius. He and I faxed drawings back and forth during the pre-production. When I wasn't on set, I hung around the art department. Orson Welles was right about movies—it's a big train set and a lot of fun to play with.”

“I didn't know Gibson or Longo before the film,” said Rodis. “Robert [Longo] kept showing me movies—like A Touch of Evil—that were more stylish than design-intensive, to put me in the right frame of mind. I also read a sample of Burning Chrome to familiarize myself with William's work and then I just started guessing at the things he was looking for. We connected very well and he is a joy to work with. His ability to see my drawings and comment on them was more important to me than even the director seeing them since this world existed in William's mind. The important thing for me was that there be a consistency to the design. If I suggested creating a certain prop, such as a car, I needed to make sure that everything around it was informed by what that car could do. I've seen a lot of films where you see a futuristic car and say, ‘What a neat car.’ But then you start wondering why the TV screen is still so large and why the telephones haven't changed. It was important for me that the audience believe that Johnny Mnemonic takes place in the future.”

Whether audiences respond remains to be seen. For his part though, Gibson's first Hollywood experience has been a good one. In the midst of writing another book, he's already given thought to developing an original screenplay, not based on one of his published works. “I've heard horror stories from fellow writers about their work being adapted into films,” said Gibson “My worry is I used up a lot of my good luck on this one movie.”