HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 adaptation surfaced with a raucous viral appeal. Premium subscribers can expect to see the premiere on May 19th, 2018.
For those not in the know, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was a classic dystopian novel where knowledge became shunned worldwide. Because of this, information is diffused through propaganda-filled telescreens across the world as citizens live in ignorance. Consequently, in this new world, firefighters no longer put out fires. They start them.
Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, Creed) stars as Guy Montag, a firefighter questioning the destruction of the world around him. The trailer shows the progressive evolution of Montag’s beliefs throughout the plot. The trailer shows Montag going from condemning books as “bad things,” to eventually questioning the morality of his work by the trailer’s end. Jordan’s character transitions from stomping on troves of physical books to hooking up with some sort of resistance group.
In addition to the rising star Jordan, Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) plays the foil to Montag as Fire Chief Beatty. Comfortable with the way the world works around him, Beatty strives to eliminate all the remaining books from the world. One titular scene in the trailer shows Shannon trying to convince Jordan’s character about the immorality of books. Before they set the home ablaze, the fire chief allows Montag to take a book to explore the forbidden knowledge himself. If HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 follows Bradbury’s novels at all, then Montag will follow this trail and discover how the world became this way.
With a star-studded cast, interesting cinematography, and an updated perspective on the Bradbury novel, HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 looks promising.