Here’s a bit of news for those who say they’d listen to Tom Hiddleston read the phone book. Not only is Hiddleston starring in the film adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise, he also narrated Audible’s audiobook< version of the bestselling sci-fi book. The audiobook will be available on March 26, 2015.
In addition to Hiddleston, High-Rise the movie’s cast includes Elisabeth Moss, Jeremy Irons, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, and Sienna Miller. Ben Wheatley (Kill List) directed the dystopian tale based on the 1975 novel, with Amy Jump adapting Ballard’s book for the screen.
“I spent last summer holed up as Dr. Laing on the 25th floor of the High-Rise, as brought to life on film by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump. The book was always, necessarily, our corner-stone. Ahead of the release of the film, it was great to go back to J. G. Ballard’s original text and to read it aloud. Ballard was prescient about so many things: our seduction by (and reliance on) technology; our attempted colonization of the sky; and his particular, distinguishing implication that modern civilisation is perhaps only a few neighbourly disagreements away from collapse and chaos,” said Hiddleston.
The Plot:
High-Rise imagines an idyllic world gone awry. Set in a London apartment complex furnished with luxurious amenities and cutting-edge technology, the living situation may seem ideal, but petty disagreements between neighbors escalate into full-throttled violence as the residents of the complex completely isolate themselves from the outside world. The building becomes a microcosm of society, with the poorest residents on the lower floors, the middle class occupying the middle floors and the wealthiest living on the top floors. The tension between the groups runs high.
