"Dark City" is rated R because it's "weird"! ? Fantastic science fiction noir celebrating its 20th anniversary

It's so strange. Is that a flaw or a charm?

It's not just the ratings. The film has faced various hurdles since its production stage because it was "too strange." When director Alex Proyas and others pitched the project to Hollywood studios, the executives were divided on the complexity and ambiguity of the project. At one point, instead of producing the film, they even considered casting Johnny Depp or Tom Cruise as the lead.

During the production process, when preview screenings were held, the audience's reactions showed subtle and complex aspects. Concerned about this, the studio requested that an opening narration explaining the situation be added.

It is often said that the bigger the budget, the more studios tend to demand "understandability" as a guarantee. And because they are so drawn to understandability, the original idea's innovation and originality are gradually lost, and a sharp knife often becomes a completely rounded spoon. In such a situation, it is difficult to produce something that is outstandingly different, and many things end up being average, "similar to what we've seen before."

"Dark City" © Photofest / Getty Images

But at least "Dark City" tried to go against that trend. It tried to make something strange and interesting. Whether it was successful or not is impossible to tell from the box office figures, but there were certainly people who thought it was "interesting" (film critic Roger Ebert called it "the best work of 1998"). The impact gradually spread worldwide, and when the video software was released, it accelerated at a stretch and grew into a cult hit.