It’s slated to star none other than the often scruffy Matthew McConaughey as the always scruffy,  always buzzed George Hayduke and Richard Dreyfuss as mentor-type Doc Sarvis. While the exact casting choices haven’t been posted officially, one trade site has also included Elisabeth Shue, John Goodman and Jack Nicholson on their list along with Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke directing.

As a big fan of McConaughey and a really big fan of Edward Abbey (though Desert Solitaire is my personal favorite) I’m looking forward to this idea, but it looks like I might be one of the few. Eco eyes will be on them so let’s hope they make some green choices and heed some of Abbey’s words. And omit his excessive beer can tossing. (Edit: Sorry for any confusion about this remark, what I meant to convey was that they should “omit his excessive beer can tossing” (read: litter) from the production itself, not from the story. I hope that the production goes green and also remains true to Abbey’s content.)

Photo credit: PR Photos

I’m digging back into the archives a bit because with all the talk lately of hydrogen-powered vehicles, it’s really funny to remember that Jack Nicholson had one. In 1978.

Back then, the oil embargo was an even more giant inconvenience than today’s high prices. You actually had to wait in line for the stuff — and even then only if your license plate ended in an odd or even number depending on the day.

Leave it to Jack Nicholson to pull up in a modified Chevy running on hydrogen to prove to everyone how possible it was not to depend on oil companies for energy. Even more surreal — the hydrogen was created using electricity supplied by solar panels. All this — from over thirty years ago!

“It’s like a standard Chevy,” the actor said then. “I backed it up, you know, because the last time the auto industry tried to destroy an independent industrialist, they said a “Tucker” wouldn’t back up. Remember that?” Well no, Jack, not exactly. Nicholson went on further, “If nothing else, this will revolutionize car-assisted suicide. Instead of carbon monoxide poisoning, you’ll just get a steam bath…”

Imagine where we’d be today if we had diversified our energy sources and listened to Jack? Can we afford another 30 years of “Remember When”?

In a great sit-down with Alex Simon of The Hollywood Interview, Freeman reveals his thoughts on peak oil, sustainability, and the costs of moving to renewables. Here are some great highlights:

On Dubai and the end of cheap oil:

I met the Imam, the sheik of Dubai. He’s a fascinating guy. He’s the leader of this state, not a country, because the United Arab Emirates are what comprise the country. Dubai is one of seven states in the Emirates. He’s got the idea that you have to build, build, build because eventually, the oil is going to run out. If the oil doesn’t run out, the price is going to go down so low eventually, that it might as well run out.

On the United State’s slow transition to a more sustainable nation:

I’m talking wishful thinking now, that eventually this country’s leaders are going to understand that it isn’t about money. It’s about sustainability. Right now, if you mention alternative forms of energy to anyone in the government, all they’ll want to talk about is what it will cost, which is stupid. It’s going to cost you more to establish it, than it’s going to cost you to run it. But we have to do it.

Why using “costs” as an excuse will ultimately doom us:

Just one day, one day, just look up in any major city in the world, and just look at the cars. Don’t think about the airplanes, or the trains, the boats, just the cars, running up and down the road, burning gasoline and diesel fuels. With biodiesel, you can make diesel fuel out of bacon grease, for God’s sake! So why aren’t we doing that? They say “the cost.” It’s got nothing to do with the cost. It’s “the cost” that’s going to kill us.

For the rest of the interview, jump here.

Nicholson launches into some pretty clever answers on everything concerning politics, oil, and solar energy. Here are some highlights:

On why he has not been politically active since George McGovern’s 1972 campaign?

“I wanted to do solar energy. I wanted to legalize drugs versus the terrorist problem, which I was aware of in the ’70s. Because where else are they getting illegal money at that level?
Enforce the monopoly laws of the Constitution they’re so proud of, which would have eliminated Enron and the interlocking directorate of conglomeration. Double teacher salaries. Find a way to liase from a personnel point of view between the military and the domestic police. These are all non-starters, what they call in politics. My position as a whippersnapper was ‘hey, any of you people relate to any one of these issues, I’ll know you’re seriously interested in fundamental change. Until you do, I’m not interested in pie-baking contests.’”

On moving the country to solar energy and the influence of big oil:

“How do they talk about these small increments of energy conservation when we burn 60 per cent of the gas at stop signs and traffic lights?” Solar electricity is the only thing that can make an impact on this problem. It’s too big. We don’t have the ability to generate the electricity, to convert, unless we go to big solar. It’s an engineering problem, it’s not a scientific problem. There is no momentum for solar electricity because of the powerful oil industry’s ability to set the scientific and political agenda.

There’s nobody in the field, no teachers, where their livelihood is not dependent in some way on petroleum grants. And I’m not vilifying the petroleum industry right now. … Fact of the matter is, say there is an evil genius. Every day that whatever the petroleum interest is keeps this from being understood, that man is doing his job to the tune of whatever they make every day.”

via Canadian Press