Johnny Mnemonic/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Creator Backlash: William Gibson isn't very happy with what became of this adaptation of his own story. Gibson himself, despite being credited as the sole screenwriter, has insisted for years that it wasn't his screenplay that was ultimately produced.
  • Executive Meddling: The movie's American release was re-edited in order to make it more "mainstream". The Japanese release is said to be closer to the director's original vision, although that probably isn't enough to make it good.
  • Deleted Scenes: The Japanese release is roughly seven minutes longer than the American release. Changes include extended sequences, alternate takes/dialogue used for existing scenes, a different Opening Scroll, and a different soundtrack mix. Scenes NOT in the American release include:
    • Johnny acquiring his "doubler" from a contact in the lobby of the Beijing Hotel. Dialogue between the two suggests that Johnny already knew before he got to the hotel room that even with the "doubler" his storage capacity would not be adequate for the job he signed on for.
    • Ralfi's bodyguard who coldcocks Johnny in a men's bathroom pointing out afterwards that he hasn't been in a men's bathroom in "years".
    • The Street Preacher delivering a sermon about rejecting the organic body and embracing technological implants as part of God's plan for humanity and salvation from the NAS plague. PharmaKom goons come to bring him the preservation chamber with which to store Johnny's head.
    • Takahashi killing two Mooks Shinji had appointed as his lieutenants after Takahashi says he did not give him permission to have lieutenants, as well as berating Shinji for failing to collect Johnny's head a second time.
    • J-Bone explaining that Jones is a "junkie" and demonstrating that he requires some unnamed drug from a syringe.
    • Additional scenes of Takahashi mourning the loss of his daughter to NAS and lectures from the AI woman speaking to Takahashi.
  • Genius Bonus: A Japanese character viewable during our first glimpse of "Internet 2021" (found directly above the words "Internet 2021") is a character very rarely seen in Japanese language[1]. It's pronounced "tou" or "kasa", meaning "hackneyed, cliched" in English. Very likely one of the graphic artists having a chuckle at the expense of the paymaster.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Ice-T, Udo Keir, Henry Rollins, Takeshi Kitano, and Dolph Lundgren.
  • Mythology Gag: The bartender seen with the electronic prosthetic arm is a reference to Ratz, a bartender introduced early in William Gibson's Neuromancer.
  • Shout-Out: In one scene, before Baldy attempts to execute Johnny, he says, "Time to die"--a reference to Blade Runner.

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  1. It's not even in student dictionaries.