10 Things to Know About 'Electric Dreams' (1984) The Tech Futurist Movie No One Talks About

We recently saw Electric Dreams for the first time and fell in love immediately. This prescient, sweet, smart romantic comedy is a highly unique and modern love triangle between a geeky architect (Lenny Von Dohlen), a cellist (The incomparably gorgeous Virginia Madsen), and an accidentally sentient computer (Voiced by Bud Cort)

We were obsessed immediately and you can see from this article, this listicle if you will, just how obsessed we've become.

Here are 10 Things to Know About Electric Dreams

10 “”I’m Gonna Show this One to Barbra”

Steve Barron was always close to his mom, Zelda Barron and from his first music video, he always sent her a tape. In 1983 he sent a tape of his latest work and Zelda flipped for it. She called Steve and told him that she ‘was going to show this one to Barbra.’ The ‘Barbra’ in question was Barbra Streisand. At the time, Zelda Barron was working in Continuity on Barbra’s film, Yentl.

Zelda showed Steve’s latest music video, created for a long forgotten band called Hayzee Fantazee, to Barbra and her producing partner, budding screenwriter, Rusty Lemorande and, you just can’t invent this kind of kismet.

9 Screenwriter Rusty Lemorande Needed a Director When He Saw Steve Barron’s Video

You can’t fake timing, it’s chance crossed with magic. In this case, Zelda Barron wanted to show her friend Barbra her son’s new music video. Barbra was working with Rusty Lemorande. Rusty had just written the screenplay for Electric Dreams and needed a screenwriter. Within weeks, the writer and his new director were on their way to making a movie.

8 The Soundtrack Was Made Possible by Flashdance

The success of Flashdance, especially its multiplatinum soundtrack, showed film studios that soundtracks weren't just an accessory, they were an essential potential revenue stream, one capable of massive profits. Thanks to Flashdance, for a time, soundtracks weren't something directors had to beg for, they were often being demanded by the studio while diretors were bombarded with possible tunes to add to their movies.

Since music happened to be a big part of the story of Electric Dreams and director Steve Barron came from the world of music videos, it was mostly a question of choosing the right songs from the numerous songs record companies and pop stars were eager to get exposure for.

With Barron’s connections to the music industry via his music videos, the soundtrack for Electric Dreams was made possible. Culture Club, Heaven 17, Jeff Lynne, and Phil Oakey of super-hot pop band, The Human League jumped in though one of them needed a little convincing, more on that later, and a hit soundtrack was born.

Perhaps the coolest contribution came from legendary modern composer Giorgio Moroder who loved the movie so much, he made a rare on screen cameo.

7 A Virgin Film

It was Steve Barron’s first film but that’s not why this entry is called A Virgin Film. Actually, Electric Dreams was a product of the brief foray into film producing by Virgin Records, headed up by eccentric, English billionaire, Richard Branson. Barron had made music videos for Virgin Records artists and got in touch with Virgin Films with the script for Electric Dreams. Virgin Films immediately invested $5.5 million dollars to make the movie.

6 A Special Partnership

Steve Barron grew up in a showbiz family, his mom, dad and sister were all in the film business in various ways. But Steve’s break in the business came courtesy of a camera operator. Steve Barron met Peter MacDonald when MacDonald was working on a movie that rented camera equipment from the company Steve worked for as a wee 16 year old dreamer.

Macdonald was so impressed with Steve’s grasp of camera equipment that he offered him a job. This led to Steve working on major productions including Ridley Scott’s The Duellists and 1978’s Superman. It was his time working on Superman that gave Steve the confidence to take an opportunity to make a music video and the rest is history.

5 Back to that Special Partnership

It’s special because when Steve Barron got the greenlight to make Electric Dreams from Virgin Pictures he got to do something many people dream of, he hired his former boss. Peter MacDonald came aboard Electric Dreams as the Camera Operator completing a decade long journey he’d watched up close and personal as a skinny kid with camera knowledge became a dynamic artist and finally, a filmmaker.

MacDonald had also been the camera operator and Barron’s partner on his first music video, a travelogue music video for the band, Barclay James Harvest, but still, you can imagine it was special for Barron to hire the man who gave him his big break.

4 The Connective Tissue for the Story of Electric Dreams Came from Disconnection

The story that became Electric dreams came to screenwriter Rusty Lemorande when he first began working with a personal computer while working in the film industry. Rusty became so wrapped up in learning about and working with his P.C that he began to feel disconnected from his closest friends. This realization pulled him away from the computer to reconnect with other human beings but the notion stuck and the seeds planted became Electric Dreams.

3 Film Critics Were Widely Split in 1984

Respected film critic Joe Baltake could not have been more wrong about Electric Dreams if he’d simply not seen the movie at all and tried to explain it to someone. Baltake is quoted in contemporary newspapers which published his nationally syndicated film reviews:

“Steve Barron’s debut film, Electric Dreams, is a dismal, soulless, video age love story.” So, yeah, cancel my friendship with Joe Baltake.

On the bright side, Gene Siskel raved the film…

“Steve Barron’s Electric Dreams, save for a very disappointing ending, is a funny, romantic, and visually exciting comic love story.” Friendship with Gene Siskel, confirmed.

2 Boy George was Reluctant to Contribute to the Electric Dreams Soundtrack

Boy George took some convincing to get Culture Club on board to provide music for Electric Dreams. Barron had been approached to direct at least three Culture Club videos and ended up passing them off to directors at his company due to his busy schedule. So, when he wanted Culture Club for the soundtrack, Barron had to bend a little. This meant giving the script to Boy George to read before he’d commit.

George read the script and loved it. Ultimately, Culture Club provided two killer songs for the soundtrack, The Dream and Love is Love.

1 Based on Real Technology and Theoretical Possibilities of the Time

Electric Dreams is special for many reasons but one of the most prominent is how it seemed to predict so much future technology. Smart home technology, personal security technology, text to speech, and artificial intelligence, are just a few of the concepts that screenwriter Rusty Lemorande incorporates into Electric Dreams and it wasn’t just him dreaming up what he’d like computers to be able to do.

By the time Electric Dreams came to the big screen, many of the ideas it contained were in their infancy. The smart home was conceived in the late 1970s by hobbyists who attempted to wire their home electronics to their computers to see if they could do what Miles eventually does in the movie, allow his computer, Edgar, to control his various appliances.

One modern notion that Electric Dreams rarely gets credit for predicting is the loneliness epidemic that has become so prevalent due to our reliance on personal computers and smartphones. An early scene shows Miles at an airport where no one is speaking to one another, people are wrapped up in their gadgets and while the scene has a comedic bent, it’s almost dystopian as Miles carries on a conversation with a woman who isn’t speaking to him but is repeating words from her walkman so as to learn English.

The disconnect between humans sitting directly next to each other and unable to break away from their technology to merely acknowledge each other, is a perfect mirror of modern society, and one of the many reasons Electric Dreams is among the most under-rated and secretly brilliant films of the 1980s.