Technology has caught up with much of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451,” in which the government burns all books to homogenize thought. The author foresaw people communicating through interactive screens and wearing “seashells,” which we now call earbuds.

“What Bradbury didn’t know about was the internet,” says director Ramin Bahrani. That difference gave Mr. Bahrani the contemporary slant of his film, coming May 19 on HBO, which reimagines Bradbury’s mind-controlled dystopia for the digital era.