Our anticipation for Alfonso Cuaron‘s long awaited (seven years since “Children of Men“) return to the big screen with the deep-space-set “Gravity” grows like an exploding star as we countdown to the movie’s October debut (you can read our Venice Film Festival review here). In fact, the only way we could be more excited about the movie is if someone like, say, James Cameron, a space travel freak and the unofficial grand wizard of 3D, were to dub the film “the best space film ever,” which is something that he just did. Better than Kubrick‘s “2001“? Game changer alert. Also, watch costars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney talk about the film from Venice.
In a lengthy Variety piece about the film’s, er, tortured route to the big screen, a number of interesting nuggets are uncovered. One of these nuggets was the fact that David Fincher, no stranger to cutting edge techniques and envelope-pushing visual effects, told Cuaron to wait five years so that the technology could be better equipped to handle the film. “We were stubborn and said we’re going to make it work,” Cuaron told Variety. “But you know what? David was right. It took us 4 ½ years.”
Another filmmaker to weigh in on “Gravity,” which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as a pair of astronauts marooned in space after a devastating collision, was “Avatar” director James Cameron who was (wait for it) over the moon for the movie. “I was stunned, absolutely floored,” Cameron said to Variety. “I think it’s the best space photography ever done, I think it’s the best space film ever done, and it’s the movie I’ve been hungry to see for an awful long time.”
Although, according to Cameron, it wasn’t the fully immersive 3D world that dazzled him (a 3D world that, it should be noted, has to be financially viable and technologically sustainable for Cameron’s massive “Avatar” sequel roll-out to work); it was the film’s humanity. “ What is interesting is the human dimension,” Cameron said. “Alfonso and Sandra working together to create an absolutely seamless portrayal of a woman fighting for her life in zero gravity.” Cameron, like Fincher, also offered his take on the script, unsurprisingly suggesting Cuaron make it using the motion capture technology developed for “Avatar.” Cuaron wisely went a different direction, casting actual humans.
Actual humans like real life movie stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, who were at the Venice Film Festival to talk up “Gravity,” footage of which you can watch below.