alfonso cuaron returns to bigscreen after seven years wi

8/13/2019 Alfonso Cuaron Returns to Bigscreen After Seven Years Wi

1/11

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 | 09:20AM PT

Sa n d r a B u l l o c k , G eo r ge Cl o o n ey st a r r er r ec ei v i n g ea r l y O sca r b u z z

D a v i d S. Co h e n ( h t t p : //v a r i e t y.c o m / a u t h o r /d a v i d -c o h en /) Senior Editor, Features@Var ie t y_DSCohen (h t t p : // tw i t t e r . com /@Var i e t y_DSCohen )

D a v e M c N a r y ( h t t p : //v a r i et y.c om /a u t h o r /d a v e -m c n a r y /) Film Reporter@Va r i e t y _D M c N a r y (h t t p : //t w i t t er .c o m / @Va r i et y _D M c N a r y )

When Alfonso Cuaron (http://variety.com/t/alfonso-cuaron/) was first planninghis marooned-in-space drama Gravity (http://variety.com/t/gravity/), thefilmmaker imagined an action-drama set in orbit, most of it with just a singlecharacter who would be weightless for the entire picture. It would be filmedusing his signature long, continuous shots.

SEE M ORE: F r om th e Sep temb er 03 , 2013 i s sue o f Var i e ty

Julian Broad

nso Cuaron Returns to Bigscreen After Seven Years With Gravity ... http://variety.com/2013/film/news/alfonso-cuaron-returns-to-the-bigscr...

11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


2/11

(h t tp : / /va r i e ty.com /pr in t - i s sues/321-4 -sep t em ber -03-2013 /)

But there was one big problem: As fellow director David Fincher warnedCuaron and his cinematographer, Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki, the technologyo make that movie simply didnt exist yet. He advised them to wait five years.

We were stubborn, (and) said were going to make it work, Cuaron tellsVariety. But you know what? David was right. It took us 4 years.

Gravity, which opened the Venice Film Festival to great fanfare and earlyOscar buzz and will screen at Telluride and Toronto on its way to an Oct. 4release, is as much of a game-changer, in its way, as Avatar was. Perhapshats fitting, since Avatar director James Cameron, whose pal Cuaron

screened the fi lm for him four weeks ago, is among the pictures most ardent

champions.

I was stunned, absolutely floored, he says. I think its the best spacephotography ever done, I think its the best space film ever done, and its themovie Ive been hungry to see for an awful long time.

SEE ALSO: Alfon so Cuarons Sign ature Style Offers Uni que Viewi ng

Experience (http://variety.com/2013/more/news/alfonso-cuarons-signature-style-offers-unique-viewing-experience-1200596491/)

Cameron, surprisingly, said it wasnt the cutting edge technology thatmpressed him; it was Cuarons uncompromising vision and tenacity in gettinghe picture made as he wanted it, and star Sandra Bullocks preparation for

and performance of a highly challenging role. What is interesting is the humandimension, Cameron says. Alfonso and Sandra working together to create

an absolutely seamless portrayal of a woman fighting for her life in zerogravity.

The 91-minute picture unusually short in todays world of two-hour-plusentpoles follows two spacewalking astronauts, commander Matt KowalskyGeorge Clooney) and mission specialist Ryan Stone (Bullock), whose journey

becomes a fight for survival when a fusillade of debris cripples their shuttle,kills a shipmate and leaves them stranded in space. As they make their way tohe Intl. Space Station and beyond, searching for a lifeboat, it falls to Stone, on

her first space expedition, to find a way back to Earth despite a terrifyingseries of setbacks.


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


3/11

A lot is riding on Gravity for Bullock, the filmmakers and their studio backer,Warner Bros., which bankrolled the risky mission at approximately $100million. For producer David Heyman, it is the first picture hes steered sincehe blockbuster Harry Potter series. For Cuaron, its his first since 2006s

sci-fi thriller Children of Men, and by far his most challenging outing. For Bullock, its the first time the Oscar winner has toplined a CG-heavy sci-fier, letalone carried an entire picture on her own for most of its length.

Even with so much at stake, though, Cuaron stayed true to form, eschewing aried-and-true approach to filmmaking in favor of breaking creative andechnological barriers to bring a highly emotional story to the fore.

Photo by Julian Broad

Alfonso does not play it safe, says Heyman, who worked with the director onhe third Harry Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban, the darkest, and accordingo many the most daring, of the series. In Gravity, Cuaron and his teamackled unproven techniques and digital technologies aimed at transporting


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


4/11

audiences into weightless space.

There was no way to rely on anything we knew before this film, Bullock says.No character was like Stone, no film set was ever like these sets, not onemember of this crew had ever done this before. We all were doing somethinghat had never been done before.

Gravity began to tug at Cuaron after his screenwriter son Jonas asked himfor notes on a struggle-for-survival script he was writing, Desierto. The elder Cuaron had a few notes, but liked the scripts stripped-down narrative.

What I really wanted to do is something in which, in a single through -line, youcan play and juggle with different things and motifs and serious subject matter without stopping the action, Cuaron says. I said (to Jonas), I would love you

o help me do something like that, and he got excited (and said), OK, lets dosomething together.

SEE ALSO: Warner Bros. Plots Carefu l Gravi ty Launch

http://variety.com/2013/more/news/warner-bros-plots-careful-gravity-launch-1200596502/)

They soon settled on a theme they wanted to explore: Adversity and thepossibility of rebirth as an outcome of adversities, explains the director.

Cuaron, a space buff from the days of the Apollo moon shots, proposed theyset the story in space, in the present day. They focused on one of NASAsreal-life nightmare scenarios: the Kessler Syndrome.

n 1978, NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler theorized that there are enoughobjects in low-Earth orbit that a collision between objects could have acascade effect, with the debris from the first crash causing more crashes,which shoot off more debris, which cause more crashes, and so on. Once theKessler Syndrome starts, anything or anyone in orbit would be subject to aethal bombardment by shrapnel moving at tremendous speeds. We decidedo take that as a metaphor for adversity, Cuaron says.

The Cuarons developed the script at Universal, where Alfonso had directedChildren of Men in 2006. Universal was hoping to attach Angelina Jolie to theproject, but decided the picture would be too expensive, and put Gravity intournaround. Warners picked it up, and Cuaron cast Bullock and Robert

Downey Jr. in late 2010 for the leads. Downey subsequently dropped out and


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


5/11

was replaced by Clooney at the end of the year.


Meanwhile, the director and his team worked on developing a new way of shooting to go with their script.

There had been realistic space pictures before, notably Ron Howards 1995hit Apollo 13, but theyd used a combination of actors on wires in front of bluescreens and short takes of weightlessness shot on NASAs Reduced

Gravity Aircraft, a.k.a. the Vomit Comet. That wouldnt work for Cuaronsstyle, with its extended takes.

Early in development, Cuaron contacted his longtime friend and


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


6/11

cinematographer Lubezki. The pair had evolved their long-take technique,which sometimes covers an entire scene in a single shot, starting on Y tumama tambien, released in 2001.

When (Cuaron) called and said, I want to do a movie in space, immediately Istarted seeing the movie with all these very long shots Ive never seen before,

especially in a science-fiction movie, Lubezki says. But I got a chill because Irealized how hard it was going to be to do something like that, when you havean actor in zero gravity and youre not cutting.

For some scenes where theyd be seated inside space capsules, the actorsplaying Stone and Kowalsky could be shot in real, physical sets. But most of he movie had one or both of them floating free, either in a spacewalk or inside

a space station. How to shoot such scenes? And on top of all that, Cuaron

wanted the picture to be in 3D.

The director and cinematographer met with a number of friends andech-savvy directors, including Fincher and Cameron. I read the script, and Ihought it was tremendously challenging to shoot with a high degree of veracityo get the real look of zero gravity, Cameron says. He recommended some

performance-capture techniques hed used on Avatar, but Cuaron opted for a different route.

SEE ALSO: Venice: Bul lock, Cloon ey Launch Gravity at Festi val

http://variety.com/2013/film/markets-festivals/venice-gravity-sandra-bullock-george-clooney-1200590688/)

Adds Cameron: Im sure Alfonso had a real uphill battle with the studio, witheveryone involved, to get it the way it needed to look. But he knew in his mind

how it needed to look, and he went after it.

Cuaron enlisted visual effects supervisor Tim Webber, with whom he had alsocollaborated on Children of Men. We said if somebody can do it, its Tim,Lubezki recalls. The trio of Cuaron, Lubezki and Webber soon concluded theycouldnt make Gravity as they wanted to by simply using traditional methods.So for the spacewalk scenes, says Webber, We decided to shoot (theactors) faces and create everything else digitally. Which was quite a difficultdecision.

To do that, Lubezki reasoned, he would need to light the faces to match theall-digital environment theyd be put into. Whether the characters were floating


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


7/11

gently, changing direction or tumbling in space, the facial light would have to bea perfect match for the Earth, sun and stars in the background. That canbreak easily, explains Lubezki, if the light is not moving at the speed that ithas to move, if the position of the light is not right, if the contrast or density onhe faces is wrong, et cetera.


Lubezki suggested folding an LED screen into a box, putting the actor inside,and using the light from the screen to light the actor. That way, instead of moving either Bullock or Clooney in the middle of static lights, the projected

mage could move while they stayed still and safe. This light box became thekey to the spacewalk scenes. But it was only a nine-foot cube, just big enoughfor one actor, not an actor and a camera crew.


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


8/11

Another puzzle remained. Some scenes would show Bullocks Stone floatingweightless inside the space station. If she appeared to be straining, that wouldbreak the illusion of weightlessness. So the filmmakers turned to industrialrobots: specifically, robots designed for automobile manufacturing. They couldcarry heavy loads the full weight of an actor and move as quickly or slowly as required. Importantly, they could operate in less space than acameraman or grip, and are incredibly precise.

However, they must be programmed well in advance. So the entire picturewould have to be pre-planned and pre-visualized in fine detail: all of theblocking for the actors and the camera, every angle, every zoom, all the digitalsets and backgrounds, the color and position of every light source.

Pretty much we had to finish post-production before we could even start

pre-production, because of all the programming, Cuaron says.

SEE ALSO: Venice Film Review: Gravity (http://variety.com/2013/filmreviews/gravity-review-venice-film-festival-1200589689/)

For interiors where Bullock would be out of her space suit, the filmmakersdesigned rigs to support her and move her around. Shed appear to be pushing

herself along, but the robot would do all the work. Luckily, Webber says,Sandra was incredibly physically adept and very good at doing perfectly timedgraceful movements while hitting complicated marks in 3D space and giving agreat performance at the same time.

With so much new technology in play, the filmmakers redoubled their efforts tomake sure the whole project didnt devolve into a technical exercise. Cuaronnsisted Lubezki light the entire picture, not turn the lighting over to the vfx

eam. Lubezki spent months working with animators and digital lightingdirectors (he calls them his gaffers) at Framestore in London.

I would wake up at 4 a.m., turn on my computer, Id say good morning to mygaffer and start working on a scene, Lubezki says. I would say, Move the sun60,000 kilometers to the north. That way I could put the lighting anywhere Iwanted.

Sound design and the score, too, would play a critical role. There is no soundn space, so much of the action, even the debris storms, plays out against

eerie silence, broken only by the score. The silence is more startling after thescore builds to deafening crescendos, then stops abruptly. But during the


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


9/11

nterior scenes, the rumbles and groans of failing space gear are asfrightening as the roars of any classic movie monster even more sobecause their source is unseen.

The most human part of the process couldnt begin without the cast, though.Jolie and Natalie Portman were each offered the role of Stone before Bullock

came onboard after winning the Oscar for The Blind Side earlier that year.The actress spent six months in physical training to prepare for shooting whilereviewing the script with Cuaron in meticulous detail.

Says Cuaron, More than anything else, we were just talking about the thematicelement of the film, the possibility of rebirth after adversity. They worked outhow she would perform each scene, and her notes were included the pre-visanimation and programming for the robots.

Cuaron and Bullock zeroed in on one crucial aspect of the performance:Stones breath, and how that breath was going to dictate her emotions, hesays. That breath that is connected with stress in some instances, but alsohe breath that is dictated by lack of oxygen.

Their conversations covered every detail of the script and Bullocks character.She was involved so closely in every single decision throughout the wholehing, Cuaron says. And it was a good thing, because once we started

prepping for the shoot, it was almost more like a dance routine, where it wasone-two-three left, left, four-five-six then on the right. She was amazing abouthe blocking and the rehearsal of that. So when we were shooting, everything

was just about truthfulness and emotion.

Cameron says Bullocks work is more impressive than the technology that

supported it. Shes the one that had to take on this unbelievable challenge toperform it. (It was) probably no less demanding than a Cirque du Soleilperformer, from what I can see. And of the result, he says, Theres an art tohat, to creating moments that seem spontaneous but are very highly

rehearsed and choreographed. Not too many people can do it. I think itsreally important for people in Hollywood to understand what was accomplishedhere.

The set Bullock walked onto didnt resemble a normal movie shoot. At one endof the stage was the light box, with a small hole in one side. Outside that holewas a track extending away from the box, and on that track, the robot holdinghe camera. Inside the box was a rig Bullock would be strapped into. In the


11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


10/11

wings were rows of computer workstations with technicians controlling the lightbox, lighting, camera and the robots.

In the end, all the homework we did had to be let go once I stepped into theapparatus, Bullock says. You had to trust you knew who the character was athat point and just mentally wrap your head around a most unnatural setting for

an actor and make it natural.

Because it was laborious to get in and out of her rig, Bullock chose to staynside the light box alone for nine or 10 hours at a time, communicating onlyhrough a headset. Though she calls those hours isolating and silent, she

adds, It also gave me the opportunity to dig as deeply as I needed to for whatever was required, in privacy. To me it felt as though there was nothingbut the thoughts in my head to give me company.

With such an odd shooting space, and with only one actor on set much of theime, Cuaron says his biggest challenge was how to keep a warm, friendly set,

a place that is fun to play in, he says. Not to (have it) become a technicalgame, but all the time to keep the creative aspect in the forefront of everything.

When Bullock arrived each day, there would be a mass celebration, including aRocky-like fanfare and a big lighted sign atop the light box that read SandysCage.

Once in the box, Bullock knew what parts of her performance she could andcould not change, while Lubezki and Webber were careful to give her someattitude. (Lubezki) being an amazing cinematographer, Cuaron says, hes

always very concerned about the atmosphere on the set and the atmosphere

for the actors.

Lubezki remembers many days on the shoot being scary, because some of he bits of gear simply wouldnt work sometimes. Adds Cuaron, You dont knowf its just a simple cable or if its something that has to do with software.

Lubezki often worried that the gear would break down and shooting would haveo stop for days or weeks.

Hes always scared to death, says Cuaron with a laugh, but the director concedes his cinematographer had a legitimate concern. The day-cost for theshoot was on par with a typical tentpole, around $150,000, but that didnt


f 11 10/10/2013 09:13 a.m.


11/11

Copyright 2013 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC.

nclude planning and programming costs.

Worse, Cuaron says, the pipeline for the picture, from previsualization toshooting to visual effects, was delicate. If something fundamental in theechnology that we were doing had collapsed, it would mean that the film would

collapse. That was the spookiest thing. Any collapse in the pipeline would have

huge ripple effects. So there were moments in which we felt the whole film hadcollapsed. In those moments, Clooney and Bullock worked hard to keep spiritsup. But in the end, Cuaron says, their rigs were never down for more thanabout six hours at a time.

n the end, those behind the scenes agreed that the technology and prepsucceeded in one crucial respect: It let the filmmakers and the movie zero in on Bullocks performance, which is already being buzzed about.

The shoot for me was those Eureka moments, says Cuaron, recalling oneparticularly absorbing closeup of Bullock as Stone when the character isalking about her daughter. Youre cool that the light actually worked this time?

he asked Lubezki. Was everything in sync? he queried Webber.

The two of them said, Of course. Forget about that. Do you see what justhappened? Suddenly, with all that weight of technology, we were capturing agreat performance. It was those moments in which everything cameogether for what was the point of this film, the experience of a human uphere.

SEE ALSO: Development Season MVPs Land Mult iple New Seri es

http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/development-season-mvps-land-multiple-new-series-1200484061/)

Helmer s TV debut

Even while juggling Gravity, Cuaron has made his first foray into TV seriesproduction in partnership with Warner Bros. and J. J. Abrams Bad Robotbanner. Believe, a fantasy drama about an orphaned girl with supernaturalpowers, is set for a midseason bow on NBC. Cuaron co-created the series

and directed the pilot last fall in New York. He will continue to have a hand inhe shows creative direction through his role as exec producer.


alfonso cuaron returns to bigscreen after seven years wi

Documents