Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY film sounds too good to be true
The entire film will be made here at Framestore. In effect the film, as Avatar was, is 60% CG feature animation with the balance being hybrid CG and live action elements.
Starring Robert Downey Junior, the film is a contemporary survival thriller that follows a woman as she attempts to make her way back to earth after a satellite crash sets off a chain reaction of further crashes. Because it’s set in space, most shots require every element to float in zero-gravity.
But then factor in that this a stylish Cuarón flick, directed with his trademark languid feel, and you begin to realize the full scale of our challenge. Cuarón’s long and fluid style (the opening shot alone is slated to last at least 20 minutes) leaves no cut points to hide behind. In short, this is a hybrid of a fully animated, photo-real feature film with a blockbusting visual effects movie.
This is CG feature animation meets real world on a large and beautiful scale.
Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY film sounds too good to be true
Jun 19
(Note — this film thankfully has nothing to do with Louis Leterrier’s similarly-named Gravity project)
I’m faced with a dilemma here. Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Gravity (starring Robert Downey, Jr.) will be shot and released in 3D. I don’t really like 3D. So do I see a slick, fresh film print of the movie and suffer the obviously video-based aesthetic, or to I see it as Hollywood intended in all its 3D glory? There’s pros and cons to each option, but it looks like I won’t have to decide until 2012.
Downey, Jr. will start production on Gravity this year, leave to shoot Sherlock Holmes 2, and then come back for the rest of Gravity. Sherlock Holmes 2 is due around Christmas 2011, so why won’t we see Gravity till 2012?
Because it’s roughly 60% CGI. And, you know, it takes time to render stuff in high-def 3D. I remember the last movie they said was going to be 60% CGI turned out to be about 95% CGI; I hope that doesn’t happen this time.
What else is there to get excited about? Well, the opening shot of Gravity is slated to last at least 20 minutes. Holy guacamole, Batman! That’s a lot of minutes! To put that in perspective, that’s like an entire episode of The Simpsons (minus ads). Anyone who’s seen Children Of Men should be salivating profusely by this point.
Gravity used to have Angelina Jolie on board, playing an astronaut on a space station who’s desperately trying to make her way back to Earth after an disastrous accident claims the lives of the rest of her team. The script (written by Cuarón’s 28-year-old son Jonás) was later changed to include a male astronaut (Downey, Jr.) and Jolie has since pulled out. Did I mention the opening shot goes for 20 minutes?
Here are some more tasty morsels from Framestore, the effects company handling Gravity‘s visuals (they also worked on Avatar, and Cuarón’s own Children Of Men and Prisoner Of Azkaban):
2012 can’t come too soon for me.
