British director Gareth Edwards’ latest science fiction action thriller ponders the relationship between artificial intelligence and humanity.
Director Gareth Edwards’ latest film focuses on the duel between humanity and artificial intelligence. PDO
Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest current trends, which is repeated both in politics and in the business world. It’s no wonder that filmmakers are also interested in dealing with the issue on the big screen.
On Friday of this week, a British director premiered in Finland by Gareth Edwards the latest sci-fi movie The Creator. He is best remembered for Godzilla, released in 2014, and for the Star Wars film series From Rogue One.
Iltalehti was able to meet the British director at an international press conference.
Novelty movie The Creator goes a step closer to humanity than any of Edwards’ previous directorials. The wild sci-fi action thriller takes place in the future, where humanity is at war with artificial intelligence.
The main character of the dystopian film will be seen John David Washingtonwho acted Jasper Pääkkönen with in the one published in 2018 BlacKkKlansmanin the movie.
Washington impressed the director right from the first meeting in a restaurant.
– John had a face mask with a Star Wars logo on his face. At first I thought he was doing it for me because I directed the previous film. He then sat down and explained how he wasn’t going to wear that mask at first because it might look weird, but he insisted that he wore that mask all the time. Then we started talking about the Star Wars movies, Edwards recalled to reporters at an international press conference.
– He was such a down-to-earth and kind person. During that dinner I was convinced that he is exactly the right guy for this role.
John David Washington stars in a new sci-fi action thriller. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Sentient robots
The massive production has also required a lot of money, as the film’s budget has been more than 75 million euros. The film features many robot characters with human-like features such as the ability to feel and express emotions.
The British director tried to prevent the actor from going straight to portraying a robot, but aiming for a very human character.
– I told the actors to forget that this is a sci-fi film. These characters imagine themselves to be similar to humans. We only decided in post-production which characters are robots and which are humans.
Special effects have not been spared in the new film. Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
However, in the final stages of making the film, the situation looked challenging in the eyes of the production company. The screenwriters went on strike in the United States in May of this year, and later the actors and radio presenters also joined the strike.
Edwards said at the press conference that he had discussions with Disney at the beginning of the summer about whether the release of the film should be postponed due to the strike. However, the film company had wanted to stick to the release date.
Gareth Edwards has not been to Finland yet, but got excited about the idea after being asked about it by Iltalehti. PDO
The writers’ strike ended in the US on September 27, but the actors’ strike continues.
Iltalehti asked at the press conference if the British director had ever been to Finland.
– Unfortunately, I have never been to Finland. I would love to come to a film festival, the good-natured director answered with a laugh.