As they trotted out the talent behind The Day the Earth Stood Still a few things hit me. First off, Jennifer Connelly is hypnotic in person. When she stares at you it becomes difficult to even think. Keanu Reeves is a soft spoken guy, almost shy, but interesting too. At the time of this interview I had no idea who Jon Hamm was, he’d become a bigger star (hosting SNL in November) due to his success with Mad Men. And Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) seems like the perfect director to work for. Young, hip and energetic.
This press conference was held on the main set of The Day the Earth Stood Still, a giant cityscape. It was probably the size of three parallel basketball courts, but the artist rendering of city lights made it seem as if we were in Central Park, looking out onto the big world. A very cool setting for what could be the box office smash of December. Here’s what everyone had to say, enjoy!
What attracted you to the original movie that made it something you wanted to bring back?
Scott Derrickson (SD): I had a chance to meet Robert Wise, before he passed away, as a film student. I talked to him about this film and The Haunting. They are my two favorite films of his. In the cast of [the original] The Day the Earth Stood Still its greatness is pretty self-explanatory. It was one of the first films that brought real intelligence and legitimacy to science fiction in its era. Sci-fi was certainly less respected and considered less intelligent.
But it was such a film of its period, dealing with current events of the time. It was such a fantastic statement about the global situation. As a film watcher the whole notion of Gort and Klaatu coming out in the space suits, I just always loved how there was always the presence of an alien world. It’s so unreal, compared to the real world, yet they are so tightly bound to each other. That’s the image that always comes to mind, the trinity of the ship, Klaatu and Gort.
Keanu Reeves (KR): That’s what goes into making it a classic, ahead of its time, a classic in being able to transcend that. Which I guess is where I came in, in terms of wanting to remake that classic in our time. With all of the same ambitions and hopes, that’s why I was drawn into it.
Jennifer Connelly (JC): I loved the original film. Patricia Neal was so fabulous and I loved seeing this science fiction film that everyone was so committed to. It was really effective as a drama. Just a beautifully made film, but at the same time really fun and exciting.
Jon Hamm (JH): I second what Scott was talking about. In looking at the first film science fiction was very much a niche discipline and this brought that much more to a mass audience. It demonstrated why science fiction is an important niche. Because it enables the artist to be subversive. By couching it in terms of “aliens are coming to the world” you can tell stories that aren’t as approachable. The Red scare and the cold war and the societal problems we were going through then because you couldn’t come out and say “Well, maybe the idea of America as the sole super power isn’t the best way of doing things.” Then you couch that in “Well, it’s not us who are saying that, it’s these aliens.” That makes it a little more palatable for everybody. Our version gets to that as well. It’s a little more accepted to be critical. It’s a little easier to swallow.
Whose idea was it to remake this film?
SD: No one sitting at this table. It was a Fox property, they had struggled for years to try and find a way to make it work. Working with David Scarpa, the writer, they really cracked it open. That was the point we started getting involved.
Since the original there’s been so many films that cribbed from that film. How difficult was it to make this version feel fresh?
SD: It has been difficult. There were a lot of conversations about what we wouldn’t do. You have to take the familiar science fiction staples and remove them, so what can we do instead? I do think we came up with some really fresh and innovative ideas. I think it’s going to feel very connected to the original, but not the films the original spawned. It’s definitely a re-telling of that story, but there’s a lot of originality in it.
Keanu, does Klaatu still have those three famous words (Klaatu barada nikto)? Do we get to hear any of his native language at all?
KR: Yes-ish. Yeah. The context is a little inverted, but yes. We had script meetings and I was like “You gotta have that, right?”
Did you look at Michael Rennie’s performance at all?
KR: Watching the film a few times in a row, yeah I did. He was kind of like the nice guy who carried a big stick. I’m a little more sinisterish. He had such a wonderful ease about him, that “I’m an alien, I’m a human” quality about him. He really believed. But also his frustrations. When everyone’s around the saucer and they’re interviewing everybody and he goes off and gives this rationale answer. Again, the film being subversive saying the media only wants fear while he wants to give this rationale answer about that. He was great.
Jennifer, do you feel a responsibility in recreating this iconic role?
JC: Oh, absolutely. It’s such marvelous work and I’ve already decided how much I love what Patricia Neal did. In my instance I’m a little bit off the hook in that my character has been reconfigured so much. Just in terms of my vocation, what I do, I have a very different kind of job in this version. So my character feels quite different from Patricia Neal’s character. But I aspire not to disappoint people.
The original film was a Christ allegory to some degree. To what degree is that subtext in this version?
SD: It’s built into the narrative somewhat inextricably. To the degree that it’s in the original it’s probably in ours, but probably not as direct or as obvious. There are some 400lb metaphors in the original that we don’t have in this one. Of course he’s [Keanu] done that before too.
KR: We’re not aiming for it, but there are Christian aspects obviously. But I’m not a carpenter or anything.
SD: It’s in there in the same narrative fashion as the original, which is one of the appealing things about it. In my opinion, with the exception of the Mr. Carpenter bit, that aspect of it was pretty elegant. But if you look The Matrix, E.T., or Braveheart — these films have a basic Christ myth narrative. It’s a strong storytelling narrative that resonates with people.
Jennifer, can you talk about having Jaden Smith on set as your stepson?
JC: I think it’s a really difficult part because our little story within the story is a mother and son who are in conflict. Who have stagnated in their relationship. It’s coming to a crisis point, something has to shift. We have a bunch of scenes that are fraught with tension and unresolved difficulty. Jaden is so charming and so interesting and beautiful. You really root for him and like him and want for things to go well. He’s a huge asset. When they came up with the idea I said “absolutely.” Having seen him in Pursuit of Happyness you just love him.
Jon, can you talk about your character a bit?
JH: Sure, I play Michael, it was Michel originally until I was cast. Michael Granier, the lead scientist who assembles the team who tries to figure out this issue that has descended upon the Earth. As it stands now there seems to be some sort of back-story between Helen and I, which plays out a little bit throughout the film. For the most part I’m reacting to a lot of these things that happen. Trying to make as much sense out of them as I can. It’s been interesting. My time on set has been limited so far, I’ve been on an airplane more than I’ve been on set, but it’s been interesting. Jaden, I can’t second what Jen said more, he’s astonishing for a nine year old.
Jennifer, as we watch today’s filming it seemed like occasionally you’d give input or ask questions about other scenes that pertained. Is that something that’s part of your process?
JC: Only when I’m trying to understand what I’m, my goal is to be convinced myself so I can have a leg up on being convincing. Sometimes there are things that aren’t fully articulated in the script that Scott will have in mind. In that instance it was an issue of a tie lapse and I didn’t know what he had planned. So I was just checking what we would cut to. We’re all pretty collaborative. I’m quite obsessive when I start working, I can’t stop reading the script. I do often come up with thoughts, some of them are horrible, some are constructive. Of course I approach everything from my character’s point of view. Scot has been really marvelous in entertaining those thoughts.
Were there any science fiction clichés you wanted to avoid with this film?
SD: I did want to avoid making a movie about technology. Science fiction, for the last number of decades, has been fixated on that. And this movie isn’t about laser blasters or high tech version that take our current technology as far as the imagination can carry it. We went in the direction that takes science fiction more seriously biologically and ecologically. That spawned a lot of interesting ideas. That’s where this film has the most uniqueness, that’s what separates it from those other films.
You can read Part One of our The Day the Earth Stood Still Set Visit coverage here and look for more tomorrow and Thursday. The Day the Earth Stood Still opens on December 12th, for more information on the film including pictures and trailers click here.
