Interview: Sunshine Director Danny Boyle
By Peter Sciretta/July 20, 2007 1:34 pm EST
On Monday July 16th I had the chance to sit down with Trainspotting/28 Days Later director Danny Boyle about his new film Sunshine. Fifty years from now, the sun is dying and a solar winter has enveloped the earth. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their sanity, but their lives.
Boyle is everything you would expect – courteous, excited, intelligent, reserved yet frank and uncensored. You can listen to our entire round table interview with Danny Boyle below. We have provided chapter points after the jump. Danny Boyle on the Influences of Sunshine:
There are three huge, titanic, space movies which if you ever make a film like this you cannot avoid. You may want to avoid them but you cannot. I’ve never known a genre like it where you are dictated to by these films, 2001, Alien, and Tarkovsky’s Solaris. Believe me, they hover over you the whole time and sometimes you just have to tip you hat to them — reference them in some way. They are there and you’re judged against them, not just on whether the film ultimately works as a film but technically. The way you depict space has been dictated by those three films and you have to get to that level. And I had no idea how intimidating that level was, when I set out to make it.
There are a lot of space movies that don’t get to that level, because they don’t have enough money or time, or people weren’t willing to make that effort. The effort involve in depicting this place is staggering. There were other influences as well like Das Boot, and Wages of Fear. There are lots of films you use as a kind of help to you but those three in particular.
Apocalypse Now is my favorite film and it’s known as The Heart of Darkness film because it’s loosely based on the Joseph Conrad book. And we always said that our starting point for this film was a “Journey into the Heart of Lightness.” There are certain rhythmical similarities. It’s a journey and at the end of the journey is a fantastic, a madman who’s seen the light in his own way. Structurally you could compare it to Apocalypse Now which has a similar shade to it’s journey as far as shape is concerned.
Your browser does not support the audio element. 00:10 Comparisons to Apocalypse Now 01:10 Influencing Sunshine: The Three Big Space Films 02:45 Determining the Pace: The reality of Space is SLOW 04:00 Rules that you must Follow in a Space Movie 05:00 Editing Sunshine 05:30 Creating Chemistry Between The Actors: Rooming in a Dorm 07:00 Good Death Scenes 07:30 Experiences in Russia
08:30 Old Technology is Reliable 09:30 Russian Response to the Film 10:15 Extreme Contrasts 12:00 Action Movies Linked to Cinema 12:45 The Big Issues 14:15 28 Months Later: A third 28 Days Later Idea 15:15 Witnessing in Pursuing the Theme of Encounter 17:45 Witnessing is Universal 18:15 On Behalf of “For All Mankind” 18:45 Casting Cillian Murphy 20:20 95% of the Audience doesn’t Care About the Director or His Theories 21:30 Optimism and Humor in Danny’s Films 24:00 His Comments on Eli Roth 24:30 Michael Bay 25:15 Making a Lower Budget Sci-Fi Space Film 27:00 Explaining Sunshine’s Villain
Interview: Sunshine Director Danny Boyle
By Peter Sciretta/July 20, 2007 1:34 pm EST
On Monday July 16th I had the chance to sit down with Trainspotting/28 Days Later director Danny Boyle about his new film Sunshine. Fifty years from now, the sun is dying and a solar winter has enveloped the earth. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their sanity, but their lives.
Boyle is everything you would expect – courteous, excited, intelligent, reserved yet frank and uncensored. You can listen to our entire round table interview with Danny Boyle below. We have provided chapter points after the jump. Danny Boyle on the Influences of Sunshine:
There are three huge, titanic, space movies which if you ever make a film like this you cannot avoid. You may want to avoid them but you cannot. I’ve never known a genre like it where you are dictated to by these films, 2001, Alien, and Tarkovsky’s Solaris. Believe me, they hover over you the whole time and sometimes you just have to tip you hat to them — reference them in some way. They are there and you’re judged against them, not just on whether the film ultimately works as a film but technically. The way you depict space has been dictated by those three films and you have to get to that level. And I had no idea how intimidating that level was, when I set out to make it.
There are a lot of space movies that don’t get to that level, because they don’t have enough money or time, or people weren’t willing to make that effort. The effort involve in depicting this place is staggering. There were other influences as well like Das Boot, and Wages of Fear. There are lots of films you use as a kind of help to you but those three in particular.
Apocalypse Now is my favorite film and it’s known as The Heart of Darkness film because it’s loosely based on the Joseph Conrad book. And we always said that our starting point for this film was a “Journey into the Heart of Lightness.” There are certain rhythmical similarities. It’s a journey and at the end of the journey is a fantastic, a madman who’s seen the light in his own way. Structurally you could compare it to Apocalypse Now which has a similar shade to it’s journey as far as shape is concerned.
Your browser does not support the audio element. 00:10 Comparisons to Apocalypse Now 01:10 Influencing Sunshine: The Three Big Space Films 02:45 Determining the Pace: The reality of Space is SLOW 04:00 Rules that you must Follow in a Space Movie 05:00 Editing Sunshine 05:30 Creating Chemistry Between The Actors: Rooming in a Dorm 07:00 Good Death Scenes 07:30 Experiences in Russia
08:30 Old Technology is Reliable 09:30 Russian Response to the Film 10:15 Extreme Contrasts 12:00 Action Movies Linked to Cinema 12:45 The Big Issues 14:15 28 Months Later: A third 28 Days Later Idea 15:15 Witnessing in Pursuing the Theme of Encounter 17:45 Witnessing is Universal 18:15 On Behalf of “For All Mankind” 18:45 Casting Cillian Murphy 20:20 95% of the Audience doesn’t Care About the Director or His Theories 21:30 Optimism and Humor in Danny’s Films 24:00 His Comments on Eli Roth 24:30 Michael Bay 25:15 Making a Lower Budget Sci-Fi Space Film 27:00 Explaining Sunshine’s Villain
Fifty years from now, the sun is dying and a solar winter has enveloped the earth. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their sanity, but their lives.
Boyle is everything you would expect – courteous, excited, intelligent, reserved yet frank and uncensored. You can listen to our entire round table interview with Danny Boyle below. We have provided chapter points after the jump.
Danny Boyle on the Influences of Sunshine:
Your browser does not support the audio element.
00:10 Comparisons to Apocalypse Now
There are three huge, titanic, space movies which if you ever make a film like this you cannot avoid. You may want to avoid them but you cannot. I’ve never known a genre like it where you are dictated to by these films, 2001, Alien, and Tarkovsky’s Solaris. Believe me, they hover over you the whole time and sometimes you just have to tip you hat to them — reference them in some way. They are there and you’re judged against them, not just on whether the film ultimately works as a film but technically. The way you depict space has been dictated by those three films and you have to get to that level. And I had no idea how intimidating that level was, when I set out to make it.
There are a lot of space movies that don’t get to that level, because they don’t have enough money or time, or people weren’t willing to make that effort. The effort involve in depicting this place is staggering. There were other influences as well like Das Boot, and Wages of Fear. There are lots of films you use as a kind of help to you but those three in particular.
Apocalypse Now is my favorite film and it’s known as The Heart of Darkness film because it’s loosely based on the Joseph Conrad book. And we always said that our starting point for this film was a “Journey into the Heart of Lightness.” There are certain rhythmical similarities. It’s a journey and at the end of the journey is a fantastic, a madman who’s seen the light in his own way. Structurally you could compare it to Apocalypse Now which has a similar shade to it’s journey as far as shape is concerned.
01:10 Influencing Sunshine: The Three Big Space Films
02:45 Determining the Pace: The reality of Space is SLOW
04:00 Rules that you must Follow in a Space Movie
05:00 Editing Sunshine
05:30 Creating Chemistry Between The Actors: Rooming in a Dorm
07:00 Good Death Scenes
07:30 Experiences in Russia
08:30 Old Technology is Reliable
09:30 Russian Response to the Film
10:15 Extreme Contrasts
12:00 Action Movies Linked to Cinema
12:45 The Big Issues
14:15 28 Months Later: A third 28 Days Later Idea
15:15 Witnessing in Pursuing the Theme of Encounter
17:45 Witnessing is Universal
18:15 On Behalf of “For All Mankind”
18:45 Casting Cillian Murphy
20:20 95% of the Audience doesn’t Care About the Director or His Theories
21:30 Optimism and Humor in Danny’s Films
24:00 His Comments on Eli Roth
24:30 Michael Bay
25:15 Making a Lower Budget Sci-Fi Space Film
27:00 Explaining Sunshine’s Villain
