IMAX® LIVE EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT ‘THE CREATOR’ WITH
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/CO-WRITER GARETH EDWARDS
Okay, that title is misleading. There’s a lot of great science fiction out there, but we haven’t had a game-changing epic in a very long time. You know what I mean. Something that delivers a new aesthetic, lexicon, and technology. Something that questions what’s next based on the world we currently inhabit. Now writer/director Gareth Edwards and co-writer Chris Weitz are asking: What if A.I. developed into androids and some nations grow with them while others turn against them? The answer is their upcoming film The Creator.
Of course, the question isn’t new but based on the exclusive clips Edwards shared (during a live stream that spanned several IMAX screens around the country) The Creator is a new perspective. One that combines the war torn grit of Apocalypse Now with the near-future ethics of Blade Runner and the “Sony Walkman” inspired robotics of Chappie. Judging by the Lone Wolf and Cub synergy between lead actors, John David Washington and the youngling Madeleine Yuna Voyles, there’s some of The Golden Child in there too. You didn’t think of that, did you? Now try to unsee it.
The Creator promises an epic sci-fi that feels close enough to our timeline that we could touch it. One of the most interesting things Edwards shared is how he kept the budget down to $300 million to earn a green light for a story with such a vast sensawunda (sense of wonder). The key was to shoot every location and actor practically—real places, real people, and real sets—then edit the film to its finished state, before bringing in the visual effects team to paint in all the pretty. That’s a wild approach. Somewhere out there, there is a complete cut of The Creator that doesn’t have any CGI in it. Just real people running around reacting. I kind of love that. Gareth Edwards really does understand the future.
