Claire is...: sun

Sunday, 9 August 2015

FILM 1357: SUNSHINE

TRIVIA: Danny Boyle found working on a sci-fi project so exhausting, he vowed never to make another one again.

Danny Boyle was so impressed with Michelle Yeoh's audition, that he told her that she could choose any part in the script and he would give it to her - he was even prepared to change the gender if she had chosen a male character. She ultimately decided on Corazon, the biologist.

The distinctive golden color of the space suits was intended to make them memorable to sci-fi fans. The character "Kenny" from South Park (1997) was used as a design reference for the funnel-shaped helmet. A small number of suits and helmets were built as wearable costumes, so the actors could experience the claustrophobia and react appropriately.

The book "Moondust" by Andrew Smith, a collection of accounts of the men who had walked on the moon, was required reading for all cast members.

Actual sounds received from space that were captured by a Midwestern university were incorporated into the sound design.

Cillian Murphy worked with leading physicist Brian Cox to learn all about advanced physics. This included touring the CERN facility in Switzerland and learned to copy physicists' mannerisms. Murphy ended up copying some of Cox's personal idiosyncrasies, such as his frequent hand movements. The actor also studied Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic The Wages of Fear (1953) to have an understanding of the type of suspense that Danny Boyle was attempting to create. Murphy has claimed that his involvement in Sunshine (2007) converted him from agnosticism to atheism.