Roland Emmerich shares Moonfall 2 plans before the release of Moonfall
by Jaskiran Kaur | Fri, 28 Jan 2022 19:24:35 GMT
Image Source: JoBlo, Deadline

Director Roland Emmerich is on his way to bringing forward an extraordinary tale of a sci-fi film where a team, portrayed by Halle Berry, John Bradley, and Patrick Wilson, needs to save the Earth when the moon comes falling down after being dislocated from its original orbit. The film also stars Michael Peña, Donald Sutherland, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak, and Charlie Plummer. Emmerich leads the scriptwriters along with Harald Kloser, and Spenser Cohen

The director of the film had an interview with Collider where he shared his excitement about working with NASA, how the film answers so many questions about a new sci-fi theory originating in the film that someone might have built the moon and more. Apart from appreciating the characters, the director also showcases some key features from the editing, development, and production process of Moonfall and more. 

The film is scheduled to release early spring this year, and the director is already in hopes of a sequel and the third film in the series, which he has originally dreamt to make into a trilogy. Sharing his views on bringing the film to cinemas with its second installment, he said, “I'm also not very high on sequels. But I tried this time to make this a trilogy, but I am not sure even if I want it anymore. I think if I do a sequel, I will make it a little bit more like the original Star Wars. The second one will have a huge cliffhanger. Because that's totally lost on people. Everything always has to be clean-cut."

He joked, "Why not leave them hanging and say, we left you hanging, see the conclusion, in two years.”

The film, so strongly focused on the celestial bodies, has mainly used VFX for its storytelling. Emmerich shared how technology helped bring Moonfall to life but added, "It's always a huge challenge, and it's a slow process, and it will stay a slow process. I don't think they will ever make VFX movies fast. It's just a very slow process. And it took like nearly 11 and a half months now, to get it where it's... we still have 150-200 shots to go."

Revealing what a two-year buildup on the story can bring for fans, the director shared, "Well, it was just the idea that the moon is not what you think it is. That somebody must have built it. Which is crazy and amazing, right? Then you learn who built" He also added, "In this movie, there is not so much, I would say, Earth action than you normally find in my movies. It's a space movie, and to a lesser degree, that the moon is falling on Earth."

Revealing how he came along the rope of the film, the writer said, "I always used conspiracy theories because, not that I really believe in them in any way, it's kind of the lure of it. That it's on the internet, you can check it out on the internet, et cetera." He continued, "There is like endless stuff about the moon. So, in that respect, it was so strange for me that we got supported by NASA. I have no clue why they're doing this. Honest to God. I have no inkling of an idea why they did this, but obviously, they need it."

Sharing what it was like to work with NASA, he revealed, "We could access endless footage they have as images, which was great for us, I mean, because the real thing makes every shot more real. At one point, someone says, "So the moon is like the biggest cover-up in history.” And then Donald Sutherland says, "Yeah, you could say that."

Telling that the film was shot in just 61 days, the director elaborated, "I have no second unit or anything. I only have a splinter unit, and I directed both. I have to say it was pretty straightforward. The biggest problem was figuring out how to do the nano swarm. That was probably the biggest problem. We labored on that endlessly."

In the end, the director is also highly critical of what his film will look like on the screen. He explained, "It couldn't look too technical. It could not look animal-like. It was kind of a mix in between, and to get that right, was very challenging because it's so simple to say, it's like a swarm, and then it can do certain things."  

"We had to do a lot of exploration, and then we went in this direction, and when this didn't work," divulged the director. "And then we went into another direction, and then this didn't work. Then we had like hour-long meetings about it. And then finally we said, "Okay, this I like, this I like and this I like.” How we can combine and is now together in one. That was challenging, butat the end, we did it in time. Now we are more challenged about how is the world going down. It's like we have 150-200 tracks to go."

"There is no way around it. It's in the nature of the beast because you have to… You have higher and higher and higher standards in visual effects," admitted Emmerich finally. 

The film will be released in cinemas on February 4, 2022. 

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