Producers Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde may have a modern sci-fi classic on their hands.
Arrivalis a special film.
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Dan Levine:Yes.
And hes like, You know what?
Theres this book of short stories I read by Ted Chiang.
You should check that out.
Was it tough to track him down?
Hes not exactly making the rounds in Hollywood, is he?
Dan Levine:No.
It was a long, long process.
He didnt have an agent, didnt have a lawyer, had a day job.
We eventually found him.
His big question was, How can you guarantee itll be a great movie?
I was honest and I said, I cant.
He said, But what kind of director are you going to get?
Does it trigger something in you that says, I have to translate this to the screen?
Aaron Ryder:Sure.
Im always campaigning for more published science fiction to be adapted.
Why do you think a lot of books get optioned and then never get filmed?
Or the author is deceased, and then theres an estate involved and theres split rights.
So many great, classic stories are tied up and you cant unwind the knot.
There are also genres that become fashionable and less fashionable, right?
David Linde:My focus is always on storytelling.
I do enjoy sci-fi.
As wonderful as that is, its difficult to translate to a movie.
Can we have more explosions?
Can it be less about learning the language?
and that kind of thing?
Dan Levine:We were lucky.
We had such a strong movie and a director that the studio respected.
I think the studio really respected what we had.
Yes, Can we do more for this or that?
Yes, but I think in the end of the day everyone trusted Deniss vision.
David Linde:Films build themselves to a certain extent.
This one needed to be built as an independent movie.
David Linde:Spaceship race?
Could we have a spaceship race?
You have to deliver something that has the awe and wonder and emotional impact thats important to them.
Thats why theyre going to a movie.
Somehow we figured it out.
When I mean real I mean a texture of realism to it, and it lends itself to this.
Yes, those are big ticket visual effects items, but theyre built around her experience.
We were so fortunate.
Within Id say a week or two, we got a yes.
Aaron Ryder:It was one week, she in on this.
And you know what?
We were very lucky.
Dan Levine:We are.
There are a lot of things unusual about it.
Its unusual that one screenwriter was on the whole film all the way through.
Dan Levine:Its so hard to do.
Dan Levine:I think we always talked aboutClose Encounters of the Third Kind.
If we can be half as good as that, we would be thrilled.
That was our aspiration.
Aaron Ryder:Theres something about that movie.
I had the great opportunity to see it on a big screen not too long ago.
Theres a sense of a grounded nature to that film.
You put them in this extraordinary situation where it hits you.
Arrivalopens in theaters this Friday (November 11).
