Another Earth director Mike Cahill returns with a new sci-fi drama, I Origins.
I Originsis cut from the same indie cloth.
Yeah, yeah it was.
It was definitely part of the inspiration.
I thought it was such an amazing story because they found her through her eyes.
Have you heard the whole story?
I did read about it, yes.
I just thought wow, it was so interesting.
That just set the wheels in my brain ablaze.
He said, I have a new nephew, and hes our grandfather.
I was like, What do you mean hes your grandfather?
And he said, Hes our grandfather hes come back.
I said, Really?
How do you know?
[Laughs] And he said, you’ve got the option to tell by the eyes.
He was so nonchalant.
It was like we were talking about the weather or the temperature of the water or something.
It was just, like, no big deal.
Then I thought, okay.
Maybe thats why its persisted.
Why are they covering their eyes?
Where does that come from?
Why do we make eye contact?
Our mouths are doing the talking, but were looking into each others eyes.
So all these things started to snowball together to make me thing that they eyes are more significant.
But in some ways it felt like I was biting off a lot.
Theres a lot in this movie.
Its not as simple and elegant as Another Earth.
That was sort of scary and exciting at the same time.
Its a great deal of complexity for a simple emotion.
And that feeling you have I thought, that whole construction and complexity was for this one thing.
Then it cuts to black.
That, for me, is really powerful.
So forAnother Earth,the whole movie was a construction for that final moment.
WithI Origins,its about that final moment.
Whats exhilarating about it is that you have no idea how its going to work.
Because its not like cookie-cutter storytelling.
But I think that theres mathematics to it.
it’s possible for you to break down the mathematics of storytelling.
The whole Robert McKee school of screenwriting.
Ive read that story backwards and forwards.
Ive read every single screenwriting book.
Im fascinated by that.
I think the mechanics of what makes a story work is really interesting.
How reversals work, how arcs work, how structure works.
And we follow that in this movie, too its structured in that manner.
I dont know why I even started talking about all this stuff!
[Laughs]
Anyways, Im chasing after unique feelings and constructing this complex thing to get to it.
And its risky because Ive no idea whether its going to work until I watch the movie.
Like, when I watch this movie, the final edit, I was moved.
Those are totally my reference points!
[Laughs]
I love both of those films and both versions ofSolaris both Tarkovskys and Soderberghs.
I think theyre great.
Who wrote that book?
Stanislav Lem, yeah.
Its almost a detective story.
Which is what your film is towards the end.
It is, towards the end.
When they start finding out things about their kid, it has a sort of mystery.
Its the propulsion thing too, rather than how it comes back round.
Because they become relevant at the end.
I liked the way you approached the drama in this.
But you always bring a little spin to it.
Like the way Sofis wearing a mask at the party.
Theres a feeling of unease rather than romantic cosiness.
You did the same thing inAnother Earth.
One should be aware, I suppose, of the tropes.
Like, when you have two people meeting each other, you have to show the meeting.
So its like an interesting challenge to meet on screen, because theres a huge history of that.
It cant be so surprising that its fault, but it cant be so authentic that its a cliche.
Its finding that balance.
Such examples are, laboratories are always blue.
Everythings sterile, blue, clinical.
Ours is warm, light, yellowish.
It has a feeling of home.
This guy Ian, he basically lives at the laboratory this is his safe place.
We thought, lets go against the obvious and see what that feels like.
And it felt great it felt right, it felt different than the cold blue kind of vibe.
Or the scene where he shoots the morphene he takes from the laboratory.
Those scenes are often bleak, but we lit it so romantically.
Its got a glimmer to it, a feeling of sweetness.
Thats totally going against the obvious.
So in all dimensions of the construction of the story, I was trying to do that.
Even something as mundane as buying a lottery ticket.
The way you stage it, it suddenly feels apocalyptic somehow.
He steps outside and there are all these coincidences.
How did that come about?
Again, this is me trying to challenge myself.
It happens early on in the movie, so I wanted to define the character pretty quickly.
Hes the last person in the world to believe that.
Later, he rationalises it, by saying life was founded on coincidences, so scientifically its okay.
Like, the scene with Karen and Ian, I wanted a scene that established their love.
But no, I had him masturbating to his ex, and her walking in.
The worst situation you could put him in!
It says something more about them.
That, again, is just the way I approach things.
Thats a really cool way of looking at it.
You achieved an awful lot on it, I must say.
Its a testament to the great producers and everyone involved.
No one really got paid anything.
And it is a very ambitious movie in terms of the visual stuff we did.
We shot with two Red cameras and used cranes and dollies.
Everything we sent on the movie went into the frames you see.
Again, its a testament to the producers.
We shot there [in India] for basically nothing.
Am I right in thinking youre going to write another one and its going to branch out?
It was kind of complicated it takes place in the future.
Id written this backstory about how that paradigm arrives, and it didnt have a title.
It was just an origin story toI.
We should make that.
So inspired by him I wrote a script for the paradigm shift story.
And because Im so literal, I chose the titleI Origins,and no one understands it!
The truth is, its just an origin story forI.But likeAnother Earth,I love literal titles.
I like to know exactly what it is even if no one else understands it!
[Laughs]
Another Earthis about another earth.
Underwater Love,yeah!
For that, weve done all these logistical tests.
Its just an expensive movie to make.
Is that because youre shooting it under the sea?
[Laughs]
Itll be shot in tanks.
I built a huge fish tank, or human tank.
Id put actors in, with a digital backlot, in my garage.
[Laughs]
Then the thing exploded.
It was so crazy.
It was so funny, actually.
Im trying to make this alien, extraterrestrial movie right now, with a script Im really passionate about.
Its just trying to schedule it all, really.
But I feel really lucky, really fortunate.
Were having a good time.
And were paying the rent!
Well, thats the main thing!
Mike Cahill, thank you very much.
I Originsis out in UK cinemas from the 26th September.
