Like the pull from a looming planet, the first trailer for director Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity," starring actors George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts, draws in moviegoers.
The one-and-a-half minute teaser, which Warner Brothers Pictures released online Thursday (May 9), provides a first glimpse at the highly-anticipated film, which has been in development since 2010. "Gravity" is scheduled to launch into theaters on Oct. 4, on the anniversary of the launch of the world's first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.
In the film, Clooney plays Matt Kowalsky, an experienced astronaut commanding his last mission aboard the space shuttle. His crew includes first-time mission specialist Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock), a medical engineer. According to a synopsis, the two astronauts are out performing a routine spacewalk when the shuttle is destroyed and they are left stranded, with no way of communicating with Earth.
posted 05-09-2013 11:20 PM
"Gravity" and "Europa Report" are the first sci-fi films in a long time with the ambition of portraying spaceflight realistically in the "2001" mold. Looking forward to both.
cspg Member
Posts: 6373 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
posted 05-10-2013 05:05 AM
There's an explosion, debris flying all over the place, and miraculously both astronauts' spacesuits are intact.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-10-2013 08:02 AM
There are at least two separate major events shown in the trailer: an impact that damages/destroys the space shuttle ("Explorer"), which subsequently damages the Hubble Space Telescope, and an explosion or impact at the International Space Station. In between those two events, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) seems to change spacesuits, from wearing a U.S. EMU to what looks like a cross between a Russian Sokol and Orlan. That may be in response to her EMU being torn, or it could be for some other reason.
As with most trailers today, the footage we're seeing is cut from different parts of the final film, so trying to link one scene to another is difficult until we know more about the plot.
Interestingly, on further review of the trailer, in addition to the shuttle and Soyuz, Hubble and ISS, there also appears to be a spacecraft with a resemblance to a Chinese Shenzhou. It will be interesting to learn how all these pieces fit together.
Alfonso Cuarón is a masterful director, his style is not like Michael Bay's to throw things together for spectacle sake.
Kevin Grazier is identified as the film's science adviser.
Previously he was a research scientist and science planning engineer for 15 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. He was the Investigation Scientist for the Imaging Science Subsystem instrument.
cspg Member
Posts: 6373 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
posted 05-10-2013 09:06 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: Alfonso Cuarón is a masterful director, his style is not like Michael Bay's to throw things together for spectacle sake.
I remember liking Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (2006) although I would like to see it again. That opposed to, as you rightly point out, Michael Bay who likes to blow things up, including the script (provided there's one in the first place). Special effects do not make for a good story.
p51 Member
Posts: 1784 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 05-10-2013 09:59 AM
Quite impressive from the trailer, I'm looking forward to seeing this!
Spaceguy5 Member
Posts: 427 From: Pampa, TX, US Registered: May 2011
posted 05-10-2013 04:55 PM
My only major complaint is that they sent a space shuttle commander on EVA. But it looks like they did good research on the hardware, and I'm looking forward to seeing a movie set in a mostly-realistic setting.
posted 05-10-2013 05:57 PM
If this film's soundtrack is a clue, it could be more "ambitious" in its attempt to portray spaceflight realistically in the 2001 mold...
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-24-2013 03:57 AM
A new clip, titled "Detached," has been released:
KSCartist Member
Posts: 3086 From: Titusville, FL Registered: Feb 2005
posted 07-24-2013 04:38 AM
Damn! I've had astronauts tell me this is the scariest scenario they could imagine.
mode1charlie Member
Posts: 1466 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
posted 07-24-2013 05:14 AM
Holy cow.
Ronpur Member
Posts: 1260 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
posted 07-24-2013 07:15 AM
OK. They have my attention now.
Captain Apollo Member
Posts: 363 From: UK Registered: Jun 2004
posted 07-24-2013 02:32 PM
I wonder if it is loosely based on the Bradbury story Kaleidoscope? The name Stone is the same.
posted 07-24-2013 02:37 PM
Additionally imdb gives as one of two filming locations Lake Powell, AZ which sort of suggests some landfall or other. I hope this isn't a black hole timewarp thing...
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-24-2013 06:43 PM
Another new clip released today, "Drifting":
Mike Dixon Member
Posts: 1625 From: Kew, Victoria, Australia Registered: May 2003
posted 07-24-2013 08:32 PM
Imagine this in 3D ...very impressive.
bwhite1976 Member
Posts: 287 From: Belleville, IL Registered: Jun 2011
posted 07-24-2013 09:34 PM
Wow. How do they get out of that one? Hopefully this movie is not full of dreams and flashbacks.
DavidH Member
Posts: 1276 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Jun 2003
posted 07-25-2013 10:19 AM
quote:Originally posted by bwhite1976: Wow. How do they get out of that one? Hopefully this movie is not full of dreams and flashbacks.
Yeah, I'm kind of with you. The incredible realism of the set up makes me afraid they're going to end up having to do something with the movie that destroys the realism. That said, I'm still going to see it.
Posts: 6373 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
posted 07-25-2013 10:34 AM
Silly question but isn't there a point when you'll end up throwing up after rotating for so long?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-25-2013 11:16 AM
New clip released today, "I Got You":
Captain Apollo Member
Posts: 363 From: UK Registered: Jun 2004
posted 07-25-2013 11:27 AM
quote:Originally posted by bwhite1976: Hopefully this movie is not full of dreams and flashbacks.
No, it's quite straightforward.
onesmallstep Member
Posts: 1469 From: Staten Island, New York USA Registered: Nov 2007
posted 07-25-2013 03:07 PM
Regarding Tim's comment that astronauts consider drifting alone in space the scariest scenario ever; there was another movie that took this same approach, but around another planet. In 2000's Mission to Mars, directed by Brian DePalma, four astronauts must get on board a Mars lander after exiting their damaged mothership. They perform an EVA using small jet packs, but must grab the outside of the lander or else risk overshooting and ending up in a decaying Martian orbit, doomed to burn up eventually. Will not spoil the outcome, so see it for yourselves.
GoesTo11 Member
Posts: 1377 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 2004
posted 07-25-2013 04:05 PM
quote:Originally posted by onesmallstep: ...Will not spoil the outcome, so see it for yourselves.
Just don't pay anything to see it.
Mission to Mars, though serviceable in its depiction of the hardware and physics potentially involved in such a mission — I believe Story Musgrave was a technical consultant on the film — was just not very good in my opinion. This despite the talents of DePalma, Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle.
What I've seen of Gravity looks really interesting. Hope it's not another pretty flop.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
Sandra Bullock is not ready yet to be an astronaut, at least not in real life.
And based on the clips that debuted this week of her as a spacewalker in "Gravity," Warner Brother's upcoming sci-fi movie directed by Alfonso Cuarón and co-starring George Clooney, it would be hard to fault her.
"My feet feel really good on the ground," Bullock told the entertainment news television program Extra. "Someone asked me [if I wanted to fly in space] and said 'If your son wanted you to go?' and I said, 'If he asked me to go, if he was already an adult, I would go if I knew he would be fine if I perished.'"
In "Gravity," Bullock's character, first-time astronaut Ryan Stone, faces the real possibility of perishing.
Posts: 427 From: Pampa, TX, US Registered: May 2011
posted 07-26-2013 01:05 AM
quote:Originally posted by Captain Apollo: Here is more - spoilers if you dare.
While there are some absurd moments (the use of duct tape is funny because we're in space here, even though the material has the reputation of being able to hold together anything).
I suppose the author of that article didn't get the memo.
Captain Apollo Member
Posts: 363 From: UK Registered: Jun 2004
posted 07-26-2013 05:31 AM
The one from Gene and Jack?
onesmallstep Member
Posts: 1469 From: Staten Island, New York USA Registered: Nov 2007
posted 07-30-2013 01:33 PM
Yes, Story Musgrave did indeed serve as technical advisor for the movie Mission to Mars, and in fact has a cameo aboard a space station preparing to send a crew to Mars. The film came out the same year as another Mars-themed space movie, Red Planet. A thread in another cS forum discusses the merits of both films.
Also, this is the second time Clooney has appeared in a space/sci-fi movie: in 2002, he played a psychologist investigating a crew orbiting a distant planet in Steven Soderbergh's 'Solaris', which itself is an adaptation of a 1961 novel, first made into a Russian film of the same name in 1972.
Regarding the latest 'Gravity' teaser clip released, 'I've Got You,': It looks as though the Soyuz descent module was compromised because I see a lot of orange and white material that looks a lot like that Russian spacecraft's parachute system. Too bad one of the astronauts couldn't (or maybe will?) grab a hold of that.
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member
Posts: 3469 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
posted 08-01-2013 10:39 AM
In an interview with NowThis News, Ron Garan brings up a point: George Clooney has an MMU, Sandra Bullock does not have a SAFER. Yet this is taking place in the days of the ISS.
Is this then an alternate universe where the SAFER hasn't come to be yet?
Of course, had Bullock a SAFER, the movie would be over in five minutes.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-01-2013 10:56 AM
Bullock's character is performing a shuttle-based spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Take a look at the photos from STS-125 in 2009: no SAFER.
The "MMU" is described on the movie's website as being a prototype jetpack being tested for the first time on the mission. Obviously it is based on the MMU design of the 1980's but under that storyline, does not contradict history.
MrSpace86 Member
Posts: 1631 From: Gardner, KS Registered: Feb 2003
posted 08-08-2013 12:26 PM
Sandra Bullock also changes between a Russian suit and an American suit throughout the trailer.
Personally, I think I will pass on this movie and wait for it to go on rental.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-08-2013 12:33 PM
There is a reason for the suit change, and (spoiler alert) there's a third type of suit in the film, too.
To each their own of course, but "Gravity" is being released in 3D (and IMAX 3D), and from what I hear, it takes full use of the medium.
GoesTo11 Member
Posts: 1377 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 2004
posted 08-08-2013 07:02 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: ..."Gravity" is being released in 3D (and IMAX 3D), and from what I hear, it takes full use of the medium.
I'll be seeing this in IMAX 3D...there's a venue ten minutes' drive from home. I saw "Prometheus" there, and it was so visually stunning that I could sometimes put aside how utterly witless the script and characters were. I'd bet that "Gravity" won't have that to overcome.
GoesTo11 Member
Posts: 1377 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 2004
posted 08-28-2013 10:22 PM
"Gravity" opened the Venice Film Festival.
posted 09-01-2013 08:23 AM
I don't get it: why are the filmmakers using the space shuttle, following the ending of the program in 2011?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52685 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-01-2013 08:58 AM
"Gravity" has been in development since 2010, but besides that, why can't a film be set during the shuttle years? No one seems to object when a Saturn V appears in a modern film, if the setting for the movie includes the late 1960s/early 1970s...
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 09-02-2013 01:33 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: No one seems to object when a Saturn V appears in a modern film, if the setting for the movie includes the late 1960s/early 1970s...
I remember how MANY productions throughout the 1970s and 80s utilized Saturn V footage and Apollo hardware. Steve Austin in Six Million Dollar Man had more than a few episodes involving Apollo hardware long after the program had ended. We are still close enough to the shuttle program that it still casts a big shadow with its pop-culture influences and it likely will for some time to come even though the birds don't fly anymore.
posted 05-09-2013 10:02 PM
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