‘The Creator’ – Behind the Scenes of ‘Rogue One’ Director’s New Sci-Fi Epic
Gareth Edwards takes us behind the scenes of how the AI-filled world of The Creator was produced–for under $100 million.
AI and machines turning on their makers aren’t exactly new in science fiction. The idea has become more relevant with the popularity of AI-esque large language models like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Synthesia. The use of AI has become a hot topic across industries–its potential is a threat to jobs once only filled by humans. That fear is real, and this movie plays on it.
Director Gareth Edwards has said the connection the story has to what’s going on in our world is no accident.
“… the movie was always like, the world is divided in two. Half the world has banned AI. They hate it. It’s wrong. It caused some real big problems. And the other half of the movie’s embraced it, carried on developing it to the point where it’s now human-like. So it’s kind of an east-versus-west situation at the start. And at the very beginning, it was like, “But why would you ban it?”
Genuinely every single reaction to the screenplay was, “Why would anyone ban AI? It’s this amazing thing.” And so then I had to kind of invent a scenario where you might reject it, right? And weirdly now, the way things are going, it’s like the default setting is ban it, and it’s a strange reaction that we’ve all had to this technology. It’s like this freaky mirror that, “Hang on. How can this …” There’s no one home but yet it seems so real.”
– via Collider
New TV Spots
The Creator‘s first trailer reveals a world destroyed by artificial intelligence designed to protect humanity and goes to war with the human race instead. Humans strive to destroy all AI in order to survive and take the planet back. The story begins when a soldier is sent on a special mission to destroy the most dangerous weapon created by the architect of the enemy AI. That weapon comes in a form that no one expects.
These new spots give a glimpse at what the world was like before AI decided to attack and before the war that consumed the planet afterward.
Behind the Scenes
In this behind-the-scenes look, Gareth Edwards and the cast talk about the story and the process of filming. The way this movie was produced is unlike anything before it. The budget was only $86 million, which is tiny for something of this scope. Edwards described it as guerrilla filmmaking, and it led them to remote places across the globe.
“We were guerrilla at times. We got down to just a few of us. We went to the top of the Himalayas, and it was just me, John David [Washington, who plays Joshua], a camera guy, and Jim [Spencer], who was the line producer on Monsters as well. We didn’t even have sound at times. We went to Indonesia, Nepal, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand. I was really impressed with Oren [Soffer, the DoP who took over from Greig Fraser].”
– via Games Radar
The Creator Cast & Details
The creator is writer/director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One); he’s brought on Rogue One and Dune Greig Fraser as cinematographers. It stars John David Washington (Tenet), Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians), Ken Watanabe (Letters From Iwo Jima), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Sturgill Simpson (Queen & Slim), and newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles.
An epic sci-fi action thriller set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself.
Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
The Creator arrives in theaters on September 29th.
