USA/FILE: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney attend the New York premiere of "Gravity"

Record ID: 221155

  • Title: USA/FILE: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney attend the New York premiere of "Gravity"
  • Date: 2nd October 2013
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 01, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ACTOR GEORGE CLOONEY POSING FOR PICTURES ON RED CARPET (3 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR, SAYING: "Well it is elegant if you watch it. The truth is usually any kind of film like this realize on sound effects to sort of drive the film, you know, big booms and big explosions.
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABPCJFU9PPI83S6A4VKSH9ZLYI
  • Story Text: Watching an astronaut tumbling into the void of deep space might make a mere mortal's own adversities seem rather small.
    But "Gravity," a drama starring Sandra Bullock and showing in U.S. theaters on Friday (October 4), was born out of the setbacks suffered by one man in the midst of the last recession: its director and co-writer, Alfonso Cuaron.
    The Mexican filmmaker had already achieved international success with films like "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" in 2004 and "Children of Men" in 2006. But in 2009, financing on a new film fell apart, leaving him in the lurch.
    The 51-year-old filmmaker and son Jonas Cuaron, 30, decided they would not sit around licking their wounds, and quickly got to work on a script about adversity, weaving the theme through tense and gripping action. They soon settled on space, a fascination for the Cuarons.
    And that is pretty much how "Gravity" begins, with Bullock playing novice astronaut and engineer Dr. Ryan Stone alongside George Clooney as mission commander Matt Kowalski. Their space station is hit by debris from the demolition of an obsolete satellite, sending the two reeling into deep space with depleting oxygen and remote chances of returning to Earth.
    Ryan Stone soon finds herself alone, drifting into the void, with a tragic backstory that diminishes her desire to get home.
    The movie is being promoted as Bullock's film, however she was quick to put the spotlight back on Cuaron at the film's New York premiere on Tuesday (October 1) night.
    "I feel like this is Alfonso's film this is his story. George and I were just very, very lucky that he let us be a part of it. I mean no one had ever done what we did. We had no idea what we were doing on a daily basis. We only had each other to sort of rely on. And to be able to do it and look across and see an old friend like George and all of us just sort of laugh and cry at the same things because we had no idea where we were - for this man that we've really come to admire and love was worth it," she told Reuters.
    While she looked effortlessly beautiful in white posing for pictures on the black carpet, Bullock playfully revealed she was uncomfortable.
    "I don't know how to pose, I don't know like to pose. It's like you just stand there, just stand there look at a lens, people are screaming but once you get inside it's like, we're all good," she said with a smile.
    The filmmakers and Warner Bros. Pictures ended up spending some $80 million to make the 3D film, with technological innovations that reproduce space and zero gravity in ways never seen on screen.
    Curaon also paid special attention to the film's score, filling the stillness with a custom soundtrack.
    "We also have a very cool music score that in many insistences fills that void in a music that is very dynamic. It is designed and composed for surround system. So it just makes the experience even more immersive for the audience," he explained.
    Clooney said this detail helped make the film elegant.
    "The truth is usually any kind of film like this realize on sound effects to sort of drive the film, you know, big booms and big explosions. And because there is no sound in space the sound effects are done by music. Which makes it infinitely more elegant. It makes it more of - it's just something like I'd never seen before and I was really pleased to be a part of it," said Clooney.
    Bullock, as it happens, knows adversity and is known for having weathered it rather stoically. Right after reaching what might have been the pinnacle of her career by winning her best actress Oscar for "The Blind Side" in 2010, she learned that her then-husband, Jesse James, was having an affair and she dropped out of the public eye to raise her adopted son.
    Cuaron went to Bullock's hometown of Austin, Texas, to meet for the first time and talk about the "Gravity" role, and agreed adversity was very present in both their lives.
    "It's shot in space but that's the landscape, it's like saying we went to Arizona to tell this story of some human beings who are lost. One who wants to be there and the other one who doesn't want to be there. And what's the story of life, what makes you want to get up in the morning, what makes people get up when there have nothing us to live for, you know. And that could have been done in Arkansas, that could have been done here in New York City or in space. And Alfonso loved the analogy of literally being lost in space. Because up there you're truly alone and it helped just tell his emotional story," said Bullock.
    Bullock's performance has won praise from critics, who predict she will be a contender for another best actress Oscar.
    On Tuesday (October 1) the White House rejected a Republican plan to reopen portions of the U.S. government on Tuesday as the first shutdown in 17 years closed landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and threw hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of work.
    On the red carpet, Clooney, who is known for being outspoken when it comes to politics, said blame can be found on both sides.
    "Well I mean there is a crazy bunch on the right that have done it. But there are a bunch of guys on the right that actually, you know there is Peter King and those guys who really want to fix it and really don't want this to happen. And I think that cooler heads are going to prevail at some point. I think that that's what normally happens, I hope that's what will happens. You know, we got a debt ceiling coming up too. So I think it's all going to get a little mashed together probably. But I think there is an awful lot of very smart - I think there's a lot of smart people on the right who want to fix it as well, you know," said Clooney.
    The film opens after showing at both the Venice and Toronto film festivals to critical acclaim.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register