USA: FILM PREMIERE OF SCIENCE FICTION H.G.WELLS STORY "THE TIME MACHINE" STARRING GUY PEARCE AND SINGER SAMANTHA MUMBA

Record ID: 392575

  • Title: USA: FILM PREMIERE OF SCIENCE FICTION H.G.WELLS STORY "THE TIME MACHINE" STARRING GUY PEARCE AND SINGER SAMANTHA MUMBA
  • Date: 4th March 2002
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 4) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMANTHA MUMBA SAYING: "I just found it completely different to music anyway but it was a great challenge and something, you know, that, I mean, I'm not used to kind of being based in one place for, like, four months and having a routine of being up at 5 in the morning, getting home at 9,
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7L0NN3QJPWBL20RY5X7W70R3W
  • Story Text: Australian actor Guy Pearce, Irish pop star Samantha Mumba and filmmaker Simon Wells gathered in Los Angeles on Monday, March 4 for the World Premiere of their new sci-fi adventure tale "The Time Machine," based on the classic story written by Wells' great grandfather H.G. Wells.
    It's been more than 100 years since author and science fiction buff H.G. Wells wrote his classic book "The Time Machine," and over 40 years since filmmaker George Pal turned it into a motion picture. Now, taking advantage of the latest moviemaking technology, Wells' great grandson Simon Wells is adapting it into yet another big screen version.
    Fresh from his role in the independent smash hit "Memento," Australian actor Guy Pearce plays 1899 scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen, a man who is determined to prove that time travel is possible. His determination is turned to desperation when his fiancée is tragically killed.
    Testing his theories with a time machine of his own invention, Hartdegen is hurtled 800 thousand years into the future, where he discovers that mankind has divided into two races: one the hunter and the other the hunted.
    The film also features the motion picture acting debut of Irish recording artist and pop star Samantha Mumba, who plays Mara, the woman who befriends Hartdegen in the distant future.
    Orlando Jones provides comic relief as Vox, the high-tech computerized compendium of all knowledge, while Oscar winner Jeremy Irons plays the diabolical Uber-Morlock, a creature who commands a race of brutal cannibals living beneath Earth's surface in the distant future.
    "The Time Machine" travelled a bumpy road on the way to its March 8th North American release. Originally slated for a debut last Christmas, the film was delayed by several factors.
    First, director Wells fell ill a few weeks before the end of principal photography and had to be replaced by "The Mexican"
    filmmaker Gore Verbinski. The movie also had to be altered after September 11th because, originally, there were scenes showing pieces of the moon crashing into skyscrapers in New York City.
    For Pearce, "The Time Machine" was definitely the biggest project he's ever worked on. More used to smaller, low profile pictures like "Memento" and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," Pearce says he prefers working on independent films but couldn't say no to this offer because he was a big fan of the story and the original 1960 movie.
    Mumba says she has an eye-opening and rewarding experience on the film's set. Being more used to music videos where she usually plays to the camera, it took a while for her to get used to ignoring the lights, camera and crew and pretending they weren't there at all. But it was an opportunity that she's glad she took advantage of.
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