We Got This Covered: So you made your own rules in a way?
Sebastián Cordero: Yes, absolutely, and we did them for real. We made sure we didn’t break them. For instance, when we had that focusing thing, one of the producers suggested to us “Why don’t we do that in post? To have something go out of focus in post-production is very easy.” But Enrique and I looked at each other and said “No,” because to do it for real, we were committing to something. We had to stick to it, we weren’t going to break.
WGTC: Eurpoa Report adopts the Jaws methodology of saving your creature until the very last possible second before finally revealing it fully, but what made you make that decision. But more importantly, why does it work so well?
Sebastián Cordero: I think it has to do with a mixture of things. On the one hand, we are holding back for a long time, so there’s a lot of expectations, but we’re not hiding the fact that there’s something there. Even if you look at the trailer or the promotion, the very fact that on the poster we put the world “Contact” makes it obvious that we’re not hiding that fact – it’d be a real disappointment if nothing happened. The question was how do we get to that final moment, and I think it has to do with a mixture of the gradual reveal as well as the fact that you’re reaching the climax of the movie and it’s a crucial moment of sacrifice for the sake of a bigger discovery – which is ultimately the theme of the film. It’s the one moment where you’re giving an example, the clearest example of all the sacrifices in the film, which is basically a character who is at a point of no return. There’s no real choice, she’s at the end, but she chooses to sacrifice herself to be able to capture this one final image – with the possibility of it not even happening. Emotionally, it’s very rewarding, so when it does happen, there’s a reason you have to go with it, and there’s a hope that the character will succeed even though in doing so she’s sealing her doom. It’s a mixture of things.
Plus, I thought both the designers and the VFX team did a fantastic job in what we do show, making it mysterious and playing with darkness, lights, illuminessence, and all that was really cool looking.
We Got This Covered: Your film deals mightily with the unknown, being a major theme of the story, but I have to know, are you afraid of the unknown?
Sebastián Cordero: We all are, in one way or another. I’ll bring up something I was told about 10 days ago. We did a screening at JPL, which was one of the biggest things to do for me, and we had a great reaction. But at the Q&A afterwards, one of the people there had a big complaint, which was he told us that all through the history of space travel, there’s never been a fatality during a space walk. Yet every science fiction film that deals with space travel, something always ends up going badly on a space walk – whether it’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mission To Mars, Sunshine or even Gravity coming up soon. For me, I then started wondering, “Wow, that’s funny. Why is that? Why are we so obsessed with something that actually hasn’t happened in real life?” But the minute someone tells you what a space walk is about, your biggest fear is “God, what would happen if I was left out there in the void and I can’t come back? If I’m just floating away?” That’s probably one of the biggest nightmares we have, and it’s because suddenly we feel so tiny. We feel so small and powerless in front of the unknown. It’s probably not the most painful death, but psychologically, it’s one of the worst ones you can imagine! I think it has to do with our primal fears. If you look at it even from a certain poetic perspective, there’s something really beautiful about going through this huge, expansive nothingness to this beautiful ice moon where underneath the ice there’s a huge discovery to be found. In a way, it’s almost like an Icarus story, where you’re in search of knowledge, you get too close to the sun and that ends up burning you and melting your wings. It’s not new in Sci-Fi either, that myth has been explored over and over again, but the reason why is because we have this drive pushing us in a certain direction, this need to explore and discover more – yet in doing so we have to face our biggest fears.
We Got This Covered: So why not make a Sci-Fi movie with aliens attacking the spaceship like so many films before? What drew you to the slow-burn nature of Europa Report?
Sebastián Cordero: I buy this much more. The whole time I was reading the script I was expecting it to fall apart. Halfway through it was really cool, and I was waiting for the moment where things would just break down, falling into any of the Sci-Fi stereotypes that have been used over and over again, but it didn’t. In fact, that was one of the coolest things about the project. It didn’t go there.
I’m a huge fan of Alien, I think it’s one of the big Sci-Fi masterpieces, but this movie isn’t trying to be Alien. Of course there are parallels, you’re talking about a crew inside a spaceship facing some really challenging odds, but ultimately it’s not about that. We felt that if we were telling a story about scientists, you always have to be consistent with what a scientist is. If a scientist is finding the opportunity to see something like our characters end up seeing in the film, or to explore firsthand what a more complex life form would be somewhere else – A) they wouldn’t be running away from it and B) they wouldn’t be chasing it to shoot it down. Suddenly you have this fascination with what’s out there that I think was really interesting to explore. Not all films need to go to the extreme where “OK, our lives are in danger, let’s have this huge confrontation.” No, there’s still thrills in the process of discovery. [Laughs]
We Got This Covered: Now I know this might be hard, but what was your favorite shot of the film. You do some phenomenal underwater scenery with the lit up ice sculptures, as well as some breathtaking shots of space itself, but which were you most proud of?
Sebastián Cordero: It’s funny, because the example I’m going to say is a very minimalist moment, but one of my favorite moments in the film is when James is floating away after the space walk. I always had this idea of letting that shot play out for a very long time until you see the ship disappearing in the distance, but I never thought we would be able to play it out for as long as we do in the actual film. Emotionally, it works so well, and I think it was a big gamble to say “How far can we push this?” That, combined with the shot that comes right after, which is Andrei waking up after the space walk and realizing what happened, which was a very unusual angle we were able to play with because of the Zero-G and everything, but the combination of those two moments was my favorite. One, basically fading out, and the other, coming to life again. I think the mixture of those two moments was one of the most effective pieces for me.
