On Friday, September 17, Paramount Pictures unveils the next evolution in film technology and special effects. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, originally pitched as a cross between Indiana Jones and Star Wars, creates a completely organic, yet very familiar, film world set in 1930's Manhattan. The $70 million film has been anticipated for the past couple of years by film fanatics, buzz ranking right up there with Kill Bill, The Matrix sequels and the next Star Wars. It is directed by newcomer Kerry Conran, who spent almost six years developing the film. The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow as intrepid reporter Polly Perkins who teams up with ace pilot Joseph Sullivan (Jude Law, who also produced) to find out the link between the disappearences of the world's greatest scientists and giant robots cause chaos all over the world. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was previously titled The World of Tomorrow, but the Sky Captain part was added due to a likely trilogy developing. The film costars Angelina Jolie, Bai Ling, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Production started in March 2003 with the actors performing all of their scenes in front of blue screen. Filming with the talent was completed just short of two months later, and thus began the year long post production process. The release date, once scheduled for May 2004 then eventually June 25, 2004 was pushed back to this Friday due to the massive special effects to be completed and to make sure the film got the media attention and audience it deserves.
The result: a geek 'gasm already earning raves from the likes of Roger Ebert, Good Morning America and The Hollywood Reporter, and a film guarenteed to seperate the movie watchers from the movie lovers.
The official site, containing several trailers and clips, is located here.
+Playing Sky Captain himself is the talented British actor Jude Law. Law is a double Oscar-nominee for the Anthony Minghella directed The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain. You'll be seeing plenty of the charismatic Jude this fall, where he has almost half a dozen films coming out including I Heart Huckabee's and Alfie.
+Gwyneth Paltrow's classic screen beauty made her the top choice to play Polly. An Oscar-winner for Shakespeare In Love, Paltrow's resume also includes a wonderful performance in the whimsical Sliding Doors and her breakthrough performance as Brad Pitt's wife in Seven. Paltrow's next role is as Anthony Hopkins' daughter in Proof.
+Angelina Jolie is known for brassy performances, including her Oscar-winning performance in Girl, Interrupted. Jolie is ideally suited for the role of Franky Cook in Sky Captain given her previous action stint as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider films. Jolie will next be heard in DreamWorks animated film Shark Tale, and be seen in the Doug Liman directed assassin dark comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, co-starring Brad Pitt.
+Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow joins a long list of well received films that pay homage to an old genre, making what's old new again: Scream (1980's slasher films), Far From Heaven (1950's melodramas), Down With Love (1960's sex comedies) and Jackie Brown (1970's blaxploitation films.)+For more stylish science fiction films, be sure to rent Gattaca which co-stars Jude Law (does this guy ever take a break?) and one of Sky Captain's obvious influences, Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
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