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Splice and Inception Panels at Wondercon 2010
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/286/1/Splice-and-Inception-Panels-at-Wondercon-2010/Page1.html
By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
Published on 05/17/2010
 
This article covers two movie panels. Splice is a Sci-fi horror film about genetic splicing while Inception offers a heist themed adventure in dreams.

Splice and Inception Panels at Wondercon 2010

There were two smaller movies announced at Wondercon that are more than deserving of attention: “Splice” and “Inception”.

“Splice”, directed by Vicenzo Natali, takes a look into genetic experiments. The protagonist are two geneticist experimenting on gene splice. After combining several other varieties of genes, they start pushing for the inclusion of human dna. The resulting experiment creates a sort of family between the pair and their creation. Much like Mary Shelly and David Cornenburg and other stories of creations, it takes a look into the humanity we can find in the creation and the monster that can be found in the humans.

After this introduction, we got to see both a preview of the movie and a clip from it. The clip looked at the scientists coming into their lab to find their creation experiencing destabilization inside its incubator and find themselves in a precarious position of needing to bring it into the world earlier than they anticipated.

The director, Natali, was present at the panel to talk about the movie and tell us some details about the story behind it. He told us that he got into directing because of “Star Wars”. Seeing that kind of story being told inspired him to try his hand in that field. We also learned that this movie had been a project of his for over 12 years, having passed through the hands of many producers. Gettting it started, he worked closely with producer Susan Monfern. It was finally given a home through one of the branches of Warner Brothers that focused on independent films.

When asked how he was balancing the elements inside the film, he told us that the idea came around originally about the same time as Dolly was cloned. He did his research into the matter, talking with many Geneticists to learn a bit about the field itself. One interesting thing there was usually the Scientist he consulted with had stranger tales than those he had experienced in movies. The horror elements themselves work to push the buttons and the boundaries of what the audience knows. The other elements work simply to put the viewer in a place to question things about the subject of the film. He told us that he aimed to show something of a Prometheus with the Scientists. Just he was showing us not the asking one's self if they should take the fire but what they should do once they have it.

When asked how he felt working with a bigger budget, Natali told us a bit about his own creative process. He felt that budget itself works to stir his creativity. From the original inception of the project, he found he had to double the effects budget for the film. However, having the limits of the money also pressed him and his team to think of many ways to use that money for getting everything into the film.

One of the last questions asked was if the “Island of Dr. Monroe” was a big influence. Natali said it was not so much the human/animal hybrid but instead the Chimera. This movie actually owes a great debt to this old mythology of combined animals. He did say it will follow a line or so from “Frankenstein” and the “Island of Dr. Monroe”.

This movie does offer something different. Looking at its dark atmosphere and the questions the movie raises it has a lot of promise. It is a smaller film, but that does not detract from the enjoyability it does offer.

The next film, “Inception” is the product of Christopher Nolan, the famed director of “Dark Knight”. Nolan came with his wife, Emma Thomas, who was the producer for the film. Nolan opened with the fact he did not get to come to many conventions. It was the fan support that he felt was critical to his film projects. After this, he started talking a bit about the film itself.

“Inception” itself has a unique premise. It focuses on a group of security expects who specialize in a very different field, the mindscape. They offer their services to individuals so that they can bolster their own mental defenses to protect against people stealing ideas right from their minds. This makes it so a lot of the movie takes place within the world of dreams. For Nolan it offers one project that combines many of his interest. The film offers a great cast, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. Nolan was very proud of who he got for the film and felt that many of them did a great job for their roles.

Nolan was actually very fascinated with the architecture that one could find throughout the world. This actually played a big role in creating the look and feel for the film “Inception”. Nolan aims to make as many of the effects as real as possible, actually have them happen. He actually relies on older technology to generate these effects. He always aims to base as much as possible within reality itself. One thing he mentioned that he liked about this film was the fact he filmed it in six different countries.

At this point, the floor was opened up to a few questions. The first was about Nolan's fascination with dreams. He replied that it was with what the mind itself would be doing when dreaming. The fact that the mind is simultaneously creating and perceiving an environment.

The next question was able having Leonardo DiCaprio as one of his actors, just what it was like. Nolan found him to be a challenging actor. However, this was simply because he him DiCaprio asking a lot of questions about the character so he could get to the truth behind him. This resulted in the character growing and gaining more emotions than he initially had. This helped the move, Nolan felt, because of the need to look into Dreams and memories, it was much more than just any regular heist. He felt it was a great experience.

After this, Nolan was asked about his writing process and if he wrote a part with particular performers in mind. He told us that as he wrote it, he had no particular performers in mind. It was only after a point that he started thinking about what performers to  cast in the roles. Nolan cited that all performers are different and that it was important to have some way to have flexibility.

One question was what inspired Nolan to go into directing. Nolan admitted to being a fan of films early on in life, but it was Ridley Scott and, of course, Star Wars, that got him into it. Star Wars fed the enthusiasm. Still, real life itself acts as a strong point of inspiration for him. Shortly after this he was asked about his perspective on 3D films. He felt it was to simulate reality, as the 2D images on film represent the 3D images in real life. He maintains a rigorous approach though on quality, making it clear that it was the story that drove the film. He continued to talk on this a moment, just about his general quality guidelines. Especially for “Inception”, he felt, as it drew from dreams, it must feel real while you were watching the movie, just like a dream. For the film he told us that he used 75 MM film, which is one of his favorites. He considered the overall quality of the image part of the budget.

The last question was about his research into dream logic. Nolan said it was something, as mentinoed earlier, that he has been looking into for years. More than anything it draws from the concept of “Lucid Dreaming”, that is to control the dream itself from within. In a sense, it was about writing the dream from a subjective perspective, giving something that is you.

This film definitely offers something different in to the genres that it fits in. Action hosted of a very fluid reality with a hint of a grand heist going on. It is very rare to have a film look at dreams in this manner, usually one would find something like “Nightmare on Elm Street” or “The Cell”.


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