Chris Miller et Phil Lord. Two names that we keep hearing since the duo found success with comedies like The Great LEGO Adventure, 21 et 22 Jump Streetseries like The Last Man on Earth and, above all, by participating in the storyline of one of the biggest slaps in animated cinema and superhero films of the 21st century: the Spider-Verse trilogy.
Ryan Gosling’s best film?
Since then, we have the feeling that they are everywhere. Not as long as the two men increase their productions. Last Chance Project is only their fifth film behind the camera, in 17 yearsbut because they are regularly associated with various developments, including a film Star Wars. They had to sign Solo : A Star Wars Story before being thanked for the benefit of Ron Howard, their tone not agreeing with the desired idea.
A real pleasure therefore, to find them together at the head of a science fiction film mastering the breaks in tone so well, between emotion and pure comedy, although the story must thank the screenplay of Drew Goddard (the series Daredevil) and the novelist Andy Weir (who also wrote Alone on Mars).
Un film de SF feel-good ?!
With giant meatballs, the filmmakers offer us this time a storm of emotions in which laughter and tears can be combined in the past tense. “With Project Last Chance, we wanted you to feel all the emotions that man can go through, a complete experience for anyone watching the film.”
“We don’t like to be pigeonholed into a particular genre. All of our favorite dramas make us laugh and all of our favorite comedies have moments that make us cry. So when we write or film a story, we want people to engage with it, to have multiple emotions.”
This involves breaking certain codes specific to the genre, often conducive to creating drama, the smallness of man in the face of the immensity of space. A cold and inhospitable setting, occupied by solitary, abandoned characters, a sort of “punishing black hole”. Last Chance Project takes its decor on the wrong footfilming a man alone on Earth who finds a form of house in space, a friend.
Space as a place of revelation and intention? Why not after all, since “when we look towards the sky, it is always to aim for some form of summit, of glory, as if to encourage ourselves towards something” (hence several established expressions). Last Chance Project is therefore not so much a feature film taking place in space as the story of a man ascended very high in the sky.
“It allows us to create hope. We don’t need to be reminded how difficult the world is. On the contrary, I think we need to remember what we are capable of, that we can find the solutions and that our future is not just about being scared, that we can determine it. »
You plus me plus them plus anyone who wants it
The other counter to science fiction lies in its buddy movie form. A genre film will tend to quickly abandon the group to create isolationwhich would have made it look like Last Chance Project à un ersatz de Alone on Mars by the same author. Here, the work intends to bring us back to our condition as a social, collective species. “That’s what inspired us in Andy’s book, it’s how to solve a problem together”. “We wanted to create hope. That of seeing that if we could have empathy for others and communicate, then we could overcome all difficulties. »
Team cohesion at the heart of the project, which must go through a transversal theme in the cinema of Miller and Lord: the construction of an anti-hero. Emmett (The Great LEGO Adventure), Phil (The Last Man on Earth), Schmidt (21 Jump Street)… the perfect hero is not part of the filmmakers’ panoply, too far from reality, from the people to whom their films are aimed. No wonder Weir’s novel caught their eye.
“I don’t think I’m a super confident person, the image you have of someone who could go in and out of a burning building without problem and without fear. I have a lot of doubts and anxiety, like everyone else. And I think most appreciate being able to identify with a character who is like them, who is not going to be perfect. » (Chris Miller).
Grace is not Sigourney Weaver in AlienBruce Willis in Armageddon or even Cillian Murphy in Sunshine. It is a character who has vulnerability, weaknesses. But who reminds us that true strength “is not not to be afraid, it is to be afraid, but to do it anyway”. This is what immediately pushed the duo and Ryan Gosling to embark on this adventure.
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A script and cinematographic challenge which makes Last Chance Project original in today’s climate. To achieve this, Miller and Lord had to face many obstacles, notably that of bringing Rocky to life (it took six puppeteers to animate the creature), but it was by overcoming them that they managed to make the film so benevolent, so unique, which draws inspiration without copying. A breath of fresh air light years from Earth.
Ryan Gosling’s best film?
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