One of the things that is so comforting about movies is that violence and explosions solve everything. In cinema there is no problem that cannot be overcome by the judicious application of explosives. Imagine what the indie world could accomplish if those arty farty filmmakers could just embrace this concept. Tell me that The Sea Inside wouldn’t have been much better with a controlled demolition of Javier Bardem at the end. Danny Boyle is an indie director who is coming to this concept, and his new film, Sunshine, starts from that premise – the sun is going out and we need to blow something up to get it rekindled.
But this is Danny Boyle. With a script by Alex Garland (although seriously, what is that worth in a world where he’s writing Halo movies?). So the blowing up of the sun is only the starting point. It seems that the crew sent to reignite Sol get out of contact with Earth and things get weird on their spacecraft – and then they come across a ship that was lost seven years before. Wait a second… it sort of sounds like these folks are visiting the Event Horizon!
Anyway, filming has begun on the project, and with that announcement comes a more in-depth cast list. The film will star Rose Byrne, the always awesome and should be working more Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, who I loved in Fantastic Four, Troy Garity, Cillian Murphy, reteaming with the guy who made his career, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict “I’m not BD” Wong and Michelle Yeoh. That’s a fine, fine cast indeed.
The film, by the way, is actually officially untitled – Untitled Sunshine Project is what they’re referring to it as. And the synopsis that has been provided doesn’t seem to scratch the surface of this movie. At the press day for his latest and wonderful film, Millions, Boyle told me that at the end of this film, the characters meet the creator of intelligent life in the universe. Maybe he’ll explain to us why the hell Garland is writing video game movies.