Visit to the set of The Day the Earth Stood Still

Ammon of JoBlo was lucky enough to have a visit to the production offices and set of The Day The Earth Stood Still remake.

Among other things he got to have a look at lots of productions sketches and photos and he had a chat with production designer David Brisbin, special effects team Jeff Okun and Tom Boland, and practical effects maestro Todd Masters (of MastersFX). Here are some cool things about the film he found out (spoilers ahead

- The space ship is an Orb--and there are multiple Orbs that land in different locations all around the globe, including the desert, the ocean, the swamp, and the forest--each Orb has a different purpose.
- The Orbs change color, based on Klaatu’s mood--when angry, the Orb is red, when calm, the Orb is blue.
- The Orbs arrive throughout different times in history--we are shown the arrivals of the Orbs throughout time before the arrival in Central Park.
- Helen (Jennifer Connolly) is an Ethnobiologist (and not a lonely housewife) in this version.
- The film is environmentally conscience--Klaatu comes to Earth to warn us to stop polluting and take better care of our planet (instead of warning us to stop using Atomic Weapons).
- The color palette director Derrickson wanted to use for the film’s overall pallet featured lots of blues and greens--similar to the colors of the original's theatrical poster (below).
- WETA is doing most of the post-production special effects.
- There are HUNDREDS of special effects shots.
- Derrickson believes that when it comes to effects, if you can shoot it, you should.
- There are a few stages to Klaatu’s organic space suite: the first stage, the suite is translucent; the second stage, the suite is solid; the third stage, you can see the inner being inside the suite; the fourth stage is the dissection of the suit; the final stage is the transition stage, when Klaatu (looking like Keanu) emerges.
- The transformation scene when Klaatu turns into a human--is shot in a similar manner as the werewolf transformation in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.
- Gort is somewhere between 25 and 35 feet tall.

He was then shown a rough of the opening scene and described it as:

The Orb approaches through space (like the landing of PREDATOR), and slowly floats down in the middle of New York City’s Central Park. Shortly after ‘landing’ (it’s floating a few feet off the ground, as it’s a giant ball of light and energy), the Orb is surrounded by police and military units--all approaching with guns drawn, taking aim and ready to fire. Snipers arrive on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding Central Park, taking aim and putting the Orb in their crosshairs. The light of the Orb narrows and focuses at the base, where a humanoid figure of light emerges, walking towards the surrounding barricade. This is Klaatu, in his translucent space suite. Helen (the Ethnobiologist, rocking a full body de-tox suite) is the first one to greet Klaatu as he emerges. A second later, a random shot by a trigger happy gunman is heard, and Klaatu is hit in the chest – blood splatters all over the front of Helen’s suite and across her face shield. Helen stands there in shock for a second, then the stomping sound of screeching metal and robotic footsteps comes from within the Orb and a shadow emerges…

All sounds pretty cool and I am now definitely looking forward to seeing this film when it comes out. I do like the idea of the orbs appearing throughout different time periods although I'm not sure how that is going to work in the story. Very intriguing. Also looks as if we will get to see a giant Gort kick some military ass. Who's with me?

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