Surrogates Question And Answer Session With Director Jonathan Mostow Part 2

January 24, 2010 | by Disney Dreaming

We were part of a Question and Answer session with Disney’s “Surrogates” movie Director Jonathan Mostow.

Surrogates comes out on Disney DVD and Blu-ray on January 26th!

You can check out the second part of the Q&A below, and the first part here.

Q: Did you read the comics before you started making the movie? If so, what did you like about them the most?

Jonathan Mostow: Yes, it was the graphic novel that inspired me to make the movie. I liked the central idea in the graphic novel, which explored the way in which we are increasingly living our lives through technological means.

Q: What do you personally think of the Blu-ray technology?

Jonathan Mostow: I LOVE Blu-ray. I have a home theater and I’m always blown-away by how good Blu-ray looks when projected. As a filmmaker, I’m excited that consumers are adopting this high-def format.

Q: This world is tech-addicted; do you think it is a plague? Should we could we control this?

Jonathan Mostow: Interesting question — and I speak as someone who is addicted to technology. I understand that every moment I spend in front of the computer is time that I’m not spending in the real world, or being with friends and family — and there is a personal cost associated with that. Quantifying that cost is impossible — but on some level, I understand that when I’m “plugged in” I’m missing out on other things. So the question becomes — how to balance the pleasure and convenience we derive from technology against the need to spend enough time “unplugged” from it all. I don’t know the answer. And as a civilization, I think we’re all struggling to figure it out. We’re still in the infancy of the technological revolution. Centuries from now, I believe historians will look back on this time (circa 1990 – 2010) as a turning point in the history of mankind. Is it a “plague”? No. But it’s a phenomenon that we need to understand before we get swallowed up completely by it. I don’t want to sound like I’m over-hyping the importance of this movie, because after all, Surrogates is first and foremost intended to be a piece of entertainment, but I do think that movies can help play a role in helping society talk about these issues, even if sometimes only tangentially. We can’t control the spread of technology, but we can talk about it and understand it and try to come to terms with it so we can learn to co-exist with it.

Q: In Surrogates every character in the frame looks perfect: was it a big technical problem for you? How did you find a solution?

Jonathan Mostow: I talk about that on the DVD commentary — it was a big challenge. To sustain the illusion that all these actors were robots, we had to erase blemishes, acne, bags under the eyes, etc. In a sense, the actors were the visual effects. As a result, there are more VFX shots than non-VFX shots in the movie.

Q: What is your favorite technical gadget, why?

Jonathan Mostow: Currently, my favorite gadget is the iPhone, but the toy I’m really waiting for is the rumored soon-to-be released Apple tablet.

Q: Do you prefer “old-school”, handcrafted SFX or CGI creations?

Jonathan Mostow: I think if you scratch beneath the surface of most filmmakers (myself included); you will find a 12 year old kid who views movie-making akin to playing with a giant electric train set. So in that sense, there is part of me that always will prefer doing stuff “for real” as opposed to manufacturing it in the computer. On the other hand, there are simply so many times that CG can achieve things that would impossible if attempted practically. The great late Stan Winston had a philosophy which I’ve taken to heart, which is to mix ‘n’ match whenever possible. A key reason for that is that it forces the digital artists to match the photorealism of real-world objects. One thing I try to avoid in my films are effects that have a CG “look” to them. The challenge is never let the audience get distracted by thinking that they’re watching something made in a computer.

Q: This is a so-called virtual roundtable interview. Wouldn’t you agree that in the context of “Surrogates” this is quite ironic? However, virtual technique like this is quite practical, isn’t it?

Jonathan Mostow: Great question! However, why do you call it “so-called”? I’d say this is 100% virtual, wouldn’t you? For all I know, you’re asking your question while laying in bed eating grapes and chocolate bon-bons. (Please let me know if I’m correct, BTW.)

Q: How close did you try to keep the film to the graphic novel?

Jonathan Mostow: We talk about that in one of the bonus features on the Blu-ray. The novel was interesting in that it was highly regarded, but not well-known outside a small community of graphic novel enthusiasts. So that meant that we weren’t necessarily beholden to elements in the graphic novel in the way that one might be if adapting a world-renowned piece of literature. Even the author of Surrogates acknowledged that changes were necessary to adapt his novel to the needs of a feature film. Hopefully, we struck the right balance. Certainly, I believe we preserved the central idea — which was to pose some interesting questions to the audience about how we can retain our humanity in this increasingly technological world.

Q: does the rapid technological evolution help making sci-fi movies easier, or harder, because the standards are higher and higher?

Jonathan Mostow: From a practical standpoint, it makes it easier because the digital/CG revolution makes it possible to realize almost anything you can imagine. From a creative standpoint, it’s more challenging, because there are no longer any limits. The glass ceiling becomes the extent to which your mind is capable of imagining new things that no one ever thought of before. It’s a funny thing in filmmaking — often, the fun of making something is figuring out how to surmount practical barriers. As those barriers get erased, then those challenges disappear.

Q: Are you afraid, that the future we see in the movie could be real someday soon?

Jonathan Mostow: Well, in a sense, we’re already at that point. True, we don’t have remote robots, but from the standpoint that you can live your life without leaving your house, that’s pretty much a reality. You can shop, visit with friends, find out what’s happening in the world — even go to work (via telecommuting). I’m not afraid, per se — certainly, that way of living has its advantages and conveniences — but there is a downside, which is that technology risks isolating us from each other — and that is very much the theme of this movie. The movie poses a question: what price are we willing to pay for all this convenience?

Q: Jonathan, you’ve worked with some of the most famous action stars to ever grace the silver screen, Arnold, Bruce, Kurt…when you approach a film or a scene with one of these actors, does your directing change at all?

Jonathan Mostow: I’ve been very lucky to work with some great movie stars of our time. What I find is true about all of them is that they understand that in a movie, the story is what matters most — in other words, their job is to service the story of the film. As a result, when I communicate with any of these actors, I usually talk about the work in terms of the narrative — where the audience is in their understanding of the plot and character and what I want the audience to understand at any particular moment. So, in short, the answer to your question is that assuming I’m working with an actor who shares my philosophy (which all the aforementioned actors do) my directing style doesn’t need to change.