Oblivion

Oblivion (2013)

Timing: 2:4 (124 min)

6.673/10
11404

7.229/10
456795

0/10
0

All about film

Video 24

Photo 140

Actors and characters

Release date

2013-04-10

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Relativity Media, Anonymous Content, Radical Studios, Monolith Pictures (III)

Genre

Action, Science Fiction, Adventure, Mystery

Budget

$120 000 000

Revenue

$286 168 572

Website

https://www.uphe.com/movies/oblivion

Director

Joseph Kosinski

Actors

Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo, Zoë Bell, Abigail Lowe, Isabelle Lowe, Booch O'Connell
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Duncan Henderson, Barry Levine, Joseph Kosinski, Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Dave Morrison, Jesse Berger, Justin Springer

Operator

Claudio Miranda

Composer

Anthony Gonzalez

Artist

Kevin Loo

Audition

Marcia Ross, Brittainy Roberts

Editing

Richard Francis-Bruce
All team (311)

• Olivia Wilde, Noomi Rapace, Kate Mara, Olga Kurylenko, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Brit Marling auditioned for the role of Julia. Jessica Chastain was also considered for the role but declined due to scheduling conflicts, and the role ultimately went to Kurylenko.
• Diane Kruger, Hayley Atwell, and Kate Beckinsale were considered for the role of Victoria.
• Filming was done using the newly developed Sony CineAlta F65 camera.
• Initially, this project was an eight-page script written by Joseph Kosinski, which was transformed into a comic book in 2007. Its release was eventually postponed until the film's release.
• Most of the outdoor shots where Jack flies were filmed in Iceland.
• Kosinski explained how they filmed the home of the characters Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough – the 'Heavenly Tower': “I didn’t want to make a film with an excess of blue screen. So we found a way to modernize the front-projection method used by Kubrick in '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968). He projected a high-resolution photograph onto the entire set and filmed everything so that it looked like what was depicted in the photo was outside. And we did the same thing.”
• Specifically for the film, a group of cinematographers went to the top of the Haleakala volcano on the island of Maui and, using three Sony F65 cameras, filmed atmospheric phenomena, sunsets and sunrises. The resulting footage was then combined to create 40 minutes of 26-megapixel video. It was cut into 10 separate clips – depending on the time of day and night, weather conditions, and so on. As a result, 130 four-minute clips were prepared for each scene described in the script. Then these views were simply projected onto the walls of the pavilion housing the 'Heavenly Tower' using 21 projectors.
• During the filming of scenes in "Oblivion", several problems that would have arisen with the use of blue screens were avoided. Firstly, the shooting was done in "natural" lighting, and the projection onto the screen was bright enough to provide the necessary shades throughout the set and on the actors' faces; secondly, no extra "blueness" from the blue screen needed to be removed during color correction (especially in such quantities); and thirdly, the actors saw (almost) the same thing that the audience would later see, which significantly simplified their task.
• A full-scale model of the aircraft used by Tom Cruise's character (Bubbleship) was built. It is a hybrid of a helicopter and a jet fighter. According to Kosinski, he wanted to showcase "clean, advanced technology" in the film, not the typical rusty devices of post-apocalyptic settings that are about to fall apart. WildFactory, a company specializing in industrial concept design (the same WildFactory that made the motorcycle models for the film "Tron: Legacy" (2010)), was the direct manufacturer of the model. The "Bubbleship" model was primarily made of aluminum, is 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, and weighs about two tons. This model had many moving parts: rotating engines, opening doors, etc. A rotating cabin was used during the filming of flight scenes, where the actors had to hang upside down more than once.
• The film was shot in 4k resolution, but was released in theaters in 2k resolution. The visual effects department simply didn't have enough time to render all the necessary scenes in 4k. They would have needed another month and a half, and the premiere date could not be moved.
• Olga Kurylenko suggested making her character French, not Russian.
• The set almost exactly replicated the building of the actual New York Public Library, located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The total area of the structure was 30,726 square feet (2,861 square meters).
• Twenty HD projectors formed a clear sky around the tower, displaying 34 independent video clips. The image was broken down into 19 independent layers. The screens turned out to be 12 meters high and over 150 meters long.
• An old tin can with a sprouting flower was created on special order for Kosinski. The inspiration for this flower was a plant the director accidentally saw during one of his scouting trips to Iceland.
• Among the surviving works of art shown are “The Liberty Bell,” as well as some paintings by Claude Monet and Andrew Wyeth ("Christina's World").
• The football field was created by special effects artists based on the crater of the Hrossaborg volcano in Iceland, which became extinct more than 10,000 years ago.
• According to the director, the films – “The Omega Man” (1971), “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), “Blade Runner” (1982) and the novel “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons – served as sources of inspiration for writing the story, the comic book, and creating the film.
• At the beginning of the film, during the Universal logo sequence, you can notice 'Tet' orbiting the Earth, which the film is about.
• Filming began on March 19, 2012, in Louisiana, in the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. After a short break, the production process continued in the summer of the same year.
• The prototype for the luxurious air mini-craft 'The Bubble Ship', piloted by Jack, was simply a utilitarian Bell 47 helicopter with a transparent round dome, which Joseph Kosinski saw at an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. It was suggested to combine this 'base' with the main principles of the spaceship's appearance from the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968). Eventually, NASA engineers were brought in. The full-scale model had doors that opened, and the control panel in the cockpit was created with the consultation of Tom Cruise, who is a licensed pilot.
• In this film, Tom Cruise 'updated' his favorite cap of the 'New York Yankees' baseball club – for the first time since the film 'War of the Worlds' (2005), he appeared in it on the big screen again.
• On the set of 'Oblivion', Tom Cruise celebrated his 50th birthday. To mark the occasion, Joseph Kosinski presented the star with one of the futuristic motorcycles directly from the film. And Cruise, to everyone's surprise, also responded with a gift: a large-scale model (made of high-quality die-cast metal) of the 'Bubble Ship' in a glass case.
• The film could have ultimately received the name “Horizons” from Universal Studios, but over time they reverted to “Oblivion.” In the case of “Horizons,” the plot would have changed somewhat – becoming more dynamic, as it involved aerial cities and raids by stalkers from them down to the scorched Earth, for potentially useful items.
• After reading the script for “Oblivion,” Freeman wanted not only to voice it but also to play a role in the film. Therefore, instead of saying so directly, he told the director he had a sore throat. However, the filmmakers were so eager for Morgan to participate in the project that they cast him anyway.
• Jack's motorcycle in the film is a modified Honda CRF450X enduro model.
• The scene of flying through the ice canyon took the effects creators the most time and effort. The scene clearly references “Star Wars,” however, while Lucas did everything “in-camera,” this flight for “Oblivion” was created using 3ds Max and Houdini. A low-polygon model was created in Max, which was then detailed in Houdini and subsequently imported back into 3ds Max for texturing and shading. The flight through the canyon took the special effects creators the longest – a total of about 15 months. Over two hundred people worked on it.
• Filming of the rebel shelter – “Crow’s Nest” – took place on the grounds of the Market Street Power Plant, located near Baton Rouge. It is considered the oldest power plant in all of New Orleans. It was built in 1885 and closed about 40 years ago.
• Olga Kurylenko suggested making her character French rather than Russian.
• Kosinski talked about how they filmed the home of Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough’s characters – “Oblivion”: “I didn’t want to make a film with an excess of blue screen. So we found a way to modernize the front-projection method used by Kubrick in “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). He projected a high-resolution photograph onto the entire set and filmed everything in such a way that it appeared as if the image on the photo was located outside. And we did the same thing.”
• During the filming of scenes in “Oblivion,” they managed to avoid several problems that would have arisen from using blue screens. Firstly, the filming was done in “natural” lighting; the projection onto the screen was bright enough to provide the necessary shades throughout the set and on the actors’ faces. Secondly, during color correction, it was not necessary to remove the extra “blueness” that a blue screen would have given (especially in such quantities). And thirdly, the actors saw (almost) the same thing that the viewers would later see, which significantly simplified their task.
• A full-scale model of the aircraft used by Tom Cruise’s character (Bubbleship) was built. It is a hybrid of a helicopter and a jet fighter. According to Kosinski, he wanted to show “clean, advanced technology” in the film, not the typical rusty devices of post-apocalyptic settings that are about to fall apart. The direct manufacturer of the model was WildFactory, a company specializing in industrial concept design (WildFactory was the one who made the motorcycle models for the film “Tron: Legacy” (2010)). The “Bubbleship” model was made mainly of aluminum, is 25 feet (7.6 meters) long and weighs about two tons. This model had many moving parts: rotating engines, opening doors, etc. A rotating cockpit was used during the filming of flight scenes, where the actors had to hang upside down more than once or twice.
• Among the surviving works of art shown are “Liberty Bell,” as well as some paintings by Claude Monet and Andrew Wyeth (“Christina’s World”).
• According to the director, the films “The Omega Man” (1971), “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), “Blade Runner” (1982), and the novel “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons served as sources of inspiration for writing the story, the comic book, and creating the film.
• At the beginning of the film, during the “Universal” opening sequence, you can notice the “Tet” orbiting the Earth, which the film will be about.
• The prototype for the luxurious air mini-craft “The Bubble Ship,” piloted by Jack, was simply a utilitarian Bell 47 helicopter with a transparent round dome, seen by Joseph Kosinski at an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. It was proposed to combine this “base” with the main principles of the ship’s appearance from the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). And eventually, NASA engineers were brought in to work on it. The full-scale model had doors that opened, and the control panel in the cockpit was created with the consultation of Tom Cruise, who is a licensed pilot.
• In this film, Tom Cruise “updated” his favorite cap of the “New York Yankees” baseball club – for the first time since the film “War of the Worlds” (2005), he appeared in it on the big screen again.
• Tom Cruise celebrated his 50th birthday at the "Oblivion" set. To mark the occasion, Joseph Kosinski presented the star with one of the futuristic motorcycles directly from the film. Cruise, to everyone's surprise, reciprocated with a gift of his own: a large-scale model (made of high-quality die-cast metal) of the "Bubble Ship" in a glass case.
• After reading the script for "Oblivion," Freeman wanted not only to voice a role but also to appear in the film. Therefore, instead of being straightforward, he told the director he had a sore throat. However, the filmmakers were so eager to have Morgan participate in the project that they cast him anyway.
• Filming of the rebel stronghold – "Crow's Nest" – took place at the Market Street Power Plant, located near Baton Rouge. It is considered the oldest power plant in all of New Orleans. It was built in 1885 and closed approximately 40 years ago.