Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another tale of my adventures through the English country side. This here venture actually popped up after I booked the trip to London for HOT FUZZ and STARDUST. I was contacted by the creative team of THE MUTANT CHRONICLES and invited to drop down to Shepperton Studios to check out the preproduction offices on the film.
First off, I had never even heard of the RPG (Role Playing Game, for the 3 readers who don't speak dork) before this film as announced. I like the idea of a future war against a mutant army in a hardcore sci-fi flick. I really dig the cast. John Malkovich (who I found out will be aged for his role and is only shooting for a few days, so it's by no means a starring role), Ron Perlman, Thomas Jane, Stephen Rea... lots of talent in front of the camera.
After I arrived at Shepperton, I was led down David Lean Ave. (no shit... how cool is that?) and taken to meet the director of MUTANT CHRONICLES, a man by the name of Simon Hunter. I brought up the RPG and he was quick to assure me that I won't need to worry about long diatribes about how this certain kind of armor can take 3 hits from a plus 17 photon pistol wielded by a Mutant Commander or anything remotely like that. In fact, fans of the RPG might be a bit sad to hear that Simon's angle on the film has very little to do with the game. Simon liked the sci-fi war element and wanted to make a hardcore war flick with monsters.
He even went as far as saying he wanted it to be SAVING PRIVATE RYAN meets PITCH BLACK. I like that combo. Movies like THE GUNS OF NAVERONE and THE DIRTY DOZEN were also brought up. Apparently, Thomas Jane's character heads up a team to go behind the Mutant lines and take out something very important, all suicide mission-like. So, it's a sci-fi men on a mission flick. That's also promising.
Apparently, Steve Norrington was developing this flick back in '95 and my understanding is this iteration is just as different from his take as it is from the original card game.
The future world they're planning is very dark and gritty. There is nothing shiny in this world. Think BLADE RUNNER. The idea is all these futuristic flying machines and buildings are all still steam and coal-fueled, so everything has a sort of turn of the century London blackness to it. The war in the film is planned on being very much a throwback to the muddy trench warfare of WW1 as well, an idea I quite like. The uniforms I saw were very much like those used in that era. I love the futuristic sci-fi flicks that feel like time has circled around and we're in a sort of teched-up version of our past. Here's an exclusive piece of art that shows ya' the kind of WW1 warfare and the visual tone they're going for:
I saw a few different designs for the mutants, some more mechanical and cyber-punk-ish melding of machine and men and some more gruesome monsters with very little if any mechanical additions noticeable. I liked the latter and so did the director, apparently, as they had decided on the more mutated human, less robotic, version.
Simon also told me that they're planning on using as many practical effects as they can, including real hand painted glass matte paintings and model work, which is essential if you're doing a film like this on any sort of budget. Nothing can make a sci-fi flick scream "Direct to Video/Cable" like shitty-ass CGI. Even a crappy practical effect has a degree of reality to it and the art of hand-painted mattes, especially if done with any of the old talents that still kick around London's film scene, is just wondrous to see on the silver screen.
So, Simon said all the right things. The preproduction art echoed his words. I hope he can back all this up when it comes time to shoot. I still don't know much about the story, but this seems to be one of those projects that is either going to come out and be really fuckin' cool and hardcore or a miserable failure. I don't see this falling on any sort of middle ground. It's either going to be PITCH BLACK or THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, if you know what I mean.
Thanks for all the help from Rachel Dargaval, Simon Hunter and David Allcock. It was great meeting you guys and I wish you the best of luck on the film. I'll be keeping tabs on this project as it develops. I'll be back soon with more of my London adventuring including a visit to the sets of STARDUST and my set visit on Edgar Wright's SHAUN OF THE DEAD follow-up, HOT FUZZ. So, keep your eyes on the site squirts! 'Til then this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
