The IMAX screening on Saturday 9 May will include a Q&A with Guillermo del Toro
‘When I was a kid, whenever I’d feel small or lonely, I’d look up at the stars and wonder if there was life up there. Turns out, I was looking in the wrong direction.’ The depths of the ocean have always held a fascination for people, but we have always assumed that its wonders – and its dangers – are of our own world. We were wrong. That intriguing premise gave rise to Pacific Rim. As the film begins, a breach in the floor of the Pacific Ocean unleashes a cataclysmic threat to the human race.
Director Guillermo del Toro, who also co-wrote and served as a producer on the film, relates, ‘Through that portal come creatures that are larger and more ferocious and brutal than anything we have ever seen: the Kaiju. In order to grapple with them, mankind pulls together all its resources and invents the largest, most dynamic and most versatile weapon ever devised. They create the Jaeger Program – towering 25-story-high robots, each operated by two pilots whose minds are neurally linked together.’
He continues, ‘It was a project that encompassed every single thing on my wish list, visually, atmospherically and emotionally… an unstoppable, thrilling adventure about monsters and robots, the likes of which we’ve never seen.’
The story originated with screenwriter Travis Beacham, who was on the actual Pacific Rim – on the coast of California – when the central elements of the film began to take shape. He recounts, ‘I remember walking along the beach in Santa Monica. It was a particularly foggy morning and there was something about the shape of the pier in the fog jutting out into the water… An image just kind of popped into my head of a behemoth, a monster, rising from the surf to meet this giant robot waiting on the shore to do battle.
‘However,’ Beacham acknowledges, ‘I knew that by itself was not a story. What really crystallized the plot for me was figuring out who is driving the robot, and finally determining it had to be two pilots – two people whose minds would have to be intimately connected to control this massive thing. That’s when the pieces started to fall into place in a very organic way.’
After collaborating with producers Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni as a screenwriter on Clash of the Titans, Beacham told them about his original idea for a winner-take-all war that joins man and machine against aliens, who don’t invade from beyond our galaxy, but rather ascend from the deep.
‘I was hooked from the first moment Travis pitched it to us,’ Tull recalls. ‘The film is about humanity being up against something unexpected and utterly overwhelming, and how they have to come together to combat it. We also thought the notion that we could be invaded from within was a very cool concept.’
‘You can’t really run from it because they are coming from a place that’s inescapably on Earth,’ Beacham adds. ‘Part of the allure of the ocean is that it hides its secrets so well. There are so many myths about sea monsters and giant serpents and all the other things people suppose are down there. I think there is something elementally terrifying about what can come out of this blackness.’
Given the enormity of the threat, ‘the stakes are huge for the entire planet,’ Jashni says. ‘But starting with such huge stakes means you also have to find a way to make it more relatable on a personal level. The ability to reduce everything down to the emotional core is one of Guillermo del Toro’s many gifts… not to mention he is a master of the genre. He is encyclopaedic about the Kaiju and “mecha” cultures, making him uniquely qualified to capture the most accessible and entertaining facets of both. When we shared with him what we were cooking up with Travis, he was immediately on board.’
As del Toro began crafting the screenplay with Beacham, he became totally immersed in the world they were forming. He attests, ‘The more we developed the universe, the more I became personally invested in the story, the characters, the monsters, the robots, and everything it would take to make it all real. I couldn’t wait.’
‘Working with Guillermo is incredible,’ Beacham remarks. ‘He bristles with ideas and can come up with the most brilliant strokes of insight at the drop of a hat. He also loves monster movies, so we were definitely playing in his sandbox,’ he laughs. ‘He came at the project with a genuine passion for the material, which I think was vital to the soul of the movie.’
Del Toro’s enthusiasm was not only contagious to everyone involved in the film, but is also largely the reason he has become an unequivocal favourite among genre fans. In fact, he would be the first to count himself among those collectively known as ‘fanboys.’ Producer Mary Parent says, ‘Guillermo has a special connection to that audience because he is that audience, and that makes a huge difference. He is just as excited about creating these amazing worlds as we are to see them. You know, going in, he’s going to deliver a visceral, thrilling rollercoaster.’
Nevertheless, it was essential to the filmmakers that the magnitude of the action be balanced with the human stories that are at the heart of the film. Jashni notes, ‘A core theme of the movie is the indomitability of the human spirit, no matter how titanic the threat.’
The global nature of the war against the Kaiju is reflected in the design, colours and insignia of the Jaegers, all giving nods to their country of origin. The four main Jaegers seen battling in the film are: Gipsy Danger, from the USA; the Chinese Crimson Typhoon; Russia’s Cherno Alpha; and Striker Eureka, from Australia. No less attention was paid to the creation of the dreaded Kaiju, which are destruction incarnate. Del Toro assembled some of the top concept artists in the industry to design what he calls ‘the most terrifying but majestic creatures you could ever imagine,’ each with its own distinct silhouette and lethal capabilities. The Jaegers and the Kaiju were brought to life onscreen by the visual effects wizards at the renowned Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), who were collaborating with del Toro for the first time. Together they executed epic battles that unfold on land and sea and in the air.
‘We want people to be taken by the spectacle and the sound and fury,’ del Toro says, ‘but it is all meant to illuminate the courage of the central characters. Physically, the human beings are the smallest thing in the movie, but their spirit is the largest thing in the movie. They show you the makings of real heroes.’
The expanse of the production took up every soundstage at Toronto’s Pinewood Studios, including two of the largest shooting stages in the world. One set, called the Conn-pod, was constructed on a large gimbal to make the actors – outfitted in specialised suits created by Legacy Effects – actually feel like they were engaged in battle. ‘We wanted to put the audience right there in the pilot seat. It will make you feel what it is to suit up, hook up, and take the robot for a ride.’
Production notes
Pacific Rim
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
©: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Legendary Pictures Funding LLC
a Legendary Pictures/DDY production
Presented by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures
Executive Producer: Callum Greene
Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Guillermo del Toro, Mary Parent
Co-producer: Jillian Zaks
Unit Production Managers: D.J. Carson, Callum Greene
Production Co-ordinator: Elspeth Cassar
Production Controller: Elaine Thurston
Location Manager: Fred Kamping
Post-production Supervisor: Sara Romilly
1st Assistant Director: Alexander Gayner
2nd Assistant Director: Jack Boem
Script Supervisor: Douglas Rotstein
Casting by: Margery Simkin
Casting (Toronto): Robin D. Cook
Extras Casting: Zamaret Kleiman
Screenplay by: Travis Beacham, Guillermo del Toro
Story by: Travis Beacham
Director of Photography: Guillermo Navarro
Camera Operators: Gilles Corbeil, Anton Van Rooyen, Johnny Colavecchia
Steadicam Operator: Gilles Corbeil
Stills Photographer: Kerry Hayes
Visual Effects Supervisor: John Knoll
Visual Effects Production Supervisor: Oopie Parraco
Visual Effects Supervisor: Jamie Price
Visual Effects and Stereoscopic Producer: Christopher Raimo
Visual Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Rollie Pollie Effects by: Mike Elizalde’s Spectral Motion Inc
Additional Visual Effects by: Base FX, Rodeo, Hybride, Ghost VFX, Virtuos
Special Effects Co-ordinator: Laird McMurray
Miniatures & Special Effects Provided by: 32Ten Studios
Pilot Suits and Conn Pod Arms by: Legacy Effects
Animation Supervisor: Hal Hickel
Animation: Industrial Light & Magic
Edited by: John Gilroy, Peter Amundson
1st Assistant Editors: James W. Harrison III, Steve Bobertz
Production Designers: Andrew Neskoromny, Carol Spier
Supervising Art Directors: Elinor Rose Galbraith, Richard Johnson
Art Directors: Andrew Li, Sandi Tanaka
Illustrators: Henry Fong, Fan Hong, Vicky Pui
Property Master: Chris Geggie
Construction Co-ordinator: Joe Curtin
Costumes Designed by: Kate Hawley
Assistant Costume Designer: Rosalyn Hanchard
Costume Supervisor: Renée Bravener
Head of Make-up Department: Jordan Samuel
Key Make-up: Colin Penman, Patricia Keighran
Head of Hair Department: Paul Elliot
Key Hair: Sondra Treilhard
Main Titles Designed by: Imaginary Forces
Prologue Documentary Footage Designed and Produced by: Mirada
End Titles by: Scarlet Letters
Digital Intermediate Colourist: Maxine Gervais
Prints by: Technicolor
Music by: Ramin Djawadi
Ambient Music Design: Mel Wesson
Featured Guitarist: Tom Morello
Orchestra Conductor: Nick Glennie-Smith
Orchestrators: Stephen Coleman, Andrew Kinney, Tony Blondal
Music Editor: Peter Myles
Choreographers: Troy P. Liddell, Bradley Allan
Sound Designer: Scott Gershin
Sound Mixer: Glen Gauthier
Boom Operator: Steve Switzer
Re-recording Mixers: John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Tim Leblanc
Supervising Sound Editor: Scott Gershin
Dialogue Supervisor: Becky Sullivan
ADR Supervisor: Becky Sullivan
Stunt Co-ordinators: Branko Racki, Robert Racki
Fight Designer: Bradley Allan
Unit Publicist: Joe Everett
Transportation Co-ordinator: John Ozolins
Digital Intermediate: Motion Picture Imaging
This film is dedicated to the memory of monster masters: Ray Harryhausen, Ishiro Honda
Thanks: James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast
Charlie Hunnam (Raleigh Becket)
Idris Elba (Stacker Pentecost)
Rinko Kikuchi (Mako Mori)
Charlie Day (Dr Newton Geiszler)
Ron Perlman (Hannibal Chau)
Rob Kazinsky (Chuck Hansen)
Max Martini (Herc Hansen)
Clifton Collins Jr (OPS Tendo Choi)
Burn Gorman (Gottleib)
Larry Joe Campbell (construction worker)
Diego Klattenhoff (Yancy Becket)
Brad Henke (construction foreman)
Mana Ashida (young Mako)
Santiago Segura (wizened man)
USA 2013
133 mins
Digital 2D (Tue 12 and Fri 22 May)
IMAX with Laser 3D (Sat 9 May)
With thanks to
Cai Mason, Lisa Taback, Imogen Munsey and the Netflix team, Gary Ungar
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
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