With Passengers, Hollywood continues to mine great stories set in the far reaches of space. Director Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), works off a script by Jon Spaihts, sending Jennifer Lawrence’s writer Aurora and Chris Pratt’s mechanical engineer Jim on a dangerous odyssey. Travelling to a new planet with 5,000 passengers in hibernation pods aboard the Avalon, a gargantuan and luxurious spaceship, things go dramatically wrong for the two.
“Passengers is about two people who were supposed to be on the trip of a lifetime – the 120-year journey to a new planet – when they get woken up 90 years too early,” says Pratt. “But it turns out there’s a reason they woke up early. They have to solve the mystery of the malfunction and fix a ship that is quickly failing, if they are going to survive and save the lives of the passengers on the greatest mass migration in human history.”
Spaihts’ screenplay had been on the famous Black List of the industry’s best unproduced screenplays for a while. “One of the things that drew me to this script was the way Jon set an intimate story on such a large stage,” says producer Neal H. Moritz. “It’s an action film with epic spectacle, but it all hinges on these two incredible characters brought to life by Jen and Chris.”
“I’m deeply interested in original content, original voices,” adds producer Stephen Hamel. “There was something rather playful in Jon’s writing that I loved – he took the time to allow the characters to be human, to have weaknesses. The originality of the story seemed really appropriate.
Producer Ori Marmur agrees. “The screenplay is life-affirming and warm. It speaks to the human condition,” he says. “And as a first-generation-born American, the idea of two people leaving Earth and travelling a great distance for opportunity elsewhere resonated with me personally. My parents travelled a great distance to come to this country of opportunity – they didn’t know anyone and it worked out.”
Life-affirming and warm, it speaks to the human condition
In Lawrence and Pratt, Passengers has two of today’s most sought-after superstars. “It’s great that they are the biggest stars in the world, but first of all, I wanted to make sure that they were the right actors for these roles,” says Tyldum. “I had to get the feeling that they were going to click, that they would have chemistry. We sat for many hours – I had a four-hour dinner with Jen – and I could immediately see that they would be perfect. They’re very smart people who had a clear understanding of what they wanted the character to do. They really understood the choices, the motivations, the life these characters have to go through – so that made me feel that they really got it.”
The chemistry was essential in bringing to life two characters from opposite sides of the social spectrum. Aurora, a passenger on the ‘gold-class’ cabin of the spaceship, is a New York writer on assignment to report on the journey. “It’s such a huge decision to make,” says Lawrence. “It’s a 120-year journey – when you arrive, everyone you know will be dead. You have to start a brand new life on a brand new planet that you’ve never been to. I can’t imagine saying goodbye to everybody that I know and love – I understand her thirst for more, but I don’t think I could make that kind of permanent decision.”
On the other hand, Jim, whose cabin is in the lower decks, had decided to give up his life on Earth for very practical reasons. “He’s kind of a throwback,” says Pratt, “very much a working class guy. He’s considered a desirable trade, as a mechanical engineer, because he’ll be helping to start a civilisation. If something breaks, he’ll be there to fix it.”
Rounding off the cast is popular British actor Michael Sheen who plays Arthur, the bartender on board the ship. But Arthur is no ordinary bartender – he is an android who responds to passengers’ worries and anxieties with a kind word and warm heart – if a little naïveté. “He’s programmed to be the greatest bartender ever,” notes Sheen. “He’s empathetic, he’s able to listen and he mixes a fantastic martini.”
The story is set against the backdrop of the Avalon, resulting in some enormous sets on which the movie was filmed. “We wanted to build as much as possible, because this is a character-driven movie, not a movie that is driven by special effects,” says Tyldum. “We have a lot of big spectacle scenes, some mind-blowing effects, but the driving force is the characters and the performances.
“To get those performances, I didn’t want Jen and Chris to act against green screens – I wanted to build as much as possible so they can actually feel and understand the space they’re in. I think it pays off because it feels more real.”