posted 09-13-2013 06:02 AM               

Astronaut gave 'Gravity' advice to Sandra Bullock from space

Cady Coleman had just finished watching Sandra Bullock in the "The Blind Side" when the actress reached out to her for advice.

Coleman, a self-described fan, had never met or spoken to Bullock before and so the contact in the spring of 2011 came out of the blue, or more appropriately, the blackness of outer space.

A veteran NASA astronaut, Coleman was about two-thirds of her way through a 5-month stay aboard the International Space Station at the time. Bullock, meanwhile, was set to portray an astronaut in director Alfonso Cuarón's movie, "Gravity" (opening in theaters on Oct. 4).

posted 09-14-2013 10:44 AM            

Sure, there are some fast-action teaser scenes in the trailers but much of the movie was filmed in a 9'x9' box focusing on Clooney and Bullock.

From the opening at Toronto last weekend Clooney said "Sandy and I did a lot of Bikram yoga together, I just mostly drank my way into the job."

And apparently neither movie star is much interested in space travel. Also from the Toronto showing Bullock said "I had no expectations. I had no idea what to look for. Nothing. I just wanted to work with Alfonso Cuaron. And um, I got it."

posted 09-14-2013 10:50 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Cozmosis22:
Apparently it's no "Star Wars," "2001: A Space Odyssey," or even a "Total Recall."

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posted 09-14-2013 11:30 AM               

This is why we can't have nice things.

From the opening at Toronto last weekend Clooney said "Sandy and I did a lot of Bikram yoga together, I just mostly drank my way into the job." That's movie star George Clooney deadpanning.

I haven't seen this movie yet, and I have no idea whether it will "raise public interest in manned space exploration." I do know that it's a passion project by one of the most talented directors working in film today, and that it's been almost universally praised as both a technical triumph of cinema and as a showcase of two A-list actors performing at their best.

posted 09-14-2013 12:11 PM               

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Originally posted by cspg:
Those movies raised public interest in manned space exploration!?!?!

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"The Right Stuff" is credited with reigniting an interest in the early space program, as "Apollo 13" did a generation later.

But the effects those films had on their audiences wasn't known until years later. So to try to predict now how any particular film is going to resonate with its viewers is premature at best.

That all said, those who have seen "Gravity" have had almost universal praise for it. James Cameron called it the best space movie ever made.

What our friend here knocks as simply a 9x9 box is actually a tremendous feat in cinematographic technology. The box isn't what is important; it is the carefully orchestrated, high velocity robotic arms that were circling it.

posted 09-16-2013 08:30 AM               

There will be many more words to come, but that was my first utterance leaving the theater. Suffice to say, I am looking forward to seeing it again.

Astronauts Cady Coleman and Mike Massimino attended the screening and afterwards I had a chance to briefly interview them. Look for that short video feature to come soon...

posted 09-20-2013 08:48 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Cliff Lentz:
Interviewing Sandra... Now it's my turn to say WOW!

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posted 09-22-2013 02:42 PM               

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Originally posted by GoesTo11:
When Robert said that he'd be interviewing Ms. Bullock and Alfonso Cuaron, I assumed he meant via phone and/or email. A sit-down face-to-face chat seems like something of a coup. Very nice "get", Robert!

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I'm guessing this interview was done as part of a typical media junket, where multiple interviewers are each given about 5 minutes of face-to-face time with the actor or director to ask their questions. I wouldn't be surprised if Bullock conducted about 10-20 of these interviews at the same session.

posted 09-22-2013 02:58 PM               

I can say with some certainty that there was one very unique interaction as part of my interviews with Bullock and Cuarón that had some of the other press asking what it was I had done.

posted 09-27-2013 02:39 AM               

Defining 'Gravity': Sandra Bullock, Alfonso Cuarón talk pull behind film's title (video)

In director Alfonso Cuarón's new movie, actress Sandra Bullock stars as an astronaut who suddenly finds herself floating uncontrollably in space. So why title the film "Gravity," the clear opposite of what the majority of people think of when they imagine life off of the planet Earth?

collectSPACE posed that question to Cuarón and Bullock in a recent interview, where the director and actress gave their impressions of the meaning behind "Gravity."

posted 09-30-2013 04:38 PM               

However, this isn't some great secret. Alfonso Cuarón openly admits to such in his interview with me, which I'll be running later this week in an article about the fact and fiction of "Gravity." Here's a snippet (warning: spoilers):

...the orbital position — they are in different orbital planes, the Hubble Space Telescope, the space station and the Chinese station, and we had to put them in a similar orbital plane because otherwise we would not be able to tell the story.

This is not a documentary, it is a fiction.

posted 10-03-2013 12:09 AM               

'Gravity' reality check: Alfonso Cuarón and Sandra Bullock talk fact vs. fiction (video)

In the new movie "Gravity," starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, it's possible to forget you are watching a film and not NASA footage.

That is because director Alfonso Cuarón chose to set his story about astronauts stranded on a spacewalk within the setting of real spaceflight, recreating, often in painstaking detail, modern day spacecraft and hardware.

But Cuarón is clear about what "Gravity" is, and what it is not. Warning: Minor spoilers follow.

"This is not a documentary," the director said in a recent interview with collectSPACE.com. "It is a piece of fiction."

posted 10-03-2013 03:46 PM               

We're in a very precarious position of losing all the advancements we've made in space that we did 40 years ago, 50 years ago. From my perspective, this movie couldn't have come at a better time to really stimulate the public. I was very, very impressed with it.

posted 10-04-2013 02:28 AM               

I felt the alone-ness of Dr. Stone in her battle of the elements. I felt twinges of sadness seeing space machines I've looked at and enjoyed for years get demolished on screen. Even though it was a work of fiction, it really felt like a sucker punch to the gut in spots because of just how good it looked visually. I don't want to necessarily reveal too much though as it is something to be experienced. I felt like tearing up in a couple spots.

In my case, I only watched it in 2D, but visually it was a feast for the eyes as it looked like the producers and effects guys got things VERY right. The shuttle visuals looked right down to the tiles and AFRSI materials (and the flight deck). The ISS had a nice layer of clutter in it and you could tell where you were in it by the type of clutter (i.e. Russian labels as opposed to American ones in the service module).

The Soyuz was very impressive both internally and externally. I've never seen such attention to detail in a Soyuz before, complete with the flip down RCS control grips.

The Chinese station, it was clearly a more evolved station based on the building block philosophy as opposed to a single Tiangong module, but the Shenzhou seemed to look pretty good (one could tell it was a bit of a redress of the Soyuz set, but they really went to town to make it look different, yet similar).

Then you've also got other little touches, such as the first attempt I've ever seen to duplicate flame balls in zero-g in a movie.

One thing I really appreciated though is this film did NOT use a shaky cam at all. I watched it from the second row and my eyeballs didn't jump up and down from the overused jump cut "war documentary" film style that has been way overused of late.

As for "accuracy". I do admit they did play a little fast and loose with some elements as the EMU had something of a visor based heads up display in it and no LCG. Clooney's character was testing out a Mk2 based MMU as it were and the Russian suit wasn't strictly a Sokol, but rather something that had Sokol and Orlan elements. I suppose one might consider it an evolved Sokol perhaps (with some very good thermal protection in it).