Reel life: 'Eye' director calls drone tech 'scary'
The political military thriller “Eye in the Sky” expands into suburban theaters this weekend. I awarded it four stars and called it a “tight, twisty high-tech morality tale teeming with tragedy and tension.”
The plot traces how British and American military and politicians approach a problem: Do they destroy a Nairobi house where suicide bombers are about to leave, risking the lives of innocent bystanders? Or do they let the terrorists go and hope for the best?
“The question facing us now is 'should we be approaching this thing from a warfare position or a policing position?'” said South African filmmaker Gavin Hood, who directed “Eye in the Sky.”
“I don't have a good answer, but the question has to be asked.” I interviewed Hood at Chicago's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Hood began working on the military drone drama three years ago. One of his chief concerns was accurately predicting the level of drone technology when his movie came out in 2016.
“We lucked out and hit the sweet spot,” Hood said. ”What you see in the movie is where we're at now.”
In the film, the military uses a tiny drone resembling a large flying bug to infiltrate the terrorists' meeting spot. But its battery runs out, because current power technology lags behind the drones.
“A year from now, people will be saying, 'Remember that movie where the drone battery was so bad, it died?'” Hood said.
He and his fellow filmmakers spent months and months researching drones. They came up with some scary stuff, such as something called “swarm theory.”
“You throw a bunch of (tiny) drones from a car or a plane,” he said. “They have facial recognition software. They are looking for your face. And when they find your face in the crowd, they pop a little anthrax in your nostril, or they detonate by your head. The military is always looking for ways to neutralize a target in the most efficient way.”
Already, he observed, a missile strike of the type considered in “Eye in the Sky” is becoming “a blunt instrument.”
When Hood first read Guy Hibbert's script, he instantly decided that a major male character, a U.S. Army colonel, must be played by a woman. He cast Helen Mirren.
“Men tend to want to be problem solvers. Solve it now! Let's act now! Let's be macho about this!” Hood said. “A woman will say, 'Wait, before we pull that trigger ...' You might think it's because of the maternal instinct. But then you think maybe they're just seeing the bigger picture.”
Speaking of bigger picture, about 25 percent of the shots in “Eye in the Sky” are loaded with visual effects, although it would be tough to tell exactly where those are.
All the drones are visual effects. Even the landscape of Nairobi was created in part by visual effects.
“When we pulled back the camera for the opening shot, you could see Michael Bay's set for 'Black Sails,' with ships on the Capetown Studio backlots,” Hood said. “So, I had to paint that part out, then paint in an extended Nairobi.”
“People would be shocked at how many special effects are in this movie,” Hood said.
Thrill to 'The 39 Steps'
Step out if you crave adventure by adapting the literary, cinematic and theatrical arts!
Join me, theater director David Belew and Arlington Heights Memorial Library adviser Jon Freier for a look at how the 1915 book “The 39 Steps” became a 1935 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, then eventually a comical stage production at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.
Hitchcock's “The 39 Steps” will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at the Metropolis, 111 Campbell St., Arlington Heights. After that, we hit the stage for what promises to be an illuminating discussion of how a single story can be told in three different media in different ways.
Free, but please register at ahml.info.