Director's Diary — Entry N°03

World Building Series7 Jul 20263 min

Or how to spend $250 million building a beautiful world without making it immersive.

The World

I loved how much they actually built.

Six countries.
Real landscapes.
They built the ships.
The Trojan horse.
The Cyclops.
Shot on IMAX.
$250 million dollars.
The zero-CGI body horror — with the pigs, omg!!!!!!!!!
Hundreds of people working together to make an imaginary world physical...

The full-scale practical Trojan horse built for The Odyssey — Built, not rendered — the Trojan horse, on location

Behind the scenes of the practical pig-transformation prosthetics on The Odyssey — The zero-CGI body horror, being built by hand

But it still didn't make me feel immersed.

What pulled me out:

The actors — they were so familiar that I couldn't forget who was behind the characters.
The language — modern English and simple dialogue...
My lack of emotional investment — I didn't feel anything and didn't care what happened to the characters.

What I Want From Cinema

I don't just want to think: "Wow, that's beautiful."

I want to forget I'm watching a film. I want to believe in the world. Care about the people and cry. Feel a lot of things. Be completely absorbed by it.

I want to finish the film and think: "What the f did I just watch?"

I want to leave the room a little changed.