When you heard that they were construct an indie moving-picture show free-base onthe famous 1997 time change of location - theme “ help want ” ad , you probably expect a screwball comedy , or some kind of stoner slapstick extravaganza . Something akin to Hot Tub Time Machine , perhaps . So it ’s kind of a surprisal when you see the picture show Safety Not Guaranteed , and it ’s actually a lot sweet and more personal .
How did this number about ? We talked to Safety Not vouch director Colin Trevorrow , and he fill us in .
Trevorrow say he and writer Derek Connolly cut across down John Silveira , who compose the original ad , and optioned it . “ We own the advert , ” he say , notice that it ’s perchance the short original body of work ever to be optioned for a movie . “ He did it as a escapade , but there are element of his personality in the advertizement . The fact that he say you should contribute your own weapons is very John . ”
So why is n’t this movie a square - up comedy ? Trevorrow say it started out as one . “ The initial playscript was more of a comedy mystery road trip movie , ” says Trevorrow . But he and Connolly adjudicate to flesh out the more personal aspects . “ We set out talking about , ‘ Okay , how can we take some of the emotional reasons we all have for needing a time political machine and tincture them into the tale , and make this a rich experience than just the clowning and mystery story — which all stayed entire and which works , I think . I want to check that we had another layer to it , and deal some time - travel issue that peradventure are discount in party favor of the actual practical clock time travel [ in most level . ] ”
And in fact , as Kenneth the putative time traveler says at one stage during the photographic film , this is a history all about regret — which is in all probability the most plausible motivation for someone to want to go back in time . And meanwhile , the reporter Jeff ( Jake Johnson ) is doing his own kind of clock time travel by finding his eminent - schoolhouse sweetheart , whom he reconnects with on Facebook . “ We ’ve been talk a lot about how Facebook is our time motorcar now , and it ’s really the mode you may never have seen again , and it ’s a new ability that we have now . ”
A large drive locomotive of Safety Not Guaranteed is the ambiguity of whether this guy really can move around in time . Trevorrow say they tried to push that as far as they could . “ We want people to be focusing on the characters and what was plump on with these citizenry , and yet keep an component of impulse and even aroused suspense , as we sort of plow through this narrative . And we wanted to leave that tension always hanging , even though there are point in the film where we just put the brakes on the patch and just drop time with the characters . We feel it would be important to have that science fiction head hanging out there . ”
And along with that ambiguity blend the Libra between humor and duskiness — as the film toys with the interrogation of whether Kenneth can clip - travel , or is just crazy , it also play with some moderately dark themes . Trevorrow says that balance between humour and intensity was hard to strike .
Part of that residue is because we do n’t necessarily sleep together what we ’re doing there . We ’re out there examine to ascertain the the true in every moment , and have everything experience tangible , so we went with our instincts . And we did n’t needs bring by the tonal rule that we ’d usually have to play by in the feature screenwriting business organisation … And because we had that exemption , we followed our instincts , and created something that may feel more planetary tonally than a normal motion picture would . But we were excited by the challenge of still get that finger substantial , because I think life is pretty all-fired wandering tonally .
There ’s been a trend latterly of indie moving-picture show that have a science fiction element in the backdrop , like Brit Marling ’s Another Earth and The Sound of My Voice . Trevorrow says they were n’t witting about this issue music genre during the fashioning of Safety Not guarantee . “ I guess those picture had been at Sundance when we were make it . ” As to why this Italian sandwich - literary genre is emerging now , Trevorrow order :
I think it ’s a natural progression that ’s just happening , because small self-governing films are able to have some effects that feel big and cinematic , and can exist on that larger aeroplane . It allows for some big stories to be told . But I think the autonomous mindset will always focus on the human element of those stories , which makes for a pretty cool hybrid , I reckon . Because science fable is well served with a window pane of mankind and emotion .
rubber Not Guaranteed is opening in several U.S. cities today , after a fix opening last workweek in Los Angeles and New York .
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