Space-horror flick Pandorum is getting more and more confusing with each white devil baby cameo. We tried to clear up some facts with shipmates Ben Foster and Cung Le about the movie Foster calls "Chariots Of Fire in the future."
Ben Foster wants you to know that his new film Pandorum will scare the ever-loving hell out of you. Perhaps this is why neither he nor Cung Le wouldn't really go into any sort of details about the new futuristic horror feature, this past weekend at the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors show. Scared of the The Desecent-like mutant people who appear to have taken over the darkened spaceship, perhaps?
Foster did explain that mind tricks, identity issues and memory loss are a big part of the film. Which takes place after he and his captain, Dennis Quaid, wake up on an empty vessel, completely unaware of what's happened, and where the rest of the 60,000 person crew went. After they get attacked by an unknown being, it's up to Foster to pull himself together and find the rest of the passengers. At a small roundtable interview, the actors tried to give us just a taste without giving away what is most likely the big twist ending for Pandorum.
Ben, what was it about this character that appealed to you?
I liked the idea of not remembering who you are. And having to get back to a primitive reaction. I liked the nightmare element in it. I don't know how you guys sleep, but I don't sleep too well. I wanted to play with that experience of being so lost, having to depend on instinct. We've all had these nightmares actually getting to bring these things into a living experience was exciting to play with.
Your character can't have a backstory, how do you make yourself not remember?
Very basically it's, "where did I put my keys?" But then you add crack to that. On a space ship, in the future.
The trailer looks like it plays around with tight spaces?
It plays with both phobias: agoraphobia and a claustrophobia. It switches between tight very uncomfortable spaces and a vastness which makes you feel more inconsequential and endangered.
You mentioned that this movie is substantially violent, how so?
It's a thriller, a scifi horror movie. It bounces through a lot of different genres. I imagine it will appeal to a wider audience, it certainly scared the shit out of me when I read it.... When I read this script, it had me. There were a lot of interesting physical twists and physical demands which were exciting to play with.
Let's talk about the ship you're riding around in. It's supposed to carry 60,000 passengers, correct? Can you describe it at all?
It's extraordinarily vast, because it plays with memory [the movie] and identity, it jumps around a bit. And I suppose the exciting thing, it would be sort of a drag to give it all away, but you start in a small space that can allow you to survive, the sleep chamber. You come out of the sleep chamber, which you see in the preview, and you have to confront this environment which expands and introduces a level of violence which you have to try and survive.
Any little world building details you can tell us about this future?
I'm sorry...these things are so hard...They'd cut my tongue out if I say anything..
What can you tell us about the little demon baby at the end?
It's not Danny DeVito. I can say that.
Cung Le also talked about his amazement with the spaceship:
Cung Le: On my first day on set I took next to Ben, and Ben's all, "Cung, we're on a spaceship, man." And I looked down the hallway, it was one of the scenes where we had to run. We were sprinting from one end to the other, and we had to get focused and get into character, because you're on a space ship.
But he didn't go into detail, and interestingly enough the trailer still hasn't shown that this Vietnamese-speaking actor and Middleweight Champion doesn't actually speak a lick of English for the entire flick.
Confused? You bethcha, but if you put Ben Foster in something and then label it "on crack" I'm going to see it. We'll have to keep waiting for the September 4th release date, to find out more about this strange, ultra-violent white-mutant-plagued space ship crewed by a bunch of forgetful passengers. Seriously does anyone even think Dennis Quaid is even in this movie, outside of Foster's mind? I'm open to hearing theories. How many of you think it's all in someone's mind, and how many of you think it's a human-versus-diseased-human flick?