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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 2008 science fiction film
, a remake
of the 1951 film of the same name. The screenplay is based on the 1940 classic science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master
" by Harry Bates
, and the 1951 screenplay adaptation by Edmund H. North.
Directed by Scott Derrickson
and starring Keanu Reeves
as Klaatu
, this version replaces the Cold War
theme of nuclear warfare
with the contemporary issue of humankind's environmental damage to the planet
. It follows Klaatu, an alien sent to try to change human behavior or eradicate them from Earth.
The film was originally scheduled for release on May 9, 2008, but was released on a roll-out schedule beginning December 12, 2008, screening in both conventional and IMAX
theaters. The critical reviews were mixed; typically the film was found to be "heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base". In its opening week, the film took top spot at the U.S. box office and has since grossed over $230 million worldwide. The Day the Earth Stood Still was released on home video on April 7, 2009.
mountains of India
, a mountaineer encounters a glowing sphere. He touches it and then finds himself awakening after a sudden loss of consciousness, with the sphere now gone and a scar on his hand.
In the present day, the United States government
hastily assembles a group of scientists, including Princeton
professor Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly
), to formulate a survival plan when it is feared that a large unknown object with a speed of approximately one-tenth the speed of light
, is due to impact Manhattan
.
The object slows down just before impact and is revealed to be a large spherical spaceship, which lands gently in Central Park
. An alien emerges from the sphere, and finds himself surrounded by a hostile, heavily-armed US military force. Amidst the confusion and lack of clear chain of command, some soldiers fire, shooting the alien. A gigantic robot emerges, emitting an energy wave that temporarily paralyzes humans and temporarily disrupts all electrical systems in New York City
. The alien then orders the robot to shut down.
The injured alien is rushed to a military hospital where the surgeon removing the bullet discovers that the alien body is a placenta-like space suit covering a human-like being. The being quickly ages into Klaatu
(Keanu Reeves
). Klaatu has the appearance of the man from the opening scene of the film from whom the earlier aliens extracted DNA. Klaatu informs Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates
), the United States Secretary of Defense
, that he is a representative of a group of alien
races sent to talk to the United Nations
. Jackson refuses his request and instead orders that Klaatu be sent to a secure location for interrogation. Klaatu manages to escape with the help of Helen, and is pursued by the authorities throughout Newark, New Jersey
, and the forested Highlands, with Helen and her stepson, Jacob (Jaden Smith
). Helen saved a vial of the placenta material, which Klaatu uses to rapidly heal his bullet wound.
Meanwhile, the presence of the sphere has caused a worldwide panic. The United States military
manages to capture the robot after it thwarts their attempts to destroy the sphere using unmanned aerial vehicles
that launch missiles. Klaatu meets with Mr. Wu (James Hong
), another alien who has lived on earth for 70 years. Mr. Wu tells Klaatu that he has found the human race to be destructive and unwilling to change. This confirms Klaatu's experience so far, and so he determines that the planet must be cleansed of humans to ensure that the planet—with its rare ability to sustain complex life—can survive. Mr. Wu says that despite humanity's destructive tendencies, he has grown to love humans and will stay on Earth to die with them. Klaatu is perplexed by this, but continues to proceed toward eliminating the human species infecting the planet. He orders smaller spheres—hidden on Earth—to begin taking animal species off the planet. Helen drives Klaatu to a forest near a pond. She witnesses Klaatu summoning a sphere that collects various species (evoking Noah's Ark
) as Klaatu walks on water
. Around the planet, the spheres collect other life forms. Helen quizzes Klaatu about his statement that he has come to save the Earth and discovers that he thinks the only way to save the planet is to exterminate humans. She begs him to realize that humans can change. A police officer driving by the pond notices strange activity. He sees Klaatu and recognizes him as the wanted man. Drawing his gun he confronts Klaatu, who defends himself by using telekinesis to move Helen's car to run him over. He then revives the officer by laying hands on his head, Lazarus
-like, and raises the officer from the dead. Helen appeals to him to save humanity.
After Helen witnesses Klaatu walking on water and raising the officer from the dead, she takes Klaatu to the home of Nobel Prize
-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese
), where they discuss how Klaatu's own species went through a drastic evolution to survive its own star's demise.
In meantime, The robot, named "GORT
" (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) by the United States government, is subjected to experiments in an underground facility in Virginia. Trying in vain to drill into the robot, the drill bit inadvertently releases Gort's genetic material which produces an insect like organism with wings. Eventually the robot's form dissolves into a swarm of these "insects". The self-replicating robotic nanites
begin erasing human-made items including the military facility. However it does not destroy grass, trees or non-human organisms. Apparently if unstopped the swarm will erase all vestiges of the human race, leaving the planet in its natural state. The swarm is heading to Central Park where the major sphere is located.
After speaking with Professor Barnhardt, Klaatu believes that humans might change their ways. Jacob betrays Klaatu and calls authorities with Klaatu's location. The military captures Helen. Jacob and Klaatu finally become allies and the Secretary Jackson allows Helen to reason with Klaatu. Klaatu becomes convinced of mankind's ability to change, and with the help of Dr. Granier, they head to Central Park and the large sphere to save humanity. Klaatu warns that even if he manages to stop GORT, there will be a price to the human way of life. The nanobot cloud arrives before they can reach the sphere and they hide from it just under a footbridge.
Jacob and Helen discover they have been infected by the nanites. She pleads to Klaatu to save Jacob, rather than herself. Klaatu saves both of them by transferring the infection to his own body, then walks through the nanites to the sphere and touches it. His actions cause the sphere to deactivate the nanobot locust cloud, saving humanity, but at the apparent expense of Earth's loss of electrical capability. It seems that Klaatu's body, but not his spirit, is destroyed in martyrdom to save humanity, and the giant sphere
leaves Earth.
and Erwin Stoff
had produced the successful Keanu Reeves
film Speed. Stoff was at an office at the studio when he saw a poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still, which made him ponder a remake with Reeves as Klaatu.
By the time David Scarpa
started writing a draft of the script in 2005, Thomas Rothman
was in charge of Fox and felt a responsibility to remake the film. Scarpa felt everything about the original film was still relevant, but changed the allegory from nuclear war to environmental damage because "the specifics of [how] we now have the capability to destroy ourselves have changed." Scarpa noted the recent events of Hurricane Katrina
in 2005 informed his mindset when writing the screenplay. He scrapped Klaatu's speech at the conclusion of the story because "audiences today are [un]willing to tolerate that. People don't want to be preached to about the environment. We tried to avoid having our alien looking out over the garbage in the lake and crying a silent tear [from the 1970s Keep America Beautiful
ads]."
Director Scott Derrickson
admired the original film's director Robert Wise
, whom he met as a film student. He generally dislikes remakes, but he enjoyed the script, which he decided was a retelling of the story and not a true remake. He also explained that The Day the Earth Stood Still is not a widely seen classic film, unlike The Wizard of Oz
, which he would not bother remaking. Derrickson's benchmark was Philip Kaufman
's 1978 remake
of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Klaatu was made more menacing than in the original, because the director felt he had to symbolize the more complex era of the 2000s. There was debate over whether to have Klaatu land in Washington, D.C.
, as in the original; but Derrickson chose New York City because he liked the geometry of Klaatu's sphere landing in Central Park
. Derrickson also did not write in Gort's original backstory, which was already absent from the script he read. He already thought the script was a good adaptation and didn't want the negative connotations of fascism
from the original film.
Astronomer Seth Shostak
served as scientific consultant on the film, reviewed the script several times for errors, gave suggestions for making the scientists appear less dry, and noted that they would refer to one another on a first-name basis. He said, "Real scientists don't describe an object entering the solar system as 'notable for the fact that it was not moving in an asteroidal ellipse
, but moving at nearly three times ten to the seventh meters per second.' More likely, they would say that there was 'a goddamned rock headed our way!'"
, Vancouver Forum
, Deer Lake
, Jericho Park
, and Simon Fraser University
. The film was originally scheduled for release on May 9, 2008, but it was delayed until December 12, 2008, because filming commenced later than scheduled. By the time preproduction had started, Scarpa had written 40 drafts of the script. The film was mostly shot on sets because it was winter in Vancouver.
Derrickson was fascinated by color schemes. He chose blue-green and orange as the primary colors for The Day the Earth Stood Still. The missile silo converted by the military for experimenting on Gort
emphasized gray and orange, which was inspired by an image of lava flowing through a gray field. Derrickson opted to shoot on traditional film, and rendered the colors in post-production to make them more subtle, for realism.
To film Barnhardt and Klaatu writing equations on a blackboard, general relativity
sums were drawn by Marco Peloso from the University of Minnesota
, and William Hiscock of Montana State University
in faint pencil marks. Keanu Reeves and John Cleese drew over these in chalk.
As Fox had a mandate to become a carbon neutral company by 2011, The Day the Earth Stood Stills production had an environmentally friendly regimen. "Whether it was because of this movie thematically or it was an accident of time, there were certain things production-wise we've been doing and been asked to do and so on," said Erwin Stoff. To prevent the wasting of paper, concept art, location stills and costume tests were posted on a website created by the production for crew members to reference. Costumes were kept for future Fox productions or given to homeless shelters, rather than thrown away. Hybrid vehicles were used and crew members had orders to turn off their car engines if they sat in their vehicles for more than three minutes.
Weta Digital
created the majority of the effects, with additional work by Cinesite
and Flash Film Works
. The machines of Klaatu's people have a biological basis rather than a mechanical one, as Derrickson theorized their level of advancement would be shown by their mastering of ecology. Derrickson deemed a modern audience would find the original's flying saucer
amusingly obsolete and unique to the original's milieu. The director also noted many films had been influenced by The Day the Earth Stood Still, so they needed to bring new ideas to the remake.
The effects team approached the new spacecraft's design as inter dimensional portals resembling orbs. The script had specified the inside of the orbs as a "white limbo-y thing", but visual effects consultant Jeff Okun explained this was deleted for being too "cheesy". Derrickson felt not showing the inside of the ship, unlike the original, would make the audience more curious. As well as computer-generated spheres—such as Klaatu's 300 feet (91.4 m) ship, or a 3000 feet (914.4 m) tall orb that rises from the sea—700 pounds (317.5 kg) spheres, 9 feet (2.7 m) in diameter, were sculpted by Custom Plastics, which built spheres for Disney theme parks. The spheres were split in two to make transportation easier. It was difficult placing lights inside them without making them melt. The visual effects team looked at natural objects, including water droplets and the surfaces of Jupiter
and Saturn
for the spheres' texture.
Derrickson emphasized a Trinity
-like relationship between the sphere, Klaatu, and Gort. Klaatu is initially depicted as a radiant focus of sentient light. He is then depicted as a 7 feet (2.1 m) gray "walking womb" shape which finally takes on a completely human appearance. The filmmakers conceived the transitional form because they pondered the idea of humans mistaking space suits for alien skin. Computer-generated imagery and practical effects achieved the transformation. The creation of the alien form was led by Todd Masters (Slither), using thermal plastic and silicone.
Gort was described as nanotechnology
in the script by the time the director signed on, although it did not specify his appearance. The 15th draft of the script had depicted the robot as a four-legged "Totem
" that stands upright after firing its weapon beam. Okun explained there were many more "horrific" or "amazing" concepts, but it made sense that the robot would assume a familiar human shape. He cited the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey as an inspiration for Gort's texture, noting "it's a simple shape, it has no emotion [...] it just simply is", which makes Gort more frightening because the audience cannot tell what he is thinking. The computer-generated robot was estimated by the animators to be 28 feet (8.5 m) tall, whereas in the original he was played by the 7 in 7 in (2.31 m) tall Lock Martin
. Gort's computer model was programmed to reflect light, and the filmmakers spent time on motion capture
sessions to guide the performance. An actor wore weights on his hands and feet, allowing the animators to bring a sense of weight and power to Gort. His destructive capabilities were based on locust
swarms.
. Tyler Bates
was brought in to compose the score for The Day the Earth Stood Still after Derrickson heard his work on The Devil's Rejects
and Slither. Instead of imitating the original score by Bernard Herrmann
, Bates decided to try to convey the updated message of the new film, and he assumed that most people would not even realize it was a remake. Bates said, "People revere an original property and feel that it's sacred, but frankly, there's a good story to be retold, as it applies to the climate of the world now. If that's something beyond the scope of a person's ability to take in, on a new level, without necessarily using the original as a criteria for whether or not they're going to enjoy it, then they probably shouldn't bother themselves with it." The origins for the sound on the new score came from Bates attending the filming of a few scenes with Reeves and Smith. When he got back to L.A., he created a sound loop on his GuitarViol to which Derrickson responded, "I think that's the score!", when it was played for him. Bates utilized the theremin
, which Herrmann heavily used for the original film's score. Bates and the theremin player he hired used the instrument in a manner reminiscent of a sound effect, especially during Klaatu's surgery.
. On the film's December 12, 2008 release, the Deep Space Communications Network at Cape Canaveral
was to transmit the film to Alpha Centauri
.
Metacritic
, a film review aggregator, gave the film a 40/100 approval rating based on 34 reviews by top rated reviewers, placing it in the "mixed reviews" category. Based on 186 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
, only 21% of them were positive. The majority found the film "heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base, [the film] is subpar re-imagining of the 1951 science-fiction classic."
Bruce Paterson of the Australian Film Critics Association
gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that the generally poor reception for the film was "a sad fate for a surprisingly sincere tribute to Robert Wise's 1951 classic." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times
'congratulated' Keanu Reeves's performance and wrote in his review that "This contemporary remake of the science-fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton
."
A. O. Scott
of the New York Times was not impressed with Reeves' performance, commenting that "even Klaatu looks bored and distracted, much as he did back when we knew him as Neo." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
gave the film a B minus and wrote, "It's a decent enough stab at being what the old movie was to its time, following the same basic plot, full of respectful references to its model, updated with a gallery of fairly imaginative special effects." Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film two stars and noted that the film had "taken its title so seriously that the plot stands still along with it", but also stated that it was "an expensive, good-looking film that is well-made by Scott Derrickson". Claudia Puig of USA Today
gave the film two stars and wrote in her review she felt the film was "musty and derivative" and thought its only bright spot was 10-year-old Jaden Smith's "engaging, lively performance".
showing the special effects footage, concept art
, and photos. It also includes several featurettes: "Build Your Own Gort", "Re-Imagining The Day", "Unleashing Gort", "Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life", and "The Day the Earth was Green." Also included were three still galleries and the film's trailer. Packaged with the film on a separate disc, is the original 1951 film. The Blu-ray release features a D-BOX
motion code.
According to data by Home Media Magazine
, it came in first for rentals during its first and second weeks. For the first week of its release it was ranked first in Blu-ray sales, and second on the regular DVD sales chart, behind Bedtime Stories
, totaling $14,650,377 (not including Blu-ray).
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
, a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1951 film of the same name. The screenplay is based on the 1940 classic science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master
Farewell to the Master
"Farewell to the Master" is a science fiction short story written by Harry Bates. It was first published in the October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It provided the basis of the noted 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake...
" by Harry Bates
Harry Bates (author)
Harry Bates was an American science fiction editor and writer. His 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master" was the basis of the well-known 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.-Biography:Harry Bates was born Hiram Gilmore Bates III on October 9, 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, and the 1951 screenplay adaptation by Edmund H. North.
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Scott Derrickson
Scott Derrickson is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He lives in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :Derrickson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Biola University with a B.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in literature and philosophy, a B.A. in...
and starring Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
as Klaatu
Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Klaatu is the humanoid alien protagonist in the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake. Klaatu is famous in part because of the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" used in the classic film and its re-use in the Bruce Campbell cult comedy film Army of Darkness, as well...
, this version replaces the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
theme of nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
with the contemporary issue of humankind's environmental damage to the planet
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
. It follows Klaatu, an alien sent to try to change human behavior or eradicate them from Earth.
The film was originally scheduled for release on May 9, 2008, but was released on a roll-out schedule beginning December 12, 2008, screening in both conventional and IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theaters. The critical reviews were mixed; typically the film was found to be "heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base". In its opening week, the film took top spot at the U.S. box office and has since grossed over $230 million worldwide. The Day the Earth Stood Still was released on home video on April 7, 2009.
Plot
In 1928, on an expedition in the snowy KarakoramKarakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...
mountains of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, a mountaineer encounters a glowing sphere. He touches it and then finds himself awakening after a sudden loss of consciousness, with the sphere now gone and a scar on his hand.
In the present day, the United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
hastily assembles a group of scientists, including Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
professor Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress, who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America...
), to formulate a survival plan when it is feared that a large unknown object with a speed of approximately one-tenth the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
, is due to impact Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
The object slows down just before impact and is revealed to be a large spherical spaceship, which lands gently in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. An alien emerges from the sphere, and finds himself surrounded by a hostile, heavily-armed US military force. Amidst the confusion and lack of clear chain of command, some soldiers fire, shooting the alien. A gigantic robot emerges, emitting an energy wave that temporarily paralyzes humans and temporarily disrupts all electrical systems in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The alien then orders the robot to shut down.
The injured alien is rushed to a military hospital where the surgeon removing the bullet discovers that the alien body is a placenta-like space suit covering a human-like being. The being quickly ages into Klaatu
Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Klaatu is the humanoid alien protagonist in the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake. Klaatu is famous in part because of the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" used in the classic film and its re-use in the Bruce Campbell cult comedy film Army of Darkness, as well...
(Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
). Klaatu has the appearance of the man from the opening scene of the film from whom the earlier aliens extracted DNA. Klaatu informs Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
), the United States Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
, that he is a representative of a group of alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
races sent to talk to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Jackson refuses his request and instead orders that Klaatu be sent to a secure location for interrogation. Klaatu manages to escape with the help of Helen, and is pursued by the authorities throughout Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, and the forested Highlands, with Helen and her stepson, Jacob (Jaden Smith
Jaden Smith
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith is an American child actor, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He is the elder brother of singer Willow Smith...
). Helen saved a vial of the placenta material, which Klaatu uses to rapidly heal his bullet wound.
Meanwhile, the presence of the sphere has caused a worldwide panic. The United States military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
manages to capture the robot after it thwarts their attempts to destroy the sphere using unmanned aerial vehicles
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...
that launch missiles. Klaatu meets with Mr. Wu (James Hong
James Hong
James Hong is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists . A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans over 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.-Early life:Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His...
), another alien who has lived on earth for 70 years. Mr. Wu tells Klaatu that he has found the human race to be destructive and unwilling to change. This confirms Klaatu's experience so far, and so he determines that the planet must be cleansed of humans to ensure that the planet—with its rare ability to sustain complex life—can survive. Mr. Wu says that despite humanity's destructive tendencies, he has grown to love humans and will stay on Earth to die with them. Klaatu is perplexed by this, but continues to proceed toward eliminating the human species infecting the planet. He orders smaller spheres—hidden on Earth—to begin taking animal species off the planet. Helen drives Klaatu to a forest near a pond. She witnesses Klaatu summoning a sphere that collects various species (evoking Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
) as Klaatu walks on water
Walking on water
Jesus' walks on water, or Jesus walking on water, is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. Accounts of the miracle appear in three Gospels: Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52 and...
. Around the planet, the spheres collect other life forms. Helen quizzes Klaatu about his statement that he has come to save the Earth and discovers that he thinks the only way to save the planet is to exterminate humans. She begs him to realize that humans can change. A police officer driving by the pond notices strange activity. He sees Klaatu and recognizes him as the wanted man. Drawing his gun he confronts Klaatu, who defends himself by using telekinesis to move Helen's car to run him over. He then revives the officer by laying hands on his head, Lazarus
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...
-like, and raises the officer from the dead. Helen appeals to him to save humanity.
After Helen witnesses Klaatu walking on water and raising the officer from the dead, she takes Klaatu to the home of Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
), where they discuss how Klaatu's own species went through a drastic evolution to survive its own star's demise.
In meantime, The robot, named "GORT
Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Gort is a fictional humanoid robot in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake.In the original short story "Farewell to the Master", on which the two films are based, the character was called Gnut.- 1951 depiction :...
" (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) by the United States government, is subjected to experiments in an underground facility in Virginia. Trying in vain to drill into the robot, the drill bit inadvertently releases Gort's genetic material which produces an insect like organism with wings. Eventually the robot's form dissolves into a swarm of these "insects". The self-replicating robotic nanites
Nanorobotics
Nanorobotics is the emerging technology field of creating machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer . More specifically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nanorobots, with devices ranging in size from...
begin erasing human-made items including the military facility. However it does not destroy grass, trees or non-human organisms. Apparently if unstopped the swarm will erase all vestiges of the human race, leaving the planet in its natural state. The swarm is heading to Central Park where the major sphere is located.
After speaking with Professor Barnhardt, Klaatu believes that humans might change their ways. Jacob betrays Klaatu and calls authorities with Klaatu's location. The military captures Helen. Jacob and Klaatu finally become allies and the Secretary Jackson allows Helen to reason with Klaatu. Klaatu becomes convinced of mankind's ability to change, and with the help of Dr. Granier, they head to Central Park and the large sphere to save humanity. Klaatu warns that even if he manages to stop GORT, there will be a price to the human way of life. The nanobot cloud arrives before they can reach the sphere and they hide from it just under a footbridge.
Jacob and Helen discover they have been infected by the nanites. She pleads to Klaatu to save Jacob, rather than herself. Klaatu saves both of them by transferring the infection to his own body, then walks through the nanites to the sphere and touches it. His actions cause the sphere to deactivate the nanobot locust cloud, saving humanity, but at the apparent expense of Earth's loss of electrical capability. It seems that Klaatu's body, but not his spirit, is destroyed in martyrdom to save humanity, and the giant sphere
Sphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
leaves Earth.
Cast
- Keanu ReevesKeanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
as KlaatuKlaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)Klaatu is the humanoid alien protagonist in the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake. Klaatu is famous in part because of the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" used in the classic film and its re-use in the Bruce Campbell cult comedy film Army of Darkness, as well...
, an alien messenger in human form. Reeves dislikes remakes, but was impressed by the script, which he deemed a reimagining. He enjoyed the original film as a child and became fonder of it as an adult when he understood how relevant it was, but prefers this version because it lacked the contradictory message of Klaatu "laying down the law [...] almost as though the alien had the bigger stick." Reeves acknowledged his Klaatu is "inverted" from the original, starting "sinister and tough" but becoming "more human," whereas the original was "more human than human" before revealing his "big stick" in his ending speech. He compared the remake's Klaatu to the wrathful God who floodsNoah's ArkNoah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
the world in the Old TestamentOld TestamentThe Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, but is gentle and forgiving by the time of the New TestamentNew TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. He spent many weeks advising the script, trying to make Klaatu's transition from alien in human form to one who appreciates their emotions and beliefs subtle and nuanced. Derrickson, the director, said that although Reeves would not use actions "that are highly unusual or highly quirky", he nevertheless "keeps you aware of the fact that this being you're walking through this movie with is not a human being." At Reeves' insistence, the classic line "Klaatu barada niktoKlaatu barada nikto"Klaatu barada nikto" is a phrase originating from the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. "Klaatu" is the name of the humanoid alien protagonist in the film. Klaatu commanded Helen Benson that, were anything to happen to him, she must utter the phrase to the robot Gort...
" was added to the script after initially being omitted. The line was recorded many times, and it was decided to combine two recordings: one where Reeves said it normally, and a reversed version where he said the line backwards, creating an "alien" effect. - Jennifer ConnellyJennifer ConnellyJennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress, who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America...
as Helen Benson, a famed astrobiologistAstrobiologyAstrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This interdisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry,...
at Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
who is recruited by the government to study Klaatu. Connelly was Derrickson's first choice for the part. She is a fan of the original film and felt Patricia NealPatricia NealPatricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
's original portrayal of Helen was "fabulous", but trusted the filmmakers with their reinterpretation of the story and of Helen, who was a secretary in the original. Connelly emphasized that Helen is amazed when she meets Klaatu, as she never believed she would encounter a sentient alien like him, after speculating on extraterrestrial life for so long. Connelly was dedicated to understanding her scientific jargon, with Seth ShostakSeth ShostakSeth Shostak is an American astronomer. He grew up in Arlington, VA and earned his physics degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D...
stating she did "everything short of writing a NASA grant application". - Jaden SmithJaden SmithJaden Christopher Syre Smith is an American child actor, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He is the elder brother of singer Willow Smith...
as Jacob Benson, Helen's rebellious eight-year-old stepson. His conflict with his stepmother was worsened by the death of his father, and he initially dislikes Klaatu, believing him to be a potential stepfather. Jacob replaces the character of Bobby (Billy GrayBilly Gray (actor)William Thomas "Billy" Gray , is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,...
) in the original, and his relationship with Helen was written as a microcosm of how Klaatu comes to see humanity – the alien sees their cold and distant relationship as normal human behavior, and their reconciliation forces him to change his mind. Smith said he found Jacob difficult to play because he felt the character "opposite" to his personality. Smith had met Reeves before on the set of The Matrix sequels, which featured his mother Jada Pinkett-Smith. - John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
as Professor Karl Barnhardt, a Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning physicist who specializes in the evolutionary basis of altruismAltruismAltruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
. Helen takes Klaatu to him to further change his mind. The role was the most difficult to cast, and eventually the filmmakers decided to approach Cleese, noting "Who would you rather make the argument [to Klaatu] for mankind than John Cleese?" Stoff, a producer, had met Cleese a few times beforehand and had noted his intellect. The actor was surprised the filmmakers were interested in him, and decided playing a dramatic role would be easier than to play a comedic one at his age. He was often reminded to speed up his dialogue so that Reeves would not appear in synchronity with normal human speech patterns. Cleese said he is not interested in extraterrestrial life because he often philosophizes about the purpose of life and why humans are distracted by trivial matters. Cleese spoke about portraying abilities outside his own experience in the scene in which Klaatu corrects a formulaFormulaIn mathematics, a formula is an entity constructed using the symbols and formation rules of a given logical language....
Barnhardt has written on a blackboard: "The trouble is, I had to be able to write the equation, because Barnhardt has been working on it for 60 years. I learned to carefully copy things down that mean nothing to me at all. In A Fish Called WandaA Fish Called WandaA Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 crime-comedy film written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton. It was directed by Crichton and an uncredited Cleese, and stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The film is about a jewel heist and its aftermath...
, I spoke a lot of Russian without having any idea what it means." The crew enjoyed working with Cleese and were sad when he finished filming his part. - Jon Hamm as Dr. Michael Granier, a NASA official who recruits Helen into his scientific team investigating Klaatu. Granier is fascinated by Klaatu, but is torn between his official obligation to detain the alien and protect his country. Hamm acknowledged science fiction was a niche genreNiche marketA niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
when the original film was made, and that it used science fiction to make topical issues more approachable. Hamm had the same feelings for this remake. Originally, Hamm's character was French and named Michel. Although he is interested in math and science, Hamm found his technical dialogue difficult and had to film his lines repeatedly. - Kathy BatesKathy BatesKathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
as Regina Jackson, the United States Secretary of DefenseUnited States Secretary of DefenseThe Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
. Bates only had two weeks to film her scenes, so she often requested Derrickson act out her lines so she would directly understand his aims for her dialogue, rather than interpret vague directions. - Kyle ChandlerKyle ChandlerKyle Martin Chandler is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead...
as John Driscoll, an official in the US Government, who goes down to check out the research on Gort, where his actions lead to the deaths of everyone in the base including himself, as the base is put into a lockdown. - James HongJames HongJames Hong is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists . A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans over 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.-Early life:Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His...
as Mr. Wu - Brandon T. JacksonBrandon T. JacksonBrandon Timothy Jackson is an American stand-up comedian, actor, rapper, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his supporting roles in Roll Bounce, Tropic Thunder, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Lottery Ticket, and a leading role in Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son.-Early...
as Target Tech
Development
In 1994, 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and Erwin Stoff
Erwin Stoff
Erwin Stoff is an American movie producer. He is best known for being the manager of Keanu Reeves and a producing credit for The Matrix. In 2007, he co-produced I Am Legend, starring Will Smith....
had produced the successful Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
film Speed. Stoff was at an office at the studio when he saw a poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still, which made him ponder a remake with Reeves as Klaatu.
By the time David Scarpa
David Scarpa
David Scarpa is an American screenwriter. He was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and raised in Tennessee and Connecticut before attending New York University's Film Program. His most famous works are the screenplays for films such as The Last Castle and the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood...
started writing a draft of the script in 2005, Thomas Rothman
Thomas Rothman
Thomas "Tom" Edgar Rothman is an American film executive. He is co-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment with Jim Gianopulos...
was in charge of Fox and felt a responsibility to remake the film. Scarpa felt everything about the original film was still relevant, but changed the allegory from nuclear war to environmental damage because "the specifics of [how] we now have the capability to destroy ourselves have changed." Scarpa noted the recent events of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in 2005 informed his mindset when writing the screenplay. He scrapped Klaatu's speech at the conclusion of the story because "audiences today are [un]willing to tolerate that. People don't want to be preached to about the environment. We tried to avoid having our alien looking out over the garbage in the lake and crying a silent tear [from the 1970s Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is a U.S. based nonprofit organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with approximately 589 affiliate organizations and more than 1,000 community organizations that participate in their programs.Keep America...
ads]."
Director Scott Derrickson
Scott Derrickson
Scott Derrickson is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He lives in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :Derrickson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Biola University with a B.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in literature and philosophy, a B.A. in...
admired the original film's director Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
, whom he met as a film student. He generally dislikes remakes, but he enjoyed the script, which he decided was a retelling of the story and not a true remake. He also explained that The Day the Earth Stood Still is not a widely seen classic film, unlike The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, which he would not bother remaking. Derrickson's benchmark was Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s...
's 1978 remake
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. It is a remake of the 1956 film of the same name. It was directed by Philip Kaufman and starred Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Leonard Nimoy.A San Francisco health inspector and...
of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Klaatu was made more menacing than in the original, because the director felt he had to symbolize the more complex era of the 2000s. There was debate over whether to have Klaatu land in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, as in the original; but Derrickson chose New York City because he liked the geometry of Klaatu's sphere landing in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. Derrickson also did not write in Gort's original backstory, which was already absent from the script he read. He already thought the script was a good adaptation and didn't want the negative connotations of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
from the original film.
Astronomer Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak is an American astronomer. He grew up in Arlington, VA and earned his physics degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D...
served as scientific consultant on the film, reviewed the script several times for errors, gave suggestions for making the scientists appear less dry, and noted that they would refer to one another on a first-name basis. He said, "Real scientists don't describe an object entering the solar system as 'notable for the fact that it was not moving in an asteroidal ellipse
Elliptic orbit
In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics an elliptic orbit is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity less than 1; this includes the special case of a circular orbit, with eccentricity equal to zero. In a stricter sense, it is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity greater than 0 and less than 1 . In a...
, but moving at nearly three times ten to the seventh meters per second.' More likely, they would say that there was 'a goddamned rock headed our way!'"
Filming
Filming took place from December 12, 2007, to March 19, 2008, at Vancouver Film StudiosVancouver Film Studios
Vancouver Film Studios is a film production centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest production facility outside of Los Angeles in North America and is operated by the McLean Group of Companies...
, Vancouver Forum
Vancouver Forum
The Vancouver Forum is an indoor arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It hosted the Pacific Coast Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks from 1948 to 1969. The arena holds 5,050 people...
, Deer Lake
Deer Lake (British Columbia)
Deer Lake is a lake in central Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Deer Lake is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna and features a number of walking trails...
, Jericho Park
Jericho Beach
Jericho Beach, a popular Vancouver beach, is located west of the seaside neighbourhood of Kitsilano. It is surrounded by Jericho Beach Park, a large grassy area with a pond, which is a good picnic destination. In the local Indigenous Sḵwxwú7mesh language, Jericho Beach is iy'a'l'mexw meaning "good...
, and Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
. The film was originally scheduled for release on May 9, 2008, but it was delayed until December 12, 2008, because filming commenced later than scheduled. By the time preproduction had started, Scarpa had written 40 drafts of the script. The film was mostly shot on sets because it was winter in Vancouver.
Derrickson was fascinated by color schemes. He chose blue-green and orange as the primary colors for The Day the Earth Stood Still. The missile silo converted by the military for experimenting on Gort
Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Gort is a fictional humanoid robot in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake.In the original short story "Farewell to the Master", on which the two films are based, the character was called Gnut.- 1951 depiction :...
emphasized gray and orange, which was inspired by an image of lava flowing through a gray field. Derrickson opted to shoot on traditional film, and rendered the colors in post-production to make them more subtle, for realism.
To film Barnhardt and Klaatu writing equations on a blackboard, general relativity
General relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
sums were drawn by Marco Peloso from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, and William Hiscock of Montana State University
Montana State University - Bozeman
Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
in faint pencil marks. Keanu Reeves and John Cleese drew over these in chalk.
As Fox had a mandate to become a carbon neutral company by 2011, The Day the Earth Stood Stills production had an environmentally friendly regimen. "Whether it was because of this movie thematically or it was an accident of time, there were certain things production-wise we've been doing and been asked to do and so on," said Erwin Stoff. To prevent the wasting of paper, concept art, location stills and costume tests were posted on a website created by the production for crew members to reference. Costumes were kept for future Fox productions or given to homeless shelters, rather than thrown away. Hybrid vehicles were used and crew members had orders to turn off their car engines if they sat in their vehicles for more than three minutes.
Effects
Weta Digital
Weta Digital is a digital visual effects company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. In 2007 Weta Digital’s Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, was...
created the majority of the effects, with additional work by Cinesite
Cinesite
Cinesite Ltd is a digital visual effects and post-production facility in London and one of the largest such companies in Europe...
and Flash Film Works
Flash Film Works
Flash Film Works is a computer graphics company that provides visual effects for films, television shows and commercials. It is owned by director William Mesa and is located in Los Angeles, California.-History:...
. The machines of Klaatu's people have a biological basis rather than a mechanical one, as Derrickson theorized their level of advancement would be shown by their mastering of ecology. Derrickson deemed a modern audience would find the original's flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
amusingly obsolete and unique to the original's milieu. The director also noted many films had been influenced by The Day the Earth Stood Still, so they needed to bring new ideas to the remake.
The effects team approached the new spacecraft's design as inter dimensional portals resembling orbs. The script had specified the inside of the orbs as a "white limbo-y thing", but visual effects consultant Jeff Okun explained this was deleted for being too "cheesy". Derrickson felt not showing the inside of the ship, unlike the original, would make the audience more curious. As well as computer-generated spheres—such as Klaatu's 300 feet (91.4 m) ship, or a 3000 feet (914.4 m) tall orb that rises from the sea—700 pounds (317.5 kg) spheres, 9 feet (2.7 m) in diameter, were sculpted by Custom Plastics, which built spheres for Disney theme parks. The spheres were split in two to make transportation easier. It was difficult placing lights inside them without making them melt. The visual effects team looked at natural objects, including water droplets and the surfaces of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
for the spheres' texture.
Derrickson emphasized a Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
-like relationship between the sphere, Klaatu, and Gort. Klaatu is initially depicted as a radiant focus of sentient light. He is then depicted as a 7 feet (2.1 m) gray "walking womb" shape which finally takes on a completely human appearance. The filmmakers conceived the transitional form because they pondered the idea of humans mistaking space suits for alien skin. Computer-generated imagery and practical effects achieved the transformation. The creation of the alien form was led by Todd Masters (Slither), using thermal plastic and silicone.
Gort was described as nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
in the script by the time the director signed on, although it did not specify his appearance. The 15th draft of the script had depicted the robot as a four-legged "Totem
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
" that stands upright after firing its weapon beam. Okun explained there were many more "horrific" or "amazing" concepts, but it made sense that the robot would assume a familiar human shape. He cited the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey as an inspiration for Gort's texture, noting "it's a simple shape, it has no emotion [...] it just simply is", which makes Gort more frightening because the audience cannot tell what he is thinking. The computer-generated robot was estimated by the animators to be 28 feet (8.5 m) tall, whereas in the original he was played by the 7 in 7 in (2.31 m) tall Lock Martin
Lock Martin
Lock Martin was the stage name of American actor Joseph Lockard Martin, Jr. He is best remembered for playing the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still ....
. Gort's computer model was programmed to reflect light, and the filmmakers spent time on motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
sessions to guide the performance. An actor wore weights on his hands and feet, allowing the animators to bring a sense of weight and power to Gort. His destructive capabilities were based on locust
Locust
Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory...
swarms.
Music
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was orchestrated and conducted by Timothy WilliamsTimothy Williams (composer)
Timothy Williams is an award-winning composer of film and theater, a conductor and orchestrator. Born in England in 1966, he moved to Canada in 1970. He studied music at the Toronto Conservatory of Music and the Victoria Conservatory of Music. He won many piano competitions and was originally on a...
. Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates is a music producer and composer for films. His most known work includes "The Hangman's Song" and various other tracks from the zombie horror film Dawn of the Dead, and 2008's Day of the Dead...
was brought in to compose the score for The Day the Earth Stood Still after Derrickson heard his work on The Devil's Rejects
The Devil's Rejects
The Devil's Rejects is a 2005 American horror film written and directed by Rob Zombie, and the sequel to his 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses. The film is about the family of psychopathic killers from the previous film now on the run...
and Slither. Instead of imitating the original score by Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
, Bates decided to try to convey the updated message of the new film, and he assumed that most people would not even realize it was a remake. Bates said, "People revere an original property and feel that it's sacred, but frankly, there's a good story to be retold, as it applies to the climate of the world now. If that's something beyond the scope of a person's ability to take in, on a new level, without necessarily using the original as a criteria for whether or not they're going to enjoy it, then they probably shouldn't bother themselves with it." The origins for the sound on the new score came from Bates attending the filming of a few scenes with Reeves and Smith. When he got back to L.A., he created a sound loop on his GuitarViol to which Derrickson responded, "I think that's the score!", when it was played for him. Bates utilized the theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
, which Herrmann heavily used for the original film's score. Bates and the theremin player he hired used the instrument in a manner reminiscent of a sound effect, especially during Klaatu's surgery.
Release
Before its release, The Day the Earth Stood Still was nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound at the 2008 Satellite AwardsSatellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
. On the film's December 12, 2008 release, the Deep Space Communications Network at Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
was to transmit the film to Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
.
Critical response
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, a film review aggregator, gave the film a 40/100 approval rating based on 34 reviews by top rated reviewers, placing it in the "mixed reviews" category. Based on 186 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, only 21% of them were positive. The majority found the film "heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base, [the film] is subpar re-imagining of the 1951 science-fiction classic."
Bruce Paterson of the Australian Film Critics Association
Australian Film Critics Association
The Australian Film Critics Association or AFCA is an Australian film critic organisation.-History:Formed in 1996, AFCA began as the Melbourne Film Critics’ Forum, expanding to a national organisation in 2004...
gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that the generally poor reception for the film was "a sad fate for a surprisingly sincere tribute to Robert Wise's 1951 classic." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
'congratulated' Keanu Reeves's performance and wrote in his review that "This contemporary remake of the science-fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
."
A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of the New York Times was not impressed with Reeves' performance, commenting that "even Klaatu looks bored and distracted, much as he did back when we knew him as Neo." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
gave the film a B minus and wrote, "It's a decent enough stab at being what the old movie was to its time, following the same basic plot, full of respectful references to its model, updated with a gallery of fairly imaginative special effects." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film two stars and noted that the film had "taken its title so seriously that the plot stands still along with it", but also stated that it was "an expensive, good-looking film that is well-made by Scott Derrickson". Claudia Puig of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the film two stars and wrote in her review she felt the film was "musty and derivative" and thought its only bright spot was 10-year-old Jaden Smith's "engaging, lively performance".
Box office
The Day the Earth Stood Still opened in North America on December 12, 2008. During that opening weekend, and despite mixed response from critics, the film reached the #1 spot, grossing $30,480,153 from 3,560 theaters with an $8,562 average per theater. Out of the film's opening weekend income, 12% was from IMAX; it was "the highest IMAX share yet for a two-dimensional title". In 2008, it was the 27th highest grossing film during its opening weekend but 40th for the entire year. The Day the Earth Stood Still was able to stay in the top 10 for its first four weeks in theaters. The film ended up grossing $79,366,978 domestically and $151,465,000 in foreign markets, a total of $230,831,978.Home media
The Day the Earth Stood Still was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 7, 2009, almost four months after its release and only five days after its theater run ended. Bonus features include commentary with Scarpa along with a picture-in-picturePicture-in-picture
Picture in Picture is a feature of some television receivers and similar devices. One program is displayed on the full TV screen at the same time as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only.Picture in Picture requires two independent...
showing the special effects footage, concept art
Concept art
Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design...
, and photos. It also includes several featurettes: "Build Your Own Gort", "Re-Imagining The Day", "Unleashing Gort", "Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life", and "The Day the Earth was Green." Also included were three still galleries and the film's trailer. Packaged with the film on a separate disc, is the original 1951 film. The Blu-ray release features a D-BOX
D-Box
D-BOX Technologies is a Canadian company that produces motion simulation systems and control devices that work with supporting movie and game titles to provide motion to viewers...
motion code.
According to data by Home Media Magazine
Home Media Magazine
Home Media Magazine is a weekly trade publication that covers various aspects of the home entertainment industry, most notably DVD, Blu-ray Disc and digital distribution. Also covered is news relating to consumer electronics, video games, home video distributors, video-on-demand and Internet...
, it came in first for rentals during its first and second weeks. For the first week of its release it was ranked first in Blu-ray sales, and second on the regular DVD sales chart, behind Bedtime Stories
Bedtime Stories (film)
Bedtime Stories is a 2008 American family-fantasy-comedy film directed by Adam Shankman that stars Adam Sandler in his first appearance in a family-oriented film...
, totaling $14,650,377 (not including Blu-ray).