The sci-fi feature starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie — and slews of giant killer robots — was the first Hollywood film shot entirely on bluescreen.
The sci-fi feature starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie — and slews of giant killer robots — was the first Hollywood film shot entirely on bluescreen.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow took visual effects to new heights 20 years ago. Starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, writer-director Kerry Conran’s sci-fi feature is set in 1939 and focuses on a pilot (Law) and a reporter (Paltrow) teaming up to save the world amid attacks from flying robots.
First-time filmmaker Conran had a fascination with stories from the ’30s and ’40s and spent four years working on a six-minute proof of concept that he filmed on a makeshift bluescreen. “We put aluminum foil on [Conran’s] living room walls, and the bluescreen is made of PVC pipe and blue fabric,” cinematographer Eric Adkins, who worked on the demo, tells THR.
Producer Marsha Oglesby, who went to college with Conran’s wife, remembers watching the teaser in the late ’90s and said it blew her away. Oglesby and producing partner Jon Avnet shopped a feature-length version to studios but didn’t find any initial takers, so they secured financing from Aurelio De Laurentiis, nephew of late producer Dino De Laurentiis. Conran had planned to cast lesser-known performers, à la Star Wars, and make it in black and white, but that all changed when Law became interested and recruited friend Paltrow. Adkins recalls De Laurentiis initially being unhappy that Jolie — in a supporting role as a pilot who has history with Law’s title character — wears an eye patch. (“Half of her is obscured!” Adkins remembers De Laurentiis lamenting.)
Credited as the first Hollywood film shot entirely on bluescreen, Sky Captain’s visual magic included a role as a mad scientist for Laurence Olivier, who had died in 1989; the actor’s widow gave approval to include him through the manipulation of archival footage. Paramount, having come on board after the film was in the works, released Sky Captain on Sept. 17, 2004. THR’s review praised the “exhilarating” visuals but noted the “somewhat chilly concept of a film without sets or locations.” The movie disappointed in theaters, collecting $57 million. “I have nothing but fond memories, but I was hoping that it would do better at the box office,” Oglesby says.
Conran has been involved in other projects — he was attached to helm 2012’s John Carter before exiting — but Sky Captain remains his only produced feature.
Praising the director’s vision, Adkins says, “The most fun projects are when you are inventing stuff along the way and proving, ‘This could be done.’ ”
This story appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.