So, Another Earth.
How did the idea come about?
It started with a simple idea, which was what it would be like to meet yourself.
Like, if Ryan gets to sit across from Ryan, what would that feel like emotionally?
We thought, what if all 6.3 billion people on the planet could imagine that possibility.
Emotionally, would you like or dislike that person if you could objectively look at them from the outside?
Could she let herself off the hook for doing something tragic?
I understand you didnt storyboard anything, necessarily.
All right, we got it, lets get out of here!
At the same time, you have character arcs to consider, especially with William Mapothers character.
At the beginning, hes a mess, and then you see him change.
How do you keep track of developments like that?
Hes so, so talented, and he has this intensity its this sort of fear and energy.
I liked the way his talent as an actor gives his character an unpredictable edge.
Theres anger beneath the surface all the time.
You dont know if hes gonna snap one moment, or break down and cry.
I liked the bonding overWii Sports,too.
Theyre boxing, so theres a meta vibe to it.
But its so tender the way it unfolded, and sweet.
It took their relationship a few beats forward in the story, which is great.
Its been earned their relationships earned a couple of beats closeness.
The antithesis of that, I suppose, was the car crash at the beginning.
How did you achieve such an intense scene on a low budget?
Ah, the car crash.
God, that was one of the most fun nights of my life.
[Laughs] He closed off a four-lane highway from midnight to eight oclock in the morning.
For me it was really important to do the shot from a birds eye point of view.
The other Earths point of view, looking down.
It slowly, slowly, rises up in a single shot.
I wanted to visualise it.
We rented this crane from Hertz for fifty dollars.
Not a proper film crane, but a window washing crane.
Somehow, we managed to get it stable enough to do this birds eye shot.
We did four takes of it.
So we didnt really smash the cars.
They let us borrow the cars for free, basically.
And we found the same matching cars for free.
Thats amazing, because a lot of filmmakers would spend more than your budget on just that one scene.
But I love that constraint.
The constraint of the budget was nice, because you had to think creatively about those things.
So was that the most technically challenging scene in the film?
Technically, probably the most challenging.
Its interesting, the last couple of years have seen some really good indie sci-fi.
Its almost been a mini renaissance, really.
Why do you think that is?
I think thats such a smart thing to say.
There is a mini renaissance in sci-fi.
So the fact that filmmakers have the tools to tell these stories is really exciting.
Its a bit likeMonsters…
Yeah, I loved it.
Thats speaking to my heart I love those kinds of films.Primer, Moon, Monsters.Really strong films.
Is sci-fi something you want to carry on exploring as a filmmaker?
Yeah, for sure.
It doesnt necessarily have to be sci-fi just fantastical.
I love reality with a twist.
And twisting something fantastical that allows us to get to the truth.
What writers have influenced you?
I love many sci-fi writers, but also many American and British novelists.
Have you seen theThree Colorstrilogy?
What he does is look for the divine within the mundane.
A visual poetry, I think.
A visual poetry, yes.
Which is somethingAnother Earthhas, I think.
Brit Marling brings a definite sense of that to the film.
Shes so hard working, and so dedicated to the craft.
Thats one of the most inspiring things.
She spends months and months, and hours and hours, digging into the history of the character.
Ive never seen anyone work so hard in my life.
There are so many more potential stories in this world.
Is that something you might do one day?
So how did this film come together in the edit, and how long did that process take?
Eight months, I think.
Six to eight months.
And the final film is 88, 90 minutes.
So yeah, six to eight months.
And then we had four months to work on the score, which was really exciting.
It was composed by Phil Mossman and Will Bates.
Theyre British guys from London and live in Brooklyn now.
They made this beautiful soundtrack.
On the topic of music, theres a sequence where William Mapother plays the saw.
Where did that come in?
It sounded like an angel dying, but in a beautiful way.
This woman was playing the saw, and I took her card.
His passion comes back.
We knew we wanted him to perform something for Rhoda, but we didnt know what.
Its a nod to old-school science fiction, but I wanted to modernise it in our own way.
So, these projects youre working on next.
Theres a reincarnation one, and something about a fashion designer at the bottom of the sea.
[Laughs] Yeah.
The second ones a bit more fantastical, but its still reality with a twist.
Will they be similarly low-budget, do you think?
Theyll be budget that is required to execute them right.
Were figuring out the reincarnation one right now Im working on Searchlight on that, which is amazing.
The underwater one, its a little more technically challenging, so thatll probably be a bigger budget.
But all in due time.
When did Searchlight pick upAnother Earth?
In January, at Sundance.
It was such an amazing experience.
And theyre so cool.
They have a reputation for being very filmmaker friendly, and I can see where that cames from.
Theyre so supportive and thoughtful.
Mike Cahill, thank you very much.
Another Earthis out in UK cinemas on Friday 9th December.
