tales of the unexpected
BSG star Katee Sackhoff goes toe-to-toe with AI in 2036: Origin Unknown
before entering the film industry, Hasraf Dulull spent his time working at a supermarket check-out counter. Now that’s given way to automated self-service, with just one person as supervisor. What, Dullul wondered, if the same happened to NASA-style space missions?
His film 2036: Origin Unknown explores the relationship between a scientist and the AI that outmoded her. Mack is the last human supervisor at Mission Control, played by Katee “Starbuck” Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica, and the AI is ARTi (voiced by Steven Cree, Ian in Outlander). The pair investigates an “Origin Unknown” signal from Mars, after a flight to the Red Planet ends in disaster.
“Essentially it’s about Mack dealing with AI; it’s her show,” Dullul says. “We needed an actor who could collaborate, to come up with ideas and flesh out the film. I wanted the script to be moulded around what she was going to do.”
For Sackhoff, “I wanted to make sure Mack was relatable, and that she had a relationship with ARTi, a banter familiar to viewers. At its core, it’s a story about co-workers stumbling onto something they shouldn’t have found.”
Dullul thinks cinema goers are becoming ever savvier to sci-fi subjects. “Audiences are getting smarter, they don’t need spoonfeeding. Mars missions, artificial intelligence… It’s in the news and Twitter, people are used to it.”
But the director shares his star’s priorities. “You can only make something entertaining with a character. You can have amazing fancy visuals and great ideas, but the audience is looking at a 90 minutes-plus running time with Mack. The challenge was less about making the technology believable, but about how to make the character believable.” AO
2036: Origin Unknown will be available on iTunes and DVD from 13 August.