Geostorm
Geostorm | Dean Devlin sets the weather-dial to 11 for Gerard Butler and Abbie Cornish…
Gerard Butler vs. weather.
As Independence Day’s writer/producer, Dean Devlin knows how to wreak havoc. With Geostorm, his directorial debut, he’s upped the stakes. The sci-fi spectacular imagines a near future in which a global shield of climate-controlling satellites goes haywire, threatening Earth with the mother of all storms.
The fightback mixes Armageddon’s man-on-a-mission adventure with an Earth-bound conspiracy thriller. While Gerard Butler’s NASA scientist Jake heads into orbit to fix the satellites, his brother Max (Jim Sturgess) uncovers a lethal plot with the help of his missus, Secret Service agent Sarah (Abbie Cornish). Ed Harris and Andy Garcia, as the president, add thespian heft.
For Butler, the big draw was working with Devlin. “Independence Day was such a blast, I absolutely loved it. Aliens blow up the White House!” He adds that Devlin’s films, “Get the primal part of your brain going. They give you the kernel of an idea and then say, ‘Let’s go to town with this.’” Cornish, no stranger to blockbusters (RoboCop, Sucker Punch), is similarly full of praise for her director. “Dean can take on these big ideas with ease. He gets it on all levels,” she confirms.
Inevitably, the titular storm unleashes all kinds of CGI-assisted chaos. “There’s thousand-foot tsunamis and wild tornadoes and infernos bubbling up from beneath a city and knocking over skyscrapers,” promises Butler. Yet the stars were impressed by Devlin’s commitment to practical action, shooting where possible on elaborate sets or real streets. Cornish lost “10 pounds” in one night after shooting a scene that required her to sprint down a full block in two-inch heels, while Butler discovered the difficulties of pretending to be weightless while hanging from a wire. “You have to try to not just hold yourself straight, but hold yourself straight and look like there’s no effort whatsoever,” he laughs.
Originally shot in 2014, the release was held back for reshoots. But this belated arrival gives Geostorm an unexpected topicality, with political tensions high and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma a sad reminder of environmental fragility. A reflective Cornish, fresh from attending a Harvey fundraiser, notes, “We all feel the impact of these events on a worldwide scale.” Butler agrees that the film’s message is a timely one. “It’s about working together, and not letting power, ego and control hold sway.”
Even so, for Cornish it remains “a really entertaining, epic film”. And anybody worried about Butler’s actionman cred should note: he describes Jake as, “A little bit of a wild man. Every now and again he has to punch somebody who doesn’t agree with him.” Take that, global warming.
ETA | 20 OcTObEr / GEOsTOrm OpEns nExT mOnTh.