A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Bad moon rising…

01 SPARE PARTS

In the future of Steve Spielberg’s 2001 Stanley Kubrick/Brian Aldiss hybrid, obsolete robots known as Mecha scavenge for lost parts... Puppetry, CGI, and actors were employed to create the Mecha. The Welder robot was played by R. David Smith, an amputee and friend of effects creator Stan Winston.

02 DON’T BLINK

Abandoned by his ‘mommy’, electro-Pinocchio boy-bot David watches… Kubrick’s attempts to design a mechanical boy for the film were, says Spielberg, a “disaster”. Since CGI also didn’t cut it, Spielberg’s “first and last choice” star-wise was Haley Joel Osment, who managed to not blink once on-screen.

03 JUST A GIGOLO

Jude Law’s on-the-lam ‘love Mecha’ Gigolo Joe surveys the scene. To preserve his charm, Law required only minimal prosthetics. But he studied dance, mime, and peacock movements to nail Joe’s slinky dash. Wardrobe designer Bob Ringwood describes him as half “Victorian romantic hero”, half “futuristic Elvis Presley”.

04 CARE BEAR

“We run now,” says David’s Jack Angel-voiced Teddy as an E.T.-ish moon becomes a menacing, Mecha-hunting ship. Winston’s studio created six bears; one contained 50 servo motors for movement. ILM’s digi-duties included matching Ted’s 1 million-plus hairs for continuity. “I just completely forgot he wasn’t real,” said Osment.

05 HUNTER KILLERS

Fearsome Biker Hounds round up Mecha, fresh for slaughter at the Flesh Fair. Ringwood hired armourer Terry English (Aliens) to design the nightmarish Hounds’ helmets. Other images bring to mind earlier Spielberg work: the overhead view of the Hounds hunting echoes The Lost World’s grassy velociraptor attack.

06 NANNY MCBOT

Clara Bellar’s FemMecha Nanny tries to protect David... Blue field masking and CGI were used on actors to preserve an “element of humanity”, says Winston, as the ’bots’ techy innards show. This blend of tech and emotion resonated throughout the rest of the film, which ended up warmly intelligent and coolly human. KH