MAN’S BEST FRIENDS
FINCH I It’s the end of the world as Tom Hanks knows it, but he has a dog and a robot for company.
How do you give the post-apocalypse subgenre an unexpected shot of humanity and warmth? Put Tom Hanks in it and give him (and his robot creation) a dog to look after. That’s the unusual, surprisingly heartfelt premise of Finch, which blends the scale of end-of-the-world sci-fi with the intimacy of a chamber piece.
“We’d always thought that if we treated Finch as a relationship drama road trip, it would ground the postapocalyptic setting, ground the sci-fi aspect so from the very beginning Scott Stokdyk [VFX supervisor] and I agreed on a process of filming that would always put the relationship drama first over the VFX requirements,” explains director Miguel Sapochnik (Game Of Thrones).
Adapted from a short film script, Finch is, according to Sapochnik, “a simple story about growing up and growing old.” The solar event that turned the world into a desolate wasteland is very much in the background, despite some huge visuals and impressive set-pieces; the film picks up with Finch, living in a bunker, making the occasional excursion outdoors for tinned food. He’s looking after his dog, Goodyear, and developing a robot to help look after the pupper in the event he no longer can.
If there’s anyone you want to be stuck with in an apocalyptic scenario, it’s Hanks, but there’s also another crucial actor in the film, even if he’s never physically seen on screen. Caleb Landry Jones is the human performer behind Jeff the robot, and according to Sapochnik, he was present for every single shot. “He acted alongside Tom every day in a displacement suit and stilts which is basically a partial costume so he looked in part like Jeff. Every detail of Jeff was taken from Caleb’s performance.”
Having him there helped realise the intention of shooting like a drama. “Almost the entire film was shot on location and Caleb, Tom and Seamus the dog were there every day,” says Sapochnik.
Ah yes, Seamus. The third paw in this three-hander. “He’s a rescue dog and has a very laid back attitude to everything,” explains the director. “Occasionally he’d play up - we accumulated some hilarious outtakes - but whenever it came to his coverage, he’d just light up and be done in one or two takes.”
As well as being an atypical apocalypse movie, it also feels like it’s arriving at just the right time, given that it was filmed in early 2019 but now lands in a post-pandemic landscape. “I think it’s more and more relevant [now],” considers Sapochnik. “The future it depicts is less and less science fiction and the story it tells is simple: We’ve lost touch with each other. We need to remember how to be with one another. Hope is what keeps us alive.” MM