Escapism helps deal with the world’s woes
Mortal Engines producer Sir Peter Jackson says the film is all about escapism, because we need it now more than ever. Kylie Klein-Nixon reports.
There’s never been a better time to check out of the world’s woes and watch an escapist film, says Sir Peter Jackson. ‘‘God knows, it’s not much fun [in the real world], when you read the Dom Post, or read Stuff,’’ he says, sitting with director Christian Rivers in the ADR suite at his post-production facility in Miramar, Wellington.
‘‘It’s not a good way to start the day, with all the stuff that’s happening in the world – not the fault of you guys, of course, you just report it.
‘‘But I just see films as a valuable opportunity to get away from that – just for a while – and go see something that’s not related to today’s world.’’
Jackson’s latest film Mortal Engines, a take on the novels by Philip Reeve, works as a parable for the world we live in right now, but in a way that’s fantasy escapism, rather than a lecture about the unending misery of the here and now.
But stories – ‘‘no matter how escapist’’ – still need some element of familiarity, says Jackson.
‘‘It’s a piece of fiction, it’s a piece of fantasy science fiction, but you still want to have connections in there that make people feel it’s as real as possible.’’
The film is set in a ‘‘post-post apocalyptic world’’ where cities have become huge, moving engines that tear up the landscape, hunting and devouring one another in a desperate quest for resources. Its cast is noticeably diverse.
‘‘The [real] world is becoming more diverse all the time, which is great,’’ he says. ‘‘So if you’re projecting forward 2000 to 3000 years, you could imagine it’s a complete melting pot.’’
‘‘What we’re really saying is people in 2000 or 3000 years’ time are still the same people as we are now. We recognise the passions and we recognise the zealotry. We recognise that and it’s important to still have that, because that’s part of making something like this believable.’’
‘‘It’s not that we’re out there to make a big political statement, but I think it’s important that people in the film are as passionately involved in their political beliefs, if you like, as people are now.’’
Rivers agrees: ‘‘That’s just the world, and it’s our world as well.’’
In the same way, there are political and ethical patterns humans fall into and we can find these hard to shake off.
‘‘That’s sort of what tractionism [the philosophy behind the moving cities] is too. They can probably pull up their cities and all stop moving, and get off and start farming the land and start living, but they’re in this pattern of behaviour of now, ‘this is how we do things and this is how we know to live’, and it’s destructive.’’
Ultimately, however, it’s not a ‘‘message film’’, but a film about two people facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles with tenacity and courage.
‘‘It is about Tom [played by Robert Sheehan]
and Hester [Hera Hilmarsdottir],’’ who face ‘‘terrible things’’, two ‘‘most unlikely people’’ finding the strength and courage to challenge that and overcome it.
Jackson says that tenacity makes Tom and Hester ‘‘the best’’ kind of movie heroes.
‘‘It’s never easy to stand up and be a force of opposition against something.
‘‘It’s easy to just keep your mouth shut and go with the status quo, but I think the best heroes in films are people who believe in something with such conviction that they’re prepared to put their lives on the line and try to affect change in the world.