Blog Archive

Time travel: Inception, Donnie Darko, Source Code, Looper, etc.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur in "Inception" (2010) directed by Christopher Nolan

"Inception" Timeline graphic

"Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has no limits." — philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Up to this point in his career, Jake Gyllenhaal can be found, most notably, in an unique and surreal cult film ("Donnie Darko"), in sharply observed American indies ("The Good Girl," "Lovely & Amazing"), tense Middle East conflict dramas ("Jarhead," "Rendition"), a David Fincher-directed serial-killer thriller ("Zodiac"), an English-language remake of a Danish dogma piece ("Brothers"), and an Oscar-winning love story between two men ("Brokeback Mountain," opposite Heath Ledger, of course).
Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal as Christina and Colter filming "Source Code" (2011)

"Source Code", "a science-fiction action thriller" with Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, and Jeffrey Wright, from Duncan Jones, the director of the eerie art-house android piece "Moon".Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell in "Moon" (2009)

"Love and Other Drugs", a romantic comedy with Gyllenhaal as a pharmaceutical salesman who woos Anne Hathaway. Ed Zwick wrote and directed.
"Annie and I definitely got pretty intimate, because there are a lot of love scenes in the movie, a lot of sexy scenes in that movie. You have to let it all hang out, so to speak." Source: www.newsobserver.com

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Bobby in "Uncertainty" (2009)
Bruce Willis in W magazine photoshoot (2009)

"Rian Johnson’s sci-fi thriller Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is scheduled to begin filming in January 2011, according to Production Weekly.
The script, written by Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), is set in the near future a few decades before the invention of time travel. An unseen crime syndicate sends its victims back in time where the bodies are shot and disposed of by blunderbuss-wielding killers called “loopers.”
Gordon-Levitt is one of these loopers, carrying out his deadly duty until the arrival of his future, 57-year-old self (played by Willis). Unable to “close his loop” and end his future, Joe and “Old Joe” go on the run from the syndicate. It’s very 12 Monkeys, but the characters, particularly a woman named Sara, are reminiscent of early entries in The Terminator series. A telekinesis mutation only amplifies the action and mind-bending suspense. I checked out one of the early drafts and it is one of the best scripts I have ever read. This is absolutely a project to watch for, sci-fi fans.Johnson’s latest and Duncan Jones’ upcoming film Source Code are two excitingly fresh perspectives on time travel that I can only hope will reinvigorate the genre. While Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel is worrying fans of the classic original(s) and the Star Trek series is gearing up for its twelfth space mission, a new generation of bright filmmakers — those two, plus District 9’s Neill Blomkamp, Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski, Carl Rinsch and several others — are ensuring science fiction will continue to be a source of creativity, limitless possibilities, and boundary-breaking technology long after Scott, James Cameron, and George Lucas hang it up. Hyperbolic, maybe, but I’m geeking out over what’s to come". Source: www.newsinfilm.com