Director Gareth Edwards Talks 'The Creator' and Artificial Intelligence
Moviefone speaks with director Gareth Edwards about 'The Creator'. "I love robots, explosions and spaceships, and that's why I started making the film."
Opening in theaters on September 29th is the new sci-fi action thriller ‘The Creator,’ which was directed by Gareth Edwards (‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,’ ‘Godzilla’).
What is the plot of ‘The Creator’?
Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (John David Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory only to discover the world-ending weapon he's been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Creator’?
- John David Washington ('Amsterdam') as Joshua
- Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alfie
- Gemma Chan ('Eternals') as Maya
- Ken Watanabe ('Batman Begins') as Harun
- Sturgill Simpson ('Queen & Slim') as Shipley
- Allison Janney ('I, Tonya') as Howell
- Ralph Ineson ('The Green Knight') as Andrews
- Veronica Ngo ('Da 5 Bloods') as Kami
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Gareth Edwards about his work on ‘The Creator,’ what fans can expect from the new movie, the themes of AI that he wanted to explore, the friendship Joshua and Alfie form, and working with actors John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles.
'The Creator' director Gareth Edwards.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, what would you say to audiences sitting down to watch this film to prepare them for the theatrical experience they are about to have?
Gareth Edwards: If They've already decided to go and they bought their ticket, I would say nothing at all. If they haven't, I would say, it's very hard to talk about a film without doing any spoilers whatsoever. I'd just say, "It's not what you think It's going to be." The title of this movie, when we were making it, was called ‘True Love.’ It's a very emotional journey, I hope. That is the thing. The thing I'm most hearing about now as we're starting to show the film to people, is how they are surprised about how they were affected, emotionally, watching the film. I mean, I love robots and explosions and spaceships, and that's why I started making the film, but it's all for nothing if it doesn't give you the feels.
A still on the set of 20th Century Studios' 'The Creator.' Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Related Article: 'The Creator' Trailer
MF: Can you talk about developing the story and the themes of Artificial intelligence that you wanted to explore with this movie?
GE: I think when you sit down and go, "I want to make a movie about prejudice," or whatever the theme is, if you do that, you're going to make a terrible film. You lock onto something that super interests you. For me, it was the idea of, essentially, if you've seen the materials, there's a little AI child at the heart of this movie. John David Washington's character is essentially sent to kill it. He can win the war and save humanity if he just kills this kid. In the process of taking the kid to be assassinated, he starts to question everything he believes and gets very torn, and everyone is pursuing them and all those things. When you land on something that interests you like that, as you're writing it, it starts to tell you what the theme is. You get themes about prejudice and about xenophobia or whatever, and then you try to help that, like a child who grows up and tells you what it wants to be when it's older. It's like a story does that too. You try to encourage it. But I hate films that preach to you and I love films with gray morally. I am going to be fascinated what people think when they come out and how it makes them feel about AI and everything, because I try to take people on quite a journey and I'm not sure everyone fully appreciates. I think they think they know what the movie's going to do and I hope it doesn't do that.
(L to R) John David Washington as Joshua and Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alphie in 20th Century Studios' 'The Creator.' Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the very “human relationship” that Joshua and Alfie form together and creating that chemistry with John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles?
GE: Yeah, it was super important that the two of them had that chemistry. It was fundamental to the entire movie. Madeleine, she is beyond her years. She's like a reincarnated brilliant actress from some other era, I think, because a six-year-old girl should not be able to do that kind of performance she did. Basically, she's very introverted. You know what I mean? She's very shy, and so it was hard to get into her bubble and become a friend of hers. She keeps everyone at a distance in a good way. Also, we were in the middle of nowhere in the jungles of Thailand shooting this movie. I couldn't blame her. But then John David worked really hard to become her best friend and he cracked it. It was really hilarious to watch, because when you do a take and an actor needs to stay in the zone, they're doing something emotional or something, and what happens, you say, "Cut," and they go off into the corner and they won't talk to anyone. They need their little space. He would go off into the corner. Madeleine would just get up, follow him, hold his hand, and start talking about some toy she really liked at home and that she played with, or tell him some random story, the way kids do, that's completely just something only a kid can say. You'd be hearing this cracking up. John David was such a nice guy. He'd lean down and talk to her, and play, and get all enthusiastic with her. He became her big brother and best friend. They had had a long period of not seeing each other. It was her birthday the other week. We went to Disneyland with her and with John David. Her eyes, just the whole day, it was like she'd been reunited with her best mate. It was beautiful.
(L to R) Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alphie, Gemma Chan as Maya, and Director Gareth Edwards on the set of 20th Century Studios' 'The Creator.' Photo by Glen Milner. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Other Movies Similar to ‘The Creator':
- 'Paper Moon' (1973)
- 'Apocalypse Now' (1979)
- 'Blade Runner' (1982)
- 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' (1982)
- 'The Terminator' (1984)
- 'The Hit' (1985)
- 'Rain Man' (1988)
- 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (1991)
- 'Baraka' (1993)
- 'The Matrix' (1999)
- 'Children of Men' (2006)
- 'District 9' (2009)
- ‘Monsters' (2010)
- 'Gravity' (2013)
- 'Elysium' (2013)
- 'Godzilla' (2014)
- 'Chappie' (2015)
- 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' (2016)
- 'BlacKkKlansman' (2018)
- 'Tenet' (2020)
- 'Malcolm & Marie' (2021)
- 'Beckett' (2021)
- 'Amsterdam' (2022)
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‘The Creator’ is produced by New Regency Pictures, 20th Century Studios, McFarland Entertainment, and Entertainment One, and will be in theaters on September 29th.
