In Roland Emmerich's Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit and sends it hurtling on a collision course for Earth. With the world on the brink of annihilation, it's down to three unlikely heroes to mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space to make things right. However, it's then they find out that our moon isn't quite what we think it is.
You don't need us to tell you that Emmerich has had a legendary career, and he's obviously best known for helming classic disaster movies like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. Moonfall might be his most ambitious project yet, and we were fortunate enough to catch up with the filmmaker this past weekend to discuss...well, blowing up the moon!
In our exclusive video interview below, the director talks us through his approach to blowing up iconic cities and landmarks, and shares his take on why this disaster genre resonates with moviegoers.
Emmerich also ponders the possibility of shooting a film in space, what led to him casting Game of Thrones alum John Bradley, and why this specific story is one he wanted to tell. Our time with the director was short, but we made the most of it, and we're sure you'll enjoy watching our conversation.
Moonfall is set to be released exclusively in theaters on February 4.
I couldn’t help but think today that, as a filmmaker, you’ve brought aliens to Earth, ushered in an ice age, and had a giant lizard rampaging through New York, but what about the moon being knocked out of orbit appealed to you as a filmmaker and made this a story you wanted to tell?
Well, I read a book called ‘Who Built The Moon?’ maybe ten years ago, and that kind of sparked some sort of idea: ‘Okay, so if the moon is falling on Earth and we maybe learn through that that it’s not what we think it is.’ [That] was always kind of the main idea. Then, you just have to figure out how to tell the story. You want to have NASA involved. You want to have a conspiracy theorist involved and the clash of that alone [Laughs] is fun. Then you fly up there and hopefully stop the moon!
I have to say, while I was watching the film, my jaw was on the floor, especially on the scenes on Earth as we see various cities and landmarks get destroyed. It occurred to me that it’s something of an artform to destroy cities like that, so what would you say the secret ingredient is to pull that off and make it an effective spectacle for the audience?
You have to pace yourself. You have a little bit of destruction and then you heighten the destruction. I’m also really, really super proud of when the shuttle finally gets up in the air and we have this huge wave and it’s like a race against time as the kids watch. There are a lot of things happening in this film that I think are very involving and cool. That flight inside the moon is one of my favourite scenes.
Two phenomenal scenes you mention there. Talking of heading into outer space, [those scenes] look amazing in this film, but we do know some productions in future are looking to go into space for real. Is that something that interests and excites you as a filmmaker or do you think visual effects mean you don’t have to do that?
Well, I’m constantly discussing with myself as a person if I should go into space or not [Laughs] and if I kind of risk it. Today, you can do pretty much everything in CGI. I have the feeling it’s…when you see Star Wars or any one of these movies, it looks so believable now.
Someone who really stole the show here was John Bradley. Coming off Game of Thrones, he delivered a really different sort of character. What made his the right choice to play someone like KC?
It’s so interesting. My first idea was to hire him. Then, the studio or America distributor said, ‘Oh, can we not find somebody else?’ In the end, it was John Bradley [Laughs]. He was just the best actor for this and I always had a very, very interesting and very specific idea about him. He had to be a little more…you know, when you see him in this spacesuit, it just makes it feel fun because he’s not the slimmest. He has this amazing, amazing…he’s incredibly warm. When you talk to him, he’s incredibly warm, and that’s amazing when you think about it.
Finally, I was raised on films like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and Godzilla, but what about these disaster movies do you think resonates with people to this day, especially as we see theaters filled up with superheroes and sci-fi?
Well, for me, I think with Independence Day, I created my own genre. Every time when I’m doing a disaster film, it has to be totally different otherwise I’m not interested. The Day After Tomorrow was climate change. Then, 2012 was about worldwide floods. This one is just about the moon and I have the feeling it’s a totally different kind of film [again].