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With all his genre references, one might think that Robert Rodriguez has a pretty big soft-spot for clbadic sci-fi cinema. And you would be right. From Alien and Encounters of the Third Kind to The Matrix and Avatar Science fiction had a considerable impact on the director's life and job.
From The Faculty to Planet Terror via his Spy Kids Rodriguez's films have always incorporated elements of science fiction. But his latest film, Alita: Battle Angel sees him launching into science fiction. Adapted from Yukito Kishiro's cyberpunk manga series, it takes place in the futuristic metropolis of Iron City and follows the titular heroine – an advanced warlike cyborg with a human brain – as she searches for answers to her mysterious past. Alita also sees Rodriguez collaborating with genre legend James Cameron, who co-wrote the script and helped bring the film to the big screen.
In the honor of Rodriguez's radio blockbuster, we thought we would ask the director to list his favorite 10 sci-fi movies and their influence on him. It has proved difficult for him to reduce them – so difficult, in fact, that we are done with 11. And here are his choices …
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
"I just reminded me of being a little kid, and they did this great marketing campaign where he was: "Encounter of the first guy … Encounter of the second guy …" And then the third guy was "Contact" – and he There was this light coming out from behind the mountain. It was really scary and spooky. As a child, the idea that extraterrestrials can visit has shaken all my imagination. For me, it was the first example of how someone who was simply writing an idea could just spark imagination in the schoolyard. Everyone would talk about it. This has aroused the curiosity of people. So I realized early on the power of storytelling – and movies in particular – to excite the mbades and burn their brains. It was pretty wild. The cinema was so amazed at the time. "
Star Wars (1977)
" I was nine years old when the first Star Wars came out. Just the name: Star Wars … It looked like all those planets were going to fight or something like that. It was only a joke and then it became such a phenomenon. After his release, you could not wait The Empire Strikes Back – and this one really shocked me. I saw Star Wars in the infinite. We just kept going back to the theater. At the time, you were going to watch a movie two or three times because there was no video output. You must have seen him several times at the theater, because you may never see him again!
Alien (1979)
"I loved the trailer with the revelation of the egg. It took a while, but getting into the whole atmosphere was so scary and cool. I was 12 when the movie came out, and it was rated R, so I was too young to see it. But once I went to the movie theater with my family to see a movie by Doug McClure or something like that, and my brother and I climbed to the top of our van to take a look at other films in progress. One of them was Alien . I saw the chestburster scene from the top of this van! It was so weird. This whole period in the film, where these ideas were so new, was fantastic. A horror film in space? Nobody had ever done that before! It was really a magical time. "
Escape From New York (1981)
" For a child, when one is 12 or 13 years old, it is usually the moment when your mind opens to what you want to be. It was then that I decided to become a filmmaker. I was already being prepared by these other films such as Alien and Star Wars but I had not decided to be filmmaker before seeing Escape From New York . From the moment I saw the trailer, it dazzled me. This helicopter was pbading a wall towards New York. And he was saying, "New York, 1997. The whole city is a maximum security fortified prison …" It was like: "Wow, you can just say that and show it as a wall model and a model from the helicopter and you just created the future. "The power of this movie was so impressive.
"I could say that it was a low budget movie, and that it was a John Carpenter movie – I had already seen the name on Halloween I loved how he told a great story with little money.This really excited me.And then the fact that he was writing the film, made the film and made the score … This guy must have all the fun of the world.I want this job! I had a lot of interest at this age.I loved to draw. I loved photography, I loved music, but I could not pick one that I liked, I felt everywhere, but then it's like, "Oh, if I'm doing a film, I can do all these things. "That's what really inspired me to be a filmmaker, and John and I are good friends now."
Blade Runner (1982)
"This movie is so iconic.It was not like a big movie stuffed with action; it's no longer a dark film, but the atmosphere was so thick. It was such an immersive world – you just wanted to go and stay and be in this world. It was like a kind of virtual reality. "
The Terminator (1984)
" With The Terminator James [Cameron] has become a household name every day. I saw this movie again and again and again at the theater. There were very good reviews for a low budget science fiction movie. That was not what his name suggested … There was another movie in the early 1980s called The Exterminator that told that a guy with a flamethrower kills people, but that is not that. I knew who Schwarzenegger was because my brother was a bodybuilding fan, but seeing him in the movie – it was not the same before.
"It was so incredibly filmed – it was just a run and super intense." It sounded like a night of fresh shit. I loved the scope of this low-budget movie – it was really smart, and I thought to myself: "Who's this guy?", I was already studying film at that time, so I quickly became a fan of James and swallow all the items I could find on him. "
Back To The Future (1985)
" It's very smart and very pure.Beautiful scenario, C is so well done by [Robert] Zemeckis – such a film that will please the crowd.The history gymnastics is breathtaking, you did not know what was going to happen afterward.Travel in time and do it in a really cool way , with the DeLorean and all the rest – it was just inventiveness in addition to inventiveness. This is an example of a filmmaker who has gee dizziness king and do stuff to excite the audience … and the public benefits. I really admired this pbadion. I thought, "I'd love to have a shit like this!"
Robocop (1987)
"With the satirical advantage of the film, it can be said that it was made by a stranger. [Paul] Verhoeven was able to comment on the United States in a way that we have never been able to. It really made us think of a mirror. It was really funny and really perfect, and a great satire. You know, it's not about a human with metal on the outside; it is a metal machine with a human inside. That's the really cool thing about it. There are Philip K Dick level science fiction ideas. "
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
" It's one of those amazing movies that go on and on and on, as much as you watch them. . Bruce [Willis] is fantastic in this. And Terry Gilliam is in top form. It's a big mystery. It's so complex and tragic. The music too … Everything in this film was running at full speed. "
The Matrix (1999)
" It seemed to really reinvigorate the genre, and visually it did things you had never seen before. I remember being in a bar and there was a lighted television in the background, the trailer went on and I saw the whole bar watching this guy in avoid bullets. "
Avatar (2009)
" I have known Jim [Cameron] for 25 years. I visited him on the set and I saw him turn the capture of the performance. He was showing This is an illustration made from the main characters of Na'vi – as a cover of National Geographic – and he added: "We hope to be able to get this photoreal but we will not know it for the next one. I thought, "You shoot blind like that?" But that's how Jim rolls. And now, I'm doing it We did not know what Alita would look like when we started firing. You have to cross your fingers. It's like jumping from a plane without a parachute. I would not have been able to do it if I had not seen it before – take the step, then see the gain.
"They never came to where he wanted to go. He wanted the Na'vi to be more photorealistic, but it worked anyway because they are extraterrestrials. We thought, "We have this safety net on Alita . If it does not look completely photorealistic, it's a cyborg. If it looks a bit plastic, it still works for the story. But that's the way you need to make advanced movies. You have to make a big leap in trust in technology because if it's already there, you're not really innovative.
Alita: Battle Angel is on sale the cinemas now.
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