With Jupiter Ascending out now, let’s take a look at 11 / 12 things you probably didn’t
know about the Wachowskis’ sci-fi adventure!
Caine Wise may zip and zoom about on a pair of air-surfing boots, but in reality, actor
Channing Tatum used a pair of skates on a system of ramps, platforms and cables to give
the feeling of airborne movement. With the help of 6 men pulling wires behind
a green screen, Tatum rollerbladed at 4 and a half miles per hour on a giant three-sided
treadmill four metres long and two metres wide.
The wheels of the skates, of course, were erased during post-production!
Pro inline skater Cory Miller from California, and vert skater Taïg Khris from France helped
train Channing Tatum and the Jupiter Ascending stunt team.
Tatum had no previous rollerblading experience, and in the beginning found it tough to skate
fast and still stop in time to throw or block a punch.
But according to the actor, he started to get the hang of it when he just kept his skates
on all day!
Taïg Khris is best known for his 2010 drop from the Eiffel Tower onto a vert ramp which
broke the world record for the highest inline skate jump.
But he also performed Caine Wise’s leap from the second floor balcony of the Great
Hall in the Natural History Museum, which doubled for Kalique’s palace.
And he “flew” through Ely Cathedral, which doubled as the chapel on Titus’ ship.
Caine Wise is a genetically-engineered human whose DNA was spliced with that of a wolf.
Director Lana Wachowski discovered that real wolves hunt in packs and that wolves exiled
from the pack, as Caine was in Jupiter Ascending, almost always die unless they become a super-hunter.
Caine’s splice of wolf DNA enhances his skills and heightens his senses.
Over 1.3 million Swarovski crystals were used on the film’s costumes.
Jupiter’s white and ruby gown, for example, features hundreds of crystals as well as hand-made
flowers, and a headdress of ruby flowers and more crystals.
Also, 3D printing was used to create both Jupiter’s headdress and some of the jewellery
seen in the movie.
The movie’s first big action sequence, which begins at Chicago’s Willis Tower and darts
under bridges and above the city’s skyline, is a blend of physical stunts by the actors
and stunt doubles, practical location shots, visual effects, and green-screen stage work.
It took an amazing 8 months of planning to carry out the aerial work in that scene.
First, the Jupiter Ascending crew perfected the stunt choreography in the safe environment
of Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden in the UK.
After that, they did test runs in Long Beach, California, to confirm that performers suspended
from helicopters could carry out a series of flying poses, while being filmed by cameras
positioned on other helicopters. Once filming proper began, parts of downtown
Chicago were closed and completely evacuated in the early morning and nightfall for two
weeks. This was so that low-level helicopters with
Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis’s stunt doubles suspended from them could fly around buildings,
while a second helicopter filmed the action. At the same time, a third helicopter filmed
background plates for the hundreds of visual effects shots of downtown Chicago’s destruction.
On top of this, there were 4 camera crews on rooftops along the route to capture additional
footage. Because big-action chase scenes are so complicated,
they’re typically shot in daylight or at night to give filmmakers as much time as possible
to get all the shots they need. However, the Wachowskis wanted to film just
before sunrise to capture the unique look and feel of that time of day.
That meant their shoot had a very tight schedule; just 30 minutes from 5.15am to 5.45am, to
be precise!
To capture the best action shots on location, the movie’s visual effects supervisor Dan
Glass and cinematographer John Toll created a new 6-camera rig named the Panocam, which
was fixed to a helicopter. This new rig captured super-wide angle views
at very high resolutions for many shots, which they later painted their computer-generated
images on to.
CG creature Greeghan, who’s one of Balem’s deadly royal guards, is a sort of 7-foot tall
lizard with a 20-foot wingspan and a whip-like tail.
To prepare for his motion-capture performance, actor Ariyon Bakare, who portrays Greeghan,
studied the movements of lizards such as Komodo dragons, and aimed to combine human intelligence
with a reptile’s agility and unpredictability.
The design of the spaceships in Jupiter Ascending was influenced by the history of transportation
and the fact that rich people have always travelled in style.
The Wachowskis wanted to reflect this by giving their spaceships a sense of opulence they
thought was generally missing in sci-fi movies. The film’s various spacecraft are sleek
and agile, with designs inspired by nature, for example, insects or birds of prey.
Production Designer Hugh Bateup adapted the hallways and display areas at London’s Natural
History Museum to create the set of Kalique’s palace.
Later, gilded domes and spires were added digitally.
The chapel scene on Titus’s ship was filmed at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England.
Production designer Hugh Bateup combined the Cathedral’s sandstone gothic features with
modern steel-framed window structures and light fixtures created by set decorator Peter
Walpole and the prop department. As for the overall look of Titus’s home,
that was influenced by a variety of styles including Gothic and Art Deco architecture,
as well as the huge pillars of old English churches, and the wood finishes and brass
or gold trim of mid-19th-century luxury yachts.
Balem’s home is a vast space which includes a lab and refinery, and brings to mind both
a steel mill and a supercollider. To create that world, the crew constructed
enormous sets at Leavesden Studios and the visual effects team surrounded those sets
with floor-to-ceiling green screens. Balem’s world is a spin on gothic and industrial
styles, with added opulence.
Well there you have it, 12 things you probably didn't know about Jupiter Ascending!
Now, tell me, what’s your favourite sci-fi movie?
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