Ed Loves Bacon - Speakeasy with ... Jonathan Mostow
Sometime in the foreseeable future, people will have fully articulate robotic avatars to improve their quality of life. That’s the premise behindSurrogates, the latest sci-fi thriller directed by Jonathan Mostow.
Mostow who enjoys using new technology in his filmmaking believes the future is closer than we may think. In the featurette, “A More Perfect You: The Science Of Surrogates,” Mostow along with production designer Jeff Mann and leading robotic experts explore current cybernetic technologies and attempt to bridge the gap between what is fact, and what is science fiction.
Based on the comic miniseries of the same name,Surrogates follows detective Greer (Bruce Willis) as he tries to uncover the mastermind behind a series of surrogate related murders.
On Friday, Mostow held a virtual press conference (true surrogacy) to discuss the film, his filmmaking and of course, the science and issues presented in Surrogates.
Surrogates. Directed by Jonathan Mostow. Stars Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell and James Cromwell. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray disc on January 26.
One of your film’s themes is the fears of technology. What are some of your own fears about technology and the future?
Some people have labeled this film as anti-technology. But I don’t see it that way. In fact, I love technology. I love using computers and gadgets. I love strolling through Best Buy and the Apple Store to see what’s new. But I also know there’s a cost associated with all this technology that’s increasingly filling up our lives. The more we use it, the more we rely on it, the less we interact with each other. Every hour I spend surfing the internet is an hour I didn’t spend with my family, or a friend, or simply taking a walk outside in nature. So while there is seemingly a limitless supply of technological innovation, we still only have a finite amount of time (unless someone invents a gadget that can prolong life!) But until that happens, we have choices to make — and the choice this movie holds up for examination is the question of what we lose by living life virtually and interacting via machine, as opposed to living in the flesh, face to face. I hope that’s a conversation that will arise for people who watch Surrogates.
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