|
Roger
Christian Interview
Battlefield
Earth: A Different Story To Tell
For Director Roger Christian,
Battlefield Earth is an opportunity to do something vitally, distinctive
with science fiction film. At its heart, Battlefield Earth is a
vast compelling story, and it is his personal vision for capturing this
story’s essential humanity and its broad metaphoric resonances, as
well as its wild action and grand spectacle that drives Roger Christian
in the production of this film.
During a break between scenes,
while filming in the dark grottoes of a converted and de-commissioned
prison near Montreal, Roger shared some of his thoughts about Battlefield
Earth.
Battlefieldearth.com:
What attracted
you to this film?
Roger Christian:
From the beginning
I’ve been looking for different stories to tell. I enjoy science
fiction and the script for this one came into my hands just before Christmas,
1998. Although, I was doing something else at the time, I read the script
by Corey Mandel and liked it enormously.
It follows the classic theme
of the hero’s journey — the underdog, fighting to survive, saving
the world. And it all takes place within the intensely provocative premise
of a primitive world of Earth’s future, fallen back to barbarism.
When I had seen this great
script, I thought, ‘well, I’d better read the book,’ and
when I did — that was emphatically it. I’ve read a lot of works
of science fiction but categorically Battlefield Earth is one of
the very best science fiction novels that I have read. The vision of the
film, the magnitude of its concept, comes fully and directly from the
book. Hubbard’s voice is strong; he is a great science fiction writer.
I embrace the idea that there
can be multiple levels to a good film. I think the better films have an
underscore underneath the ‘ride,’ which is what the action story
is. The underscore of Battlefield Earth is the story of human beings
who find that if you don’t accept the limitations of your world,
and you are able [to] look beyond them, you can take another step up.
It’s like going from three dimensions to four dimensions, a quantum
leap in hope and aspiration.
In the film, as in the novel,
this is very well portrayed by primitive men who’ve forgotten who
they are and lost the rudiments of their history — something, which
could happen quite easily in a post-holocaust situation. The hero encounters
the device of a learning machine, and through this he is exposed to knowledge
— the higher knowledge of the day of that far millennium. This comes
to a primitive who has forgotten his past, the legacy of a plundered greatness,
and he takes that leap up, remembering and realizing his potential and
the potential of his society and his people.
That’s what empowers
them, in fact, to defeat the alien race that dominates them. That’s
what gives them their strength and their hope. It’s literally expanding
the mind that leads them to success.
Battlefieldearth.com:
From what you’re
saying, it sounds like the film is a sci-fi adventure but it is also very
much a human story, a metaphor really.
Roger Christian:
I think the
film is a metaphor, in its largest context, for the human race.
A keenly sharpened metaphor for the millennium, as well, for our coming
into the new age and a new time, and a new stage for conflict on a cosmic
scale — and for urgent strivings for higher level, larger goals that
come always from inside, not outside the human experience.
This is certainly an underpinning
of the film. And it’s there for the taking.
But Battlefield Earth
is also a straight-ahead, full throttle, ultimate action ride. I mean
you won’t believe the pace and tempo. We’ve loaded it with more
action than was in the original script, raised velocity of events, the
swift interplay of characters toward a climax that keeps building and
building, and just doesn’t quit. I can’t wait to see it myself.
Check back for more discussions
with Roger Christian about the Battlefield Earth scenario, the
actors, the production design and more in coming updates to battlefieldearth.com
 Back
|