# Children of Men (2006) | Ep. 75 - Part 1

An episode of [All The Right Movies](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1471502633), 13 Mar 2026, 1 h 09 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO8471258956.mp3

We're in 2027 with Alfonso Cuarón to begin a dystopian classic. John, Westy, and Matt dive into the story of how Cuarón created one of cinema's most visually stunning achievements — a film that turned a difficult-to-adapt novel into a breathtaking technical marvel. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Alfonso Cuarón, the cast, and the second act, exploring Clive Owen's career-best performance (YMMV) and why the world-building feels so unnervingly real. Part 2, covering the crew, the finale, reception, and the film's legacy, is available now. Telling the story of Hollywood, one film at a time. Connect with ATRM: To join our fantastic community of film fans, support what we do, access our archive, listen to exclusive episodes, and a whole lot more, become an ATRM patron: Join the ATRM Community We're available on any podcast platform: Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify YouTube: Subscribe to our channelWe're across all major social channels too: Twitter: @ATRightMovies Instagram: @allthe_rightmovies Facebook: Join our movie group Bluesky: @alltherightmovies.com TikTok: @alltherightmovies Website: alltherightmovies.com

## Transcript

[0:06] Children of Men was released in 2006 and became one of the
[0:09] century's most prescient dystopian visions.
[0:12] The story of one man's reluctant journey to protect the only
[0:15] pregnant woman on earth, the movie is an exploration of hope
[0:18] and humanity in the midst of societal collapse.
[0:21] My name is John and the infertile amigos with me are
[0:25] Westie. He was 19.
[0:29] And Matt? Baby Diego, come on, the guy was
[0:32] a wanker. It's 2027 and all the right
[0:35] movies are talking pandemics, propaganda and Pink Floyd.
[0:38] But first, go on, pull more finger.
[1:01] Hello, and welcome to all the right movies.
[1:04] Humanity's last hope. Not really, thankfully.
[1:07] Thankfully. Yeah, we'll be screwed.
[1:10] We would be, but we are telling the story of Hollywood one film
[1:13] at a time, and this episode puts things into perspective, doesn't
[1:18] it? It certainly does.
[1:19] Too much perspective. Too much perspective.
[1:21] Too much bloody perspective if anything.
[1:23] Yeah, so this week it's all about a child of Future as we
[1:26] get into Alfonso Cuaron's dystopian downer, Children of
[1:29] Men. Downer.
[1:32] Before we pull the pin on mankind though, worried about
[1:34] our ATR and patrons? Let's do the happy stuff first.
[1:37] Yeah, yeah. If you like what we do on our
[1:39] flagship episode like this, you can support us and get bonus
[1:42] content by becoming an ATRM Patron.
[1:45] Patrons get our monthly bonus show double feature where we
[1:48] talk 2 films and the watch list, our monthly review show, as well
[1:52] as access to the entire back catalog of bonus episode and
[1:55] archived episodes of this, our main show.
[1:57] And you'll receive our monthly newsletter and Lords more as
[2:00] well. Lords More and the six films on
[2:02] the Watch list as well. Exactly.
[2:04] Yeah, so if you'd like to stop in futures, in that archive we
[2:07] have the Terminator and Blade Runner 2049.
[2:10] Lovely. We do all the periods and John
[2:12] was a cover door. Yeah, an opportunity that's so
[2:14] good it could even cheer up Clive on, maybe.
[2:17] Possibly. It would take a lot, but
[2:19] possibly, yeah. Like a big bottle of Bells.
[2:23] So we'll go to patreon.com/all the Right Movies or hit the
[2:26] subscribe button on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube for
[2:29] access. Absolutely.
[2:31] But Children of Men, it's bleak. It's Graham, which can mean only
[2:35] one thing, Wesley. This was your choice, Wesley.
[2:39] So why are we talking about it? Well, I mean, I believe the
[2:42] children are our future. That's on the soundtrack.
[2:46] That is, it was my version that didn't involve it.
[2:49] I mean, this film for me really, really stands out.
[2:53] It always has. It was really affecting the
[2:55] first time I saw it, 2006. I didn't quite get it then, but
[2:59] Christ, I get it now. It's aged so well.
[3:02] For a start, it was incredible in the cinema.
[3:04] Remember it finished and it was silence, but everyone was scared
[3:07] to move first just in case. We're just kind of like, it was
[3:10] just that moment where it was just really somber and I still
[3:14] get it now. I think it's impact has not
[3:16] lessened over the years. I think it's just got stronger
[3:18] and it's just become even more terrifying.
[3:20] To watch this film you really need to plug in, you really need
[3:23] to sit down. This was made for the cinema and
[3:26] I don't think it was out long enough for people to really
[3:27] appreciate it. I would love for this to come
[3:29] out for another run, people to go back and sit, watch it, come
[3:32] out and talk about it properly because I really do think it's a
[3:35] film that people need to sit up and listen to.
[3:38] Yeah, I was a way of children and men before the film because
[3:41] as a teenager I went through a phase where I devoured all these
[3:44] classic dystopian science fiction novels like Nice 1984,
[3:47] Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, all that kind of stuff.
[3:50] And one of them was The Children of Men by PD James Nice.
[3:54] I like the book. So when I heard a film
[3:55] adaptation was in the works a few years later, I was really
[3:57] excited for it. And I knew Alfonso Quran from
[4:00] the Harry Potter film you directed.
[4:01] Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
[4:02] The best Harry Potter film for me.
[4:04] Yeah, so knew we had knife of visuals and storytelling and
[4:07] first time round children to men the film, it didn't disappoint,
[4:10] right. So obviously I'll talk about why
[4:11] as we go, but there's a lot to cover on this.
[4:14] The pretty unique concept is interesting, Yeah.
[4:16] The themes explores all as well. Some big names in the cast, some
[4:19] big names in the crew and the first time we've coming off on
[4:22] so Quran. Yeah, I mean that was a
[4:23] guarantee at some point, I think.
[4:25] Yeah, it won't be the last time either, I imagine.
[4:27] No, definitely not. No.
[4:29] This should be a great place to start.
[4:30] Absolutely. And Matt, what's your deal with
[4:32] Children of men? I think this one is one that is
[4:36] permanently flying under the radar.
[4:37] And I know that's not contradictory considering it won
[4:40] the poll, but this is a film where not everyone knows it, but
[4:43] the people who do know it get very, very passionate about it.
[4:47] Yeah. And I'll be honest, it's flown
[4:48] under the radar bit for me as well.
[4:50] It's not one I've watched a lot, and that's because of one
[4:52] particular thing about it really, which I'll address when
[4:55] we get there. So I'll just say two more things
[4:57] about it. Firstly, I'm really, really glad
[4:59] I've come back to it and given it the attention it deserves.
[5:02] And secondly, as we've been saying watching this in the year
[5:05] of our lot, it's one hell of a trip.
[5:07] Yeah, yeah, it really is so. Children of Men was produced by
[5:11] Strike Entertainment, Hit and Run Productions and Tour Tour
[5:14] distributed by Universal Pictures and released on
[5:16] September the 22nd, 2006. Filmed in England, Argentina and
[5:20] Uruguay, it was directed by Alfonso Cuaron with a screenplay
[5:23] by Cuaron, Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and
[5:27] Hulk Osby. Based on PD James 1992 novel The
[5:30] Children of Men, it starred Clive Owen is Theo Farin Clay
[5:34] Hope Asherty as Key. She would tell edgy of four as
[5:37] Luke, Julianne Muaz, Julian Taylor and Michael Caine as
[5:40] Jasper Palmer. And John Lennon.
[5:42] The old hippie. John Lennon.
[5:46] Well, let's get ourselves to London 2027 then, should we?
[5:49] Yeah, let's do that. It's the morning commute in the
[5:51] big smoke. It's the beginning of Children
[5:54] of men. The beginning.
[6:01] Children of Men opens not with The Big Bang, but a Big Bang.
[6:04] As we're thrown into 16th November 2027.
[6:07] We're going to be talking about the moments we are heroes
[6:09] abducted by an immigrant's rights group.
[6:11] But first, that explosion and the intro to some key
[6:14] characters. Yeah, so we start with Theo
[6:17] Farron in a crowded London cafe and the world mourning the death
[6:19] of BB Diego, the world's youngest person, is the pause.
[6:23] Terrorist bomb explodes. And we then meet Theo's best
[6:25] pal, Jasper, the Woodstock throwback.
[6:29] Coffee is the star, Westie. Yeah, good way to begin the day
[6:31] for you. Yeah, 2 sugars.
[6:33] Lovely. No sweeteners.
[6:34] No, just whiskey Irish. I just make it Irish.
[6:40] I mean, this is an incredible sequence.
[6:41] There's been so many times one of my pet haters when I'm
[6:43] watching a film with someone on the wall halfway through and
[6:45] that. When's this going to start?
[6:47] You ever experienced that? I fucking hear that.
[6:50] And this is one of them films where you go, there you go, it
[6:53] started bang right in your face and you cannot ignore it.
[6:57] It's so powerful, it's so well done, but there's so much in
[7:00] this one sequence that makes it so exciting and paints the
[7:03] picture of the whole film. I mean, there's the woman
[7:05] holding the dog that you don't realize anything about, but then
[7:08] pets are like children, so they're immediately evident.
[7:11] What's that doing in the coffee shop, what you're holding it
[7:12] for? Theo comes in, ignores the
[7:15] television. He's totally apathetic.
[7:17] He doesn't give a shit. He just wants the coffee
[7:18] straight in, straight out. This obsession with Diego down
[7:21] to the minute that he lived, you just do what he spat in the face
[7:25] of this fan. That's going to come back later
[7:27] with Key. We'll get into that.
[7:28] That's really important foreshadowing.
[7:30] So it's got all of these kind of little details where if you look
[7:33] at it, it's really interesting. And then he goes outside and
[7:36] it's even more interesting because you just think, holy
[7:38] shit, that is London next year. We're not 1,000,000 miles away
[7:42] from this at all. parts of London do look like this.
[7:45] It's just incredibly well done. These huge screens, they're just
[7:48] as rubbish everywhere. There's cash for organs, that
[7:52] cash for kidneys on the sides of bus advertisements.
[7:55] There's this Niagara thing which obviously kind of like a sex
[7:58] help. It's just a place that you don't
[8:00] necessarily want to be. But he just walks past two
[8:03] police. They're obviously not doing
[8:04] anything with the city wish. They're not doing anything to
[8:06] help anything. And just pouring whiskey into
[8:08] his coffee. What could should be the morning
[8:11] in broad daylight in the middle of everybody.
[8:14] You just think, well, well, this guy's not happy, is he?
[8:17] What's the point in being sober? This is just grim.
[8:20] And there's just that incredible because it's all done in the
[8:23] one. There's an invisible cut off
[8:24] way, I think, but it seems like this is done in that one shot
[8:27] and the camera just moves around just so nicely and you get that
[8:31] wallop of that explosion and just start ringing.
[8:34] Yeah. Now that cut to that title
[8:36] sequence is one of the most powerful moments.
[8:39] I love it. But I love it when it just smash
[8:41] cuts like that. When it's just you're in the
[8:42] middle of something, you're kind of halfway through breathing in.
[8:45] You're like it stops you breathing out.
[8:48] It's almost like ATV show more than a film in some ways.
[8:50] At that point, yeah, I think a lot of, like TV shows from then
[8:53] have just really taken this on board and went, oh, that's how
[8:56] you do the first episode and then you would end it, say,
[8:58] right, we're into the second one.
[8:59] So people have taken full episodes from this one sequence
[9:02] and this one explosion from there.
[9:04] It's just really interesting how this it's totally, totally just
[9:07] run-of-the-mill a terrorist attack.
[9:09] Don't know who the terrorists are and nobody's bothered about
[9:11] it. It's just this world that is so
[9:14] far away from your psyche but so close to you physically that is
[9:18] just so terrifying about this film.
[9:19] And this opening sequence sets it up.
[9:21] If it cuts to that children a men title sequence and you feel
[9:23] uncomfortable, don't watch the rest of it because it just sets
[9:28] the tone. Beautiful.
[9:30] Well, I love a good dystopian science fiction film, Obviously.
[9:32] Obviously. And one of my favorite part is
[9:34] always the first I can see how to build the world up.
[9:37] Yeah. And within minutes, he had
[9:38] obvious we're in safe hands. We're on that shot in the coffee
[9:41] shop. Literally everyone watching the
[9:43] broadcast about baby Diego. He doesn't tell us it's big
[9:45] news. He just shows us.
[9:47] The only thing I've seen that in real life is like 911 or
[9:50] something or England in the World Cup.
[9:52] But love the tracking shot in the London streets, the digital
[9:55] ads in the background that are like propaganda and all the
[9:57] multiculturalism on the street. Yeah, the colours are all like
[10:00] grim and desaturated. They're always feeding us in for
[10:03] and creating the world, like in the background.
[10:05] Yeah. But also the building, the card
[10:06] out. Theo as well, because we're
[10:08] seeing just after this in his office.
[10:09] He's just been involved in the terrorist attack.
[10:11] But the thing that he uses next used to get out of work is the
[10:14] death of baby Diego. Yeah.
[10:15] So the priorities of him in society, you seem a bit lost or
[10:19] different at least. So it's a different world, but
[10:22] still really recognizable to us, I think.
[10:25] Yeah, not in 2006 as much, but like the amount of places now
[10:28] where it's please report suspicious activity and you're
[10:30] is that right? Is it your bag?
[10:32] Is someone else touched it? Let's look.
[10:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back then it was kind of like,
[10:35] yeah, we're never going to be that paranoid.
[10:39] Yeah. OK.
[10:40] Well done Westy. And it's all done almost
[10:43] entirely with visuals and not many words.
[10:45] I love it. There's an opening.
[10:46] Yeah, it's great. And the terrorist attack takes
[10:49] place in Fleet Street and it was scheduled to be shot down
[10:51] location about a month earlier, though the London bombings on
[10:55] July 7th happened and Quran said he never considered changing the
[10:58] film location because London is so heavily part of the script.
[11:02] Yeah. Yeah, he said at that point it
[11:04] would have been impossible to film anywhere but London.
[11:07] I mean, that's something that wasn't it.
[11:08] The script was like on the money unfortunately.
[11:11] On the money, Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's not the last
[11:13] thing we'll be saying that, no. Definitely not and the scene is
[11:18] presented as being one continuous take, but it's
[11:20] actually two shots together. The visual effects supervisor
[11:23] Fraser Churchill said it was filmed over 2 days.
[11:26] Day one, the film, the coffee shop and TV's and Theo walking
[11:29] out onto the street. Then day 2 they captured the
[11:32] explosion in the aftermath. The two shots were then combined
[11:35] digitally to create the effect of one on broken take.
[11:38] Right. Yeah, so 2 main effect teams
[11:40] worked on this double negative and frame store.
[11:43] Two were the big boys. And the explosion had to be two
[11:46] shots, really, the first shots in the cafe, like you say.
[11:48] And then for the shot in the street, they had to empty the
[11:50] coffee shop and then rig it with explosives.
[11:52] Yeah, so they didn't just blow the extras up.
[11:55] No. James Cameron.
[11:56] No, it's James. Cameron.
[11:58] No loads of tea ladies in there. And double negative where the
[12:03] effects team who did this shot in.
[12:05] The transition between the two takes comes in the couple of
[12:07] seconds when Theo looks in the window and sees his reflection.
[12:11] Right. Yeah.
[12:11] Yeah, it's really clever, that transition.
[12:14] It's totally seamless. But if you watch it again, I
[12:16] think you'd probably pick it out just because there's nowhere
[12:18] else that can transition it, really.
[12:19] Yeah, if it's just one of these, isn't it?
[12:21] Yeah. Yeah, and Double Negative's work
[12:23] on this shot didn't end there. The couple who get blown across
[12:26] the street were stunt actors added digitally imposed.
[12:29] We also see the Shard skyscraper in the background, and that
[12:32] wasn't built until 2009, so they added it based on architectural
[12:36] drawings. And Double Negative also added
[12:38] all the digital ads to the buses and screens and post production.
[12:42] Amazing. Yeah, I love all those others
[12:44] world building. It's like a bit of future tech,
[12:45] but also a short of the propaganda of the world.
[12:48] Yeah, yeah. It's only said about 20 years in
[12:50] the future from when it was made, but this is one of the
[12:52] best future predictions I've ever seen.
[12:54] Yeah, definitely. Slightly more accurate than Back
[12:56] to the Future Part 2? Just slightly.
[12:58] Though the opening scene has a cameo from the author of the
[13:03] novel, we see PD James is one of the people in the coffee shop.
[13:06] She's the older lady next to Theo, holding the dog.
[13:10] Yeah, lovely cameo, Yeah, great. And gets blown up within
[13:13] seconds. But apart from that, it is nice
[13:14] to see you. Yeah, yeah, great.
[13:16] Definitely and very obvious front and centre as well as.
[13:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great stuff.
[13:21] And then after this, we finally get a little bit of light relief
[13:25] when we meet Jasper. I mean, I'm not expecting to see
[13:27] Michael Caine as an age and hippie play an air base to
[13:30] juggle music, but I'm so glad that he's here.
[13:33] Yeah, because he's such a great character.
[13:35] Like, say, he brings a little bit of light relief that you
[13:37] need at this point. He tells jokes, pull my finger
[13:40] crap jokes, but they really work because he's the exact type of
[13:43] friend you need in a situation like this.
[13:45] But you get some brilliant visual storytelling as well.
[13:47] When they get to his house, that pan across the wall of photos
[13:51] and news clippings tells you all you need to know about who
[13:54] Jasper is, what he stands for. You know, no war in Iraq, which
[13:57] was still so relevant in 2006. We see what his wife stood for.
[14:01] And most disturbingly of all, or just how bad this totalitarian
[14:04] government is because they're not just victimizing refugees
[14:07] and immigrants, they're going after homeborn British citizens
[14:10] as well. You know his wife because she's
[14:13] refused to tore the government out and they've tortured her all
[14:15] out with not one word of dialogue at superb Brighton.
[14:18] Yeah, yeah, it is either opening shot as well that runs across
[14:22] all those pictures and papers to give the back story.
[14:24] They're a classic technique, isn't it?
[14:25] But that definitely reminds me of Back to the Future that
[14:28] starts the same way. Right.
[14:29] Yeah, yeah. No shot just by hanging off a
[14:31] clock, unfortunately. But apart from that, we do see
[14:34] pictures adjust for winning, like political cartoons of the
[14:36] year awards, which I like as a back story.
[14:38] Yeah. And there's more great world
[14:40] building. When we meet Jasper's wife,
[14:42] Janice, Yeah, she is catatonic from being tortured by the
[14:44] government. How dark is that?
[14:46] That's more 1984 vibes. And I think The thing is as
[14:49] well, to speak from Kane's performance, you can imagine him
[14:52] as a political cartoonist. Like you can see, yeah,
[14:54] definitely his sense of humour kind of comes across and it'd be
[14:57] really, really cutting. Yeah, really good.
[14:59] We also get to set up a Quietus, the legal euthanasia drug.
[15:02] Yeah. But narratively it's important
[15:03] because this is the only place in time and probably the whole
[15:06] film where we see Theo seem happy and relaxed.
[15:09] Yeah, shoes off on the doobies, having a lovely old time and we
[15:14] get the set up of the Pomo finger gag, which I could do
[15:16] without if I'm honest. Homer Simpson.
[15:21] Apart from that, Jasper's great. Obviously one of the few sources
[15:24] of joy in the film, so I totally buy it as well.
[15:26] Later on when Theo takes Key and Miriam to Jasper's to hide out.
[15:30] Yeah. And for anyone interested, yes,
[15:32] Jasper's weed strain, Strawberry cough.
[15:34] That is real. All right.
[15:36] OK. I'll take your word for it,
[15:37] John. Yeah.
[15:40] And Quran said that Kane based his performances Jasper on John
[15:43] Lennon. Kane had been friends with
[15:45] Lennon since they met in the 60s and he pitched the idea to Quran
[15:48] when they first met about Kane being in the film.
[15:50] Quran loved the idea. So Kane based Jasper's body
[15:53] language and nasal voice on Lennon, and the makeup and
[15:56] costume teams gave him Lennon style hair and glasses.
[15:59] Yeah, once you know that, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?
[16:01] Yeah. Mr. Frick not getting all four
[16:03] of them in there. Theo on the drums like Ringo.
[16:06] Great. But yeah, Kane and Lennon, I
[16:09] think they met of the 1965 Con Film Festival because Kane was
[16:12] promoting the Earthquest file and Lennon was there for help.
[16:16] All right, nice. And Jasper's back story is that
[16:19] he was a political activist, specifically a political
[16:21] cartoonist. He has some of his drones on
[16:23] display, and they were created by Steve Bell.
[16:26] He was a cartoonist for The Guardian newspaper at the time,
[16:29] famous for his political comic strip IF, which ran from 1982 to
[16:32] 2021. Yeah, it was really good.
[16:36] I did loads of stuff. Steve Bell.
[16:37] He also did some hard work for Sand Minister.
[16:39] The Clash album. All right.
[16:41] They weren't diverse to a bit of politics either.
[16:43] No, the cartoons are great. There's one of Bexhill, the
[16:46] refugee campus like Wish You Were Here postcard, whichever
[16:48] you like. Right.
[16:50] Yeah, great. And all of the four scenes in
[16:53] the film were shot at Bourne Woods in Surrey.
[16:55] This includes the scenes around Jasper's house and the car
[16:58] ambush, which we'll talk about shortly.
[17:00] Bourne Woods has since become a Hollywood go to location in the
[17:03] 21st century. Harry Potter, Jurassic World,
[17:05] and Marvel films have all shot there.
[17:07] And the Open and Battling Gladiator was shot there as
[17:09] well. Nice it.
[17:11] Was I think War was filmed there as well.
[17:13] Rightly, yeah, would have been. I'm surprised only ever left
[17:16] after I really Scott burned it all down.
[17:19] Yeah, it's just grown back. Yeah.
[17:23] And that's the opening to Children of Men, Explosions
[17:25] Ministries and Michael Caine as John Lennon.
[17:28] We've met Theo and Jasper. Time to meet the woman who's
[17:30] going to drag Theo back into the real world.
[17:33] Yeah. So back in London, Theo was
[17:37] kidnapped by an underground resistance movement called the
[17:39] Fishes, led by Theo's ex-wife Julian Taylor.
[17:43] She needs her help getting papers for a young refugee named
[17:45] Kay. So Theo goes to meet his
[17:47] government official cousin Nigel, played by Danny Houston
[17:50] at the Arc of the Arts. Wesley, you're taking it from
[17:53] here. I'll take it from here because
[17:55] Theo gets kidnapped and it doesn't feel like it's abnormal.
[17:58] Happens every. Day this happens all the time.
[18:00] It's like how you get the bus now it's like you see going
[18:02] somewhere else. Is that how you travel these
[18:04] days? It feels like it's completely
[18:05] part of the world. Yeah.
[18:07] So then we're introduced to this underground terrorist
[18:10] organization and we'll see none of the faces except when we're
[18:13] pan around to see that Julian's there, which is an incredible
[18:16] performance from Julianne Works. So understated and it's a great
[18:19] performance. Clive Owen as well.
[18:21] I think we'll mention that as we go through.
[18:23] He plays this so well and that you just have to kind of read
[18:26] them for the lack of a better word.
[18:27] He's not a fish out of water carrot.
[18:29] Like he's part of this world. They're all part of this world.
[18:31] So it gives you no exposition whatsoever, gives you no back
[18:34] story to anything. It's just look, we need some
[18:36] transit papers, right? And that rooms just incredible
[18:39] the way that's lit just with that tungsten, just that
[18:41] horrible glow coming in and you just your eyes are just fixed on
[18:45] it. And then when they turn the
[18:46] lights off and it brings that kind of horrible green creamy
[18:51] colour back to it of the world, the way it actually is and your
[18:53] eyes kind of adjust to it. I think that's just amazing
[18:56] colour balance the way you're just shocked into this world.
[18:58] But it's everything that's written behind them.
[19:00] And I think we're going to a little bit depth of that in a
[19:02] minute. But I think all these newspaper
[19:04] curtains and everything around the room are just so important.
[19:07] I mean, millions of people die in seconds is one of the
[19:10] headlines, right? What?
[19:12] What? How?
[19:14] So obviously that's some some kind of nuclear.
[19:16] Death *. Like the Death Star, thousands
[19:18] of contractors killed in seconds as they tried to rebuild the
[19:21] Death Star. And then he asks a little run,
[19:23] like, were your parents in New York when it happened?
[19:25] So obviously is that related to that because you stood next to
[19:28] it, King Charles thrown out and actually spell throne like a
[19:32] throne, which is really clever. The tabloid still like a pun.
[19:35] Exactly the love of fun. But that's the rise of
[19:37] government power and the end of the monarchy.
[19:39] And the government are now in charge of absolutely everything.
[19:42] So that's just shows where where it's all gone and where the
[19:44] strength lie and that the media will just bend over and take it
[19:47] off anybody who's in charge basically.
[19:49] So, And that's all evident just in this one scene.
[19:52] And then we're also getting this real play in this real push
[19:55] forward in the narrative that there's this refugee that needs
[19:58] to escape. They get out of there and they
[19:59] only need to get to Brighton from London.
[20:02] That's a far. How challenging must be just to
[20:06] get there, just to get to the coast.
[20:07] It's like this place is just under severe lockdown.
[20:11] It's absolutely terrifying. Who is this guy?
[20:14] What can he do? He's got some contacts.
[20:16] He must be important. He doesn't seem to be important.
[20:18] Why should we believe in him? But then you get this character
[20:21] who actually does believe in him.
[20:22] So we get this glib and behold and Julian.
[20:24] And then as she started to like her as a character, she delivers
[20:27] a line that I've never forgotten since I've first seen it is
[20:30] just, that's the sound of your ear cells dying.
[20:33] Yeah. Once that's gone, you'll never
[20:34] hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts.
[20:38] I've come home from a gig and I've heard that.
[20:41] And I just think myself, that's that's it.
[20:43] That's the last time I've ever going to hear that frequency in
[20:45] me life. Slowly going deaf.
[20:47] It's the whole film. Everything is going to die.
[20:50] Nothing is going to last. Everything is fucked, even your
[20:53] hearings gone. Everything is going to die.
[20:56] It's all so dour and I fucking. Love it right on your street.
[21:01] Absolutely. I built the street.
[21:05] Yeah, that box room covered in newspapers, Every headlines got
[21:08] like a different story about the world falling apart.
[21:10] There's one about the Beckham's for some reason.
[21:13] I've missed that one. It's the wedding anniversary or
[21:15] something, it says. Yeah.
[21:16] Right, the falling out of the sun again.
[21:19] That'll be a good prediction, but apart from that, stories of
[21:23] the world falling apart. That is such a great exposition
[21:26] device. It's kind of there if you want
[21:27] it, but if you don't, fine. Just leave it, yeah.
[21:29] And Julianne Moore? Love her touch a class every
[21:33] time. Every time.
[21:34] Always. Easily brings like an authority.
[21:35] I'm an intelligence to Julian. I'm not sure what you saw on
[21:38] Theo arguing with that on the bus like.
[21:40] A kid. But as leader of the fishes are
[21:42] totally by people following her. Yeah, exactly.
[21:44] Even if she has a misfire, it's not even her fault.
[21:46] No. And again, she's there to
[21:48] develop Theo, Julian and their son Dylan dying.
[21:51] That's Theo's back story, basically, and it kind of comes
[21:53] up here for the first time. Yeah, yeah.
[21:56] And in the source novel, the pregnant character is not a
[21:58] black refugee called Key. She's a white English woman from
[22:01] the ruling class called Julian. And some reports here that
[22:04] Julianne Moore was originally cast as this character, but when
[22:07] the pregnant character was changed to African, Kieran asked
[22:10] Moore to play Julianne as the leader of the fishes instead.
[22:13] You see that? Yeah.
[22:15] Yeah, it's a big change that and much better change for me.
[22:17] Yeah, definitely. But without the white savior
[22:19] narrative that's in the background, I think.
[22:21] Yeah, just adds a level of complexity which it needs, I
[22:23] think. Yeah.
[22:24] Yeah, and with key means it can bring in themes around
[22:26] immigration as well, which are a big part of the film.
[22:28] Exactly. Even though Julian in essence,
[22:31] is an immigrant because she's American.
[22:32] Yeah. But still white and acceptable.
[22:35] She's middle class white. Fine.
[22:36] That's OK. Yeah.
[22:37] Exactly and. One of the most time consuming
[22:39] scenes to create was the scene where Theo is interrogated and
[22:42] the Fisher's hided house was just talked about.
[22:44] The room was covered in newspaper and each headline was
[22:46] created. The production crew had to come
[22:48] up with the stories and then write headlines for them, which
[22:50] was then designed and printed as newspaper pages.
[22:52] Yeah, I love. That good job we weren't sitting
[22:54] around coming up with them. Well yeah, some of the headlines
[22:59] are things like Africa devastated by nuclear fallout,
[23:02] chaos and refugee camps. Loads more about immigration and
[23:05] fertility, drugs like famine and war.
[23:07] Seems like a pretty horrific place to be honest.
[23:09] Yeah. Awful.
[23:10] Please. Yeah.
[23:11] Imagine if we were making them headlines up.
[23:13] Movie intentionally changes narrative to fit podcast
[23:16] rhetoric. Hollywood change forever.
[23:20] Yeah. And then from Julian Mall we
[23:23] meet Danny Houston. Always good to see Houston and
[23:25] something, but what a contrast he is to Jasper.
[23:28] I mean, Jasper's had to essentially go to hiding for
[23:30] standing by his beliefs, but at least he's got the love of his
[23:33] life there to hold on to. A comfy home, a good friendly
[23:36] dog. Nigel got all the riches he
[23:38] could hope for, but that place where he lives, it's incredible
[23:41] set design, but it's so sterile and it's cold.
[23:45] Dogs are so unfriendly. Which The thing is a very nice
[23:48] little touch to differentiate these characters.
[23:50] And the most damning thing of all about Nigel is he saved all
[23:53] this art, but only for himself. He's got no intent to share it
[23:57] with the rest of mankind. And if art isn't meant to be
[24:00] shared with the world, then what's the point of it existing?
[24:03] So for seeing that on the face. But it is mainly about moving
[24:06] the plot long, getting the transit papers.
[24:08] There's so much relevant subtext to it as well.
[24:11] Like when they asked him how he can stand everything going on in
[24:14] the world he's in. Nigel says, I just don't think
[24:17] about it. Yeah.
[24:18] I mean, it's tempting, isn't it, to take his view, to be honest.
[24:20] It's good advice. It's good advice.
[24:25] Yes, the place where classic arts preserved is called the Ark
[24:28] of the Arts. Like the religious undertones
[24:30] aren't exactly subtle. I'm just surprised Nigel's not
[24:32] called Noah. Yeah, Russell Crowe in there.
[24:34] Massive. The be a huge beard.
[24:36] Yeah, Yeah. Just two of everything. 2M
[24:39] legend. David's in there.
[24:41] But the ark I like is an idea. The government preserving all
[24:44] this great art while the world kind of burns outside.
[24:47] And yeah, Michelangelo's David's missing a leg.
[24:49] Who did that drawing a Tash on the Mona Lisa and Nigel.
[24:54] He just smoked twat. Isn't he?
[24:56] Oh, absolutely. Perfect for what Quran wants to
[24:58] I think. This like rich bureaucrat living
[25:00] in luxury while everyone else suffers to the contrast of class
[25:02] and privilege. Like classic dystopian themes,
[25:05] that's brought in really nicely, in quite a unique way, I think.
[25:07] Yeah, with everyone around him completely deflated and devoid
[25:10] of life like his dogs and his child.
[25:12] Yeah, yeah, his kids just non responsive till he screams at
[25:15] him. Yeah, it's horrible that.
[25:17] He's a sterile man in the sterile world.
[25:19] Yeah. Exactly.
[25:20] He is. Yeah.
[25:21] And just before this, when Theo was being driven to the Ark in
[25:23] the court of the Crimson King on the soundtrack.
[25:25] Absolute banger. Yeah.
[25:27] What I love about that is how it starts on the soundtrack.
[25:29] We're listening to it as with Theo, but then when Theo gets to
[25:32] the Ark, it's actually being played in the Ark.
[25:34] So kind of diegetic and non diegetic at the same time.
[25:37] Yeah, I love when they do that. Yeah.
[25:38] Great sequence. I love all the visuals of all
[25:40] the artwork, obviously, and the themes being developed and the
[25:42] narrative going along really nicely I think as well, yeah.
[25:46] In the film and the novel handle Nigel differently.
[25:48] In the book, Theo's cousin is called Zan Leipiat and he is of
[25:52] the Warden of England, an authoritarian ruler who has
[25:55] abolished democracy and keeps control through fascist
[25:58] oppressive policies. Yeah, no curating art works for
[26:01] Zan. He's the right one.
[26:02] Good lad, nice fella. And in the Ark, as well as the
[26:09] statue of David, we also see Theo walk past Kissing Coppers,
[26:12] a famous stencil image created by the British guerrilla artist
[26:16] Banksy in 2004. Quran had been interested in
[26:19] bringing Banksy in to work on some visuals for the film, so he
[26:22] met his manager. Under law, Banksy said no, he
[26:24] let them use kissing coppers. Right.
[26:27] Fair enough. Yeah, he didn't meet Banksy
[26:28] directly, obviously Quran said that he met the manager at a
[26:31] coffee shop and even that was weird because the manager sat
[26:34] behind Quran just firing Quest into the back of his head.
[26:39] Can't see me either. I'm.
[26:41] Just really young. I think Banksy is about 10
[26:43] different people. Without Wesley theory.
[26:45] A collaboration of of different artists.
[26:48] Yeah, who knows? We'll never find out.
[26:50] And out we'll never know, unless, unless it's the children
[26:52] of men too deeper into the future.
[26:54] That's a big revelation at the end.
[26:56] Children of women. And then when Theo and Nigel are
[27:01] having dinner, we see Picasso's famous 1937 paid in Guernica on
[27:05] the wall behind them and Guernica shores that began at
[27:07] the end of the film. We see a drawn on the wall of
[27:10] the tunnel which Theo and Key used to escape in the Raw.
[27:12] Boat. Yeah.
[27:14] Picasso's painting was a reaction to General Franco
[27:17] bombing Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, so it has
[27:19] relevance. We've already seen a bombing
[27:21] here under the fascist theme of government mistreating
[27:23] civilians, like all the way through, isn't it?
[27:25] Yeah. And there's also a woman cradle
[27:27] and I die in son and that as well, which is mirrored in the
[27:29] end when the wall past it's physically done in the street.
[27:32] Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
[27:33] Which is really nice. And there's another Michelangelo
[27:36] reference when Nigel tells Theo he couldn't see if La Pieta.
[27:39] This is a statue carved in 1498 that Rosemary holding the body
[27:43] of Jesus after the crucifixion. And it's currently in Saint
[27:46] Peters Basilica in the Vatican. Yeah, stunning sculpture that.
[27:50] I'll make it. I still knew what he was doing.
[27:51] Yeah. He's anchovies though.
[27:53] Again, it's repeated with that that moment at the end, which is
[27:55] in both pains as well. I think it's fantastic stuff and
[27:58] and the sculpture, it's great. Yeah, there's not that statue
[28:00] where the end isn't there, The Battle of Bexhill, there's a
[28:02] woman would say cradling the body of a man.
[28:04] And that is based on an award-winning photograph by
[28:07] Georges Marion from a protest in Kosovo in 1990.
[28:10] That picture is called the Kosovo Pieta, and it's also a
[28:13] photo of a woman mourning a dead sun.
[28:14] It's that image named after the statue is in the film.
[28:18] The statue is not in the film because it's been Bond.
[28:23] The arc of the art scenes were filmed in the Turbine Hall of
[28:26] Tape Modern Gallery, but in the film it's been built in
[28:28] Battersea Power Station. 1 can see there's a floating pig
[28:31] outside the window of the ark. This is a note of the Pink Floyd
[28:34] album Animals. The cover of that album is an
[28:37] image of Battersea Power Station with the pig floating above it.
[28:40] That album was inspired by Georgia Wells Animal Farm, which
[28:43] is about a revolution against a brutal dictatorship, and as we
[28:46] know, the pigs are the guys in charge.
[28:49] The horrible fat bastards Napoleon.
[28:53] Napoleon, Yeah. Themes everywhere.
[28:55] With the film being set in 2027, that would be the 50th
[28:58] anniversary of Animals, so maybe another nod of why it's there as
[29:01] well. Fair enough.
[29:02] Yeah. I mean, it's very, very
[29:03] prevalent in the show, isn't? It Oh, you can't miss it.
[29:05] Yeah, kind of miss it, yeah. And then after this, Theo's on
[29:08] the mission, he's got the papers, the picked up key and
[29:11] you think this is actually quite a nice car journey going on here
[29:14] the. Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it?
[29:16] It's lovely. A little trip out into the
[29:18] country, he. Was laughing.
[29:19] He's having a good time. Everyone's having a good time
[29:21] until. I mean, I just love how
[29:24] unexpected and out of nowhere this is.
[29:26] I mean, this is Julianne Moore. I mean, aside for Michael Caine,
[29:29] arguably the biggest name in the film.
[29:31] Yeah. So surely she's not going to be
[29:33] killed off early. And what she's done is she's
[29:35] brought a little likeness to the film.
[29:37] Theo's more relaxed around here. You can tell there's still an
[29:40] attraction there between them. It's so playful with that, like
[29:43] ping pong ball trick, the doing between them.
[29:45] Maybe this is going to be the central relationship in the
[29:47] film. Nope.
[29:49] And The thing is, there's no, like, boom in soundtrack to
[29:52] signify the danger. Just that burning car rolling
[29:55] out of the woods. And then we're just thrown under
[29:57] a chaos. There's this mob, there's
[29:59] gunmen, there's the policeman who loop guns down.
[30:01] And the coverage that Quran gets while never leaving the Mt with
[30:05] the car is astonishing. And I think it's one of the most
[30:08] all time shocking deaths for Julian.
[30:10] Because for me it's like, it's like when Kevin Spacey gets shot
[30:12] in LA Confidential. You just don't see it coming
[30:15] because he's sworn bored with that character And the way the
[30:17] life just fades out of her eyes and she slips away.
[30:20] Incredibly well done. Yeah, there's not a wasted
[30:23] moment because the car scene, you think of the ambush,
[30:25] obviously, but narratively it's really important as well because
[30:28] this is the point where we meet Key and Miriam.
[30:30] Yeah. Pam Ferris with dreadlocks.
[30:32] Outrageous. Milli Vanilli.
[30:36] But. The ambush, one of the great
[30:41] action sequences from this century, I think one shot, or it
[30:45] looks like, anyway, I've not really seen an action scene
[30:47] where I feel so part of it. I feel like I'm in the car, like
[30:50] every bump, every swerve. And you can feel the panic in
[30:53] the car as well. Yeah, and always got when Julian
[30:56] goes, you understand. I think she's a better character
[30:58] than Theo to me. Misery Guts.
[31:03] Yeah, I mean, what an incredible 4 minutes, 8 seconds this is.
[31:06] It's just, you know, from start to finish, it's just you're in
[31:08] this one. And like Matt said, I think this
[31:10] is just the perfect visual representation of the punishment
[31:14] of happiness, because Theo's finally happy and he just gets
[31:17] it ripped away from him. He exposes his heart for half a
[31:20] second and it gets sliced from his chest.
[31:22] Yeah, there's a couple of signs as well.
[31:24] They're going to get back together.
[31:25] A couple of little nods. Yeah, yeah.
[31:27] Every time I watch this, I just think I kind of know how it's
[31:29] done because I wouldn't be able to sleep unless I just looked
[31:32] this up on YouTube and see how they actually shot it.
[31:34] Yeah, but even though I know how it's done, it's still so
[31:36] beautifully played out. I don't even know where the
[31:39] middle of the car is gone, where's the roof of the car.
[31:41] Just when that door opens and I hit that bike and it just spins
[31:44] out the way. It's just so visceral, and just
[31:46] as has this real energy to it. But again, it's got all of these
[31:50] predictions when you just say impact right in the windscreen.
[31:52] I love that. Oh, yeah.
[31:54] Because at the time, there was nothing like that.
[31:55] We've got real parking sensors now.
[31:57] But what a heartbreaker. He punishes the audience.
[32:01] He punishes everybody for feeling a glimmer of hope.
[32:03] And the league says, no, you're going to have to work a little
[32:05] bit harder for hope in this world.
[32:07] And you definitely do. Yeah.
[32:08] Well, for people wondering how it was done, we can tell them.
[32:11] Yep, let's do that. We certainly can.
[32:13] So the car ambush was always part of the script and lasted 12
[32:16] pages, but it wasn't always planned the way it turned out.
[32:19] Kieran had just finished working on Harry Potter and the Prisoner
[32:22] of Azkaban and his first thought was to use CGI to create it.
[32:25] Director of photography Emmanuel Labeski disagreed though, and
[32:29] said they should do it all with practical effects.
[32:31] Yeah, Lebeski Cheevo apparently said that you leave the
[32:34] production of Peron, you CGI for it because it was total odds
[32:37] with what the plan for the rest of the film.
[32:39] I love that. Yeah.
[32:40] I'm good, yeah. The use practical wherever
[32:44] possible. When Julian shot Julian well was
[32:46] covered in squibs. That's not CGI either.
[32:48] Yeah, amazing. The timing for that is just
[32:50] ludicrous, isn't it? Yeah, it's.
[32:52] Going to be on the money, yeah. It's like a second way you see
[32:54] in point and you just go because she can't move.
[32:57] And her final word as well. I'll cover key.
[32:58] Yes, that's the last thing she's concerned about.
[33:00] Yeah, yeah. Amazing.
[33:01] So Chivo said they should create a custom camera rig for the car.
[33:05] Instead. They got in touch with Gary
[33:07] Tealtgus, a cinema photographer who owned doggy Cam systems, and
[33:11] asked if he could build what they needed.
[33:13] Yeah, he said they got a call on a Thursday, seeing the need of
[33:15] the proof of concept by Saturday.
[33:17] So we had like 36 hours, right? But he did it.
[33:20] Fair enough. I mean if he builds them anyway.
[33:22] Yeah. So Doggy can't built a custom
[33:25] overhead camera rig for the ambush.
[33:27] The cut the roof off the Fiat, then suspended an H shaped track
[33:31] above the car. The camera could slide front to
[33:34] back and side to side over the actors, then drop down into the
[33:37] cabin, all controlled remotely by the camera operator, Frank
[33:40] Buono. Yeah, it's some piece of work.
[33:42] I think it's actually so good that at first you don't realise
[33:45] how good it is. Now you've got no idea.
[33:47] It's dropping in and out the car and moving round over the roof.
[33:49] It's actually insane when you really pay attention to what the
[33:51] camera's doing. Yeah, yeah, it rotates 360°
[33:54] inside the car at one point. And there's literally no
[33:57] distortion on the wide angle lens either.
[33:59] This. It doesn't feel like you're
[33:59] watching a fish eye or anything, it just feels like your field of
[34:02] view. Yeah.
[34:03] Which is incredible. And the Fiat car itself was
[34:05] modified too. There was a fake roof, which is
[34:07] where the two stunt drivers were hidden.
[34:09] One did the forwards driving, the other did backwards.
[34:12] The actor's seats were on hinges that could lure them out of
[34:14] fame, and Quran chivo porno and a Focus puller rode in a
[34:18] translucent cabin mounted on top of the car.
[34:21] Wow. Yeah, from, Bruno said.
[34:23] We look like the Beverly Hillbillies rolling down the
[34:26] street. Amazing.
[34:27] Like Luke and Han and the Falcon when the shooting the tie
[34:30] fighters. Great kid, don't get talking.
[34:35] I drive down the motorway just after work.
[34:38] Wacky Races won't get them Bully brothers, but like the opening
[34:43] sequence, the car ambush seems like one continue was shot but
[34:46] it wasn't. The scene was filmed in six
[34:48] sections at four different locations in Bourne Woods over
[34:51] one week and needed five digital transitions between the sections
[34:55] by Double Negative and the other guys who did the one at the
[34:57] start as well. So the shot was very fragile.
[34:59] If a squib mistimed, or if the flaming car rolled wrong, or an
[35:03] actor Mystic queue or anything else, they had to reset the
[35:05] whole thing and go again. That's why they had to stitch
[35:08] shots together, because it was just really, really complicated.
[35:11] Just hold all this thing down. It was so highly choreographed
[35:13] it was impossible to nail it all in one take.
[35:16] Yeah, and the moment the bike crashes into the car.
[35:18] Yeah, CGI as well. I think it's really good though.
[35:20] Well, it's great. You can kind of tell the views
[35:22] and that as a bit of a breath of fresh air.
[35:25] Let's take a breath. How it feels.
[35:26] Yeah. Like digitally.
[35:27] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and that in the five
[35:29] transitions are all seamless. The only bit that looks CGI to
[35:31] me is when Theo and Julian are spitting that ping pong ball
[35:34] each other. Yeah, exactly.
[35:35] Yeah, it does seem. Yeah.
[35:37] And in Juliano's burial scene, we see Miriam put in a version
[35:40] of Guadalupe, a model on top of Juliano's body.
[35:43] This is the patents in a Mexico birthplace of Alfonso Curon.
[35:47] And the chant Miriam does over Juliano's body?
[35:49] Shanty, shanty, shanty that's from the wasteland at TS Eliot
[35:53] Pomo. World War One has left the world
[35:54] in fertile. Some hybrid references in this
[35:57] film, yes, obviously. But there's some great
[36:00] characterization in that burial scene as well, because Miriam
[36:02] handles all the spiritual side of things, so we get that about
[36:05] her, whereas Theo just gets the booze out.
[36:07] Yeah, just I mentioned it earlier, but this is the first
[36:09] time we really sees like a full blown alcoholic, I think.
[36:12] Right. Yeah, yeah.
[36:14] And that is the beginning of Children of Men.
[36:15] We've met Theo, we've met Jasper, we've met Key, We've met
[36:18] Julian and lost her and seen an incredible action sequence.
[36:22] Yeah, we should discuss the guy pulling all the fingers.
[36:24] I mean the strings. Let's do that.
[36:26] Yeah, very good. The director.
[36:34] The director of Children of Men was Alfonso Cuaron.
[36:36] This was his sixth feature film, and from his start in Mexican
[36:39] cinema, he'd already made notable Mexican and Hollywood
[36:42] films like Great Expectations, Etu, Mama Tambien, and Harry
[36:46] Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
[36:48] Yes. Yes, Cuaron's first foray into
[36:50] science fiction came with Children of Men.
[36:51] Nomad. How's his work yet as director?
[36:55] I think he brings a tremendous tactility to this and he makes
[36:58] of the film, which really feels lived in, like it's the future,
[37:02] but it's not futuristic really. And for what he wants to address
[37:06] in this film, that's pivotal because it means he can't
[37:08] distance himself from anything. You can't dismiss and go ah,
[37:12] I'll be long gone before we end up like that.
[37:14] Yeah, exactly. We're going to end up like that
[37:16] next week if we're not careful. Yeah, like 2001.
[37:20] When you watch it, you're like, no, I'm going to be fine.
[37:21] Yeah, exactly. It doesn't give you that
[37:23] distance. You know, there's holograms in
[37:26] here, but they're not 100 foot high.
[37:27] They're on the sides of buses. The blink and you miss them.
[37:30] He's created a future where people still drink cups of take
[37:33] away coffee. They're still listen to physical
[37:35] copies of music that still read newspapers.
[37:38] And this tactility brings you into this film.
[37:40] Whatever the scene is, he's thrown into battle scenes which,
[37:43] like Saving Private Ryan, put the on your front St.
[37:45] Yeah, But then he can pull back and give you really emotional
[37:49] scenes of the kind of growing, like tenderness and emotion
[37:52] between Theo and Key as he realizes is what she is and what
[37:56] she represents. So in a way, this is just an
[37:59] example of a perfect director because he's a technical master,
[38:02] but not at the expense of emotional storytelling.
[38:05] Yeah, this is Quran's first science fiction film, like we
[38:07] said, but you wouldn't know it because his understanding of the
[38:10] genres there from like the first second to the film and doesn't
[38:13] really stop. I mentioned the world building
[38:15] and it is exceptional. The way that he uses the
[38:16] background to feed us information kind of blows me
[38:19] away, the ads and the propaganda.
[38:21] But there's more than that. There's moments where the
[38:23] cameras tracking characters and then it abandons them to focus
[38:25] on what's happening around them. That's one of the best ways of
[38:28] dropping an exposition I think I've seen.
[38:30] We get our backs a lot later on, but there's a great moment near
[38:33] the start where we leave Theo walking down the street to focus
[38:35] from the burned out estate in the background.
[38:37] Like not being told about the state of the world.
[38:39] We're seeing it constantly. And what makes Quran special
[38:42] here for me is a couple of things.
[38:44] First is restraint. There's no massive science
[38:47] fiction spectacle, no flying cars, no layers like guns, not
[38:51] many holograms. That would have been my version.
[38:53] Obviously the Britain here is familiar.
[38:55] It looks tired and it looks run down, but it's so familiar it
[38:59] makes it easy to believe it. And then the way that he shoots
[39:01] it. This idea that Quran's had of
[39:03] using lots of long takes, especially the big moments.
[39:06] You mentioned the opening and the car ambush, and there's more
[39:08] to come, but that technique is so immersive, it's ridiculous.
[39:12] Lots of handheld cameras to give like a documentary feel.
[39:15] It puts you right there. I feel like I'm in 2027 London.
[39:18] I think that's so hard to pull off, but Quran makes it look
[39:21] kind of easy. So technically it's there,
[39:24] thematically it's there, emotionally it's there.
[39:26] It's engaging and it's challenging, like all the best
[39:29] science fiction usually is. I think this is a great
[39:31] director, kind of at his best. I mean, I totally agree with
[39:34] what you both tend to be perfectly honest.
[39:36] It's an incredible piece of work from a guy who I think was set
[39:40] out not necessarily trying to make an incredible piece of
[39:43] work, just a credible piece of work.
[39:45] After the Harry Potter film, he wanted to come into something
[39:47] with just a little bit more of an adult theme and a little bit
[39:50] more depth. And I think he's completely lost
[39:52] patience here. And I don't think that's a bad
[39:54] thing. I think that's a good thing.
[39:55] I think he's lost patience with spelling everything out for
[39:58] people, and that's really good because this makes him kind of.
[40:02] But he's sick of press conferences.
[40:04] He's sick of people asking him what's going on.
[40:05] He's just like, no, fuck you, I'm making a world, find what
[40:08] you want from it. And I can give you that.
[40:10] And he absolutely does. And I think the whole power of
[40:12] this is that if this was done by a British film maker, even an
[40:15] American film maker, it will be nowhere near as good because
[40:18] they've got this responsibility to reflect this country in a
[40:21] certain way. There's certain respect that you
[40:24] have to have for Britain. Quran doesn't have to have that.
[40:27] He can come in here and shoot it any way he wants to.
[40:29] And I think that's why it's so refreshing and so new because it
[40:33] spins the whole thing on its head and you can see how people
[40:35] from outside of our bubble see it.
[40:37] And I think you need somebody like Conran to come in and have
[40:40] that view of it. And like we've said over and
[40:43] over again, this is not Blade Runner, this is the anti Blade
[40:46] Runner. Digital adverts are more
[40:47] important than people themselves.
[40:49] Kill yourself. Here you go.
[40:51] He has a kit to help you. Kill yourself and give us your
[40:53] kidneys. By the way, sex means nothing.
[40:55] Life means nothing. Nothing means anything.
[40:57] Actually, just kill yourself. And that's the world that we're
[40:59] in now. But he somehow makes it a world
[41:02] where you kind of want to look around a little bit, but at the
[41:04] same time you want to try and fix it.
[41:06] And I think that's all down to his viewpoint.
[41:08] Even if he didn't have a script, I think just the visuals
[41:12] themselves without a narrative story through the middle of it
[41:14] is important enough. Absolutely.
[41:16] Yeah. So after PD.
[41:17] James's source. Novel The Children of Men was
[41:19] published. It was optioned by Beacon
[41:21] Pictures in 1997 when it's president Mark Abraham saw
[41:25] potential for a film. Scripts were produced, but
[41:28] nothing else happened. And when Abraham left Beacon to
[41:30] form Strike Productions, part of the deal was that he took
[41:33] Children of men with them. Yeah, you said that you knew we
[41:35] needed the director. With a like a singular vision to
[41:38] be able to adapt it properly. Yeah, which is probably why the
[41:40] scripts are on the shelf for like 5 years.
[41:42] Yeah, exactly. It was Pakora.
[41:44] It'd still be there. And then in 2001, Abraham.
[41:48] Saw E2 Mama Tambien which was directed by Alfonso Quran.
[41:52] He thought part of its visuals and torn would work for children
[41:54] of men, so sent the script that had at the time to Quran.
[41:58] Yeah, apparently he was getting a lot of offers at the time.
[41:59] Quran. So what he would do was get his
[42:01] agent to read the script and then summarize them for him.
[42:03] So it was a summary of Children of Men that got his attention
[42:06] right. And he said reading Hollywood
[42:08] screenplays is really sad. Excellent.
[42:12] I want to know. What this interpretation?
[42:13] Was yeah, I'd love to see this summed up Yeah, I'd love.
[42:16] To see that, yeah, the studio. Then brought in Timothy J.
[42:19] Sexton, who worked on Boycott, which was a Martin Luther King
[42:22] TV movie, to help Quran work on the script, but Quran said they
[42:26] couldn't come up with any IDs that excited him and he left the
[42:29] project to direct Prisoner of Azkaban instead.
[42:32] Yeah, so Quran didn't know Sexton.
[42:33] But the studio thought he'd be good at bringing out the
[42:35] political sides of the script after he did boycott.
[42:38] But Quran just wasn't having it. Fair enough.
[42:40] And they must have thought he was dead at that point.
[42:41] He's off working with Warners on this huge IP.
[42:45] And then came September. 11th, 2001 because Quran was at the
[42:49] Toronto Film Festival where he was screening E2 Mama Tambien
[42:53] when the Twin Towers attacks happened.
[42:55] He was therefore stranded in Canada and started to think
[42:57] about Children of Men again. He called the studio up and said
[43:00] he'd do Children of Men after Harry Potter and they agreed.
[43:03] Quran was actually offered the next Harry Potter as well but
[43:05] said no to make Children of Men. Yeah, he's by himself and
[43:09] miserable as. Fuck.
[43:10] And then said I think I'll do children.
[43:12] Yeah, I'm in the right frame of. Mind now?
[43:14] Yeah. Absolutely.
[43:16] Yeah, Yeah. Well, Tim Sexton said the.
[43:18] Quran suddenly. Called him back about the blue
[43:20] and said that he now had a vision for the film, which was
[43:22] the future is in some place ahead of us.
[43:24] We're living in the future right now.
[43:26] Yeah, exactly. And that's it.
[43:28] That's. Kind of the spark.
[43:28] And everything else seems like falling the place from the idea.
[43:31] I think definitely, yeah, Quaran said.
[43:33] He. Turned down off.
[43:34] Us to direct the next Harry Potter film, choosing to do
[43:37] Children of Men instead. As we've talked about it was
[43:39] finally greenlit in 2005 by the distributors Universal.
[43:43] The chair at Universal Stacey Snyder told him I don't
[43:46] understand this film. I have no idea what you want to
[43:48] do, but go ahead and do it anyway.
[43:51] And she approved a $76 million budget.
[43:55] I think that just shows how highly thought.
[43:56] Of Quaran was at the time, doesn't it?
[43:58] I need a Stacey Snyder in my life.
[44:01] I don't know what you want to do with it.
[44:03] Wesley, I don't know why. You're so miserable.
[44:04] But he has 76,000,000. Fucking thank you, Stacey.
[44:08] I'll give you a ring later. What's quite interesting?
[44:12] Though is that Quran said that? Filming Harry Potter in the UK
[44:15] was a must of help because it helped him get into the psyche
[44:17] of British culture. Yeah, which I think you can't
[44:18] see in children and men, Definitely you see some shots.
[44:22] From Harry Potter and. Children and men, yeah, it's got
[44:24] a very similar tone. Yeah.
[44:27] The production designers. Were Jim.
[44:28] Clear and Jeffrey Kirkland and they said Quran told them he
[44:31] didn't want a high tech future. He wanted the world to be very
[44:34] grounded. He said they should create that
[44:36] anti Blade Runner. So Quran gave them a file full
[44:39] of visual references, including images of conflicts during the
[44:43] Iraq war, abuse in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in
[44:47] Baghdad, the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the
[44:51] Balkans conflict in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
[44:54] What a sticker book that is. I know, Yeah.
[44:57] Got any? Shinies, Here's your references.
[45:00] God. God, God, Guantanamo be in need.
[45:04] Swaps. But I think you can see all that
[45:06] in ways. And that's why it hits so hard.
[45:08] Surely they're pulling from, like, real life horrors.
[45:10] Yeah, even the cars are detailed.
[45:12] We talked about the fear during the ambush.
[45:13] But Jasper's car, he drives a Citroen with, like, big plastic
[45:16] bonnet slapped on the front. Yeah, the cars are all
[45:19] knackered. Kiran decided to shoot.
[45:21] The early Saints in east London, as he thought it was a place
[45:24] without glamour. He told the set designers to
[45:26] make it more Mexican to remove some of the capital city
[45:29] prestige. Nice.
[45:31] The details? Incredible.
[45:32] If you. Notice the police helmets don't
[45:34] have ER for Elizabeth and Regina.
[45:36] They've got CR for Carolus Rex. Right.
[45:39] So they predicted King Charlie as well.
[45:41] Yeah, right. Yeah.
[45:42] No mention of Andrew. All right to predict that one,
[45:44] thankfully. To be fair, I've.
[45:46] Already knew and kept quiet. Yeah, like everybody else, Yeah.
[45:50] The costume designer was zoning Tamim after.
[45:52] Current work with that on prisoner of Azkaban.
[45:54] She also said he briefed her by saying it should be anti Blade
[45:57] Runner. She said she interpreted this as
[45:59] nothing should like should be like a costume at all.
[46:02] It should look like clothes. She had a costume team of 40
[46:05] people. Little mini.
[46:06] He's bedride. Doesn't he quarrel?
[46:08] He. Just wants it to be anti Blade
[46:09] Runner, yeah. I'd said Dorothy was Trench
[46:11] Court is definitely. Reminiscent of deck odds.
[46:13] To me it is Yeah massively yeah. Anti Blade Runner.
[46:17] But the Mac. Story.
[46:18] Yeah, absolutely no Oscars for the film.
[46:20] For best picture or director. Winners that year.
[46:22] Do you remember what it was? Was it the?
[46:25] Departed. It was a departed and it's
[46:27] director. Martin Scorsese but in creating
[46:30] a grounded, relatable world and some of the most acclaimed 21st
[46:33] century science fiction images some top direction from Alfonso
[46:37] Koran for us. Oh, absolutely, yeah, superb
[46:39] work The. Cast the children of men
[46:47] director was a relatively. New Hollywood name, and the same
[46:50] can be said for much of the lead cast.
[46:52] We're going to talk about Clay, Hope Asherty is key, and sure,
[46:55] tell edgy a forward Luke, But there's really only one place to
[46:58] start on this one, isn't there? So Clive Owen plays.
[47:02] Thelonious. Theo Farin, a burned out
[47:04] bureaucrat who's lost his son. We follow Theo as he's driving
[47:07] to escorting a miracle woman to safety, finds his humanity in
[47:10] the process and and sacrifices himself so Key can reach the
[47:13] human project. Not your classic action hero.
[47:16] Maybe Westie. No, he's not Arnold, is he?
[47:19] Absolutely not. I mean, he's the opposite.
[47:21] How? Is Clive Owen is for you, I
[47:22] think. Clive Owen is fantastic in.
[47:24] This film, I do think it's, it's kind of the best I've seen him.
[47:27] And I think of this in Sin City. Yeah, when I think of Clive
[47:30] Owen, and for good reason, because I think he's totally
[47:32] selfless in this character, I think it could be really, really
[47:36] confusing in the hands of another actor who just plays
[47:38] this angry and straight all the time.
[47:41] But I think he's just on this knife edge from the moment you
[47:44] meet him. He's just so volatile.
[47:46] You don't know where he's going. He's completely given up hope.
[47:49] But you can see that he's got this drive, he has this motor
[47:53] inside of him that just needs to be kick started somehow.
[47:56] You can kind of see that from the character and that he's hope
[47:59] presence change once Julian gets him involved with the fish and
[48:02] once he goes to visit, he goes to the power station and his
[48:05] whole body language change, his whole posture kind of changes.
[48:08] He has this belief of something that he doesn't quite know what
[48:11] to believe in yet. And I think you totally get that
[48:14] from Clive Owens character. You don't remember half of the
[48:17] physical things about him. Like I had to be reminded again
[48:19] that for half the Philby hasn't got shoes.
[48:22] Yeah, that's not something that. Sticks in my mind, but if you.
[48:24] Think you die hard, you think, oh, well, that was detrimental
[48:26] to the character and he used that in a certain way where his
[48:29] own doesn't pour on that. Then act 3 just stands on
[48:32] something and he reacts and he's on his left foot all the time,
[48:35] limping all the way through the last act.
[48:37] But you don't think about that. You don't think about these
[48:40] really subtle character moments, these really subtle levels that
[48:42] he puts into it. I mean, when Julian dies, that
[48:45] was spoke about, that performance from him is easily
[48:49] miscible because you're just looking at Julia Moore fading
[48:51] away. Watch him watch his reaction to
[48:54] that. It is absolute grief.
[48:57] He feels like he's completely helpless.
[48:58] You feel that character is completely helpless.
[49:01] And I think it's it's the Clive ones absolute credit that he
[49:03] didn't turn this into like a suave, a misogynistic wanker
[49:07] who's just like a bit, I don't care.
[49:09] And you're going to have to convince me.
[49:10] He's totally flawed. He's not a very nice guy really.
[49:13] And you've got to earn his trust.
[49:14] And he does that. You kind of earn it all the way
[49:16] through. And when he starts to believe,
[49:18] you start to believe. And then when the character buys
[49:20] it at the end, you take, you're genuinely sorry that he's gone
[49:23] because he is a genuinely nice guy who's been shut down by a
[49:26] genuinely disgusting world. And that's who he is, a flower
[49:30] and a cloud of smoke basically. And he's just got to protect
[49:33] himself however he's got to. But it's all these layers that
[49:36] you see them take off throughout the film.
[49:38] And every layer that comes off this character is an absolute
[49:40] pleasure to see. And it's a pleasure to see Clive
[49:42] Owen doing it. And I think it's that purpose
[49:44] and that drive and the humanisation of this character
[49:47] that Clive Owen brings to it. And the fact that he's not like
[49:50] the big action star of all time where you're just like, oh, he
[49:53] made that film. He exists in this film.
[49:57] And that's the whole point. He is Theo.
[49:58] He's not Clive Owen. Yeah, this is a film with stuff
[50:01] to say, like. We've been talking about, and I
[50:02] think what makes Theo such a great lead is how he kind of
[50:05] personifies some of those messages.
[50:07] I think he's really well written.
[50:09] What I think Koran is showing us, probably the cautionary tale
[50:12] is that this has become a world without meaning.
[50:14] Yeah, as humans, I think we need purpose.
[50:16] I know what I do. If I feel like my life's aimless
[50:18] or without point, then I start getting depressed.
[50:21] I think that's why rich people work when they don't have to.
[50:23] Or some do, anyway. Oh, yeah.
[50:24] Yeah. So here with the infertility,
[50:26] society's lost its sense of purpose, and the world's, like,
[50:28] gone to hell as a result. And that's the basis of Theo's
[50:32] arc. Because at the start, everyone's
[50:34] transfixed by that news broadcast except for Theo.
[50:36] Yeah. Couldn't give a monkeys about
[50:38] Diego calls him a wanker. Well, by the time Key gives
[50:42] birth, Theo has changed. He's realized the life of Keys
[50:45] baby, and therefore the human race is worth saving.
[50:48] It's even worth dying for. So basically, he's got a
[50:51] purpose, and I think he's kind of the main theme of the film,
[50:53] the importance of hope and purpose.
[50:56] Yeah. As a character, I think he was
[50:57] the perfect example of the world and the society at the start of
[51:00] the film. So if he's redeemable, maybe we
[51:03] are as well. Yeah.
[51:04] I think it's great character writing.
[51:05] And Clive Vaughan, not your typical action star, but I like
[51:08] him. Yeah.
[51:08] Leaves it really well. Yeah.
[51:10] And apart from the scene where Jasper euthanizes Janice, he was
[51:13] in every scene in the film. Yeah, I agree, Wesley.
[51:15] This is easily the best I've seen Clive one, to be honest.
[51:17] Yeah. Before or since, I think.
[51:19] Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I said the top.
[51:21] There's always been something about the film that puts me off
[51:23] at a bit and I don't want to blame Owen Toadley, but a kind
[51:26] of asses fault. A little bit up.
[51:28] Yeah, we'll go up there. You will go I.
[51:30] Thought it was going to be. Pam Ferris.
[51:34] I just can't think of a single film where I've gone.
[51:36] Clive Owens in this. Great.
[51:38] That's sealed a deal. I'm in there for that.
[51:40] So I'm just a bit conflicted about him.
[51:42] Like, is Owen playing a perfectly unremarkable man in
[51:45] very remarkable circumstances, Aussie, just a little bit kind
[51:48] of bland compared to everyone else?
[51:50] Is he just an unremarkable actor?
[51:52] Yeah. I mean, I just think 2000. 6,
[51:55] You could have Daniel Craig in here.
[51:57] You could have maybe Jude Law. Not going to say it.
[51:59] So I'm certainly not saying he's actively bad.
[52:01] I mean, I'd agree. I think this is his best
[52:03] performance and there is probably, you know, a lack of
[52:06] vigor. I think he does let everyone
[52:08] else outshine him. Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, I
[52:10] think he lets him kind of grab the limelight, but, you know,
[52:13] that's maybe the point. I think he's fine and he's very
[52:15] much the everyman, which is exactly what Theo is.
[52:18] It's just hard to get really excited about him as an actor, I
[52:21] think. Yeah, but think about the rest
[52:22] of the cast or. Everyone else who's in there,
[52:24] it's all on the same level apart from Julianne Moore.
[52:26] Yeah, it's on a level. It makes sense.
[52:29] Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.
[52:30] It's just, you know. Just in general, Clive Warner's
[52:32] bit, you know, white bread with the development of the film
[52:35] taking place. Over quite a few years, like we
[52:37] talked about, there were various Hollywood actors considered to
[52:40] play Theo at various points. Matt Damon, Russell Crowe and
[52:45] George Clooney were all reportedly considered preferring
[52:47] it as Matt. Russell Core at that time, yeah,
[52:52] Damon could have been great, I think.
[52:54] Yeah, he could have. Been great, yeah.
[52:55] Is that round the Bourne films? Isn't it?
[52:56] Round then, yeah, yeah. Round then, yeah.
[52:58] Yeah, Clooney just charming the pants of everyone coming up
[53:01] himself, because I love Clooney, but he wouldn't have worked at
[53:03] all if you. Imagine Clooney at the start.
[53:05] In that street film that up the whiskey and the explosion
[53:07] happened and that kind of see him doing that.
[53:08] Yeah, yeah. Like Solaris Clooney.
[53:10] Or maybe yeah yeah, actually depressed Clooney.
[53:12] Yeah, yeah, miserable Clooney your.
[53:14] Favorite Clooney? My favorite, if any.
[53:16] Of the Clooney. Gloomy Clooney.
[53:21] So when Kieran signed on to direct, he.
[53:23] Knew he wandered in every man type of actor to play a Theo
[53:26] Clive wanted played some big lead roles recently like King
[53:29] Arthur in Sin City. So Kieran had the script sent
[53:32] room on Reddit and didn't think he was a good fit for it so he
[53:35] was hesitant. But he was a huge fan of Kirondo
[53:38] and that convinced him to take the part.
[53:40] He was a big name in the time Clive one wasn't.
[53:42] He. Yeah, yeah, he was.
[53:43] At the time, he was apparently also wanted by Edwards Wick as
[53:46] the lead in Blood Diamond. All right, He turned that down
[53:48] to do Children of Men. All right.
[53:50] Wow. It's one of the Caprio's worst
[53:51] performances. Nobody talks about that, but
[53:53] it's not great. Yeah, it was.
[53:54] Wick cast him on the back of him.
[53:56] He's. Accent in that blood diamond.
[53:58] I look to get kissed before I get fucked.
[54:04] Well, before we move on from that.
[54:06] And Clive Owen, we have our first ATR.
[54:09] On Page 1. Question, so one of the benefits
[54:12] of signing up was an ATM page Ron is I will answer your
[54:15] questions on the show and we have one now on Clive Owen.
[54:18] It's Theo. Okay, yeah, so Derek who
[54:20] against? Yeah.
[54:21] Hello, Derek. Hello, Derek and Derek.
[54:23] Asked is Clive? Owens character, the least
[54:25] action the action hero ever, spends a lot of time scrambling
[54:28] and hiding. Is there any other character
[54:30] there so out of their depth but as resourceful as Clive or
[54:34] right? What do you think about?
[54:36] One I'll go. For and the.
[54:37] Prefer it's done very deliberately, but I'll go Jack
[54:40] Burton in big trouble in Little China.
[54:42] Yeah, very nice. Because the joke of that.
[54:44] Film is he? Thinks he's the hero and he's
[54:47] not. He gives it the posture and he
[54:49] gives it all the big talk, but he's an idiot who just blunders
[54:52] his way through the whole thing. Everyone else is sorting shit
[54:55] out around him. His sidekick does more than him.
[54:57] I mean, the biggest laugh in that film is when he turns up
[54:59] for the big final battle, shoots his gun in the air because he's
[55:02] really excited, and then gets knocked out by the plaster
[55:04] fallen from the ceiling. And this is the rest of it
[55:06] entirely. Yeah.
[55:08] I'll have to go. Jack Burton.
[55:09] Yeah. Amazing.
[55:10] That's a good one. While.
[55:11] Like here is that. First, Theo seems to be a bit of
[55:13] a textbook case of like a reluctant hero, alcoholic,
[55:16] disinterested, no purpose. He just needs to be yet.
[55:19] I mean, we've seen that kind of stuff before, but it's not done
[55:22] in a textbook way because he doesn't become your bombastic
[55:25] gung ho action star. He's not Neo.
[55:27] Yeah, machine guns under the Mac.
[55:29] I mean, we never even see a Theo pick up a gun, never mind use 1.
[55:32] So he is really understated. Isn't actually like Derek says,
[55:35] which I like a lot. Another classic is Cary Grant as
[55:38] Roger Thornhill and North by Northwest.
[55:40] Oh yeah, sure, but I'd agree, Theo.
[55:42] Is one of the least action. Style action heroes out there,
[55:44] especially at that time. Yeah, and Westie, there was a
[55:48] few before for. Me, that kind of fit that mould.
[55:51] I think there was this moment in cinema where it was kind of like
[55:54] the anti hero. It all started with Willis and
[55:56] Die Hard and it was like, well, as he's supposed to be the main
[55:58] guy. And then we had Mel.
[56:00] Gibson doing it as Rick Jarman. And Bird on a Wire want to be
[56:02] very favorites. If you haven't seen that very
[56:04] similar kind of Fisher or water that performance, which is
[56:07] great. One that's brought to mind was
[56:09] Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson. An Independence Day?
[56:12] Yes. Nice, you're supposed.
[56:14] To be an acting star and he doesn't.
[56:15] Yeah, he's. Smoking the cigar at the end,
[56:17] and he comes around, but really he's just a nerd thrown in the
[56:19] middle of it. Yeah.
[56:20] And the ultimate one for me is Richard Kimball in The Fugitive.
[56:22] Harrison Ford, of course. And one the totally sprung the
[56:25] mind that we soon reminded us of was Johnny 5 in Short Circuit,
[56:28] because he's ultimately just a pacifist robot.
[56:31] Yeah, and he gets it done because he is alive.
[56:35] Yeah, they're. More for me, kind of tick that
[56:36] box. All good ones.
[56:38] Yeah. Well, first performance.
[56:39] As Theo, Clive Owen wasn't nominated by any of the major
[56:41] awards bodies. Not surprising, maybe.
[56:44] But no, it seems we kind of agree.
[56:46] An excellent character played quite well by Clive Owen.
[56:49] Quite well. Yes.
[56:51] A really excellent character. Very.
[56:52] Normally portrayed by a very normal middle of the road actor
[56:55] who plays a very normal middle of the road character very
[56:57] normally well. The second cast member we're
[57:03] discussing is. The female lead in Clay Hope
[57:05] Asherty is Key, the first pregnant woman in 18 years and
[57:09] an African refugee where with Key as she's smuggled through
[57:12] England by the fishes, gives birth in a war zone and in the
[57:15] end makes it to the human project with her newborn
[57:17] daughter. She's well named Wesley.
[57:20] Key is the key. There we are.
[57:21] How is Clay Ho Bashati in the role?
[57:24] She is the key. Subtext.
[57:26] Love it. Brilliant.
[57:28] Perfect, I think. She's fantastic.
[57:30] I think she's. Absolutely fantastic because she
[57:33] plays it in such a subtle way. Her performance and her
[57:36] character's so understated that it could be like, I feel really
[57:39] sorry for her. Oh, she's had a bad life.
[57:41] Oh, she's been dragged through this.
[57:42] She's just like, this is what life's like.
[57:45] This is it. And I couldn't believe it.
[57:47] I was going to kill myself. And then I felt the baby kick.
[57:51] That's literally where she is as a character.
[57:53] And now she has this lease of life, this hope, and she's
[57:56] clinging on to these different beliefs.
[57:57] And she's learning how to trust people.
[57:59] She's learning how to navigate relationships because you can
[58:02] tell that people don't really have relationships anymore.
[58:05] Yeah. Sex is just meaningless.
[58:07] It's just a recreation. It's just get on with it.
[58:09] You just exist, and then you die.
[58:11] And I think the really great thing is we don't really know
[58:13] how old she is. Yeah.
[58:15] And you never find that out, which I think is quite important
[58:17] because she looks young enough to kind of be early 20s easily.
[58:20] Yeah. Easily so.
[58:22] And. If we're talking about Diego
[58:23] being. 18 at what age did people stop giving a shit?
[58:27] Yeah yeah yeah. Patrick's cousin.
[58:29] Dies. He's 19.
[58:30] Because key to me in her performance is just that
[58:33] everyone's given up on her. Her performance is really
[58:36] relevant for any parent watching this and that.
[58:39] No matter how old your kids get, they still need your attention,
[58:41] they still need your love, and they still need guidance through
[58:43] life. And everybody does.
[58:45] I didn't feel threatened for her, I felt threatened for the
[58:48] baby, but I felt like she's just a perfect mother character.
[58:52] She just personifies that she's never weak.
[58:55] She's never broken down by anything.
[58:57] She's just a strong, solid human being and a representation of
[59:00] the generational pull that we all feel and that they do need
[59:04] attention and that they do need help.
[59:06] But I think she's just absolutely part of the tapestry
[59:08] of the whole thing. I think it's an incredible
[59:10] performance. I agree.
[59:11] I like her a lot. Yeah, the character.
[59:13] And the actress, I think what's tell her about the character is
[59:15] how much weight she carries in the narrative.
[59:17] She's literally the future of humanity.
[59:18] She's the most important character.
[59:20] But the stories told through the eyes of Theo, which works well.
[59:23] Yeah. I like the way she taps into one
[59:24] of the main themes as well, of immigration.
[59:26] The saviour of the world is literally a refugee.
[59:29] Yeah. The point surely being that
[59:30] immigration isn't necessarily a bad thing.
[59:32] It's kind of normal. It's kind of the key to the
[59:35] evolution of humanity or what has been.
[59:37] Yeah. So really good writing.
[59:38] And I think Clay Hope I should see is just excellent.
[59:41] She'd been in shooting dogs before this about the Rwandan
[59:44] genocide. This was a step up in terms of
[59:46] scale. And she seems to rise to it
[59:48] effortlessly. I mean, she's acting with
[59:50] Julianne Moore and Michael Caine, like acting heavyweights.
[59:53] And she doesn't feel out of her depth.
[59:54] She plays it as a young woman who was pregnant and scared.
[59:57] But she has strength. I mean, she's not shy.
[1:00:00] Is she key? No.
[1:00:01] The real resilience. Hasn't you?
[1:00:02] Yeah. Massively, yeah.
[1:00:04] And I think Ashiti gives her. A Lord of Dignity as well, yes.
[1:00:06] Great piece of casting and a really impressive performance,
[1:00:09] especially for someone so in experience, I like her a lot.
[1:00:12] Definitely. Yeah.
[1:00:13] Yeah. I mean what I.
[1:00:14] Really love about this. Performance is she stops Key
[1:00:17] from falling into the potential pitfall where she just becomes a
[1:00:20] metaphor. Yeah, she could stop being a
[1:00:22] character and just becomes this on the nose, saintly
[1:00:25] representation of the saviour of mankind.
[1:00:28] But she isn't. And I think actually finds a lot
[1:00:30] of humanity in the performance. I think she's got very kind of
[1:00:33] soulful eyes and I think she does a really great job after
[1:00:36] being seen, just reminding it. She's still just a girl, really.
[1:00:39] We don't know how old she is because that scene where you see
[1:00:42] is sitting on those swings. That makes sense.
[1:00:44] You go, yeah, she should still be playing on swings, not going
[1:00:48] through this horrendous circumstance.
[1:00:51] You know, I don't think it's a coincidence that the person who
[1:00:53] might see if mankind is a young black refugee.
[1:00:56] I think it's very pointed character writing, and that's
[1:00:58] great. But like I said, she just avoids
[1:01:01] being saintly. It's really funny.
[1:01:03] Like the first thing she says to Theo.
[1:01:04] What the fuck are you looking at?
[1:01:06] All right, this is. How is it?
[1:01:08] Fine. Great.
[1:01:09] Yeah, for your. Performance, though sorry the
[1:01:10] character of Key was created for the film.
[1:01:12] In PD James novel, the pregnant woman was Julian, who's played
[1:01:15] in the film by Julianne Moore. Like we said, Quran wanted the
[1:01:18] pregnant girl to be a black immigrant, so Key was conceived
[1:01:21] in an early version of the script, which I think is
[1:01:23] wonderful. I like that as well.
[1:01:25] Key being African taps. In like the single origin
[1:01:27] theory, where scientists think that human life originated in
[1:01:30] Africa about 300,000 years ago, then moved across the globe.
[1:01:33] That's right. Yeah.
[1:01:34] So Quran's put in the future. Of humanity kind.
[1:01:36] Of back where it all began. Yeah, that's a great little idea
[1:01:39] that Oh yeah, it's wonderful. It's wonderful.
[1:01:41] Imagine this. Character Anyone else's hands
[1:01:43] though, it would just be like saving the baby and like
[1:01:45] sacrificing herself, throwing the baby to Theo look after
[1:01:50] getting shot. You see with.
[1:01:51] This character, it's never going to happen, is it?
[1:01:54] It's so grounded. Gosh, she's really grounded.
[1:01:56] You could pump into on the. Street it feels like Yeah,
[1:01:58] exactly. And at the time the.
[1:02:00] Casting call went. Out for Key Claire Whoop Asherty
[1:02:03] was 18 years old and going to Saturday drama classes in
[1:02:06] London. The class instructor heard about
[1:02:08] the audition and thought a star people would be a good fit.
[1:02:11] So he arranged an audition for Asherty.
[1:02:12] Nice. Yeah.
[1:02:13] It was only her third ever audition.
[1:02:15] Wow. What's it?
[1:02:16] Yeah. The others have been for
[1:02:17] adverts, I think. And then suddenly she's in front
[1:02:19] of Hollywood and Alfonso Cuaron. Quite the jump.
[1:02:21] Yeah. And that class instructor then
[1:02:22] became her agent as well. Like, get me in there.
[1:02:26] She just walks. At the audition and say hello to
[1:02:31] who the fuck you looking. At get that in the script, will
[1:02:35] you? And Ashadi said her.
[1:02:37] Agent received a. Call saying she had the job and
[1:02:39] they'd get a confirmation of the start date late that week.
[1:02:42] The next morning, Ashadi got a call at 8:00 AM from nowhere,
[1:02:45] seeing there's a car waiting outside for you for your camera
[1:02:47] test. So she did that and then the day
[1:02:50] after that started filming. Wow.
[1:02:52] Bloody hell yeah. It sounds like The Apprentice.
[1:02:54] There's a car inside for you at 4:00 AM.
[1:02:56] Hurry after fucking hell. Half the age at.
[1:02:59] Least yeah, there's a McDonald's.
[1:03:00] Breakfast in. There right that's.
[1:03:02] Fine, I'll get it. Yeah, it must be a whirlwind for
[1:03:05] that though, like. Welcome to Hollywood.
[1:03:06] Yeah, definitely. And Ashti was.
[1:03:08] Born in Enfield. London and auditioned and was
[1:03:11] cast using her normal British accent, but when she was doing
[1:03:14] that camera test the day before shooting or Kiran told her she
[1:03:17] had to perform the role with an African accent, both her parents
[1:03:21] were gone in so she said it wasn't too much of A stretch to
[1:03:23] speak in their accent instead. Luckily the day before filming.
[1:03:27] Luckily. Imagine.
[1:03:29] No, I'm not doing that. Another nice touch, that.
[1:03:32] She brought in from appearance. As well, when Key has the baby
[1:03:35] at the end, she's singing to learn a foreign language.
[1:03:37] That's a Ghanian lullaby that I should his mother used to sing
[1:03:39] to her when she was a little girl.
[1:03:41] Oh nice, love that baby. Do not.
[1:03:43] Cry, it's called, right? Well.
[1:03:44] I'm crying now. Exactly, Yeah.
[1:03:47] But could have had just passing in crybaby cry.
[1:03:50] Surely. Yeah, maybe.
[1:03:52] Yeah. Well, for a performance as key
[1:03:54] clay hope. Asherty wasn't dominated by any
[1:03:56] of the major ward bodies. Again, the film didn't get huge
[1:03:59] recognition at the time. No, not at all, did it?
[1:04:01] But for us, very impressive. Performance from an.
[1:04:04] Inexperienced actress, incredibly impressive from a
[1:04:06] wonderful yeah. The final customer we're
[1:04:10] discussing in depth. Is the villain of sorts that's
[1:04:12] she would tell a Geo for as Luke Julian second in command in the
[1:04:16] fishes we watch it. Luke takes over leadership after
[1:04:18] Julian's death, reveals his plan to use Keys baby as a political
[1:04:21] tool, and ultimately dies for it.
[1:04:23] Trying to recapture Key in the Bexhill camp.
[1:04:26] Right. He's up the no good mat.
[1:04:28] How is it? Sure tell a gear for as Luke he
[1:04:32] brings. Really.
[1:04:33] Interesting neutrality to the role, because on the paper you
[1:04:35] should hate this guy. Yeah, responsible for Jasper.
[1:04:38] Seth takes over from Julian, happy to execute Theo in the
[1:04:41] street and kidnap Keef his own ads.
[1:04:44] But somehow you don't quite hate him.
[1:04:46] He's not an eye rolling villain ranting and Raven like at the
[1:04:50] end when he's obsessed in that bombed out room and he's
[1:04:52] shooting down at the army. You do realize he's fighting
[1:04:55] against the people who are essentially the enemy in this
[1:04:57] film. So is the enemy of my enemy my
[1:05:00] friend? I mean, probably not, but just
[1:05:02] think there's a real interest and complexity to Luke and his
[1:05:05] motives, and I think that works really well for this film.
[1:05:07] Yeah. Yeah, he's interesting.
[1:05:09] I think what's interesting. About Luke as a character is
[1:05:11] that he believes he's doing the right thing.
[1:05:13] Yeah. When he says the baby won't
[1:05:14] bring peace and should be able to start the revolution, he
[1:05:17] totally believes it. Yeah.
[1:05:18] He thinks that's the only way to save humanity.
[1:05:20] He's got an ideology. It's that classic thing.
[1:05:22] And his story looks the good guy.
[1:05:25] The problem is he's willing to risk the future of the human
[1:05:27] race for his beliefs, which is a bit notes and rings very true to
[1:05:30] me. I think there are people who'd
[1:05:32] rather see others die than even admit they were wrong.
[1:05:34] Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
[1:05:36] Yeah. Energy 4 plays at all well he's.
[1:05:38] Charismatic. He's got a bit of an edge, so
[1:05:40] he's believable. You can see why people follow
[1:05:42] him in the film, but you can also see that fanaticism, like,
[1:05:44] bubbling underneath the surface as well.
[1:05:46] Yeah. I mean, not one of the greatest
[1:05:48] villains I've ever seen by any stretch.
[1:05:49] I wonder if a bigger name might have made him jump off the
[1:05:52] screen more. Possibly.
[1:05:53] But a very interesting villain with motives and a very good
[1:05:55] actor playing him, So I think he's good.
[1:05:57] Yeah. Yeah, Yeah.
[1:05:58] I think you need a. Villain of the piece.
[1:06:00] But not necessarily a somebody who's an out and out villain who
[1:06:03] represents everything that he's part of.
[1:06:05] I think he just represents presents his own desperation.
[1:06:08] I think he represents the desperation of the human race to
[1:06:11] try and find a glimmer of hope somewhere.
[1:06:13] And it just feels to me like it's somebody who's chasing a
[1:06:16] lottery ticket when he's playing the character.
[1:06:18] It's like, if I just get this, everything's going to be all
[1:06:20] right if I could just get to this point.
[1:06:23] And he does honestly believe that his heart's in the right
[1:06:25] place. He believes he's doing the right
[1:06:27] thing ultimately, which doesn't make him a villain.
[1:06:29] It just makes him confused and I think Tubertelli Duvall plays it
[1:06:32] beautifully. He plays it beautifully because
[1:06:34] he's just on that line of humanity and then that
[1:06:37] desperation to be known to want something.
[1:06:39] He's probably spent his whole life in the shadows and he wants
[1:06:42] to come out of those shadows. I honestly think of him and Theo
[1:06:45] just sat down with Julian and just talked.
[1:06:48] They could have figured this out, but it's just he's just so
[1:06:51] hell bent on the glory, just so hell bent on finding that
[1:06:54] lottery ticket that it's just confusing for him.
[1:06:58] He's so conflicted as a character but so well played
[1:07:00] through to the point where he's actually shooting towards Kate
[1:07:03] and the baby. All of these beliefs have got
[1:07:05] out the window. Through.
[1:07:06] Desperation and I think he plays it so well, just this bubble and
[1:07:09] tension. But again, just so, so well
[1:07:11] played. You're right by the anyway, just
[1:07:13] firing bullets. He's kind of like lost the plot
[1:07:15] completely. Yeah.
[1:07:16] He's just spinning between Am I? Desperate.
[1:07:18] Or am I calm? I don't know where I'm supposed
[1:07:20] to be. He's just so confused as a
[1:07:21] character. Question his motive, doesn't it?
[1:07:23] For all the way through, Absolutely.
[1:07:24] Was he ever bothered yet? Was it ever?
[1:07:26] Going to work. Brilliantly done so.
[1:07:27] Complex and Aisha Fawst film debut.
[1:07:30] Had been in Steven Spielberg's Amistad in 1997 and he'd started
[1:07:35] making a name for himself before Children of Men by appealing in
[1:07:38] Dirty Pretty Things and Kinky Boots, and he was cast by Quran.
[1:07:41] After going through a casting process and auditioning, Yeah,
[1:07:45] yes, we started on stage. In.
[1:07:46] Shakespeare, right? But I think I first saw him in
[1:07:49] love, Actually, Yeah. He plays Keira Knightley's
[1:07:51] husband, doesn't he? That chump sitting on the couch
[1:07:53] while his supposed best pal tells his wife he loves her on
[1:07:55] those cards. Yeah.
[1:07:57] And. And there's videos of a Yeah.
[1:07:58] Horrible. Outrageous, that.
[1:08:01] Luke's henchman in the fissures is Patrick.
[1:08:03] Played by Charlie Hunnam, he was cast after Corum saw him in the
[1:08:06] period war drama Cold Mountain, where he played a sadistic home
[1:08:10] officer. One of the bad guys, obviously.
[1:08:12] Hunnam said he'd been out of work for almost 2 years.
[1:08:14] Then two offers came at once. Kuran offered him Patrick and
[1:08:18] Zack Snyder offered him a part in 300.
[1:08:20] He loved waiting Mama Tambien, so chose Children of Men
[1:08:23] instead. The right choice.
[1:08:26] Yeah, I think there's so many people in. 300 you forget about
[1:08:28] them. Yeah, exactly.
[1:08:29] Fastbenders in 300. You totally forget about that.
[1:08:31] Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah.
[1:08:33] Bossy. He's called in Cold Mountain
[1:08:35] like. An albino gunslinger.
[1:08:36] He's great. Or not?
[1:08:37] Yeah, he is great. Yeah.
[1:08:38] What do we think of him? Yeah, I mean, it's always.
[1:08:40] Strange whenever you hear. Someone with our accent in the
[1:08:43] film that isn't set in the Northeast, even more so when
[1:08:46] it's. The film series is this one.
[1:08:48] And I think what makes it strange though is those dreads.
[1:08:50] He just looks like Travolta in Battlefield Earth to me.
[1:08:54] Very good. Loads of laughs.
[1:08:55] Evil. Laughs.
[1:08:59] So, as you might have guessed, Charlie Hunnam is from.
[1:09:01] Newcastle He usually has to learn other accents for his
[1:09:04] roles, but in Children of Many plays Patrick talking in his
[1:09:07] natural Geordie accent. And there's a moment towards the
[1:09:10] end where Patrick executes a man who's helping Theo and Kate to
[1:09:13] find the boat. And while he does it, Patrick is
[1:09:15] singing The Bladen Races, which is a Newcastle folk song from
[1:09:18] the 19th century. 18162 to be exact.
[1:09:21] To be exact. Yeah.
[1:09:22] Yeah. Written by George.
[1:09:23] Ridley It's still very well known.
[1:09:24] Now, wasn't it football fans still sing it and stuff?
[1:09:27] Yeah, yeah, you still hear it now, but in the book.
[1:09:29] Patrick or the version of them? Is called gas coin another
[1:09:33] Geordie 4 key row. Wow, imagine he was called gas
[1:09:36] going in this. That would have.
[1:09:37] Been ridiculous. It would be ludicrous.
[1:09:39] Just crying. Yeah, some fried chicken and a.
[1:09:42] Fishing Room. But thinking that must.
[1:09:45] Have been Hunnam's idea. Oh, absolutely.
[1:09:47] Surely a Mexican. Director wasn't like get.
[1:09:49] The blame races in there 100% and Hunnam never did the
[1:09:52] Geordie. Accent again, no, not heard it
[1:09:54] since. Probably why being so successful
[1:09:57] because if this accent had gone any further than children and
[1:09:59] men, which to be honest brings it down a little bit for me
[1:10:03] really. Oh, absolutely.
[1:10:04] When I hear it, it's just. Like he was 19.
[1:10:11] No awards. For sure Telegia 4 or.
[1:10:13] Charlie Hunnam for Children and Men.
[1:10:15] It impacted them both, though, and both went on to have good
[1:10:17] careers in movies and television.
[1:10:19] Yeah, Hunnam played the lead in FX, The Sons of Anarchy and Asia
[1:10:22] 4 was Oscar nominated 8 years later for 12 Years a Slave.
[1:10:25] That's right. Oh, yeah, he was.
[1:10:26] Yeah. Great in that.
[1:10:27] Yeah, yeah. And here was the Fishers couple.
[1:10:29] Of pretty goodbye, guys. Yeah, yeah, definitely confused
[1:10:32] boys. Very confused.
[1:10:34] So that's the cast section we've.
[1:10:36] Talked about some of the supporting roles already in
[1:10:38] Julianne Moore and Michael Caine, and in those just
[1:10:40] discussed, Clive Owen, Cleo Bashati, Sure Teller, G4 and
[1:10:44] Charlie Hunnam. Some pretty engaging
[1:10:46] performances. Very much that's the word.
[1:10:48] Very engaging. From everybody.
[1:10:56] All the right movies will be back shortly.
[1:10:58] Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode.
[1:11:01] Sponsors. Thanks for listening to our
[1:11:06] sponsors. Now back to the show.
[1:11:12] The middle heading into the middle active children of men
[1:11:17] and. Things are starting to heat up.
[1:11:18] We're going to be looking at Bexhill on the ends of Jasper
[1:11:21] and Miriam. But first we've got a support
[1:11:23] and safe house to get to. We do.
[1:11:25] So the group arrives at the Fishers safe house where it's
[1:11:28] all happening. First, Key reveals she's
[1:11:30] pregnant to Theo. Kind of a shock, yeah.
[1:11:32] Then Theo overhears the Fishes arguing they're planning to kill
[1:11:36] him and keep the baby. Yeah, yeah, some pretty
[1:11:39] significant moments then, Matt, how would it play out?
[1:11:42] I mean, I think this reveal of the.
[1:11:44] Pregnancy, you really, really need the same between Theo and
[1:11:47] Key for them to really sort of bonding over something in this
[1:11:50] just that so well, I mean the symbolism of being in the cow
[1:11:53] shed so surrounded by innocent animals.
[1:11:56] Obviously the milk's there. Obviously babies live off milk.
[1:11:58] The boat is called tomorrow. Not particularly subtle, but it
[1:12:01] works really well. And I think what works even
[1:12:04] better is how their relationship just flips because he's adamant
[1:12:08] that he's in too much trouble to help, but he doesn't know why
[1:12:10] Julian recommended him. So when Keith starts to undress
[1:12:13] and he goes, whoa, wait a minute, don't do that.
[1:12:16] You know exactly where his head is gone.
[1:12:18] And he thinks she's going to offer sex in return for help,
[1:12:20] but obviously he's far too much of a good guy to even
[1:12:23] contemplate doing that. So that realization of why she's
[1:12:27] unrolled, that is so well played because he's stunned it in the
[1:12:31] silence, and he just holds that silence for so long, and then he
[1:12:34] discours Jesus Christ. Yeah.
[1:12:36] And the brilliant thing about that is, is that an expression
[1:12:39] of disbelief or considering what he's just saying, is he actually
[1:12:42] having a religious moment here? Yeah.
[1:12:45] In a barn. In a barn.
[1:12:46] Exactly. Because that's what the subtext.
[1:12:49] Is. I think it's such.
[1:12:50] A brilliant saying and so well played between the two of them.
[1:12:52] Yeah, yeah. I think narratively this is
[1:12:54] probably the most. Important plot point in the
[1:12:56] whole film keeps showing just carrying a baby and I think
[1:12:59] Quran knows it. I think it's obvious how much
[1:13:01] thoughts gone into this particular moment, like Keys
[1:13:04] Port when she does the reveal that's apparently based on The
[1:13:06] Birth of Venus by Sandra Botticelli.
[1:13:08] Like legendary painting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, yeah,
[1:13:11] yeah. So.
[1:13:12] Still with the odd references. Yeah, I'm not sure of key
[1:13:14] holding a bump. The framing and the lighting is
[1:13:16] stunning. It's all like soft light coming
[1:13:18] through the doors. Yeah.
[1:13:19] Very ethereal feeling to me, Like heavenly.
[1:13:21] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:13:22] And you've mentioned it, but there's loads of religious
[1:13:24] symbology. We're in a stable, like where
[1:13:26] the big JC was born. Yeah, yeah.
[1:13:28] And when Theo sees Keith pregnant?
[1:13:30] He sees Jesus. Christ, and then a few minutes
[1:13:31] later he makes a joke, which is a virgin, yes.
[1:13:34] And then she's like, Nah, I'm a shite.
[1:13:36] That's pretty funny. How do we in shite?
[1:13:38] Patrick would have said. How do we in shape man?
[1:13:41] That's a justice. Isn't it?
[1:13:42] That's even bad. Yeah.
[1:13:43] So from this moment, we'll find out the Fishers aren't exactly
[1:13:46] what they seem to be. The one at the kill, Theo, the
[1:13:47] one at the kill, Julian. That is one of the key to kind
[1:13:50] of believe in what they were doing.
[1:13:52] So Luke was behind the whole thing.
[1:13:53] Again, this is like blinking your message stuff.
[1:13:55] It's not slowly built. It's not slowly delivered to the
[1:13:58] audience. It's very much like through a
[1:14:00] window. I did worse.
[1:14:02] Please. Everyone did it right.
[1:14:03] Getting out of here, right? Fuck that car, but stop pushing
[1:14:05] that one. It's really heart pounding and a
[1:14:08] really good action sequence and that it's just very slowly built
[1:14:11] and I love action sequences like this where it's just literally
[1:14:13] pushing a car and it's not like. Driving out there's.
[1:14:17] Explosions everywhere. It's like they've got two guys,
[1:14:19] but Theo knows that because he's got key, then they're not going
[1:14:22] to start shooting the shit out of the car.
[1:14:24] They're not just going to open fire.
[1:14:25] Thing I love about this sequence is it goes from night to day.
[1:14:28] It's totally over the sunrise. Yeah, which is great.
[1:14:31] Starts in complete darkness. So it's like them escaping the
[1:14:33] darkness towards a new light, towards Jasper's place, towards
[1:14:37] something else. So they're just, they're leaving
[1:14:39] like all of this horrible darkness behind them, which is
[1:14:41] really, really good and gets halfway down that hill and the
[1:14:45] car stops and you're like, ah, would he just work?
[1:14:48] And it does. Push it again.
[1:14:49] And then Patrick? Catches up, Yeah.
[1:14:51] Cannot shoot him. No, you can't, because he's
[1:14:57] already. Went against what Luke said
[1:14:59] before. That's why I asked for
[1:15:00] permission, isn't it? That's why he doesn't.
[1:15:01] And he asked permission because he's already gone too.
[1:15:03] Far before it's hit by the car door again.
[1:15:05] Allergic the car doors this guy. But again, I mean this.
[1:15:09] Really hammers home how. Much.
[1:15:11] Theo stepped up. He's now part of this.
[1:15:14] He could have escaped there by himself.
[1:15:15] He could have got out of there no problem.
[1:15:17] And now we know why Julian wanted him involved.
[1:15:19] Now we know why Julian trusted him with this information.
[1:15:22] Because it wasn't just for the transfer papers.
[1:15:24] It was for his conscience and for him himself.
[1:15:27] Yeah, but we've just had the most important plot.
[1:15:29] Point in the narrative and I think this might be the most
[1:15:31] important plot point in terms of Theo's arc because he overhears
[1:15:35] looking Patrick and what they're planning to do he's got a
[1:15:37] decision to make see what the start of the film we'll just do
[1:15:39] one leave Key and Miriam to it get the Irish coffee in there
[1:15:42] easily. But now risks his life and he
[1:15:44] chooses to help them. And yeah the escape in the car
[1:15:47] not quite as spectacular as the last car scene we talked about
[1:15:50] freewheeling down the muddy bank but I really like it.
[1:15:53] Yeah. Yeah, but the Fishers meeting
[1:15:54] scene before this? As well that's.
[1:15:56] Really important because that's when we hear the ideology in
[1:15:58] full for the first time, and Theo speaks out and sees that he
[1:16:01] disagrees with it. That's the first time he gives
[1:16:04] an opinion on anything. And from that point, he's not
[1:16:06] passive anymore. Yeah.
[1:16:07] He's like a proper protagonist. Theo's choices from now until
[1:16:10] the end drive the narrative, which I think is great
[1:16:13] development. Yeah, absolutely.
[1:16:15] Another great moment in. This whole sequence as well is
[1:16:17] when Tomas comes in, the farmer who actually owns the place, and
[1:16:20] he's handing Theo different clause.
[1:16:22] Oh yeah. So obviously they're going to
[1:16:24] kill. Him.
[1:16:24] Yeah, and they're going to. Wipe out and then they're going
[1:16:25] to say OK, all, we found these clothes.
[1:16:27] Here they are, right? Yeah, Yeah.
[1:16:28] You know, just to still gain her trust as well, which I think is
[1:16:30] another lovely little touch. Yeah.
[1:16:32] Nice, nice detail. Yeah.
[1:16:33] So. That's the Fisher safe house.
[1:16:35] Key is pregnant, Theo decides to become a guardian Angel, and
[1:16:38] they and Miriam are on the run. Yep, things are about to get
[1:16:41] darker still, though. Oh yeah, of course they are.
[1:16:47] From one safe house, Theo Key and.
[1:16:49] Miriam flee to another Jaspers do be then in the woods and then
[1:16:53] move on to Bexhill refugee camp. It's in these scenes we meet,
[1:16:56] Border Guard said, and also see the final scenes of Jasper and
[1:16:59] Miriam. Yeah, some big moments.
[1:17:01] Westy Yeah. Are we doing?
[1:17:03] I mean, we're doing great now. That we're about to Jaspers, but
[1:17:05] the setups here are wonderful. As soon as they arrive they
[1:17:08] think he's taking the quietness which is a set up again for
[1:17:11] later on. But it's just the fact that
[1:17:12] Jasper uses it to kill the rats like the vermin.
[1:17:15] Even though they have a peaceful death, it just shows his
[1:17:18] character shines through. Just wonderful key revealing
[1:17:21] that pregnancy to Jasper. That just shows the safety and
[1:17:24] the trust that's developed between her and Theo, because if
[1:17:26] Theo trusts this guy, she was completely open.
[1:17:29] And then there's that moment that you spoke about, John,
[1:17:32] where they're just literally talking about the pregnancy, but
[1:17:35] she's talking to Theo as if he doesn't know that it takes nine
[1:17:38] months. Yes.
[1:17:40] I know that, but that. Yeah, yeah.
[1:17:44] Good point. Yeah, Yeah, nobody.
[1:17:45] Gives a shit about but. Again, he started to buy into
[1:17:48] people's ideologies and people's ways of thinking, and he's
[1:17:51] starting to be more accepting because we've got Miriam
[1:17:54] outside, obviously practicing whatever she's practicing.
[1:17:57] And then Kate asks Theo, it's a beautiful line and it's blinking
[1:18:00] new message. She says, how does she look?
[1:18:02] And he says honest, lovely. And it's just a wonderful.
[1:18:06] Thing because it's like he's. Believing in people now.
[1:18:09] And there's that shot of Theo in the foreground topping up his
[1:18:12] whiskey with Jasper's whiskey bottle and they're listening to
[1:18:16] that story about Dylan in the background and it never rocks.
[1:18:19] Focus. It just stays on Theo.
[1:18:22] And that's just beautiful because that's just framed so
[1:18:25] nicely. But always just stay on him.
[1:18:27] And the way Kane tells that story demands to be shot in a
[1:18:30] mid. It demands to be in there on him
[1:18:32] and you can tell he's given an incredible performance, but it's
[1:18:36] just Jasper. That's just the way he is with
[1:18:38] everybody. That's just his personality.
[1:18:40] It's absolutely wonderful when Jasper's over there again, it's
[1:18:43] just an absolute heartbreaker and we've got Theo to such a
[1:18:47] point where he has to get out the car and then watch it happen
[1:18:50] and we see it from his viewpoint.
[1:18:51] We're doing cut close again. It's that story that we've heard
[1:18:54] about Dylan to keep him in the background.
[1:18:55] Pull me finger blows his hand off 1st to fuck you, right.
[1:18:59] And it's that moment where Miriam just tries to touch these
[1:19:02] like don't you fucking touch me. And you know, he's like you're
[1:19:05] like, oh God, he's reset again or he's even more determined now
[1:19:09] to get this done because of what's happened and who he's
[1:19:12] lost. So incredible moment in the
[1:19:14] film. Incredible end of the second act
[1:19:17] into a third one because you just think, right, God knows
[1:19:19] where it's going to go. Yeah, I think the scenes back at
[1:19:22] Jaspas. Are some of the best in the
[1:19:23] film. Yeah.
[1:19:24] Because we've heard bits and pieces through Julian.
[1:19:26] But here we'll finally get Theo's full back story where you
[1:19:29] mentioned the Wesley just by explains the key about Dylan
[1:19:31] dying in the flu pandemic. And Theo's from the corner
[1:19:33] listening. It's a really powerful way of
[1:19:35] doing it. But like, right now, we
[1:19:37] understand why Theo's so miserable.
[1:19:39] Yeah. He's lost his son.
[1:19:40] He's not getting another one, obviously, and that's why he's
[1:19:42] lost his purpose. I think he was already a good
[1:19:44] character before this. And then they develop him even
[1:19:46] further, which is excellent. And just by going is a
[1:19:50] heartbreaker. Yeah, that whole sequence.
[1:19:52] Because firstly, he euthanizes Janus.
[1:19:54] That's massive on its own. But then you kind of realize why
[1:19:56] he's doing it. You know, the Fishers are going
[1:19:58] to kill him, and without him, she'll just starve.
[1:20:01] Oh, God, yeah. Michael Caine is just.
[1:20:02] Outstanding if he wants. To care about the death of a
[1:20:04] character who doesn't have loads of scenes, Just get Michael
[1:20:07] Caine to play him. Problem solved.
[1:20:08] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time, Yeah.
[1:20:11] And Janice was played by Philippa.
[1:20:13] Urquhart, an experienced British TV actress best known for World
[1:20:17] War 2 drama Tenkor and Janice's back story is that she was an
[1:20:21] award-winning photo journalist who was tortured by the
[1:20:24] authorities for exposing government abuses, which has
[1:20:27] left her in a catatonic state. But in the book, she's called
[1:20:30] Hilda and is elderly and senile, and she dies in a state
[1:20:33] sanctioned suicide where the military drowned a lot of
[1:20:36] elderly people on a beach. Jesus, that's right.
[1:20:39] So in the. Book quite it.
[1:20:41] Isn't a drug, it's a state-run mass killing ritual for people,
[1:20:44] right? Kind of like Logan's run for 60
[1:20:46] year olds, right? Yeah.
[1:20:47] So in the book he would write to see if Hilda and fails.
[1:20:50] And it's that that leads into joining the resistance, right?
[1:20:53] OK, right in. The scene where Jasper is.
[1:20:55] Describing Dylan. 'S death.
[1:20:56] We hear choral music in the background.
[1:20:59] The music is Gustav Marlas, Kinder Tauten leader.
[1:21:01] Or songs on the death of children.
[1:21:04] Wow. Yeah, what a title that is.
[1:21:06] The lyrics are taken from the set of poems written by a German
[1:21:08] poet called Frederick Rickert, and the poems were written by
[1:21:12] after Regardless, two children. The scarlet fever choices.
[1:21:16] Pain becomes art, I guess. Yeah, in the worst possible way.
[1:21:19] Yeah, 1830s, those poems are written.
[1:21:22] So a specific choice of music, I mean, child based heart breaks
[1:21:24] all over the place in this. Yeah, yeah.
[1:21:26] I was like Nick Cave, this guy. Yeah, and.
[1:21:30] Then after this, well, it doesn't.
[1:21:32] Get really any better? Because what comes next is one
[1:21:34] of the most disturbing parts of the film for me.
[1:21:36] They're on the bus in the Bexhill Keys.
[1:21:38] Waters are broken, and just when it's making its way to come, you
[1:21:42] can see just people already in cages.
[1:21:45] They're being beaten, but because we're on the bus, we
[1:21:47] can't stop to look at it. It's just that's the way it is
[1:21:50] and you've got to move on from it.
[1:21:51] You want to stop and help, but you can't.
[1:21:53] And it's just these constant glimpses of horror and then it
[1:21:56] does stop and that piece of shit God gets on.
[1:21:59] He's horrible, horrible. And he goes straight for.
[1:22:02] Key. And it's when you get one of the
[1:22:04] underlying themes of the film, which is the individual having
[1:22:07] to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
[1:22:10] Because when Miriam stands up and she starts her religious
[1:22:12] kind of ranting and raving to distract the God, so he goes for
[1:22:16] her and instead, I mean, literally dragged out by your
[1:22:19] hair and then that black bag overhead and that's it.
[1:22:23] That's the last we ever see her again.
[1:22:25] The buses keeps on moving. Like, you should have to think
[1:22:28] what's going to happen to her and this whole scene, because
[1:22:30] it's over so fast. The bus is moving out.
[1:22:32] They're like, this is no big deal.
[1:22:34] This is just, you know, daily routine for these guys.
[1:22:37] Yeah. Then it's the next bus.
[1:22:38] Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's right behind it,
[1:22:40] Yeah. Yeah, it just.
[1:22:42] Leaves you feeling. Sore sick to your stomach over
[1:22:44] what's going to happen to Miriam?
[1:22:45] Yeah, I mean, you do see what is going to happen.
[1:22:47] Because it is painted, isn't it? As the go and you see the people
[1:22:50] been like kneeling down, then you see the corpses and then you
[1:22:52] kind of get an idea. Horrible.
[1:22:54] Awful. Yeah.
[1:22:55] The theory of immigration. Has been there all the way
[1:22:57] through, but then it Becks here. It goes up about 5 notches.
[1:23:00] I think it's some pretty pressing in writing.
[1:23:02] I mean, in the 10 years I saw after this came out, major world
[1:23:05] events occurred powered by immigration manifestos.
[1:23:08] World leaders have been elected on the back of it.
[1:23:10] Kind of like Quorum saw it all coming.
[1:23:13] I'm surprised Farage doesn't turn up with that bus.
[1:23:15] Yeah, yeah. But another powerful character
[1:23:19] moment when? Miriam's dragged off the bus.
[1:23:20] She just sacrifice herself for key, really powerful, really
[1:23:23] uncomfortable filmmaking. Which is exactly, I think, what
[1:23:26] Quran's going for. Yeah.
[1:23:27] What should be. Yeah, definitely.
[1:23:29] So. Miriam, as we've.
[1:23:31] Seen she is Key's midwife and the person meant to deliver her
[1:23:34] baby, and she's played by Pam Ferris and Quan Caster after
[1:23:38] working with her on Prisoner of Azkapan.
[1:23:40] That's right where she played Harry Potter's Aunt Marge.
[1:23:43] Yeah, sticks are in the cupboard.
[1:23:44] Of the stairs right she. Was also the Trunchbull in
[1:23:47] Matilda. That's right.
[1:23:48] Yes, darling, but to me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's in.
[1:23:51] That as well. JV veteran.
[1:23:52] Back in the day, yeah. I mean, she's good, Yeah.
[1:23:54] She. Brings like a bit of a warm oh.
[1:23:55] She's wonderful. Yeah, she's great.
[1:23:57] That bit when? She gives the whole back.
[1:23:58] Story is just incredible. Yeah, that speech about the
[1:24:00] sound of children and. Playgrounds being silenced.
[1:24:02] Brilliant. Keeps disappearing.
[1:24:04] Yeah, amazing. And Bexhill is a seaside.
[1:24:06] Town in. Sussex and the sets for the film
[1:24:08] were constructed across several locations.
[1:24:11] The bus arrival scenes were filmed at Bruno Barracks in
[1:24:14] Aldershot, Royal Conohort Barracks in Hertfordshire was
[1:24:17] used as the come interior market scenes and the room where Key
[1:24:21] gives birth and the climatic battle sequence was filmed at
[1:24:24] RAF But Hereford in Oxfordshire, a derelict former US Air Force
[1:24:28] base. Yeah, the use digital effects
[1:24:30] are. Buildings and people as well.
[1:24:32] I think it'll be some really powerful imagery in the refugee
[1:24:34] camp. The metal grating over the
[1:24:36] windows on the bus like subtle touch but just looks horrendous,
[1:24:39] horrific and Quran said that in. Creating Bexhill, he gave the
[1:24:42] production team some real life reference points.
[1:24:45] He asked them to look at Nazi concentration camps, Japanese
[1:24:48] American internment camps and Syrian refugee environments as
[1:24:52] inspiration. Yeah, yeah, we hear the
[1:24:55] libertine. Song.
[1:24:56] All by Mac Fry playing in the background as well, right?
[1:24:59] All by Mac Fry means work sets you free.
[1:25:01] And those words were over the gates.
[1:25:02] Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
[1:25:05] So you know that deliberate choice.
[1:25:07] Yeah. And that entrance to Bexhill
[1:25:08] looks very. Similar to that?
[1:25:09] It does, definitely, yeah. And there's also reference.
[1:25:13] To Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where the US Army and CIA tortured and
[1:25:16] abused detainees. There's a famous photograph
[1:25:19] taken at Abu Ghraib of a torture victim in a mask standing on a
[1:25:22] box with his arms outstretched. And we see something very
[1:25:25] similar at Bexhill. Yeah, we do.
[1:25:27] Yeah, The hooded man. That image became.
[1:25:29] Known as it was all over the press in about 2004, I think.
[1:25:32] Yeah. And there's a prison 9 Bexhill
[1:25:34] standing in that exactly import. Yeah, it's obviously
[1:25:36] intentional. And the bus goes, passes and
[1:25:37] it's one of the last things you see.
[1:25:39] Isn't it? Is Yeah, yeah, they're taken
[1:25:41] into Bexhill. By Sid the.
[1:25:42] Home Guard and there are some interesting deals on his outfit.
[1:25:45] The Crest on his burial shows the map of Britain and the whole
[1:25:48] of of Ireland, suggesting the Republic of Ireland has rejoined
[1:25:51] the UK. Yeah, I love all the little.
[1:25:53] Details like earlier in London with all the Homeland Security
[1:25:56] signage everywhere. And there's billboards seeing
[1:25:59] avoiding fertility tests as a crime.
[1:26:00] And there's a piece of graffiti that says last one, the die,
[1:26:03] please turn out the lights. Yeah.
[1:26:05] Incredible that. Yeah, I'll make it.
[1:26:06] Help. Yeah.
[1:26:07] For our recordings. And another subtle detail in the
[1:26:11] bus. Scene is that we see the fishes
[1:26:13] outside the window pretending to surrender, which shows how they
[1:26:16] got into the camp. And we can see Patrick.
[1:26:18] He's wearing a mask, boot. We can see his hair and jacket.
[1:26:22] Yeah, that's how they get. In similar to that at.
[1:26:24] The start of the film, we said when he was on his way.
[1:26:26] Jasper's on the train. We see Ian, one of the fishers
[1:26:29] on the bus. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:26:30] No puddles. Yeah.
[1:26:31] No. And I'm not happy enough.
[1:26:33] That is the middle of Children of Men.
[1:26:36] Yeah. Jasper's gone.
[1:26:37] Miriam's gone. And Theo and Kieran Bexill.
[1:26:40] We're set up for the climax. But before we go there, let's
[1:26:43] get into Alfonso's team. Should we?
[1:26:45] Let's do it. Let's do that.
[1:26:46] The. Crew Alfonso Cuaron didn't do it
[1:26:54] all alone. He had quite the crew on
[1:26:56] Children of Men, and we're talking about some of those
[1:26:58] talents right now. John Tavanagh as composer and
[1:27:01] Emmanuel Labetsky as director of photography will be discussed,
[1:27:05] but we're going to begin with the screenplay and the writers.
[1:27:08] Yep, Yep. There are a few credited.
[1:27:10] Screenwriters on children. Of men namely Alfonso Cuaron,
[1:27:13] Timothy J Sexton, David Aratta, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby paron
[1:27:17] had already written his features solo kantu parea and ITU Mama
[1:27:21] tambien Sexton this was his first screenplay A writer had
[1:27:24] written thrillers broke down palace and spy game and Fergus
[1:27:27] and osby were a writing team who had written thrillers
[1:27:30] consequence and 1st snore right five credited writers and Matt
[1:27:35] the famous five of their writing on children of men I mean it
[1:27:39] doesn't feel like. Five different voices.
[1:27:41] It all feels very unified, and it's just terrifying how
[1:27:44] prescient it is. When Theo walks into the
[1:27:47] building, at one point, there's a sign in the background that
[1:27:50] just says British drops for British people.
[1:27:52] You just think, wow, did PD James have a time machine or
[1:27:56] something? You know, that advert that plays
[1:27:59] only Britain soldiers on. I mean, not just hits on so much
[1:28:03] as well. And the novel, which I've not
[1:28:05] read, but which I think it really should.
[1:28:07] It obviously gives them such a firm base to work from because
[1:28:10] everything they bring out of it is still so horribly plausible.
[1:28:13] I mean, what I keep coming back to, this doesn't feel like
[1:28:16] science fiction. It's that thing about it's taken
[1:28:19] from tomorrow's headlines, and that's why it hits them so hard.
[1:28:21] There's not that many films where you can honestly see what
[1:28:24] it's about continues to go on relevance, but this one really,
[1:28:27] really does. The themes it explores.
[1:28:29] Absolutely. I mentioned the character.
[1:28:31] Writing around Theo, and that is great, but probably the themes
[1:28:34] that really stand out for me, the way the script explores
[1:28:37] things like immigration feels massively relevant, maybe even
[1:28:40] more in the later years than when it was made.
[1:28:42] Yeah. The idea that my creation is
[1:28:43] just human nature, something we've always done and always
[1:28:46] will. I mean, political themes can be
[1:28:48] really divisive, but I think with how accurate this feels,
[1:28:51] it's not easy to argue against it, I don't think.
[1:28:53] Yeah, exactly. I also think the critique of
[1:28:55] ideology, or rather the critique of being enslaved by an
[1:28:58] ideology, that's really interesting.
[1:29:00] Like Luke and the Fishers are willing to risk everything,
[1:29:03] including the future of humanity, for what they think.
[1:29:06] The film is basically saying that ideologies are tools to
[1:29:08] separate us or they can be used for that.
[1:29:10] That can be dangerous. And again, that kind of feels
[1:29:12] timeless. So as a cautionary tale, this is
[1:29:16] pretty scary accurate. I think there's even a pandemic
[1:29:19] in the back story a decade and a half before COVID, and there's
[1:29:22] more ideas in this world with no hope.
[1:29:24] People turn to religion that's there, like we talked about, and
[1:29:27] the government's handing out suicide drugs, like quietest or
[1:29:30] drugs to get you up high with quietest bliss.
[1:29:33] I mean, if I lived here, I'd be off my head all the time as
[1:29:35] well. Yeah, too, right.
[1:29:36] There's some incredible technical.
[1:29:37] Filmmaking. As we've been seeing, but some
[1:29:39] really interesting writing as well.
[1:29:40] And my combination is what science fiction designs best, I
[1:29:44] think. Yeah, I think it's really
[1:29:45] interesting the writing of. This because we don't get any
[1:29:48] explanation as to why the world is the way it is.
[1:29:51] It just is that way. And I think that's really brave,
[1:29:55] and it's one that doesn't leave you thinking, well, if only I
[1:29:57] knew, then we'll be able to solve it.
[1:29:58] I don't think this is very politically charged, even though
[1:30:01] it does seem to be. It's about humanity and about
[1:30:04] being human and about the progression and where we're
[1:30:06] going. We've got to just be good to
[1:30:08] each other, otherwise we'll go nowhere anyway.
[1:30:10] It doesn't matter about who's governing what.
[1:30:12] You can only govern what exists and if hopelessness exists.
[1:30:15] And that's what they're trying to govern.
[1:30:17] But again, I think there's just a lot of this that gets lost.
[1:30:21] A lot of the narrative to me seems secondary to the message.
[1:30:25] I think it's a very simple story.
[1:30:27] A refugee is the only one who can be pregnant and she needs to
[1:30:29] be found. It's just this beacon of hope
[1:30:31] and nobody knows how to deal with it and nobody knows how to
[1:30:34] cope with it. Because even as we see what
[1:30:36] we'll get to the end of the film, it's temporary.
[1:30:39] You know, this hope is temporary and then it's it's raided again.
[1:30:42] So it's about human nature and the and the destructiveness of
[1:30:45] human nature. And I think that's what it's
[1:30:47] trying to address. And if we take away that
[1:30:49] destructive element, all we're doing is hurting ourselves.
[1:30:51] We're not helping anybody. We're not even helping each
[1:30:54] other. We're not helping ourselves by
[1:30:55] not helping each other. And that's the central message
[1:30:57] in this, which, again, is really important.
[1:30:59] And it's wrapped up in this terrifying dystopian world.
[1:31:03] And like we've said, isn't that far away.
[1:31:05] So I think it's about time that people realize what the writing
[1:31:07] about is literally around the corner.
[1:31:10] Yeah, the narrative, it's pretty straightforward.
[1:31:11] That's. Why it's only what, 95 minutes
[1:31:13] or something? It's very, very simple.
[1:31:15] It could this could be easily. Be a 15 minute short film.
[1:31:18] They could, yeah. So when beacon pictures first.
[1:31:20] Option PD James's novel in 1997 they hired Paul Chart to adopt
[1:31:25] it. He was a British filmmaker
[1:31:27] making some noise at the time with American Perfect Reward
[1:31:30] crime thriller and it was written like a road trip film.
[1:31:33] Yeah, you too, Mama Zombie ends a Rd.
[1:31:35] Trip film, isn't it? So if this was a road film early
[1:31:37] on, possibly why Quran was approached.
[1:31:40] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:31:41] Didn't go after Todd Phillips for some reason.
[1:31:43] No, that's a sham. There's a baby.
[1:31:45] In the Hangover, what more do you need?
[1:31:47] Mark Fergus and. Hawk Osby were then hired to do
[1:31:50] a rewrite. They were a writing team, and it
[1:31:53] was them who laid the groundwork for what the script would
[1:31:55] become. They said they were struggling
[1:31:57] with how to adapt it for the big screen, but their breakthrough
[1:31:59] came when they realized there were similarities to Casablanca.
[1:32:03] Yeah, Fergus said. The Sophia.
[1:32:05] Was being like Rick Blaine, this, like, scarred hero who was
[1:32:08] a revolutionary but gave up when he lost too much?
[1:32:10] I mean, that is kind of there, isn't it?
[1:32:11] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:32:12] It makes sense, No? Piano sing along though.
[1:32:15] Could have had just by belting out imagine or something.
[1:32:18] That would be great. There was.
[1:32:20] Space for that. I think they just might have cut
[1:32:21] it. Out, yeah, they could have done
[1:32:22] that. Just possessed they could have.
[1:32:24] Done that. Yeah.
[1:32:24] Yeah. But it was that.
[1:32:25] Version of the script the Quran read.
[1:32:27] And convinced him to come on board.
[1:32:29] Yeah, right. So then when?
[1:32:30] Quran came in. One of his conditions was that
[1:32:33] he got to develop the script. The studio hired Timothy Sexton
[1:32:36] to work with him for rewrites. Sexton hadn't written a feature
[1:32:39] screenplay before and was actually known as ATV Movie
[1:32:42] Writer. Yeah, so as well as boycott that
[1:32:44] were. Mentioned he'd Co written live
[1:32:46] from Baghdad, which is about the news team covering the Gulf War.
[1:32:49] That must have been a draw to get him in the I would think.
[1:32:52] Oh yeah, a lot of similarities, yeah.
[1:32:54] But other changes from the earlier script.
[1:32:56] Versions. At one point, the quietest mass
[1:32:58] suicide from the book we mentioned was how Janice died
[1:33:01] and Jasper died when he was mauled by guard dogs to help the
[1:33:04] own key get to Bexhill. Presumably he didn't have the
[1:33:07] dogs to pull his finger. But maybe that wouldn't work.
[1:33:11] Bite my finger. And we've mentioned some of the
[1:33:16] religious themes. Already.
[1:33:17] And that comes from the novel PD James actually took the title of
[1:33:21] the book from the Bible because Psalm 90 says, Lord, thou
[1:33:24] turnest man to destruction and seest return, ye children of
[1:33:28] men. And Theos Fullimus Thelonious,
[1:33:31] which comes from the Latin for belonging to God.
[1:33:34] And the name of the fishes comes from the idea that the fish has
[1:33:37] been a symbol of Christianity for thousands of years.
[1:33:40] Yes, when the book they're called the. 5.
[1:33:42] Fishes right taken from like the five loaves 2 fishes miracle in
[1:33:45] the Bible right under the end of the book Theo.
[1:33:48] Makes a sign of the. Cross on the baby's forehead
[1:33:51] because like PD James was a practicing Christian, I think
[1:33:53] so. Perron torn that stuff down, but
[1:33:55] it is kind of still there. Oh, it's definitely still there.
[1:33:58] Karen said he deliberately. Didn't read PD.
[1:34:00] James novel as he didn't want it to affect his vision.
[1:34:03] Yes, Timothy Sexton to read it. So they were aware of what was
[1:34:06] happening in the book. There were some other changes.
[1:34:08] Like in the book, we were told that the reason for the
[1:34:10] infidelity is that men have stopped producing healthy sperm.
[1:34:13] In the book, it's referred to as the ultimate failure.
[1:34:17] Yeah, the movie doesn't go into massive detail.
[1:34:19] For the reasons behind it, does it?
[1:34:21] No, which I think works fine. I think it works absolutely
[1:34:23] fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:34:25] I've heard coron talk before. About how he doesn't like.
[1:34:27] Too much exposition and explanation in films.
[1:34:29] So maybe that's why he just got rid of it all.
[1:34:30] Yeah. Now thinking about it, I think
[1:34:32] that actually. Does point with because when
[1:34:34] Luke finds out it's a girl at the end, he kind of gives up,
[1:34:37] right? Yeah, and.
[1:34:39] That he was hoping it would be a boy.
[1:34:40] Who could produce healthy sperm? Yeah, maybe.
[1:34:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That kind of taps.
[1:34:44] Into it, so it's there, but. You've really got to look for
[1:34:46] it. Yeah.
[1:34:46] Oh, you have. Yeah, you have.
[1:34:47] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:34:48] And also in the novel. Julian was the pregnant woman,
[1:34:51] which we've mentioned, and the father was Luke.
[1:34:53] Actually, Julian and Theo's baby Dylan didn't die in a pandemic.
[1:34:57] He was killed in a car accident and Theo was American, not
[1:35:00] British. And also he wasn't an office
[1:35:02] worker, he was a Oxford University history professor and
[1:35:06] as part of his depression he would sleep with homeless
[1:35:08] people. Wow.
[1:35:09] Yeah, I think he sleeps outside. With groups of homeless.
[1:35:11] People. Oh, right, OK, he wasn't
[1:35:13] seducing them. I was going to say that.
[1:35:15] 'D be weird to get a little. Depression, yeah.
[1:35:19] Why don't you get a job? Get a goddamn.
[1:35:23] Job, Al about the mind. Well, for pending the screenplay
[1:35:29] of Children of Men. The screen writers were
[1:35:31] nominated for Best Adapted screenplay at the Oscars.
[1:35:33] They lost out again to The departed William Monaghan, based
[1:35:36] on the Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs.
[1:35:38] That, Yes, that's right. Yeah, No.
[1:35:41] Oscar for the writers here, but. For us, some pretty
[1:35:43] extraordinary precedent writing on children of men.
[1:35:46] Oh, wonderful, I say. It's terrifying.
[1:35:48] Really. We're moving on to the music on
[1:35:52] the film now. And the composer on Children of
[1:35:54] Men was Sir John Taverner, a British musician known mostly
[1:35:58] for his religious choral pieces going back to the 1960s.
[1:36:01] This was Tavern as first and only original film score.
[1:36:04] Wow, an unconventional choice, Matt.
[1:36:06] How was the music on Children of Men?
[1:36:09] I think it's great, I think. As well as the soundtrack, I
[1:36:12] think the choice of very unusual cover versions is really
[1:36:15] striking. I don't know if it's a budgetary
[1:36:18] thing, so they couldn't afford the original, but those covers
[1:36:20] of Tomorrow Never Knows and Ruby Tuesday because they're not The
[1:36:23] Beatles or the Stones. It does give the film the sense
[1:36:26] of This is our world, but also not.
[1:36:28] Yeah, it's not authentic. It's not.
[1:36:30] Authentic. It's slightly.
[1:36:32] Removed from our reality. I think that's so effective.
[1:36:34] And I think the original scores great.
[1:36:35] I mean, it's quite sparing, but when it comes in, it feels like
[1:36:38] it's stabbing you in the heart and it's punching you in the
[1:36:40] gut. It's really evocative, really
[1:36:42] powerful. It haunts you once the film's
[1:36:44] finished. Really, really like it.
[1:36:46] And any film that ends with Jarvis Cocker scene is still
[1:36:49] running the world. That's fine by me.
[1:36:53] Anything with? Jarvis is fine by me, yeah.
[1:36:54] Yeah, yeah, I think We're on uses music in quite an unusual
[1:36:57] way, but really cleverly. It's like a combination of
[1:36:59] original score and like pop soundtrack.
[1:37:02] John Tavanagh score. I don't think it's really like a
[1:37:05] traditional film score. It's more like a spiritual kind
[1:37:08] of home that sits underneath the film.
[1:37:10] It's really atmospheric. Yeah, yeah.
[1:37:12] You've talked about the religious themes and symbology,
[1:37:14] and I think that's surely why Quran hired Tavanagh, because
[1:37:16] that was kind of his thing. So with Tavern stuff being quite
[1:37:19] subtle, it probably is the pop music that's most noticeable.
[1:37:23] Ruby Tuesday gets played several times.
[1:37:25] And it's not The Rolling Stones version like you see Ma, it's
[1:37:27] the one by Franco Battiado. It's a good version.
[1:37:30] I like it. But I think Quran might be
[1:37:32] making a point on multiculturalism because it's a
[1:37:34] very British and very British sounding song made more
[1:37:37] beautiful sounding by being developed by someone from a
[1:37:39] different country. Yes.
[1:37:40] It's like a cultural collaboration almost.
[1:37:43] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:37:43] I mean, not that it's hard to make it more beautiful sounding
[1:37:45] than when Jackass belding out the first one.
[1:37:48] Just a reimagination. And by how important the refugee
[1:37:52] viewpoint could be. Yeah.
[1:37:53] And then we've got all these other pop songs all over the
[1:37:55] place. Almost always diegetic we
[1:37:57] mentioned King Crimson and the Libertines.
[1:37:58] We hear hush yes by deep purple on Jasper's car radio at the
[1:38:01] start always welcome, but as a choice feels almost like a kind
[1:38:05] of lullaby for this world with no babies yeah and then we hear
[1:38:08] bring on the Lucy by John Lennon a couple of times.
[1:38:10] I think surely chosen as keen based Jasper on him yes and how
[1:38:14] mad that means the Jasper plays to Theo in the first that like
[1:38:17] barrage of noise yeah, that's FX twin Oh my guess which is Evan
[1:38:22] it's called Ah right. OK, but yeah, the way music's.
[1:38:25] Used for scoring songs. Always think of Quran is like a
[1:38:28] sophisticated and classy filmmaker and I think that's
[1:38:31] shown how he uses the music in this as well.
[1:38:33] I think it's one that's easy. To forget about, because again,
[1:38:37] it's one of them soundtracks that really doesn't emphasize
[1:38:40] anything that's happening on the screen.
[1:38:41] Yeah, it's one of them soundtracks that takes you away
[1:38:44] from what's happening on the screen.
[1:38:45] Almost especially the the original score feels very
[1:38:50] religious to me. Very heavenly, very angelic,
[1:38:53] lots of strings, lots of voices, lots of calmness, lots of hope,
[1:38:57] but it's just buried beneath all of this shit that you're
[1:39:00] watching. There's no rise in the score
[1:39:02] where it's like you know where The Walking down the stairs at
[1:39:05] the end with the baby there and you expect this score and
[1:39:08] there's nothing. That's where you would use it.
[1:39:10] There's nothing. It's kind of like you're just
[1:39:12] using it to reinforce certain parts of of what you think, not
[1:39:16] what you believe. He's making you think certain
[1:39:18] things, not feel them. And I think he's doing that
[1:39:20] through music, and he does that to the with the actual sound
[1:39:22] design as well. I think it's just so well done
[1:39:24] and so well put together. Another part of the piece that's
[1:39:27] just perfectly used. It just feels like a Jenga
[1:39:30] tower, but it just feels so solid at the same time, like
[1:39:33] it's all been put together and all these pieces are in place.
[1:39:35] Take one bit out and it kind of tumbles.
[1:39:38] Yeah. I mean, if you listen to this by
[1:39:39] itself, which I've done, I don't recognize which parts each bit
[1:39:43] of musics from. Yeah, I don't think I would
[1:39:44] either. It's kind of oh.
[1:39:46] Where was this? It's not like that's the that's
[1:39:48] the end credits or whatever. It's like I don't remember.
[1:39:51] So it's there, but it's not. It's really well done.
[1:39:54] I mean, Quorum doesn't want that one thing.
[1:39:55] He doesn't want big. Themes.
[1:39:56] Does he? Definitely not.
[1:39:57] He doesn't want anything to make.
[1:39:58] You kind of move away from what you're saying.
[1:40:01] Yeah. So as we've been saying, Sir.
[1:40:03] John Tavaner. Was an unconventional choice of
[1:40:05] composer by Quran. He'd never written a scarf of
[1:40:08] film before and had made a name for himself by writing
[1:40:11] spiritually themed choral and orchestral pieces that had
[1:40:14] broken into the mainstream. His most famous works were The
[1:40:17] Whale Song for Athene and Song of the Angel, which he'd written
[1:40:21] to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.
[1:40:24] And Quran said he hired Tavener because when he was writing the
[1:40:27] screenplay, he listened to Song of the Angel on a loop, right?
[1:40:31] Yeah, Quran said that piece. Gave him like the.
[1:40:32] Spiritual footprint, he called it that he followed for the film
[1:40:35] and the Whale that was released in 1968 on Apple, The Beatles
[1:40:38] label. Yes, and Song for a Theme became
[1:40:41] quite well known because it was played at the funeral for
[1:40:43] Princess Diana, right? OK, but it is such a strange.
[1:40:46] Choice a composer. By Cuaron, I mean a great one.
[1:40:48] I think it's pretty inspired. Again, it's that choice, isn't
[1:40:51] it? It's like.
[1:40:52] Somebody who's there but not. It's almost like an invisible
[1:40:55] composer. Yeah, easily having never.
[1:40:58] Scored a film before Tavern's. Approach was unique.
[1:41:01] He scored to the screenplay rather than the finished film.
[1:41:04] He read the script and told Kuran he saw themes of
[1:41:06] motherhood, salvation and hope. Kurana Grade and Taverner wrote
[1:41:10] a 15 minute piece of music inspired by those themes that
[1:41:13] became Fragments of a Prayer, his main piece for the children
[1:41:15] of men. Yeah, that's all like choral.
[1:41:18] Sopranos and strings and stuff, that was his thing, what he was
[1:41:20] known for. But we hear words in that in
[1:41:22] like Sanskrit, there's English, German again to reflect that,
[1:41:26] like multiculturalism, right? And Corinne then took that piece
[1:41:29] and chop it down to different bits to use at different places
[1:41:31] in the film, right? Yeah.
[1:41:32] I love all that, which I kind of tell.
[1:41:34] I kind of tell which bit was used way.
[1:41:36] No, it's beautifully done. And the sound?
[1:41:38] Design team was headed up. By Richard Beggs, who was the
[1:41:41] best sound Oscar winner for Apocalypse Now.
[1:41:43] And he'd worked with Quran on Prison of Azkaban, which is how
[1:41:47] he came to be hired here. And the sound team deliberately
[1:41:50] broke mixing conventions. They came up with a new panning
[1:41:53] approach to the sound that was based on the camera movements.
[1:41:55] So as the camera pans across the landscape, the sound does the
[1:41:58] same through the speakers. Amazing.
[1:42:00] Love that. Yeah, so the camera is kind of
[1:42:02] the microphone. As well as the camera.
[1:42:04] Yeah, I mean, we talk about the visuals, but I think the sound
[1:42:06] design is a big part of why the tracking shots are so immersive
[1:42:09] as well. Yeah.
[1:42:09] Like the battle of the end, we'll talk about it.
[1:42:11] The gunfire in the explosions, like pull you in.
[1:42:14] Yeah. There's a great moment where
[1:42:16] that happens. Where?
[1:42:16] Theo goes to meet Julian on that bridge.
[1:42:19] Oh, yeah. He walks past that pub, and it's
[1:42:21] just like the gang of punks just outside the pub, and they're
[1:42:23] just playing some music. And when he walks past them, it
[1:42:25] gets louder and then just totally disappears.
[1:42:27] Yeah. So that's not technique that
[1:42:28] developed for this. Yeah, brilliant.
[1:42:30] For his work on Children of Men, John Tavanagh wasn't nominated
[1:42:33] for any major awards whenever the Oscars that year was Gustavo
[1:42:36] Santa or Liar for Babel, which is incredible.
[1:42:39] Oh yes, right, another one that's not.
[1:42:41] Talked about enough, but Children of Men still has some
[1:42:43] pretty. Great work from John Tavanagh
[1:42:45] and the sound design team. Wonderful.
[1:42:47] Brilliant. It's time for the children of
[1:42:50] men. Cinematography.
[1:42:51] Now, and the director of photography was Emmanuel
[1:42:53] Labetsky, AKA Shivo. This was Libetzky's 22nd
[1:42:57] feature, his fifth with Quran, and some of his Hollywood
[1:43:00] highlights were Reality Bites, The Birdcage, Meet Your Black,
[1:43:03] Sleepy Hollow Alley and Lemony Snicket's A Series of
[1:43:06] Unfortunate Events. Yes, which I love, obviously.
[1:43:08] And Cut in the Hat, yeah. And he'd shot Quran's great.
[1:43:14] Expectations and Itsumama Tambien.
[1:43:17] Yeah, the visuals and Westy. How was Chivo's work?
[1:43:19] Yeah, how long he got as long as you.
[1:43:22] Want as long as I. Want I'm going to be here a
[1:43:23] while strap. Yourselves in famous last words
[1:43:25] there. I should have said that.
[1:43:26] Yeah, you. Shouldn't have.
[1:43:29] Here he. Goes last orders it's only 6.
[1:43:31] O'clock, I mean, it's. Just incredible work this.
[1:43:35] Is just fantastic. I mean, Chivo is Spanish for
[1:43:37] good grace of all time. So you can see why he's called
[1:43:40] Chivo. Yeah.
[1:43:40] Oh really? Which is his nickname.
[1:43:41] He's just so involved in every project that he's in and you can
[1:43:44] just say he just gives 100% of everything.
[1:43:47] There's such an organic and raw quality to all of this
[1:43:51] filmmaking, especially the visuals, and I think the visuals
[1:43:54] just really moved me in 2006 to just be like, really got to try
[1:43:58] better. It's very subtle.
[1:44:00] At the same time, he's not slamming you over the head with
[1:44:02] it. You can forget that because it
[1:44:04] is purely about the story. He's not using techniques that
[1:44:08] take you out of this film whatsoever.
[1:44:10] And his use of natural light is just so beautifully done.
[1:44:13] It's just so softly lit. It's just the colour palettes
[1:44:16] that go all the way through it. You know, when he gets to the
[1:44:19] power station or the arc of art and it's just so clinically
[1:44:22] white and just clean and just so nicely lit.
[1:44:25] And then the outside, it's just so muddy and dark and grim.
[1:44:29] And the whole thing about it is just he knows exactly what he's
[1:44:33] doing from the start of this. Just the way that this is all
[1:44:35] shot handheld now. This is shot on 35 mil and he
[1:44:39] shot on the Aricom Lt. and the Ariflex 235 and they have two
[1:44:43] really small compact cameras compared to a 35 mil film
[1:44:47] camera. Like you can move that around.
[1:44:49] You can shoot that handheld, you can put it on your shoulder and
[1:44:51] move it around. There is no use of Steadicam
[1:44:53] here. There is nothing where it's got
[1:44:55] to be like beautifully pushed in and beautifully played through.
[1:44:58] It's everything Scorsese doesn't do to be perfectly honest.
[1:45:01] It's so well done. It's shot on the Zeiss Master
[1:45:04] Primes. So what that does, it gives you
[1:45:05] absolutely no distortion when it's wide to uses wider lenses
[1:45:09] and what don't realize that it looks like you've gone through
[1:45:11] your own vision, which is wonderful.
[1:45:13] And the stock that he used was Gold Act Vision 2 expression 500
[1:45:17] T stocks. So gold act Vision 2 was the
[1:45:19] very first film stock that was actually made for digital and
[1:45:24] film post processing. So you can digitally manipulate
[1:45:28] shadows and highlights and colors and make it a little bit
[1:45:30] more flat. So it's really law, contrast,
[1:45:34] law colour, but you just don't really see that.
[1:45:36] And it was that level of detail on that level of attention.
[1:45:39] The contrast is just right, the light is just right, the colours
[1:45:42] are just right. People are still trying to do
[1:45:44] this now, and they can't. He's an absolute pioneer of the
[1:45:47] craft, one of my top three cinematographers of all time.
[1:45:50] He's just an absolute master. The craft and the technique
[1:45:53] match the depth of this film, and that's incredibly hard to
[1:45:57] do. But she will does it.
[1:45:59] Yeah, well, in the years after this film.
[1:46:01] Emmanuel Lebeski went on the forge of reputation as a great
[1:46:04] Hollywood DP, didn't he? Yeah.
[1:46:05] He didn't have the reputation yet when he made Children of
[1:46:07] Men. Probably, but his work is still
[1:46:09] of that level. Absolutely.
[1:46:11] Yes. The cinematography.
[1:46:12] Is just incredible. I mean, it's a long one shot
[1:46:15] takes that are probably the headline if you like.
[1:46:17] Yeah, people always talk about the car ambush and the battle of
[1:46:19] Bexhill, rightly. What I think it's a bit
[1:46:21] overlooked is how those long takes save the story.
[1:46:24] Yeah, it's not showing off. Well, it is a bit, but
[1:46:27] everything. The hold is short.
[1:46:29] It kind of feels like you can't escape.
[1:46:30] Yeah, it does feel like a documentary if you say the
[1:46:32] cameraman isn't as much danger as the characters are.
[1:46:35] Yeah, but it doesn't take you out either of the story.
[1:46:37] No, exactly. But it's not just the long
[1:46:39] takes, the whole. Film's got that.
[1:46:40] Documentary feel to it, there's loads of natural light, the
[1:46:42] colors are really desaturated and gives the whole thing a kind
[1:46:45] of grey overcast look, which works for like dystopia.
[1:46:49] It's like we're looking out the window where it's been like for
[1:46:51] the last three months. Looks like children and men.
[1:46:53] Same. Yeah.
[1:46:54] But I think what? Elevates Libetsky.
[1:46:56] Above both DPS is that he's not just technically brilliant, he's
[1:46:59] emotionally great as well. Yeah.
[1:47:01] Yeah. He knows where to put the camera
[1:47:02] to make you feel something or even to send a message.
[1:47:05] There's that shot when we're with Theo and Miriam in the
[1:47:07] abandoned school. Yeah.
[1:47:08] And you can see Key outside through a broken window, sitting
[1:47:10] on the swing. It's incredible.
[1:47:11] She's, like, framed in light as the hope of everyone.
[1:47:14] That's a great shot. Yeah.
[1:47:15] And they're in the past. They're in the school.
[1:47:17] She's in the future. Yeah, It's a beautiful thing.
[1:47:19] Outstanding work from Libetsky throughout.
[1:47:20] I think in terms of immersion, it's up there with anything I've
[1:47:23] ever seen, probably. It's amazing, yeah.
[1:47:26] Incredible. Work.
[1:47:26] I mean this. For me is what gives us that
[1:47:28] sense of this film is science fiction, but it's not science
[1:47:31] fiction at the same time because it does bring, like you've said,
[1:47:34] John, that documentary element to me.
[1:47:36] And it's always about catching images on the periphery, like
[1:47:39] when Theo gets off the bus and he just walks past those cages
[1:47:42] full of people screaming and yelling.
[1:47:44] It doesn't stop to look at them. It just brushes past them
[1:47:47] because it's almost like it's a character here.
[1:47:49] It's the same for the battle scenes.
[1:47:50] It doesn't stop to revel in the carnage or show off how
[1:47:54] offensive those explosions are. It keeps moving, it keeps tight
[1:47:58] on the characters. And because it feels so on the
[1:48:00] fly, when that canvas stops to take in something, it's really
[1:48:03] impactful. And we've talked about the scene
[1:48:05] where Jasper tells Key about Theo's baby.
[1:48:08] That slow push in just to keep on Theo's face to capture the
[1:48:12] emotion of that scene, that's incredible.
[1:48:14] So it's really immersive and taking you into the sorry, but
[1:48:17] it's very emotional cinematrophy at the same time.
[1:48:20] It is what you are so labesky. Has been Quran's DP.
[1:48:23] Collaborator since their student days at Mexico Cuec Film School
[1:48:27] in the 1980s, Quran said some of Labesky's first words to him
[1:48:31] about the film were. We cannot allow one frame of
[1:48:33] this film to go without a comment on the state of things.
[1:48:37] I think Quran said that took a lot of influence from the Battle
[1:48:40] of Algiers and Italian Algerian war film from 1966.
[1:48:44] And I think 1 battle after another took a lot of influence
[1:48:46] from that as well. Yeah, Yeah, it did.
[1:48:48] Yeah, a lot of the battle. Of Algiers is filmed.
[1:48:50] Handheld, which was an inspiration, and Quran and Clive
[1:48:53] Owen watched the Battle of Algiers together as well.
[1:48:55] Yeah, there's an FW moon now. Film called Sunrise, a song of
[1:48:58] two humans from 1927. Quran said the long takes there
[1:49:02] were influence as well. Wow.
[1:49:04] And more recently, it reminds me of a clockwork.
[1:49:07] Yeah, there was a lot of that. Yeah.
[1:49:09] Bleak London. Can definitely say that, yeah.
[1:49:11] Didn't you the car ambush like those zany joyride scenes
[1:49:15] matching that with a bad? Projection.
[1:49:16] Yeah, yeah, super. Grass did though, didn't they?
[1:49:19] Yeah. They did.
[1:49:19] Yeah. All right.
[1:49:20] Video, Yeah. And as well as shooting.
[1:49:23] The car ambush without. CGI Another creative
[1:49:25] disagreement came over whether to shoot with handheld cameras
[1:49:28] or steady Cam. Lebetsky wanted steady Cam as he
[1:49:31] thought it had more power than handheld and the starter was
[1:49:34] Steadicam. But after one day of filming,
[1:49:36] Curon told the best key to get rid of it and the shot
[1:49:38] everything from their handheld. Yeah, nice.
[1:49:41] Yes, so apparently. The best he got the Steadicam.
[1:49:43] Out of the truck every morning and every morning, Corn told him
[1:49:46] to put it back. The best key?
[1:49:49] Like any chance today? Nope, I can't.
[1:49:53] The best key? Did say later that Alfonso
[1:49:55] proved. Me wrong.
[1:49:56] Yeah, fair enough. Well, before we get the
[1:49:58] cinematography in the can, we have our final?
[1:50:00] It's your own Patreon question. This time it comes from Matt T
[1:50:04] Hello, Matt. Hello, Matt.
[1:50:05] So Matt has said. Who has done the best?
[1:50:07] Warner, Birdman or Rope come to mind.
[1:50:09] And has it fallen into the territory of pastiche, something
[1:50:12] technically difficult but done to death?
[1:50:14] Then Matt says great work as always.
[1:50:16] Thanks a million. You're most welcome.
[1:50:18] Thank you. Thanks to you, Matt.
[1:50:20] Yeah, and what do you think? Westy Too many Warners.
[1:50:23] Too many Warners, I mean. I've got a bit of a.
[1:50:24] Stance on this one and I am getting a little bit sick of it
[1:50:27] being this whole new thing that people think is just being
[1:50:30] invented is really bothering us. And I've done a couple and it's
[1:50:36] it's so difficult to choreograph and so difficult to put off.
[1:50:39] And if it works for the story, I'm all for it.
[1:50:41] If it's just a Warner for the sake of being a Warner, then I'm
[1:50:43] not interested. I think there's some incredible
[1:50:45] ones that I've seen over the years that have been
[1:50:47] inspirational but I've never wanted to do.
[1:50:50] I think Goodfellas is an obvious stand out.
[1:50:52] I think the opening of the player is incredible.
[1:50:54] I think the old boy corridor fight is is wonderful.
[1:50:58] Russian Ark, if you've not seen that, that's all about the
[1:51:00] story, that's fantastic. But what I really want to talk
[1:51:03] about is the technique is necessary and that's how film
[1:51:07] was made. Because cutting was always a
[1:51:09] pain in the ass and people didn't know how to do it in old
[1:51:12] Hollywood. And it seems to me that modern
[1:51:14] cinemas go in one way or the other.
[1:51:15] It's either going towards super fast cuts, high action, really
[1:51:18] intense like shots being about two seconds, one second long, or
[1:51:23] it's about this really slow, one take, dialogue driven cinema and
[1:51:27] we need to start meeting in the middle.
[1:51:29] And if we're going to talk about the one, I just want to talk
[1:51:31] about Spielberg for half a second because he's the absolute
[1:51:35] king of the one that you do not know is A1.
[1:51:38] And that's what filmmaking is. If you want to use that
[1:51:41] technique, use it and tell the story with it, because that's
[1:51:44] very scene on Jaws is one minute and 43 seconds and all that's
[1:51:48] changing is the background. That's a Warner and that's how
[1:51:51] you do it. When the argument next to the
[1:51:52] Billboard with the mirror, Yeah, yeah, amazing. 2 minutes, 45
[1:51:56] seconds. That's a.
[1:51:56] Warner, and you don't realize it.
[1:51:58] There's the whole drinking sequence in Raiders of the Lost
[1:52:01] Ark with Marion. That is a Warner and it's genius
[1:52:04] in filmmaking. Let it serve the story and
[1:52:07] you've got something unique. If you're just using a Warner
[1:52:09] for the sake of using a Warner because you think it's going to
[1:52:11] make your story better, it makes it worse.
[1:52:13] So that's my stance on it. Powerful stance as always.
[1:52:17] As always. Yeah, the long.
[1:52:19] Takes and children of men are right.
[1:52:21] Up there, I think that's kind of became a quarrel on trademark,
[1:52:23] hasn't it? It's in everything because
[1:52:25] gravity starts with like a. 12 minute opening.
[1:52:27] Shot 12 minutes. I think you had to Mama.
[1:52:29] Tell me. When she's going to the jukebox,
[1:52:31] yeah, that's about 3-4 minutes, I think are the great examples,
[1:52:34] the opening of touch of. Evil by Orson Welles is right up
[1:52:36] there. Yeah, yeah. 1958 like a huge
[1:52:39] crane shot that goes on that's about 3 minutes long, ending
[1:52:41] with a car bomb. My favorite though was from I Am
[1:52:44] Cuba by Mikhail Kalatozov. 1964. Like a documentary slash war
[1:52:49] film. It's got this like acrobatic
[1:52:51] long take in a funeral scene where the camera does some
[1:52:53] insane things just comes down from the window through.
[1:52:56] The procession, it's crazy. Yeah, I've seen that.
[1:52:59] Unreal. Yeah.
[1:53:00] Check. Out if you've not seen it,
[1:53:01] you'll be like, how do they? Do that in 1964.
[1:53:03] He watched that over and over and he was like.
[1:53:05] How did they do that? Yeah, right.
[1:53:07] Brilliant. I mean how?
[1:53:08] Long takes become pastiche. I agree with USC to save the
[1:53:11] story or they have a point or the thematically relevant then
[1:53:14] no go for them. I love them when they're done.
[1:53:15] Well yeah yeah yeah. Very much agree in terms of
[1:53:18] being a. Pastiche, 100% agree with what
[1:53:20] both of you said. I think it's the first Kingsman
[1:53:22] film that do one for fight scene, but it just doesn't work
[1:53:26] because the the fights are very purely choreographed and it
[1:53:29] doesn't add to the story and it just becomes distracting.
[1:53:32] I mean, one of the most impressive ones is there's a
[1:53:35] German film from 2015 called Victoria, which is about this
[1:53:39] young woman in a nightclub, gets down to three guys, the walk
[1:53:42] around Berlin for a bit. Brilliant.
[1:53:43] Yeah, I know you're a fan of that one.
[1:53:45] Yeah, then. Realizes they've been hocked to
[1:53:46] a gangster. And she ends up being taken for
[1:53:48] writer to rob a bank and that is all.
[1:53:50] The whole film is one shot and it's a staggering achieve
[1:53:54] because it's up and down buildings, it's in and out of
[1:53:56] cars, there's gunfights, chasers, but you know what?
[1:53:59] That justifies it because it breeds the tension in that film.
[1:54:02] So yeah, exactly. If it adds something, absolutely
[1:54:04] go. For, but if it doesn't.
[1:54:05] Add anything. Don't do it.
[1:54:07] Or for his work on Children of Men, Emmanuel Libetsky was
[1:54:09] nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscars.
[1:54:12] He lost out to Guillermo Navarro for Pan's Labyrinth.
[1:54:15] All right, nice. Which is a visual.
[1:54:17] Feast. It.
[1:54:18] Is it really is? Yeah, It's wonderful.
[1:54:19] Yeah. But for us, some incredible
[1:54:21] cinematography throughout. Children and men, yeah.
[1:54:24] Timeless. It's going to live forever that.
[1:54:25] Yeah, and that is our crew. Quran captaining the ship but
[1:54:29] with his screen writing team, John Tavanaz composer Emmanuel
[1:54:32] lebetsky as DP and an array of great pop songs.
[1:54:35] You had a ship shaped crew helping him out?
[1:54:37] No, indeed. Yeah, the crew of the.
[1:54:39] Tomorrow. The end into the end of children
[1:54:48] of men and things are. About to get intense.
[1:54:51] The climactic battle of Bexhill at the refugee camp is coming
[1:54:53] up. But before that, we have a baby
[1:54:55] to talk about, don't we? Yep.
[1:54:57] So having made it into Bexhill camp, Theo and Key are taken
[1:55:00] through the ghettos by a Romani woman, Mariska, to the safety of
[1:55:03] a decrepit apartment building. There, he goes into labor and
[1:55:07] gives birth to a girl, the first human born in 18 years.
[1:55:10] Yeah, we don't talk about big. Birthing.
[1:55:13] Scenes too often do we must. Nope, Alien.
[1:55:16] That's about it. But how was this one I mean?
[1:55:21] I just love how. Absolutely crap Theo is in this
[1:55:24] situation. He makes like a big deal of
[1:55:26] washing his hands clean and then just wipes him on his smoky
[1:55:28] trousers straight after anyway. So that negates all that.
[1:55:32] But I'll think the form's such a good bond by now.
[1:55:35] Theo and Key. There's just these little
[1:55:37] touches of Comic Relief in there now.
[1:55:39] Just keep breathing. I am breathing.
[1:55:42] And it's such an effective contrast because it's obviously
[1:55:44] the most wonderful. And celebrate, we think,
[1:55:46] bringing new life into the world without the extra importance of
[1:55:50] what this baby represents. But it's in the grimmest of
[1:55:53] surroundings. Like those dogs outside are
[1:55:55] barking non-stop. But then you get that swell on
[1:55:58] the soundtrack that angelic calls when the baby's born, and
[1:56:01] it tells you just this one minute, everything's OK.
[1:56:05] And like I said, their relationship by this point is so
[1:56:07] well developed. When Theo says to see it wasn't
[1:56:10] that bad. And she just goes, oh, yeah, not
[1:56:12] for you. Yeah.
[1:56:14] And they just genuinely laugh. Yeah.
[1:56:16] Probably for the first time in probably years, Like, genuinely
[1:56:19] laughing at something. It's a beautiful moment, Really
[1:56:21] well shot it is, yeah. It's a huge plot point.
[1:56:24] Obviously in this world, key giving birth, the most important
[1:56:27] thing that's happened for like 2 decades Yeah.
[1:56:29] And while I like it's how Quran frames it is that but really
[1:56:32] subtly because the biggest moment in the film you shoot as
[1:56:34] long takes. This is one of them.
[1:56:36] And it's late. I think only by that lump in the
[1:56:38] corner. It is yeah.
[1:56:40] It feels raw and. Intimate and totally.
[1:56:41] Real again? I feel like I'm in the room.
[1:56:44] I'm sick of being pulled into rooms by Quran.
[1:56:47] Yeah. Quite a moment here that I
[1:56:49] really love. Like I said earlier, Theo's arcs
[1:56:51] kind of going from a man who was lost to a man with purpose.
[1:56:54] And we see that spelled out because up to now, that lack of
[1:56:57] purpose has been kind of visualized through Theo's
[1:57:00] addictions, like the cigarettes and alcohol.
[1:57:02] Like Oasis. Yeah, Yeah.
[1:57:03] But now, like Oasis, he's found something worth living for in
[1:57:07] Key. So he literally gives the
[1:57:09] cigarettes away to say it is to get rid of them.
[1:57:10] So kicking out some space. Yeah.
[1:57:12] Then he uses the alcohol to sterilize his hands before the
[1:57:15] birth. Yeah.
[1:57:15] He throws the crutches away to prioritize Key.
[1:57:18] Yeah. How smart is that in the
[1:57:19] writing? Yeah.
[1:57:20] Great. So Theo spent the film running
[1:57:22] away from responsibilities. Now Call the Midwife.
[1:57:25] What? Not that is.
[1:57:26] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:57:27] And I think it's. Fantastically handled by.
[1:57:29] Quran and the film, Yeah, Clybourn said The Quran plan to
[1:57:32] shoot. The birth sequence to have cuts
[1:57:34] in it to give them more control over what to show and once they
[1:57:37] were on set though he decided to do it as one take.
[1:57:39] It was filmed as a 3 1/2 minute handheld shot.
[1:57:42] There were special effects involved by the Effects Studio
[1:57:45] Frame store. It was headed by VFX supervisor
[1:57:48] Tim Webber and Quran brought them in because they just worked
[1:57:51] with him on Prisoner of Azkaban. Yeah, we've interviewed Tim
[1:57:53] Webber and it was. The CGI hippogriff and Harry
[1:57:56] Potter. That's what Frame Store did.
[1:57:58] Yeah, OK. But changing.
[1:57:59] This to one take that late. Means the crew must have been
[1:58:02] kind of improvising as they were going.
[1:58:03] That's impressive. I guess you can do it here a bit
[1:58:06] more easily. I mean, you can't decide to
[1:58:07] shoot the car on Bush in one take on the day, surely?
[1:58:10] No, no, I think something like this.
[1:58:12] So you can't change to one take as opposed to a multi camera
[1:58:16] setup. It's easier to go to 1 take.
[1:58:17] It's hard to go from one take to be like, oh, we're going to have
[1:58:20] to cut into this, what we're going to cut into, right?
[1:58:21] So I think if you've got it there, storyboard it anyway and
[1:58:24] say no, actually just pull back and do it as a Warner.
[1:58:26] It's a bit easier to do it that way.
[1:58:27] Fair enough. Cool.
[1:58:28] Yeah, and a few different. Techniques were combined to.
[1:58:30] Create the birth scene. Claire Hope Asherty was in a set
[1:58:34] piece which had a fake lower body and a prop baby was pushed
[1:58:37] through the fake body for Clive Warren to grab and hold.
[1:58:40] Wow, fake body. Yeah, similar to how?
[1:58:42] They did the chess purse. I seen an alien.
[1:58:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine one of them popped out.
[1:58:46] Give me that whiskey back. Yeah.
[1:58:48] Even grimmer. It would have been a good like
[1:58:51] star to alien Earth, wouldn't it?
[1:58:54] And Quran. Originally wanted to use an.
[1:58:56] Animatronic baby and one was created that could move its arms
[1:58:59] and legs but Quran wasn't happy with how it looked and that's
[1:59:02] when frame salt got involved in post production.
[1:59:04] They replaced that animatronic baby with the CGI version.
[1:59:08] The other things in it as well like.
[1:59:09] When you can see the character's breath to make it look freezing
[1:59:11] cold, that's all digital. And Tim Webber said at one of
[1:59:15] the screenings, an audience member asked him if they filmed
[1:59:17] somebody giving birth for real or what.
[1:59:20] Pretty good feedback, yeah. Yeah.
[1:59:21] Great feedback, Yeah. I mean, got to be a bit.
[1:59:23] Of an idiot though, haven't you to think?
[1:59:26] Yeah. Did you do that for real?
[1:59:27] Yeah. Didn't ask about the breath,
[1:59:29] that's fine. Was it cold in there?
[1:59:31] And Webber said. Creating a digital baby.
[1:59:33] Was massively challenging because Quran changed the plant
[1:59:36] so late they didn't have time to prep as they normally would.
[1:59:39] And because the lighting was so minimal, it was more difficult
[1:59:42] for the animators to track and replace that animatronic baby
[1:59:45] digitally. The arms and legs were removed
[1:59:47] from the animatronic so they could be added as CGI limbs.
[1:59:50] And all the baby's facial expressions were created by the
[1:59:52] animators. Right.
[1:59:54] Yeah. Just turning on set like all
[1:59:55] right. Everyone change your plan.
[1:59:57] Yeah, there's real pressure there because.
[1:59:59] The baby like we're. Saying it has to look real.
[2:00:01] Yeah, yeah. If it finally appears and, like,
[2:00:03] looks like some crap CGI, it would be like, kind of
[2:00:05] laughable. Yeah.
[2:00:07] It's just the hope of the world. Yeah, exactly.
[2:00:09] Yeah. And that's why there's.
[2:00:10] So much work went into, I guess, yeah.
[2:00:13] So after this, we've got the baby.
[2:00:14] And we're out, and we'll have to try and find a way out of there.
[2:00:18] And then these bastards turn up again.
[2:00:20] Luke comes in, tells him not to fire.
[2:00:21] There's this whole kind of standoff thing, and you just
[2:00:23] know that there's something not quite white.
[2:00:25] And this is a foreshadow. And again, because Diego spat in
[2:00:28] a fan's face and died for it. So Kate spits in Luke's face.
[2:00:32] And then we're just. Away and you're just.
[2:00:34] Gone with it and once you we're tracking down with Theo's, he
[2:00:37] goes into that, you know, into the side corner.
[2:00:40] I love that performance from Owen.
[2:00:42] This shows a whole transformation of his character.
[2:00:44] He's actually putting himself in harm's way and now he's running
[2:00:46] into bullets to kind of get this kid back, to get key back, to
[2:00:49] make a difference again. You think we're there?
[2:00:52] We've had a moment of happiness again.
[2:00:53] We've had laughter, we've had the baby born.
[2:00:55] It's going to be all right, guys.
[2:00:57] No, it's not. Well, just before the scenes
[2:00:59] when said the. Bent immigration officer Guy
[2:01:01] too, ends up trying to capture them for a reward.
[2:01:03] Yeah, he talks about himself in the third person, Said never the
[2:01:06] sign of a good guy. That was a red flag, yeah.
[2:01:09] And then? When he chases them, he gets.
[2:01:10] Stuck in the door. And Theo knocks him out with
[2:01:12] what looks like a toaster. Is it?
[2:01:14] It's a car battery. Is it?
[2:01:16] Hence he's using car. Parts to knock.
[2:01:18] Everybody out, right? Yeah, Yeah, yeah, right.
[2:01:21] It's not like Scrooged. Looks it a toaster.
[2:01:30] And now we really start to see how far Theo has come.
[2:01:32] Because at the start he couldn't care less about anything.
[2:01:34] Now he's putting himself in real danger to protect Key and the
[2:01:37] baby. He's like, yeah, 100% the
[2:01:39] protagonist from now on. Yeah, yeah.
[2:01:41] And this where it injuries himself as well.
[2:01:42] And then? He's just literally limping all
[2:01:43] the way through the rest of the film.
[2:01:44] It's amazing. Yeah, and the Romani woman.
[2:01:47] Who helps Theo and Key? Mariska is played by Romanian
[2:01:50] actress Awana Pelia, her line to All in Romanian, but those were
[2:01:55] mostly Adley Bipelia. The name Mariska is Russian, so
[2:01:58] she's possibly meant to be Russian.
[2:02:00] And Pelia is the daughter of an actor called Amza Pelia, who is
[2:02:03] a very big name in Romania. Yeah, he was possibly how crown
[2:02:06] you. She was right.
[2:02:08] I like her in the film. Mariska running away.
[2:02:10] Them in a different language all the time.
[2:02:11] Yeah. And just brave as a lie.
[2:02:12] And she sees them from, say, a couple of times, doesn't she?
[2:02:15] Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's great.
[2:02:16] I think it's quite sad when she. Doesn't get on the board with
[2:02:18] him at. The end.
[2:02:18] Yeah, yeah, get on the board, for God's sakes.
[2:02:20] Just selfless. That's the whole point, isn't?
[2:02:22] It Yeah, yeah, she is. Yeah.
[2:02:24] And she just cares more about. A dog, I don't think she can
[2:02:25] take a. Dog with her, Yeah, yeah, fair
[2:02:27] enough. Yeah.
[2:02:28] And Sid's paid by. Peter Mullen.
[2:02:30] Scottish actor, been in loads of stuff over the years.
[2:02:32] He was in Braveheart, Westie. He was in Braveheart, yeah, and
[2:02:35] fantastic and. Tyrannosaur as well, if you've
[2:02:36] seen that. Oh, yeah.
[2:02:38] But I just love that moment when he turns up and that's it.
[2:02:41] That's your keyword. Yeah.
[2:02:42] Calling somebody. You don't know what he looks
[2:02:44] like who's part of this regime, A fascist pig that's going to,
[2:02:48] you know, you are going to get beat up.
[2:02:50] And I always feel like I'm really on edge at that point,
[2:02:52] you know, when he brings the stick up.
[2:02:53] Yeah, yeah, yeah, as well. Yeah.
[2:02:54] Great. Great.
[2:02:55] Performance from Peter Mullen. He's so unhinged.
[2:02:58] But again, this humanity there, his motivation to get Key and to
[2:03:02] get Theo is that his mom's got cancer and she's dying, and he
[2:03:05] was with her the night before. And it's like, right, OK, if I
[2:03:09] can forget a reward here, I can probably get some money.
[2:03:11] These guys are refugees, are now the fugitives.
[2:03:14] So they're all Fugees within refugees, within fugitives.
[2:03:18] Fugitives. Yeah.
[2:03:20] It's all just beautifully. Tied together and I.
[2:03:21] Think I'm on right in the middle of it.
[2:03:23] Really ties the last act together.
[2:03:25] Really makes it push. He's great.
[2:03:26] Great little scene when Sid. Turns open.
[2:03:28] And he's like, what's under the blanket there key when she's got
[2:03:31] the baby and she doesn't want to show him, that's really good.
[2:03:33] And then when he does see the baby, what does?
[2:03:35] He say Jesus Christ, Yeah. Love that.
[2:03:39] Yeah. And in the Bexhill.
[2:03:40] Tower block scene we can see that the was wearing a London
[2:03:43] 2012 Olympics fleece. London had won the bid in 2005,
[2:03:47] just before the start of filming, so that was added six
[2:03:50] years before the Olympics took place.
[2:03:52] And you can buy those fleeces online.
[2:03:54] You can. Amazing.
[2:03:56] Prediction they were confident would come right that one
[2:03:58] probably, I think yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:04:00] Would have been impressive of the hard Theo doing the Mobot
[2:04:02] after the baby's born. Celebration give birth to more
[2:04:08] furrows save beautiful world. So there it.
[2:04:12] Is. A pivotal.
[2:04:13] Plot point with Key giving birth and hope to humanity before the
[2:04:16] fishes make off with her. There's only one man can save
[2:04:19] her now, right? Apparently so.
[2:04:23] The climax of Children of Men is a big one.
[2:04:25] Theo races through the bombed out back seal to rescue Key and
[2:04:28] her baby from the fishes while a full scale battle rages around
[2:04:31] them until Kia appears with the newborn.
[2:04:34] Yeah, yeah, we're seeing the climax for you.
[2:04:37] I mean, he has probably, I mean apart.
[2:04:39] From the ambush sequence, the sequence that is Children of Men
[2:04:42] is known for, and I think it's just an incredible sequence, the
[2:04:45] amount of choreography involved in this.
[2:04:47] You know, there's explosions, there's people fire and rock
[2:04:49] itself, windows, people getting gunned down.
[2:04:52] It's just this real scramble for this prize at the end.
[2:04:56] And I just love that opening moment.
[2:04:58] And you've got the running through and you've got them
[2:04:59] rocket coming down. It hits the tank.
[2:05:02] There's all that going on. And then we're following Theo
[2:05:04] all the way through, right? Yeah, yeah.
[2:05:05] And then he's inside the lobby. Then he works his way upstairs
[2:05:08] and we just see the absolute carnage it's going on.
[2:05:10] It's just hell on earth. You see Patrick coming in, he
[2:05:13] gets taken out. Thank God for that.
[2:05:15] He's he's out of there. And then we'll find K just SAT,
[2:05:18] which is totally helpless, and Luke's meant to be the one
[2:05:21] looking after her and she's totally separate from him,
[2:05:23] couldn't be any further away from him.
[2:05:24] But you get that really wonderful moment from that
[2:05:26] character. He's like, when he saw the baby,
[2:05:28] I forgot how small they are, and he made his cry.
[2:05:31] It's awful. We need him, we need the baby.
[2:05:33] It's like it's a girl, so. His world view does.
[2:05:38] Not even tap in to anything. He just thought, well, the
[2:05:41] saviour of the human race needs to be a man.
[2:05:43] Children of men, masculinity, we're the saviours.
[2:05:46] Nothing to do with women. They just exist.
[2:05:48] And I think that really smashes at home without smashing at
[2:05:50] home. Really excellent character
[2:05:52] development, really excellent ending to that guy when he's
[2:05:56] just the whole room kind of blows up and collapses.
[2:05:58] He's gone, everyone's gone. What a one shot that is.
[2:06:01] It's just incredible, incredible filmmaking.
[2:06:04] Oh yeah, it really is. I mean, we're with Theo.
[2:06:06] Every step, no big cutaways, no big wide shots.
[2:06:09] We're kind of say what Theo sees.
[2:06:10] Yeah. And it's not Arnold or Bruce
[2:06:12] Willis dodging bullets and taking out bad guys with one
[2:06:14] liners. He's totally out of his depth,
[2:06:17] like scrubbling about behind walls and stuff.
[2:06:19] But he's still heroic because he just keeps going.
[2:06:22] Yeah. And when the bullets start
[2:06:23] whizzing around him, I'm almost talking for cover myself.
[2:06:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the way they build the whole
[2:06:27] sequence, I think is really brilliant because it starts
[2:06:29] really quiet, like tense, and then gradually escalates into
[2:06:33] just complete carnage. Yeah, action filmmaking is just
[2:06:36] exceptional. Yeah.
[2:06:37] It's just so immersive. You're.
[2:06:38] Ducker And you're hiding on a bus.
[2:06:40] You're off the bus. Shrapnel everywhere.
[2:06:42] The British troops are just swarming out of everywhere and
[2:06:44] you don't know where they're coming next.
[2:06:45] Blood on the camera, explosions. Then we'll see Luke making his
[2:06:49] last stand. But you know, as we've been
[2:06:51] saying, he's kind of lose some perspective on everything
[2:06:53] because he's still trying to stop Theo and Key get away while
[2:06:56] fighting the army. The amount of moving pieces that
[2:06:58] Quran is in charge of here and he hasn't given himself the
[2:07:02] comfort blanket of being able to cut away to something else at
[2:07:05] any point. It's absolutely staggering.
[2:07:08] I think it's interesting when you look at all the soldiers,
[2:07:10] how many of them are kind of middle-aged men because there's
[2:07:13] no young men to get in the army, which you normally see as the
[2:07:16] soldiers in this situation. There's no young men anymore and
[2:07:19] there is a genuinely funny moment when Theo's rescued Key
[2:07:23] and they getting out there and obviously the baby's crying and
[2:07:25] Theo goes how is she? And Key just goes annoyed and
[2:07:29] then just keep on. Going I love that moment.
[2:07:31] Yeah, yeah. Brilliant.
[2:07:31] Yeah. I mean, by the end I'm.
[2:07:33] Exhausted just watching. It fantastic, really
[2:07:35] unconventional action sequence is one of the best shoot out of
[2:07:38] the decade. Do you think it's up there?
[2:07:40] Yeah, yeah, for sure. And as you.
[2:07:42] Can imagine the street. Battle was a big undertaking.
[2:07:45] The shot runs for 6 minutes and 18 seconds and it took Quran,
[2:07:49] Lebeski and the crew 14 days to prepare and choreograph.
[2:07:53] It was filmed in five separate takes at 2 locations, a disused
[2:07:57] RAF base in Upper Hereford and Pinewood Studios.
[2:08:00] The different shots were then all digitally stitched into one
[2:08:02] continuous shot by double negative.
[2:08:05] Yeah. So with it being so highly.
[2:08:06] Choreographed every retake, took about 5 hours to set everything
[2:08:10] back up again so really time consuming pressure.
[2:08:13] Yeah. Put your hair.
[2:08:13] Exactly. And that apartment block that's
[2:08:15] a disused building at that RAF base.
[2:08:17] Great location for the scene. Yeah, yeah, perfect.
[2:08:20] Yeah, but. You're in filming the studio.
[2:08:22] Sort of getting concerned about how long it was taking them to
[2:08:25] prepare and shoot the battle when Kieran had nothing to show
[2:08:27] them. After a few days, executives
[2:08:29] visited the set. They did a really good take, but
[2:08:32] at the end the camera operator, George Richmond tripped and fell
[2:08:35] and they had one final attempt to get the shot.
[2:08:37] But they did managed to do it. Can you imagine two weeks in the
[2:08:40] guide? Trips.
[2:08:42] Oh God, yeah, yeah. But George.
[2:08:45] Richmond, the son of Anthony B Richmond who was quite a well
[2:08:47] known DP. He shot Don't Look Now with a
[2:08:49] man who felt it worth OK and Legally Blonde.
[2:08:52] Legally Blonde, Yeah. Highlight, obviously, yeah.
[2:08:55] There's a moment in the sequence where some blood splatters.
[2:08:57] On the camera lens, Quran saw it happen and shouted cut, but he
[2:09:01] was drowned out by the sound of the explosion.
[2:09:03] So the crew kept going. I wasn't sure about it, but they
[2:09:06] basically convinced him to keep it in.
[2:09:08] And there's also a bit, I think where you can notice the cut
[2:09:11] when he goes into the building and they use the darkness to
[2:09:13] kind of mask it, I think and then from there to continue that
[2:09:17] to make it look a little bit more believable that take the
[2:09:19] blood splatter and exactly the location of where that is on the
[2:09:21] lens. And I think they put that on
[2:09:23] again digitally. They put that on the CGI and
[2:09:25] then it slowly fades away. If you watch it again, first
[2:09:27] couple of times I watch, I was thinking that blood should stay
[2:09:30] on the lens. Where's the blood gone?
[2:09:32] Yes, if you watch it just. Really slowly fades.
[2:09:34] Away and there's so much going on that you don't realize right
[2:09:36] very very clever wait it convinced the audience that it
[2:09:39] is continuous yeah it is really clever and Quran said that when.
[2:09:42] They got the blood on the lens it wasn't planned and he was
[2:09:44] good at, but then Chivo started dancing and he said it's a
[2:09:47] miracle, so they kept it in. I'll remember that.
[2:09:51] Let's see if that. Works.
[2:09:52] Next time I'll fuck up. So now we get probably one of
[2:09:57] the most. Well, it's just an amazing
[2:10:00] sequence, really profound sequence when everything just
[2:10:04] starts to stop. Like I said, that's all you want
[2:10:07] to happen And it just people start hearing the baby.
[2:10:09] They see the baby and everyone from every walk of life, no
[2:10:12] matter what the fight, no matter what they're doing, no matter
[2:10:14] what they believe in, stops. It's like the second coming.
[2:10:17] Everybody's just floored by it. And what I love about this is
[2:10:22] that it's not like the end of mother, which it.
[2:10:26] Could have been. Everyone tried to snatch the
[2:10:29] baby. Kate just completely alone, him
[2:10:31] having to sacrifice himself could have been written that
[2:10:33] way, where there's just this panic, but there's not this just
[2:10:36] calm. It's absolute unity in good
[2:10:40] unity and hope. Unity and faith.
[2:10:43] We'll see. Thomas from the farm earlier on.
[2:10:45] He lowers, he's gone. Then the army turn up and it's
[2:10:48] just no ceasefire. Everyone stop, stop, stop, stop.
[2:10:51] Everybody standing together because the baby just represents
[2:10:55] hope. And there's some people praying,
[2:10:56] there's some people showing what they believe in.
[2:10:59] All these different beliefs are covered, All these different
[2:11:01] walks of life are covered. But this is human nature.
[2:11:04] Even when you have the answer, people ignore the answer and
[2:11:07] they want to destroy things, not to nurture, not to create.
[2:11:10] And that's all pivotal in this one scene because there's a baby
[2:11:14] there. The problem can be fixed, and
[2:11:17] that's what the film's saying. We're not happy until we're
[2:11:19] extinct. Yeah, it's great as well
[2:11:21] because. Earlier, Luke justifies taking
[2:11:23] the baby by saying the newborn will not bring peace.
[2:11:26] And then here, that's literally exactly what it does.
[2:11:28] Exactly what it does. Yeah, the humanity and people.
[2:11:30] Does still exist? Maybe.
[2:11:32] And the way it's put together is great.
[2:11:34] No music. The camera follows Theo and Key
[2:11:36] down the stairs, through the corridors, out through the
[2:11:38] street. And the silence, like, spreads
[2:11:40] like a wave. This definitely has a religious
[2:11:42] feel to it. Yeah.
[2:11:43] I mean, it doesn't last. They all start shooting again
[2:11:45] almost immediately. But just for a second, there is
[2:11:48] hope. Yeah.
[2:11:49] And that's the point. I think Keys brought her back
[2:11:51] not just to Theo but to everyone and what I really love about it
[2:11:55] as well. Any other?
[2:11:55] Filmmaker would have a reason for that to start again, like it
[2:11:58] would be Luke, like we cut on him going no, I'm not letting
[2:12:01] you get away with this and then throw it and it would start
[2:12:03] again. All the trope for you.
[2:12:06] It's so easy to fall into the. Tropes here, though, isn't it?
[2:12:08] No. Absolutely.
[2:12:09] So easy to fall into that because you've seen it that many
[2:12:11] times. So it's, again, really brilliant
[2:12:13] way to do it. It is really good, Yeah.
[2:12:16] I mean Wesley. Said he's glad.
[2:12:17] It wasn't like the end of Mother.
[2:12:19] I'm glad. It wasn't like the bit in
[2:12:20] Shawshank when Andy plays this song through the speakers and
[2:12:24] all the prisoners are just like, because, you know, it works,
[2:12:26] really. Well, there, but it could.
[2:12:27] Be a little bit over the top if they try to do it similarly.
[2:12:30] I love how there's a different reaction from everyone.
[2:12:33] I mean, some people are really emotional, probably because it's
[2:12:35] the first baby they've seen in absolutely years.
[2:12:38] Some of the younger guys out there, it just dumps it because
[2:12:40] it's the first time they've ever seen a baby and they don't know
[2:12:43] how to react to it. But again, for me, we're used to
[2:12:46] being seen the most realistic thing of all.
[2:12:48] It'll last for about 30 seconds, and then someone starts shooting
[2:12:50] again. Yeah, because children of men,
[2:12:52] nature of men. Nice.
[2:12:54] It's not the end of the film. Though we go.
[2:12:56] Straight into the Dengue mall, Mariska leaves Theo and Key to a
[2:12:59] boat. Theo rose Key out to sea and the
[2:13:02] human project ship The Tomorrow appears from the mist.
[2:13:05] Yes. How was this for an ending,
[2:13:06] Wesley? I mean, it's great because we
[2:13:08] see Mariska. It's.
[2:13:09] Just that pure force of good. Again, that just ties into
[2:13:12] Miriam, it ties into Jasper, it ties into everyone who's helped
[2:13:16] them who has a conscience and has a faith, and they believe
[2:13:18] the faith is is going to save them ultimately.
[2:13:20] And I love the visuals here. I love the fact that they're
[2:13:22] just rolling into the fog and that it's uncertain and there's
[2:13:25] just this beacon of hope. There's just that light.
[2:13:28] And I love the fact that Theo as a character doesn't matter
[2:13:30] anymore. I think he's done exactly what
[2:13:32] he needs to do and got as far as he can possibly go.
[2:13:34] I love the fact that the blood reveal is his because we didn't
[2:13:36] see that it's not obvious that he's been shot.
[2:13:39] Another thing that I get. Am I reaching here?
[2:13:41] Go on. OK.
[2:13:42] Dylan is a girl. Yeah.
[2:13:44] They're looking for the tomorrow boat.
[2:13:46] We don't know what's going to happen, but the way that the
[2:13:48] Finder signal and the way that they meet them is they find a
[2:13:50] boy in the sea, right? So there's a girl and a boy and
[2:13:54] they find the boat. Does that mean that they're
[2:13:55] going to get together and it's all going to continue?
[2:13:57] Is that going to be fine? She actually shouts the boy,
[2:14:00] right? Yeah.
[2:14:00] Yeah. Am I reaching there?
[2:14:01] It might be a. Little bit too simple.
[2:14:03] Of course there's a boy there, Dick, headed to the Middle East.
[2:14:06] It might work. It might not, but I love it
[2:14:08] anyway. No, I think it's a.
[2:14:11] Beautiful ending. It's really understated because
[2:14:14] Theo was arcs complete. He starred the film as a
[2:14:16] hopeless bureaucrat guy, and he ends it by giving it all up to
[2:14:19] save humanity. I love that at this point, we're
[2:14:21] not even sure if the human project exists.
[2:14:23] So their rivals huge. Yeah.
[2:14:24] I love that we don't see what happens next.
[2:14:26] I love the ambiguity, how we don't know if Theo was dead or
[2:14:28] not at the end. Yeah, that's surely taken from
[2:14:31] the end of Shane. The classic western.
[2:14:32] Definitely. Oh yeah. 100% where he rides.
[2:14:34] Off on his. Horse and we don't know if he's
[2:14:36] dead or not. But it's so perfect here as
[2:14:38] well, because Theo was arcs tied up, the narrative was tied up,
[2:14:41] and the themes are all given like a nice full stop.
[2:14:44] And visually out at sea all alone, and the ship comes out of
[2:14:46] the mist. It's just like the perfect
[2:14:48] ending, I think. Yeah, it is.
[2:14:49] Yeah. Yeah.
[2:14:50] Classic ending. Really is the hero.
[2:14:52] Dead. Is he alive?
[2:14:53] Is he just wounded? I love that kind of ambiguity,
[2:14:55] and it works really well here. I think the music's great, and I
[2:14:59] just really respect the fact that it doesn't tie everything
[2:15:01] up in a neat little boat. They've got key to safety and
[2:15:05] that's all anyone can hope for. It might come to nothing, it
[2:15:08] might solve nothing, but at least there's a little bit of
[2:15:11] hope now. There's definite hope because
[2:15:13] over that last title. We've got kids voices.
[2:15:15] Yeah, the voices are there again, because Miriam said when
[2:15:17] the voices faded, everyone's hope did.
[2:15:19] Yeah. It's literally not a film about
[2:15:21] the film. It's a film about what's going
[2:15:23] to happen next, and that's up to you.
[2:15:24] Perfect. The sound of children's laughter
[2:15:26] at the. End.
[2:15:26] What's him seeing? Everything's going to be all
[2:15:28] right, isn't it? Yeah, of course.
[2:15:30] Yeah, the end of the novel is. Very different to the film.
[2:15:32] In the book, Theo kills his cousin Zan Lapayet to protect
[2:15:35] Julian and the baby. He then takes the coronation
[2:15:38] ring from Zan's finger and puts it on his own, taking on Zan's
[2:15:42] position as Warden of England. Yes, Warden of England.
[2:15:46] So the ambiguity there is whether or not Theo will.
[2:15:48] Become corrupted by power, right.
[2:15:49] The ending he has miles better for what Quran's made.
[2:15:52] I think so, yeah. Yeah, Exactly.
[2:15:53] Would it be like? Lord of the Rings.
[2:15:54] He's like, yeah. Why shouldn't that keep it?
[2:15:56] Yeah, exactly. Yeah, good.
[2:15:58] Children's voices, so key names. Her daughter, Dylan.
[2:16:03] After Theo and Julian's child, Dylan.
[2:16:05] But it has a wider meaning to Dylan is a Welsh name that means
[2:16:08] son of the sea or born of the ocean ice, which is fitting,
[2:16:12] seeing that's where they take her after she's born.
[2:16:14] Yeah. Nice bit of symbolism there.
[2:16:16] Yeah. Everything connecting.
[2:16:17] To the sea in Rebirth. Not Bob Dylan as I was hoping
[2:16:19] for. No, really, no some.
[2:16:21] Really. In Seasick Blues.
[2:16:23] The human project don't exist in the book, they were created by
[2:16:26] the writers for the film. The idea is that there are a
[2:16:29] group of scientists who have been working on a cure for the
[2:16:31] infidelity in the Azores, which is why Julian wanted to get the
[2:16:34] baby to them and arrange the rendezvous.
[2:16:36] I like how Theo doesn't even find out that.
[2:16:38] Might not be real until the Inbeck sale on the bus nor going
[2:16:41] back furious. Just like if you've spoken to
[2:16:44] any of them, no? So that takes us to the end of
[2:16:50] Children of Men. A pretty epic battle sequence.
[2:16:52] And Theo does it. Key and Dylan are rescued and
[2:16:55] there is hope for humanity. There is.
[2:16:56] Wow. A fitting way to finish.
[2:16:58] Yeah, Perfect. The only way to finish.
[2:17:03] Reception and awards. So that is the story of children
[2:17:08] of men. And it opened in cinemas on 22nd
[2:17:10] of September 2006. How we're doing its release
[2:17:14] well, if the human project was looking for someone to give
[2:17:16] birth to some box office data that have called Matt yes Sir.
[2:17:19] So let's hear Matt. Let's do it.
[2:17:21] So production budget. Was $76,000,000 and Children of
[2:17:25] Men grossed $105.4 million worldwide.
[2:17:29] So not exactly set in the box office light.
[2:17:32] And at the Oscars, it was nominated for three awards but
[2:17:35] won none. As we've said, screenwriters
[2:17:37] were nominated for Best adapted Screenplay.
[2:17:39] Lebetsky was nominated for Best Cinematography.
[2:17:42] And as well as those, Alfonso Curon and Alex Rodriguez were
[2:17:46] nominated for Best film editing. But they lost out to Thelma
[2:17:49] Shoemaker for the departed. Right.
[2:17:51] Worse people to lose? To than Thelma school maker.
[2:17:54] Yeah, definitely. Yeah, marketing experts have.
[2:17:57] Given a few reasons for the film not perform well at the box
[2:18:01] office, the marketing agency Creative Partnership designed 8
[2:18:04] poster variations before the film came out and Kate was
[2:18:07] almost entirely absent from all of them and Clive Warren was
[2:18:10] positioned as playing a big action role.
[2:18:12] The tagline was he must protect our only hope.
[2:18:17] Wow, sounds like Obi Wan. Kenobi.
[2:18:20] He must protect our only hope. But yeah, that's not what the
[2:18:23] film is. And the theatrical trailer.
[2:18:26] Emphasized a romantic plot between Theo and Julian and TV
[2:18:30] spots. Used music that wasn't in the
[2:18:32] film, with Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones prominent in the
[2:18:34] marketing. Romance shot in the throat. 30
[2:18:38] minutes in. Exactly.
[2:18:39] Yeah, and don't tease me with the stones.
[2:18:41] And leave them out. No, that's not well, exactly.
[2:18:43] Gimme shelter such like. On the nose.
[2:18:45] Reference as well for the film, isn't it?
[2:18:47] It is, yeah. And in. 2000 and. 6 digital
[2:18:51] marketing was taking off, but it seems like Universal didn't take
[2:18:54] advantage of it. There was no guerrilla
[2:18:55] marketing, AR GS or viral campaigns.
[2:18:59] Yeah, Viva Vendetta. That was the.
[2:19:00] Same year. And that Guy Fawkes mask was
[2:19:02] like, everywhere. That's right.
[2:19:03] It was. Yeah.
[2:19:04] All right. Yeah.
[2:19:05] I remember nothing for this, no. And they?
[2:19:07] Released it in the US on Christmas Day.
[2:19:09] It was up against happy feet and the holiday.
[2:19:16] Merry Christmas. He's not giving it a.
[2:19:18] Fighting chances it really. Penguins are winds lit neither
[2:19:22] Quoron. Grim dystropia, please under
[2:19:26] the. Critics and we'll start.
[2:19:27] As is typical with Roger Ebert, one of the big man make of the
[2:19:29] film. Do we think I think you would
[2:19:31] have enjoyed it, but not. Thoroughly.
[2:19:34] So maybe three. Yeah, I'll go three.
[2:19:36] It was full marks. From Wow.
[2:19:38] Right, four starts out of four. And he said.
[2:19:40] Quran fulfills the promise of futuristic fiction.
[2:19:43] Characters do not waste range. Costumes of Visit the Moon and
[2:19:46] the Cities are not plastic hallucinations but look just
[2:19:48] like today, except tired and shabby.
[2:19:51] Here is a world ending not with a bang, but a whimper, and the
[2:19:53] film serves as a cautionary warning.
[2:19:56] Indeed. Bang on from Rog.
[2:19:57] Yep, as always to. The surprise of nobody.
[2:19:59] Surely. Yep.
[2:20:01] Peter Travels A Rolling Stone rang Children of Men as his
[2:20:03] second best film of the decade, and said Children of Men is
[2:20:07] indisputably great. No movie this decade he was more
[2:20:09] redolent of sorrowful beauty and exhilarating action.
[2:20:12] You don't just watch the car ambush scene, you live inside
[2:20:15] it. Definitely.
[2:20:16] That's Quran's magic. He makes you believe he does.
[2:20:19] Yep, true. Yeah, there will.
[2:20:21] Be blood number. 1. If anyone's interested, yeah, I
[2:20:23] mean, that's up there for me, yeah.
[2:20:25] We've also covered that one, so we get.
[2:20:27] Stuck into it? Here we are and writing for
[2:20:28] Empire magazine. DM and Wise gave the film four
[2:20:31] stars out to five and said a visually stunning, Swifty and
[2:20:34] satire. Children of Men may appear
[2:20:36] clumsy, but it's message is simple, heartfelt and ultimately
[2:20:39] rather moving. Nice, doesn't it?
[2:20:42] Not sure I agree if it. Appears clumsy.
[2:20:43] No, there's nothing clumsy about this film.
[2:20:45] Intentional handheld camera work?
[2:20:47] Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
[2:20:49] It's fared. Better over time though.
[2:20:50] Today on Rotten Tomorrow's Children of Men has an 85%
[2:20:54] audience approval rating and a very big 92% from critics.
[2:20:58] And on IMDb, irrespectable score of 7.9 out of 10.
[2:21:03] Yeah, I think this might be one that.
[2:21:05] For a lot of people, get better with repeat viewings maybe.
[2:21:07] Oh, absolutely, definitely does. So, children.
[2:21:10] Of men struggle at the box. Office an award ceremonies on
[2:21:12] its release not great marketing campaign and a Christmas Day
[2:21:16] suicide release, but over time it does seem to have found its
[2:21:20] audience. Yeah, deservedly so.
[2:21:22] What if you've got a? Quiet.
[2:21:23] It's for Christmas. Sequels and influence if Alfonso
[2:21:34] Quran wasn't for making a. Harry Potter sequel?
[2:21:36] It seems very unlikely he'd return the new Children of Men
[2:21:39] too, and that's how it played out.
[2:21:41] No sequel Good. What about the film's influence?
[2:21:44] And legacy though. What kind of impact has Children
[2:21:46] of Men had since 2006? Do we think, Wesley?
[2:21:49] I think we've seen nothing but. The influence of this film since
[2:21:53] that time, I think any film that's looking at a near future
[2:21:56] or a dystopian future or something that is grounded in
[2:22:01] that realistic element. I think they've taken Korans
[2:22:03] lead noticeably I think in the likes of The Road because
[2:22:08] exactly the same kind of aesthetic and even in different
[2:22:10] countries it's really worked. Films like The Rover, yes, if
[2:22:13] you haven't seen that, it's very, very similar in its torn
[2:22:16] and it's aesthetic. Brilliant film and leaning more
[2:22:18] into the sci-fi element the current didn't go into.
[2:22:21] I think you'd agree with this one, John, with the likes of
[2:22:23] District 9, yeah. Yeah.
[2:22:25] I think has a very similar tone, especially the Bexhill vibe.
[2:22:28] Yeah, yeah, definitely. But I think the most obvious in
[2:22:31] all of this is the design, the playability and the success of
[2:22:36] The Last of Us. Yeah.
[2:22:37] I mean, if you imagine Children of Men with zombies, you have
[2:22:41] The Last of Us basically. So yeah, even though it flopped,
[2:22:44] I think it's been very, very influential to creatives.
[2:22:47] Yeah, definitely. I think it's had a big.
[2:22:48] Influence. Since it came out, I mean,
[2:22:50] before this, the still being futures were often pretty far
[2:22:53] fetched, like advanced technology and stuff.
[2:22:55] Children have mended it by just taking the current world.
[2:22:57] Yeah. And moving it forward just
[2:22:59] slightly a few years. I see that in Charlie Brooker in
[2:23:02] Black Mirror. Oh, in Black Mirror all the
[2:23:03] time, Yeah. Filmmaking wise, I think there
[2:23:05] was a clear influence with the. Long take sequences like a
[2:23:08] tournament by Joe Wright came out the year after this 5 minute
[2:23:11] shot in Dunkirk Beach. And then, like we talked about
[2:23:14] some Mendez when 1917 filmmaker started doing whole films as one
[2:23:17] one take or seeming to be 1 take and you won the money, Westie
[2:23:20] because I saw an interview with Neil Druckmann, who was the head
[2:23:22] of Naughty Dog, the video game company behind the Last of Us.
[2:23:25] All right. He said this was like the major
[2:23:27] influence when the creator that oh wow, that idea of the beat
[2:23:30] down adult escorting a young woman who was humanity's last
[2:23:33] hope. I just thought like the
[2:23:34] aesthetic of the look. I.
[2:23:35] Didn't think of it like thematically as well.
[2:23:37] That's really interesting. Yeah, yeah.
[2:23:38] I think it's became one of those films that other.
[2:23:40] Creators seem to study. Yeah, yeah.
[2:23:43] I mean, I'll just. Add another two because I agree
[2:23:45] with everything you said. I have much the same, I think
[2:23:48] her the Spike Jones film. It's obviously very different
[2:23:51] tonely, but it has that vibe of it's set in the future, but it's
[2:23:55] not futuristic like this one. That one feels like that's only
[2:23:59] a few months away, which I think is scary.
[2:24:01] Children of Men has that. Similar kind of.
[2:24:03] Feel but a different tone and a film we've mentioned already but
[2:24:06] mother the Darren Aronofsky film because the last 10 minutes of
[2:24:10] that when that house gets invaded and the military charge
[2:24:13] in the putting people in cages and the lining people up to be
[2:24:16] shot that whole sequence to me have very very children of men.
[2:24:20] Yeah, definitely. So no.
[2:24:21] Sequels for children of Men. Rightly so, Probably, yeah.
[2:24:24] But in terms of influence, from Hollywood to video games to TV,
[2:24:28] Children of Men did make an impact.
[2:24:30] And unlike his box office, its legacy seems to have grown
[2:24:33] stronger. Yeah, it really has.
[2:24:34] Oh, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, all the right movies
[2:24:39] ranking and here we are the end of Children of.
[2:24:44] Men, now it's time for our ratings, where we each score the
[2:24:46] film out of 10. Yeah, we're seeing with Your
[2:24:48] Choice. So you want to lead us in your
[2:24:51] summary and score for Children of Men, please.
[2:24:53] I've got a lot of appreciation for this film.
[2:24:56] Which doesn't mean I've got a lot of love for it, but I've got
[2:24:58] a lot of time for it. I think I really appreciate the
[2:25:00] techniques here. I really appreciate what it's
[2:25:02] trying to say and that it's so on the money.
[2:25:05] It was so right and so well thought through and so well
[2:25:10] produced. It's just an amazing piece of
[2:25:12] filmmaking and it is just wonderfully done and it's just
[2:25:15] something to marvel at from a visual creative.
[2:25:19] You kind of get much better than this as some real inspiration
[2:25:22] and influence. Having said that, as a cinema
[2:25:25] goer, do you get everything that you need from it go?
[2:25:28] I was really moved by that as a narrative story.
[2:25:32] Or is it more just about the visuals and technique?
[2:25:34] I think it's a little bit of both.
[2:25:36] If the score Room was based on the third time you've seen this
[2:25:40] film, it will be a 10. But.
[2:25:43] It's not. It's a film that you've really
[2:25:45] got to dive into in a film you've really got to study.
[2:25:47] So I'm going to take one point off of.
[2:25:48] Technically it's perfect, but it's a nine out of 10 for me.
[2:25:52] The third, fourth time you watch it, it's a perfect film, but
[2:25:54] you've got to give it the time. Yeah, but like I said, at the
[2:25:57] top, I was really. Impressed with this when I first
[2:25:58] saw it, and if anything, I think it's got better with time.
[2:26:01] Yeah, read the book as a teenager, and that can be
[2:26:04] dangerous, judging against that cornet.
[2:26:06] Yeah. But what I think is impressive
[2:26:08] is how much Quran's changed without feeling like he's
[2:26:10] betrayed the book. And he made a film that now I
[2:26:12] actually prefer to the book. I love the character writing.
[2:26:15] Theo was the personification of that theme of lost hope and
[2:26:18] finding it again. Grace Clay O Bashati is Key is a
[2:26:22] bit of a revelation in a first major film role, I think.
[2:26:25] And the technical filmmaking is just extraordinary.
[2:26:27] The long takes, the way Quran uses the background to build the
[2:26:30] world. I love all that, that
[2:26:32] documentary realism. And thematically it became more
[2:26:34] relevant after it came out. If anything, immigration and
[2:26:37] totalitarianism, pandemics. Probably the most prescient
[2:26:41] science fiction film of the century.
[2:26:43] Yeah, Yeah. So a bit of a master class in
[2:26:45] science fiction filmmaking to me.
[2:26:46] Intelligence moving, thrilling when it needs to be and
[2:26:49] massively relevant. It's not one of my favourites,
[2:26:52] but it is superb. And it's a nine out of 10 for me
[2:26:56] and Matt. Yeah, I mean, this one's been.
[2:26:58] Such a great voyage of discovery for me.
[2:27:00] Like, I've never dismissed this film, but like I said it, I just
[2:27:03] haven't watched it a lot and it's not one I've given the time
[2:27:06] it deserves to appreciate its many, many qualities.
[2:27:09] It's a perfect band of technical wizardry, but done with heart
[2:27:12] and soul behind it. It's not just cure on showing
[2:27:15] off what he can do with the camera for the sake that he's
[2:27:17] telling a very emotional and a very relevant story at the same
[2:27:20] time. And that's what will always
[2:27:22] resonate with me going forward. And as much as I'm not ever
[2:27:25] going to be excited by Clive or lead in this, that's not going
[2:27:28] to be the main thing anymore. Whenever I think about watching
[2:27:31] Children of Men, it's going to be the depth of writing.
[2:27:33] It's going to be about how terrifyingly prophetic it is.
[2:27:37] Like, maybe for that reason, I don't know when I'll come back
[2:27:40] to this again, but I definitely will because it's a great, great
[2:27:43] film. And I'm also giving it A9 all
[2:27:45] the nines well. Unlike the world of the film,
[2:27:48] our community of ATR and Page Rons haven't gone quiet yet and
[2:27:52] we also put this out there to them to get their thoughts on
[2:27:54] Children of Men. So Ian Joyner said.
[2:27:57] Easily one of the best 21st century films set in Britain.
[2:28:00] Hugely underrated and gets better on rewatchers.
[2:28:03] The car chase, the jumpstart, the Bexhill siege, incredible
[2:28:06] feats of blocking and camera work, King Crimson Batter, Sea
[2:28:09] Power station and pulling Michael Caine's finger.
[2:28:12] What more do you need 10? OK, nice.
[2:28:15] What would? You need 10, Hilton, Thompson
[2:28:18] said. It still holds up.
[2:28:20] Visually, the cinematography, editing and sound design is
[2:28:22] brilliant and the story feels like the near future.
[2:28:25] But the performances, with the exception of Clay, Hope, Asherty
[2:28:28] feel off for me. Right.
[2:28:29] Pam Ferris with dreads and the grungy Michael Caine?
[2:28:31] No thanks. 8 right? OK, 2 marks.
[2:28:35] Obliterated by Grungy. Michael Caine just doesn't like
[2:28:38] hair, does he? Yeah, Michael Cubin.
[2:28:43] And Oliver Betts said Children of Men is a.
[2:28:45] Criminally underappreciated masterpiece, It looks and sound
[2:28:49] the business. An absolute master class in one
[2:28:51] as career best performances from Clive.
[2:28:54] Oh and unsure tell Edgier 4 and it's Michael Caine's last great
[2:28:57] role with a cracking Barnet to boot.
[2:28:59] Nice. It's one of the easiest 10 on
[2:29:01] 10s ever. Fair enough right?
[2:29:03] Michael Caine's Barnet I. Get to mention from.
[2:29:05] Everyone so mostly very positive from our followers and patrons
[2:29:08] and all together they rated the film.
[2:29:10] What do you think out of 10? Oh, that's a tough one.
[2:29:13] It's very positive. And.
[2:29:14] I'm going to say a nine as well. I'm just going to stick to be
[2:29:16] guns here. I'll go 9.50.
[2:29:20] You're right, Westy. It was a nine out of 10.
[2:29:22] Here we go. All right.
[2:29:23] So that's all the nines in tall like it was Children of Men 36
[2:29:26] out of 40. Yeah.
[2:29:27] Lovely. And we're done on Children of
[2:29:29] Men. Hopefully it hasn't made you
[2:29:30] want to roar out into the middle of the ocean and just give it
[2:29:33] all up. Well, not much, doesn't.
[2:29:38] I don't include you in them, Westy, because you know the
[2:29:40] crack. Next time.
[2:29:42] Out. Yeah, your diary.
[2:29:44] Call the fire department because Luke, Wesley and Matt are
[2:29:46] heading to the glass tower to take on the disaster classic
[2:29:49] that is the Towering inferno that being inside a chimney.
[2:29:55] Massive. Cast Massive film, Yeah.
[2:29:57] Massive tower. Massive tower.
[2:29:59] Brilliant film. Well, in the meantime to find.
[2:30:02] Out more about. Becoming a patron, supporting
[2:30:03] what we do and accessing our archive and all the bonus
[2:30:06] episodes. You can visit patreon.com/all
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[2:30:12] YouTube so she can keep up with All the Right Movies on X.
[2:30:15] Formerly Twitter, where we are at at Right Movies.
[2:30:18] We post threads on there telling the stories behind classic
[2:30:20] films. Everything reports been said by
[2:30:22] someone involved in the production or come from three
[2:30:25] separate sources. We follow the same rule on our
[2:30:27] podcast, so go check that out. Yep, we're also on YouTube, on
[2:30:30] Instagram and threads on Blue sky on TikTok.
[2:30:33] And we have a movie group on Facebook full of great people,
[2:30:36] great chat as well. So go join that and our website
[2:30:40] full of great features. All the right movies.com.
[2:30:42] Lovely. We're all off now to see if
[2:30:44] Michael Caine has any Strawberry cough left.
[2:30:47] Do come back for towing Inferno. Though.
[2:30:49] And as always, thank you for listening.
[2:30:51] Thank you so much for listening, guys.
[2:30:52] Thanks for listening. Guys, take care out there.

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