On Real Steal being a sci-fi movie:
Shawn Levy: The
movie is way more in the sports paradigm than the science-fiction paradigm. The
idea is that the world looks real. It's 2020, the world is recognizably linked
to the one we're sitting in right now, but this one sport has evolved. Here's
what we know as fact: the rise of UFC and mixed martial arts, the thirst for
spectacle, for carnage...we're already seeing the effects of it, right? The rules
have gotten more lax, things you're allowed to do in the ring have
increased...It's based largely on this Richard Mattheson short story on a Twilight episode, but it is peoples' desire for spectacle. Unhindered by the frailty of
the human body, it has given rise to this sport where people are now building
machines so that we can pay them money to watch them completely wail on each
other.
Where to go for inspiration:
Shawn Levy: If you
do a boxing movie, there are antecedents that any of us who love film...it's kind
of in our collective unconscious. For me that meant re-watching Raging Bull,
all of the Rocky movies, both the
phenomenal ones and the less phenomenal ones, The Champ, Paper Moon. I didn't re-watch it,
but there's a big E.T component
in this. It is a movie about a boy whose personal life is broken who makes a
connection with an 'other,' and it's a redemptive connection. So there's a big,
kind of E.T component here that
Steven (Spielberg) and I have still never talked about, but it's kind of in the
blood of the story.
As far as models for this, I think we talked about Paper
Moon, which was a father-daughter road
movie, frankly, where father and daughter didn't particularly like each other
or want to be with each other. This movie has a similar kind of chafing
dynamic.
Hugh Jackman: The story is a bit like Rocky, it’s a lot less boxing then you’d imagine. There are a few key fights, but really it’s the relationships...
Is there a robotic Adrian?
Hugh Jackman: [Laughs] No, although today you are going to see something pretty cool, which is our ring lady. I was in New York City and I saw a huge billboard for...what’s that vodka? Svedka? ...With the thing called 'sexy looking robots.’ So I said, “Let’s use the Svedka girl as the thing.” And he wanted it to be more humanistic, so it’s a girl and you can see how she’s dressed. Her name’s Channing and she’s great, and she wears these unbelievable contact lenses. She’s amazing. She’s obviously human but she sort of looks robotic in her outfit.
