Kiwi filmmaker Andrew Adamson is known for his films like Shrek and Chronicles of Narnia, but his latest offering is something that even he admits is rather unusual.
Adamson has teamed up with Avatar and Titanic filmmaker James Cameron to produce 3D film Cirque Du Soleil: World’s Away showcasing some of the brand's most spectacular Las Vegas performances.
Cirque Du Soleil shows are big, bold, creative and look acrobatically impossible. More than 100 million spectators have seen a Cirque du Soleil show since 1984 and nearly 15 million people will see a Cirque du Soleil show this year.
"It's transporting, it's life-affirming, I think it's amazing to see people do things that are basically impossible,” says Adamson of Cirque Du Soleil shows.
“I watch these people and I don't know how they do some of this stuff. Getting to know them, they're just normal people doing their jobs every day, but doing things that are incredibly dangerous, incredibly difficult and making it look easy. I do feel like it's being transported into a dream where anything is possible and that's a great thing to go and see."
Adamson didn't want to just make a documentary-style film, so created a storyline similar to one of the shows. It's a love-at-first-sight tale that sees a young woman go to the circus and fall for the showman, The Aerialist.
The two of them are transported into another world, along with the audience.
"Each of the shows has a very dreamlike, loose narrative.,” says Adamson.
“Sometimes you can't follow it, sometimes you don't care to follow it. Sometimes you just get wrapped up in the moment. That's what I wanted the movie to as well - allow spectacle to be spectacle for its own sake, but sometimes allow it to be more emotional and more about the storytelling.
"I initially told them I didn't know how to do it, then in the shower the next morning I was thinking how it would happen in an Alice in Wonderland kind of scenario, these two people who had fallen in love and were looking for each other in a world of life and death - that popped into my head and from that point it was just developing it"
Adamson says the film shows the Cirque de Soleil performances in a way fans won’t have seen before.
"I had to think - what can I do that gives you a different but equal experience?” says Adamson.
“I found going to the shows that if you sit in a different seat, you have a very different experience seeing different things. With film we can choose that. We can put the audience in whatever seat is most appropriate for a moment.
“We can also get in closer, see acts happening in slow motion, go under water, it's a different experience. A lot of Cirque fans, including the performers, have really loved seeing this in a way they've never seen it before."
Cirque de Soleil has come to New Zealand but it's the added impact of the Las Vegas Shows that are captured in Worlds Away.
"The Vegas shows are pretty spectacular because of the mechanical effects that can't be part of the tour shows, you're not able to move these giant rocket launchers that lift stages up and spin them around," says Adamson.
The production’s 3D technology was developed by James Cameron, who also produced the film and, despite any preconceptions people may have, was entirely helpful.
"You get two directors on set, you don't know what's going to happen!” laughs Adamson.
“But he was really great, really supportive, he filled in wherever he needed to. Sometimes it was helping me get what I needed budget wise, other times equipment wise, other times it was being a DP, other times being an operator. He loves to operate, he really enjoys this technology. Sometimes he'd be in a cage suspended 80 feet up in the air, he has really good training at not going to the bathroom for many hours with his underwater stuff has helped with that."
Adamson admits that Worlds Away has ended up being weird, something he was hoping for and is confident it will entertain viewers.
"It is an unusual film,” says Adamson.
“I knew that going in, that it'd be experimental, but I'm really happy because it really works. It works the same way as shows work. You do get transported. Sometimes you connect with a moment, sometimes you don't. Different people are impressed and entertained by different acts."
Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away opens in cinemas across New Zealand tomorrow.
3 News
source: newshub archive
