how did they film the impossible
Rather than concentrating on the 'privileged white visitors', the film portrayed the profound sense of community and unity that I experienced in Thailand, with this family at the centre of it. Doctor Maria Bennett, her husband Henry Bennett, and their three sons Lucas, Thomas, and Simon go on a Christmas holiday in 2004 to Khao Lak, Thailand. About the film, he added: "Part of the appeal of this affecting and powerful drama is that it puts the viewer right in the moment at every stage, using authentic locations and tsunami survivors to hammer home the reality of this tragedy. Henry leaves the two boys with another family who are then taken to the mountains for safety by local relief crews. While Maria is in surgery, her medical chart is mixed-up with a patient named Muriel Barnes, who has died. They say those are the radioactive particles hitting the film of the camera which doesn't seem to happen in the moon films. Bayona. Just watched the film The Impossible with my boyfriend and cried the whole way through. [15] After a full-length English language trailer was released on 20 August 2012, a United States release date of 21 December 2012 was confirmed by Summit. Maria says they rarely talked about the tsunami when they were back in Spain – and when they did, people didn’t believe they had experienced it. Pages Businesses Media/News Company Cheddar Videos How the Tsunami Scenes Were Filmed for "The Impossible" “When we first met, I had two objectives,” Belón told the L.A. Times in 2012. Others say it would have been impossible to take any film outside the magnetic field of the earth as these would have been destroyed by the amount of particles in the outside. Communication facilities are scarce, but a European tourist named Karl, who has also been separated from his family, lends Henry his cell phone to contact his relatives in England. But in this case it shares elements with horror films. A perfect paradise vacation until a distant noise becomes a roar. to react to the intense flow. Just watched the film The Impossible with my boyfriend and cried the whole way through. Director Juan Antonio Bayona ... Bayona allows you to connect with the characters in the film, and really gets you to feel everything they felt and experience everything they experienced. Powerful pumps moved 3,000 liters per second to create the pull. [13] Holland, aged 14 at the time of filming, later described it as a "scary environment ...You can imagine how tiring and brutal that was."[14]. Karl volunteers to accompany Henry to look for Maria and Lucas as well as his own family, who were at the beach when the tsunami hit. For me, it was the exact opposite. Henry and Karl search for their families in various places before they arrive at the hospital, where Henry is given five minutes to look. The site's critical consensus reads, "The screenplay isn't quite as powerful as the direction or the acting, but with such an astonishing real-life story at its center, The Impossible is never less than compelling. The United States distribution rights were pre-bought by Summit Entertainment. [9][10][11][12], The tsunami was recreated with a mixture of digital effects and real water surges filmed in slow motion created in a water tank in Spain using miniatures that were destroyed by a huge wave. The movie, however, focuses on the family and their turmoil after they are lost post the destruction caused by the tsunami. Guardian reader Simon Jenkins was in Thailand when the 2004 tsunami struck. Directed by J.A. WHAT begins as a leisurely family vacation in Thailand turns into destruction and despair in “The Impossible,” one of a few films this year in which characters respond to, and struggle to overcome, a natural disaster. For the transition to the screen they’re an English-speaking clan, with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor as the parents of three children. Meanwhile, Henry, Thomas, and Simon have also survived and are together. He also praised the performances, stating that "as Maria, Watts is both brave and vulnerable, and her scenes with the young Lucas (the excellent Tom Holland) are among the film's best, with adult and child now unexpected equals, the mother humbled, the son rising to the challenge. The Impossible stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor as Maria and Henry Bennett, respectively. McGregor, cut and streaked with excessive blood he seems too distraught to wash away, keeps the tension razor-sharp as he pursues his family in a vast, shattered landscape." Maria cries and looks out the window at the chaos left behind as the plane takes off. While he waits in the hospital, Lucas finds Daniel, who has been reunited with his father. Henry stays behind to search for Maria and Lucas in the resort's rubble. Had this film been purely about the tale of a western middle class family's 'ruined' holiday then I would have agreed. J. Lastly, they should talk to each other about something other than the white male character. They did try and have as much practical in-camera as possible, ... Browse other questions tagged film-techniques mission-impossible-ghost-protocol mission-impossible. "[21], Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a perfect four-star rating, praising the performances of Watts and McGregor, and the direction of Bayona. The Impossible (Spanish: Lo imposible) is a 2012 English-language Spanish disaster drama film directed by J. "[28], The Impossible was a box office success. "[23], Justin Chang of Variety magazine gave a positive review, praising Bayona's directing and Sánchez's writing: "Collaborating again after their impressive 2007 debut feature, The Orphanage, Bayona and Sanchez get many things right here, starting with their decision to eschew a more panoramic view of the disaster to follow one family's journey from start to finish." Watch later. water, because it was very expensive, but also because it didn’t feel real,” Mr. Bayona said during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. That sequence, an intricate one that involves waves crashing over bungalows (right) and victims washing away, took a year of planning. In the film Maria (Ms. Watts) and her son Lucas (Tom Holland) are caught in the tsunami’s fierce pull. The Impossible on the other hand, breaks the mould. [19], Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 81% based on 202 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The Spanish production, starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, is the true story of a family vacationing in Thailand at the … “I think nowadays it looks kind of lazy, the work with special effects in many movies, because they go straight to C.G.I.,” he said. He says of the comments, "As I must, I've never been the sort of person to revisit and analyse events of the past, but some of these articles frustrated me. The film was released in the United States on 4 January 2013 and was made available by Summit Entertainment through a website streaming the film to members of SAG-AFTRA for consideration of the SAG awards. While in surgery, Lucas tells his father he has something really important to tell Maria. [6] Principal photography began 23 August 2010 in Alicante and continued in October in Thailand. The Impossible marks the feature film debut of Tom Holland (who would later portray Spider-Man in the MCU) and mostly received positive reviews upon its initial release. In director Juan Antonio Bayona’s “The Impossible,” they seem lost in it, engulfed by it, damned by it.. As “The Impossible” begins, all is quiet at a peaceful resort beach in Thailand. [7][8], Director Juan Antonio Bayona decided not to specify the nationalities of the main characters in order to create a universal film in which nationalities were irrelevant to the plot. How Tom Cruise Was Filmed Jumping Out Of A Plane In 'Mission: Impossible — Fallout' | Movies Insider - YouTube. It stars Naomi Watts […] That involved digitally stitching together multiple water shots and palm trees devised with C.G.I. "[25], Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a "B-" grade and stated that the film "suffers from the greater problem of emphasising a feel-good plot within the context of mass destruction. During the course of filming Maria and Naomi, 44, became close. [17], It was released on DVD/Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, 19 March 2013,[18] with a European release 13 May 2013. Bayona committed to working with real water rather than a computer-generated wave because he wanted the story to be authentic. Her husband Enrique Alvárez and their children have appeared at the film's premieres. Henry, his doctor wife, Maria, and their three sons, fly from Japan where Henry is stationed. The mistake is discovered when Lucas cannot identify any of the dead woman's jewelry and he is subsequently reunited with his mother, who had been moved to a private room in the ICU. A. Bayona and written by Sergio G. Sánchez. "[27], Simon Jenkins, a British survivor from Portsmouth, wrote to The Guardian, stating the film is "beautifully accurate". The Bennett family – Henry (Ewan McGregor), Maria (Naomi Watts), and their three sons – travel to Thailand for a Christmas holiday. Released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on December 16, 2011, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film in the series, with $694 million, until it was surpassed by Mission: Impossible – Fallout . 1 and made $5,768,184 with a per-cinema average of $9,098. This meant Watts and Holland spent five weeks filming physically and psychologically demanding scenes in a massive water tank. “They work on creating the perfect wave, but what we wanted to create was very nasty, wide and imperfect, so it was something completely different for them,” he said. Filming The Impossible was cathartic for Belón and her family. The film is based on a true story of the Alvarez Belons family, who was on vacation in Thailand when the tsunami hit. The exterior water tank, above, was used for some shots in the current and with the scale model. Maria and Lucas eventually emerge from the swirling water and find one another, with Maria having sustained serious injuries to her leg and chest. [31] On its third weekend it remained at No. Lucas returns to find his mother's bed empty and is then taken to a tent where children without families are kept safe. Shopping. Warner Bros. released the film in Spain on 11 October 2012. The film is called The Impossible and is based on the account of Maria Belton, a survivor of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. Thus, the paper applies The Bechdel Test to the movies Cinderella (2015); Mission Impossible: Rogue Nations; and Mad Max: Furry Road, to illustrate the fact that the popular culture continues to be influenced by Eurocentric ideals. The film was a co-production of Spanish film companies Apaches Entertainment and Telecinco Cinema, and employed much of the crew from The Orphanage, including the director, writer, production manager, cinematographer, composer, and editor. They get an upgrade to a villa on the coastline. In the film Maria (Ms. Watts) and her son Lucas (Tom Holland) are caught in the tsunami’s fierce pull. The real family on whose experiences the film is based is Spanish. [7] A teaser trailer was released on 26 December 2011. From shooting in the wild to filming in chronological order, here are five amazing feats Alejandro Iñárritu accomplished when making The Revenant Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible has been receiving high levels of praise from around the world since its late 2012 release. With Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast. A. Bayona directed, drawing on his previous movie, the ghost story “The Orphanage,” especially in the harrowing tsunami scene, pulse-pounding shots that propel the narrative. For the wave scene, Watts and Holland spent time in a Spanish water tank, and special effects were later added digitally. At the hospital, Maria encourages Lucas to help others find their family members while she goes into surgery for her chest injuries. Well, this film has plain plot with no twist and suspense. Only it really did happen, with the film's star, Tom Cruise, putting himself in the harness dangling 1,700 feet off the ground. It is based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Info. The movie establishes them at the resort as they are having fun. Mr. Bayona and his team had to map out the logistics, including the ways that computer-generated imagery, or C.G.I., might be used to enhance it. McGregor, meanwhile, gives one of his best performances as the sad and desperate Henry, trying to play the hero, the provider, while knowing his cause is almost certainly lost." If anyone knows please comment because its driving me insane not knowing! For this footage the actors were shot in a surge of water created in an outdoor tank in Alicante, on the southeast coast of Spain. Below, Mr. Bayona and the visual effects supervisor, Félix Berges, discuss putting together a convincing sequence. Feelin’ Good About This $1 Double Crunch Shrimp Deal. The Impossible (Spanish: Lo imposible) is a 2012 English-language Spanish disaster drama film directed by J. Copy link. They help a toddler, Daniel, from the wreckage and are soon found by locals who dress and transfer them to a hospital in the city of Takua Pa. Daniel is separated from them during the journey. Director J A Bayona has said that he changed their nationality be… Maria Bennett's real-life counterpart, María Belón, has a story credit on this production. Tom was on the cliff parts of five days for the filming and never complained which is rare for a big star. [5] Filmed between the Ciudad de la Luz studio in Alicante (Spain) and Thailand. Back in 2012, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland were among a group of actors to star in the disaster film, The Impossible, now streaming on … For those and for one with a more detailed look at the injuries Maria suffers, Mr. Bayona and his crew used an indoor, “interior” tank. VIDEO: Director and Stars Reveal How They Made 'The Impossible' Possible -- Without CGI The film is based on a true story of the Alvarez Belons family, who … Back in 2012, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland were among a group of actors to star in the disaster film, The Impossible, now streaming on … [22], Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter gave a very positive review, praising the performances of the two leading stars, stating that "Watts packs a huge charge of emotion as the battered, ever-weakening Maria whose tears of pain and fear never appear fake or idealised. Watch later. It features an international cast including Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland. By ANGELA DAWSON Front Row Features HOLLYWOOD—Maria Belon is more than just a tsunami survivor. The climbing was choreographed by the film's stunt coordinator, Brian Smrz, who is arguably the best in the business. The following day, the family boards an ambulance airplane to Singapore so Maria may receive further medical treatment. Some films labeled as Oscar bait actually go on to win Oscars, but others simply get shunned for their supposed efforts to manipulate audiences.