Tom Cruise and SF is a regular love story. Thus, after “Minority Report” and “The War of the Worlds”, we find him in 2013 on “Oblivion”. A feature film loved by all? No, somewhere there is a screenwriter who wrote the first version of the screenplay who hated the film and who continues to proclaim it as strongly as possible.
oblivion : a feature film faithful to its director
Joseph Kosinki first made a name for himself in advertising before going through the cinema box and films like oblivion. Indeed, his skills in the field of computer graphics and computer-generated imagery have made him the perfect candidate to implement video game TV commercials. Do gamers remember the famous promotional clip of Gears of War on the famous song madworld ? It was Joseph Kosinki who was at that time in charge of producing this advertisement. He also distinguished himself on the promos ofHalo 3 and 4.
In 2010, he once again made his technical creativity speak by directing his first feature film: Tron Legacysequel to the cult 1982 film. The film was a minor critical and commercial success., allowing the director to see further. This is how 3 years later, he collaborated with Tom Cruise on oblivion. And this 9 years before a much juicier collaboration: Top Gun maverick.
The film takes place in 2077, in a context where humans have fled Earth after a war against aliens. The citizens then took refuge on one of Saturn’s moons. They somehow survive by pumping water from the blue planet’s oceans. oblivion follows Jack Harper. He is responsible on Earth for the repair of drones to ensure the security of the space station and hydraulic platforms.
During one of his patrols on what remains of the Earth, he rescues the survivor of a spaceship crash. However, this meeting will trigger a series of events and relationships, pushing Jack to become humanity’s last hope.
Note thatoblivion is the adaptation of the eponymous comic by Joseph Kosinki himself.
Screenwriter not happy
Film tribute to SF works of the 70s, oblivion is originally written by William Monahan, to whom are entitled the screenplays of Infiltrators (for which he received an Oscar) or even Kingdom of Heaven. Suffice to say that it is not anyone in the middle. However, the screenwriter had the displeasure of seeing his script pass from hand to hand when Disney let the project slip away. And the least we can say is that Monahan was angry about it when he was interviewed at Den of Geek :
The film differs greatly from the original screenplay. I had written something that I thought was very good, that could even possibly become a sci-fi classic, which I was still imagining at the time the studio agreed, and then it was rewritten by other people and turned into cannon fodder, despite the involvement of Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman and Olga Kurylenko, whom I nevertheless appreciate very much. Nothing remains of my work except a few elements of the story, and I never sought credit for it.
That is said!
