Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (8)
The plot does not revolve around the sun dying in the normal sense: this is not due for around five billion years based on our understanding of nuclear fusion. It has instead been "infected" with a "Q-ball" - a supersymmetric nucleus, left over from the big bang - that is disrupting the normal matter. This is a theoretical particle that scientists at CERN are currently trying to confirm, and was one of the many contributions of the science advisor. The film's bomb is meant to blast the Q-ball to its constituent parts which will then naturally decay, allowing the sun to return to normal.
Share this
Dr Brian Cox, CERN / Manchester University, acted as the film's science advisor. His wife was involved in production of the movie's blog.
Share this
In the original screenplay, the Icarus payload was the same size, but was made of highly compressed dark matter (there is no mention of needing fissile material) and had the same mass as the moon, so it had its own gravity (one-sixth the Earth's normal). The science advisor pointed out problems with using a bomb that massive, so it was reduced to the mass of Manhattan. A take with the original line can be seen on the DVD, in a deleted scene.
Share this
Alex Garland wrote the film as a "love letter" to psychologically-minded science-fiction, and also a film about atheism and "meeting God". He and director Danny Boyle differed in their interpretation of this aspect of this film, but found this did not affect the content of the movie. Garland remarks that they had reached "the same two interpretations that could be made from the world around us".
Share this
The distinctive golden color of the space suits was intended to make them memorable to sci-fi fans. The character "Kenny" from South Park was used as a design reference for the funnel-shaped helmet. A small number of suits and helmets were built as wearable costumes, so the actors could experience the claustrophobia and react appropriately.
Share this
The name of the spaceships - Icarus - is symbolic. Icarus is a character in Greek Mythology. His father, Daedalus, made a pair of wings for himself and his son so that they could escape from a prison. He made them from feathers and wax. Before they took off, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, as the wax will melt, nor too close to the sea, as the feathers will dampen. But overcome by the feeling that flying gave him, Icarus soared through the sky, too close to the sun. His wings melted and Icarus fell into the sea.
Share this
Director Michael Winterbottom had originally hoped to use the film's sets on the production's off days to shoot his own science fiction comedy. Permission was never worked out and Winterbottom's film was canceled.
Share this
Cliff Curtis had to leave filming early for personal reasons, so several shots of him (such as entering the bomb compartment) had to be provided by a double wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap. These were deleted when that part of the "test-firing" scene was given to Rose Byrne's character. You can view his double's work on the deleted scenes included on the DVD.
Share this
The name of physicist Robert Capa has been taken from photographer Robert Capa, made famous because of his legendary "Falling Soldier" photo, that depicted a falling soldier in the very moment of being killed by a bullet.
Share this
The emergency over-ride code 000 is the number for emergency services (Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance) in Australia.
Share this
On the DVD commentary, the Science Adviser Brian Cox bets the viewer £10 that they (CERN) will not discover the Q-ball particle that disables the Sun in this film's plot. He invites an email to claim the bet. That claim is due in 2017. (In the same commentary, Dr Cox also says that scientists do not gamble!)
Share this
As of 2009, this is the only movie where Fox Searchlight Pictures has their lead-in advertisement at the start of the film played backwards.
Share this
Although not mentioned by any of the characters, the mission patches reveal that Cassie's name is actually "Cassidy". Cassie is a nickname based on her surname.
Share this
In the last few scenes of the film (at around 1h 30 mins) just as the sun shield floats away, you can see an image gleaming in design of the shield. The image is in fact Icarus, the boy from Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun.
Share this
In preparation for his role, Cillian Murphy actually visited professor Brian Cox at CERN for a few days where he watched him doing ordinary work.
Share this
The actors all had to live together in order to create a palpable feeling onscreen that they all knew each other.
Share this
Danny Boyle admitted to being openly influenced by the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Alien.
Share this
Cillian Murphy worked with leading physicist Brian Cox to learn all about advanced physics. This included touring the CERN facility in Switzerland and learned to copy physicists' mannerisms. Murphy ended up copying some of Cox's personal idiosyncrasies, such as his frequent hand movements. The actor also studied Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic The Wages of Fear to have an understanding of the type of suspense that Danny Boyle was attempting to create. Murphy has claimed that his involvement in Sunshine converted him from agnosticism to atheism.
Share this
Michelle Yeoh was cast after Danny Boyle had seen her in Tomorrow Never Dies and Memoirs of a Geisha.
Share this
The role of Searle was originally written as a slightly stuffy British character. Cliff Curtis was really interested in playing the character and was given an audition on the strength of his performances in Training Day and Whale Rider.
Share this
Danny Boyle had never seen any of Troy Garity's work onscreen but was suitably impressed by the actor's audition to cast him.
Share this
Kaneda, the captain, was originally written as an American, but scientist and space experts persuaded Danny Boyle to change the nationality, to make it more in keeping with the international nature of space missions. Hiroyuki Sanada was recommended to Boyle by Kar Wai Wong.
Share this
Hiroyuki Sanada's character was originally called Kanada but he asked Danny Boyle to change the name to Kaneda, a more natural Japanese name.
Share this
Pinbacker was inspired by the character of Sergeant Pinback in Dark Star. The character's disfiguring burns were influenced by the injuries suffered by F1 driver Niki Lauda in a fiery crash.
Share this
Danny Boyle described the character of Pinbacker as being a representation of fundamentalism.
Share this
When producer Andrew Macdonald first pitched the script to 20th Century Fox, they were reluctant to go near a sci-fi script after the commercial tanking of Solaris. The project ended up at Fox's specialized arm, Searchlight.
Share this
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland worked on the script for over a year. They then spent a second year in pre-production, filmed for three months and then spent another year editing and working on the visual effects.
Share this
Danny Boyle found working on a sci-fi project so exhausting, he vowed never to make another one again.
Share this
The cast members all underwent space training and learned how to scuba dive. Among the films that Danny Boyle insisted they all watch were The Right Stuff and For All Mankind. Boyle also took his cast on a tour of a nuclear submarine to help them better understand cramped living conditions. He also had them experience weightlessness in the zero G environment of an acrobatic plane.
Share this
The book "Moondust" by Andrew Smith, a collection of accounts of the men who had walked on the moon, was required reading for all cast members.
Share this
Filming took place in the 3 Mills Studios in East London. The film employed 8 stages, 17 sets and numerous detailed models. Three film units worked on the film at any one time over the course of the 15 week filming schedule.
Share this
The corpses of burn victims in the film were modeled on the Pompeii victims from the Mount Vesuvius eruption.
Share this
The film is comprised of 750 visual effects. Normally, effects are farmed out to several different effects houses. However, Danny Boyle chose just the one to make it easier to keep an eye on progress. This explains why the film was in post-production for a year.
Share this
Despite high praise for the score, the soundtrack was delayed for over a year, mainly due to disputes between lawyers for Underworld and Fox Searchlight.
Share this
Scientists estimate that the sun will indeed run out of fuel, but it only do so in about 4 billion years. As it fuel gets used up, it will only get hotter, as opposed to colder, as this film suggests.
Share this
Alex Garland's script heavily featured notions of God and atheism that Danny Boyle chose to downplay to help the film find an audience.
Share this
One of the biggest challenges facing the visual effects team was to create the sun itself. This was done with CGI and turned out to be the longest CGI sequencing ever done by a London production house.
Share this
The interior of the ship was built entirely on London sound stages. Production designer Mark Tildesley deliberately chose to make the ship messy with lots of exposed wiring to resemble the exposed nerves of the crew.
Share this
Actual sounds received from space that were captured by a Midwestern university were incorporated into the sound design.
Share this
When Rose Byrne first saw the script, she assumed it was a romantic comedy based on its title.
Share this
Cliff Curtis had to briefly quit the film halfway through production to return to New Zealand as his father was taken ill and unfortunately died.
Share this
The wife of the film's science advisor wrote out character back stories/biographies which were given to the actors, the set dressing department, and costume department.
Share this
Even though it appears that the characters Capa and Cassie have more of a relationship in the film, the character biographies given to the actors prior to filming stated that Chris Evans' character, Mace dreams of Cassie (played by Rose Byrne ) every night.
Share this
Danny Boyle was so impressed with Michelle Yeoh's audition, that he told her that she could choose any part in the script and he would give it to her - he was even prepared to change the gender if she had chosen a male character. She ultimately decided on Corazon, the biologist.
Share this
Danny Boyle originally planned for there to be a sex scene between Capa (Cillian Murphy) and Cassie (Rose Byrne) in the ship's oxygen garden. He eventually scrapped it because he felt that the idea of sex and romance in space would be too ridiculous.
Share this
Spoilers
In some earlier versions of the screenplay, the Icarus ships used rotating sections to provide artificial gravity. This is not used in the finished movie, so people experience normal Earth gravity everywhere while aboard the ships (apart from a short moment in the Icarus II airlock before it is re-compressed). An early storyboard shows the crew boarding the stricken Icarus I and finding that the only gravity is "sideways", towards the bomb.
Share this
Many of the computer graphic effects were built around an on-set, physical effect, so that the actors had something to respond to. Many of the actors took on these scenes themselves. Cliff Curtis deserves a special mention, as he blocked his nostrils and ears with cotton wool so he could be blasted from all directions with dust.
Share this
When the crew enters Icarus 1, flash frames appear on screen when the flashlights point into the camera. These frames are pictures of the crew of Icarus 1 taken from the group photo seen later. Another few flash frames are seen later when Capa learns that there is a 5th crew member on board.
Share this
The final scene is filmed on Gärdet, Stockholm, Sweden. The Sydney Opera House has been added to give the impression that it had snowed in Sydney, where such weather is very rare. Right across the street from the monoliths lies the Swedish Film Institute and the film-school Dramatiska Institutet.
Share this
For the scene in which Chris Evans's character Mace is fixing the Icarus 2 in the coolant, to make his breath appear that it was cold, Evans was actually entering extremely cold water with each take. His teeth chattering is a real reaction.
Share this
In the original script Mace would have slowly frozen to death, having become too weak to pull himself out of the coolant tank. Danny Boyle was impressed by the character and didn't think that alone could stop him, so the trapped leg was devised to seal his fate.
Share this
Corazon's body, which crashes past Capa during the airlock breach, was actually a dummy. The crew found the replica of Michelle Yeoh incredibly creepy due to its realism.
Share this
The DVD commentaries from director Danny Boyle and consultant Brian Cox conflict on whether Trey actually committed suicide, as first appears, or whether Pinbacker killed Trey and made it look like a suicide, which is what happened according to Boyle. Cox states that Benedict Wong felt his character had in fact committed suicide. When Mace opens the drawer there are two scalpels missing, which could support either scenario. However, it seems very unlikely that the insane Pinbacker would have sufficient motive or patience to fake Trey's suicide, especially when he later is seen trying to murder the rest of the crew as fast as he can.
Share this
