Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson the two stars of Doug Liman's latest movie Jumper talk to Joyce Dundas.
Hayden Christensen, that's the sexy Anakin Skywalker, is starring with Rachel Bilson, Summer from hit TV show The OC, in a new Sci Fi film Jumper helmed by Doug Liman, the director of the first film in the Bourne franchise. Now this might seem like the ultimate name-dropper's film, but add to that the coolest bad guy, Samuel L. Jackson, and you have a must see movie.
Director Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. And Mrs Smith) brings his distinctive filmmaking style to Jumper a film based on the Sci-Fi novel by Steven Gould. Christensen plays David Rice, a young man who can teleport to anywhere in the world just by seeing a picture of the location or the place itself and the film is a location manager's dream. From New York to Tokyo, the Pyramids to the Coliseum, this film must have given a serious boost to the air miles of everyone involved.
Liman's breathtaking filmmaking (intelligent MTV generation on speed style) suits the subject matter here, fast cuts, hand-held camera work and what the stars say were unrehearsed scenes shot on the fly, serve the film well.
Rachel Bilson, who plays Millie, David's love interest, says she woke up on a plane to find Liman's camera already on her. Rachel explains, “We were sitting next to each other and the second he woke up from our eight-hour trip, he had the camera on me and that shot is now in the film. It's very short and it might not match continuity but that's Doug, he has his home camera and that footage has now made it into the picture.”
Hayden Christensen says Liman's ad hoc shooting style keeps things interesting. “Doug has a range of ways he approaches the work,” he explains, “from big scale production to literally showing up with a camera at my door and saying let's go and film in Ann Arbor. Let's go walk around New York for the day or Paris for the day.” He says in the end they were Paris for only five hours. He adds that sometimes the shoots were such a small scale operation that people who recognise him with an “Are you being paid to be here?” look on their faces. Hayden says he'd like to see their reactions when they see the final film.
The subject matter had both the stars intrigued and though Rachel says her dad (Rocketeer writer Danny Bilson) is a big fan of comic books, she wasn't such a big fan of Sci Fi. She hadn't even seen the Star Wars movies says Christensen, though she has now. “After working with Hayden I thought I should get more familiar with his work,” she says.
Rumours of a romance between the two in real life and their obvious close friendship can't hurt the film much. What is interesting though is the intelligence and interest the two leads have in the subject matter. When asked what superpower either of them would pick if they could, both opt for teleportation, though the huge amount of travelling involved while making and promoting the movie could have influenced that decision quite a lot.
Christensen says he was given a particular insight into teleportation by some scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I did do a lot of research into the science of teleportation,” he says. “At MIT Doug and I got to sit down with two experts in quantum teleportation, which actually exists. They have teleported a photon particle of light over a distance of a couple of kilometres. Which I think is really amazing. They spoke very intelligently and I wish I could do the same about the science of it.”
The science aside, Christensen has moments in the film where he shows how banal or exhilarating this power could be. From your couch to your fridge, or from Fiji beaches to the top of the Sphinx: it is intriguing to wonder when it would become a bit “So what?”
The cgi in the film has been compared with that of The Matrix trilogy for good reason, the FX experts are the same. However, this film is not so cold, it has a heart. Jamie Bell in particular is a stand out character as Griffin, a little bit cheeky and full of confidence. The young leads have more to give as a story, if a sequel is planned.
Christensen says about a sequel: “I'd love to do it actually it lends itself to it. I had a lot of fun with it and there is lots you can do with teleportation. The scientists explained all the possibilities and I think that got Doug excited. He said at the press conference yesterday in Rome that he already had the next four stories planned out in his head. So we'll see.”
As for a celebrity death match between Christensen's two characters, Darth Vader and David Rice, he is very insistent. “David would just jump away,” he says. “I don't know because Anakin would have the light sabre so he might win but I'm telling you it would never take place. David's not really one for conflict.”
The one conflict David Rice never has to encounter is the one where you just have to keep your sanity at airports or on boring plane journeys. Now everyone can relate to that and Jumper will appeal to both the MTV generation, who have no time to sit on planes, and those who have travelled but also just want to get there.
Hayden describes their own experience: “Jamie and I were travelling from Toronto to Rome on the same flight and it was just the two of us. After a couple of beers we decided it was time to make a little mockumentary about what it would be like for jumpers who couldn't jump and how if they had to travel on a plane. They would have to go through all the nuisances of regular transport.” He adds about his co-star; He's got an amazing sense of humour.” Rachel sums it up though: “You don't find many teleporters on a plane.”
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