Gravity producer David Heyman remembers July 20th, 1969 like it was yesterday.
“I remember always being in awe of those people who went to space,” he says. “I’d always had a sort of childhood fantasy about, ‘What else is out there? Is there another one of me out there?’ I find it incredibly humbling what the astronauts do.”
But the film is about more than just impressive space visuals. “It’s about overcoming adversity and through adversity getting to a place of rebirth,” said Heyman. “Where you can start fresh and begin again. A new beginning.”
“The film is great big entertainment,” he added. “It’s very immersive and you feel like you’re there in space in a way that I don’t think has been seen before. That’s one thing that’s exciting and extraordinary about it.”
Making ‘Gravity’ as realistic as possible
Heyman and Cuarón knew they had pulled off their mission to create a special story when they asked real NASA astronauts what they thought of the film after screening it for them. “Speaking to these astronauts, they said ‘Thank you.’ While they haven’t been on that nightmare experience [seen in the movie], they saw the film and saw so much of – ‘It felt like I was back up there. I miss it. It took me back, and I’m really excited to share it with my family too. I can take them up to space too.'”
Pulling off an accurate depiction of the outside world took some collaborating with NASA. They visited their headquarters in Florida and consulted with an astronaut before filming. Bullock, who appears in “nearly every frame” of the ninety-minute film, spoke to another astronaut who was up in the International Space Station at the time of their conversation. “That was really useful for her,” Heyman told us.
Unsurprisingly the production team was met with some challenges, namely creating a sense of zero gravity. “It became daunting when we started figuring out how to do it. Then it became really daunting. We were trying to create zero-G in scenes that we weren’t cutting. Three shots take up thirty minutes each. When you’re doing that, there’s nowhere to hide.”
‘Gravity’ illustrates the real threat of space debris
The villain in Gravity is not human or alien: It’s space debris. One of the key issues that astronauts face in space is the pollution in the form of old satellites and rocket stages hovering around earth’s orbit. “It’s not science fiction – the film is fiction – but the issue of debris is a very real one,” Heyman says. “It’s a big issue. Every bit of junk that has been left there is orbiting earth at 70,000 miles a hour. The space shuttle is often hit by little things, but if something bigger goes, it’s a disaster. The space shuttle had to move several months ago because of debris.”
Not only is it a danger to astronauts, but there’s also the fact that it’s junking up outer space. “We’re polluting space. It’s not going anywhere. It’s just going around and around and around. And it could get to the point where we can’t go to space anymore.”
For Heyman, producing Gravity was a way to pay tribute to the astronauts he’s always been so fascinated by since July 1969. “They’re real heroes. I always loved the vast expanse that was out there and always wished I had the opportunity to go.”
Gravity gives Heyman and the audience the opportunity.