Late last year, Sky News reported that Russian state TV Channel One would be teaming with Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, for Challenge – the first feature film to be shot in outer space aboard the International Space Station. The announcement came off the heels of Tom Cruise announcing that he would be partnering with NASA and SpaceX to do so as well, thus launching yet another space race, one that isn’t necessarily a “historic” milestone humanity needs to accomplish, but one that would inevitably be on its list of accomplishments. So hey, if we can afford it, why not?
However, unlike 50 years ago, it seems as if the USA has fallen behind in this particular race. Only a few weeks ago, Russia announced the official casting of its lead actress and director based on not talent, but how much their body could endure a trip into space for an elongated period of time. A casting call put out by the space agency said the production was in search for “a real superhero to go to the stars…at the same time as becoming a big international star.” Applicants did not have to be professional actors, but had to be between the ages of 25 and 40, physically fit, and a Russian citizen with a clean criminal record. According to Sky News, “The actress must weigh between 50 and 70 kg and have a ‘chest girth’ of up to 112 cm…Additionally, she must be able to run one km in three-and-a-half minutes or less, swim 800 m freestyle in 20 minutes, and dive from a three-meter springboard with an impressive technique.” And as of this month, actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko have begun space flight training that includes “centrifuge and vibration tests, flights on a zero-gravity plane, and parachute training.” They’re set to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 5th.
Despite the official press release, there has been no word on the untitled American production (or at least no public update on it) to be directed by Doug Liman, which is still being written. But let’s take a step back and look at the grander implication of this new space race.
Think about how much it takes to produce a movie, even just here on Earth: lights, cameras, props, actors, make-up, costumes, crew… think of the communication required to accomplish such a goal. Now imagine having to get all of that past Earth’s gravitational pull and do all of that in zero gravity with bare minimum resources.
It’s interesting to see that, 50 years afterward, the tables have now turned in favor of the Russians accomplishing such an astronomical feat first. Back in the day when US money, capitalism, and work ethic were triumphant, the capitalist beast now seems to have swallowed itself whole in comparison to the money Russia is funding. Half a century later, the US capitalist system seems to have betrayed the country’s dreams of traveling further into space. This points out how these two countries’ ideals have flip-flopped. Having failed its first space race to the moon, the Russian government has surged ahead while Hollywood is struggling to come up with the money to put Tom Cruise in space.
But this space race also points out how Hollywood feels the need to constantly out do itself. Would putting physical actors in space be more convincing, believing, or entertaining than what Kubrick did with 2001: A Space Odyssey whose visual effects still hold up today? When we stop using our creativity, and instead use our telescopes and wallets, we lose something essential. That’s what movies are for: to convince us what is fake is actually real. Would the audience be able to do the Pepsi challenge with what looks like real outer space and what isn’t? Naturally, that would depend on budget (but if you have enough money to send a crew to space, I’m sure you have plenty for bomb VFX, too.) Could you imagine if you brought your crew and gear to the international space station only for space to not look good? Or even register as space? And then you’d still have to touch the footage up in VFX anyways? Nonetheless, would an audience even care?
That being said, budget is only a state-of-mind. It brings to mind when NASA spent millions of dollars on making a pen that functioned in zero gravity, when the Russians merely used a normal wooden pencil. And now, it seems the mentalities have switched. But that’s okay, if Russia wants to be the first nation to shoot a film in space and claim the title, let them. Hollywood seems to be doing just fine here on Earth, and that’s something to attest for.