Serenity (film)

Universal Studios acquired the movie rights to Firefly from FOX and Whedon began working on the script. Universal planned to start shooting in October of 2003; however, delays in finishing the script pushed the start of shooting to June of 2004. Universal, while on board with the movie, was not willing to spend the typical budget for a story set in space ($100 million), and Whedon convinced them he could do it for less, and without filming in Canada. And in 50 days, instead of the usual 80. On March 3, 2004, according to an article in Variety, the movie was officially greenlighted to enter production and in a later article it was revealed to have a $40 million budget. Typically, production of a movie would try and save money by not filming in Los Angeles, but Whedon insisted on staying local and hiring local, union crew, and in the process proved that it can be done. It also made him a local industry hero.

Principal photography started on June 3, 2004. Joss Whedon said that the film would be released as Serenity, in order to differentiate it from the TV series. All nine principal cast members from the television series (Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau) returned for the movie.

Whedon's task was to try and take a TV show that hardly anyone had seen and explain the premise, without boring the viewer, or the fans of the franchise. He achieved the exposition by constantly shifting the opening sequence: at first it is a traditional narrative, but then turns out to be a school room, which then turns out to be in River's mind, etc. The viewer is constantly fed information but at the same time it is unsettling. Whedon stated in the commentary that this works thematically as well, since it depicts River's fractured state of mind. When they reach the ship, Whedon uses a long tracking shot to establish "safety".Whedon, Serenity: Director's Commentary, track 1 "Living Weapon"

Adam Baldwin on top of the mule, which is shown here attached to the rig created to help achieve the effect of a hover craft

Since their budget was not very large, Whedon had to be as practical as possible: if a CGI composite was called for, they tried to make as much of it as they could with real sets and props.Whedon, Serenity DVD, "What's in a Firefly" The most technically challenging scene was the mule skiff chase. Since their budget was so small, this ruled out using a grimble (an hydraulic turntable) or CGI, like the pod race in and challenged the production team to find an alternative. Using CGI would have used a good portion of their budget alone. Instead they built a trailer with a cantilevered arm attached to the "hover craft" and shot the scene while riding up Templin Highway north of Santa Clarita. This allowed Whedon to focus on directing the actors during the scene, which made it go quicker. As "Serenity" visual effects supervisor Loni Peristere stated in a Los Angeles Times article: "Traditionally this would have been, like, a 30-day shoot. I think we did it in five."

One item that they could not reuse from the TV show that would have helped save them money, was the original set of the interior of the ship Serenity. It had to be rebuilt from scratch for the film, using frozen images from the Firefly DVD set. ZOIC, the CG-rendering company that produced the graphics for the series, also had to perform a complete overhaul of their computer model of Serenity, as its television model would not stand up to high-definition cinema screens (and future HD DVD resolution).

The set for the failed colony, Miranda, was filmed on location at Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, California. (The building into which the Alliance ship is crashed is the DRHS Band and Orchestra's rehearsal room.)

Renowned comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, contributed concept drawings for the Reavers. Other comic book artists who contributed to the production design include Joshua Middleton and Leinil Francis Yu (Visual Companion).

On September 17, 2004 Joss Whedon announced on the movie's official site that shooting had been completed.

Synopsis

Shortly thereafter, Mal receives a call from Inara, a former passenger. Suspecting a trap, but mindful that she must be in danger, Malcolm visits her and is confronted by the nameless Alliance Operative. The Operative offers to let Mal go on with his lifestyle if he turns River over to him, but thanks to Inara's quick thinking, she and Mal escape the Operative and return to Serenity, which takes off undetected. Another of River's outbursts shows the crew that "Miranda" is an outer rim planet, thought to be uninhabitable. River had subconsciously learned something mysterious about the planet when she came in telepathic contact with a member of the Alliance Parliament during her training. Traveling to Miranda to learn more would require a suicidal crossing into Reaver territory. Instead Serenity leaves for Haven, a mining colony. On arrival, the crew discovers that the outpost has been ravaged by Alliance forces. Mal receives a message from the Operative claiming responsibility, and promising more of the same until River is turned over.

Mal ordering the crew to remodel Serenity to look like a Reaver ship.

Mal orders that Serenity be remodeled to look like a Reaver ship. Despite protests, the ship is transformed and leaves for Miranda. Sneaking through a fleet of Reaver vessels, the ship finally reaches the other side without incident. Upon reaching Miranda, the crew discovers a normal, terraformed planet with a completely habitable environment — but the sprawling cities are empty. Among them are badly decomposed corpses, without apparent cause of death. The crew discover a log recorded by an Alliance search and rescue team after the disaster. According to the log, the Alliance administered a chemical substance designed to suppress aggression and thus render the planet free of violence. An unfortunate side effect was that the populace had stopped working, eating, or indeed caring about anything and letting themselves die. However, approximately a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the drug, becoming extremely aggressive and mentally unstable. They eventually left the planet and became the Reavers. Everyone is sickened by this revelation, but none more so than Mal. He plans to reveal this secret to all the worlds by using the transmitter equipment belonging to Mr. Universe. Unfortunately, the Operative has predicted this and awaits just outside of Reaver space along with an Alliance fleet. When just about to leave Reaver territory, Serenity opens fire upon a Reaver ship. The ensuing chase by all the nearby Reaver warships causes the previously lone Serenity to emerge from Reaver space flanked by a large force of deadly Reaver ships. A massive battle ensues between the Alliance fleet and the Reaver fleet, as their pilot Wash steers Serenity towards the planet with both the Alliance and the Reavers trying to destroy them as well as each other. During the attack, the Operative's ship is destroyed, but he flees the battle in an escape pod.

Wash flying Serenity to safety.

Serenity crash lands on the planet below and while it suffers massive damage, it appears that the crew is out of danger. As everyone begins to relax, a Reaver harpoon suddenly impales Wash, who dies instantly. Fleeing Serenity to continue their assumed mission, the crew decides to set up a last stand in a small corridor to hold off the Reavers and give Mal the time he needs to make his way to Mr. Universe and transmit the message. Discovering that Mr. Universe has been killed, Mal learns from a pre-recorded message on his robotic wife that tells of a secondary transmitter in another area of the complex. Meanwhile, the crew is losing ground to the Reavers and is forced to retreat, with several sustaining injuries. The crew try to close the blast door, but it does not close completely. This buys them some time. But when Simon is hit by a stray bullet, River dives through the gap in the blast door, throws the medical kit back through and closes the door. Mal reaches the second transmitter and finds that it is inconveniently located on a platform surrounded by a large drop. When the Operative enters, Mal shoots the stun gun out of the Operative's hand and attempts to reach the transmitter, but the Operative follows him. A fight begins between the two men. While Mal eventually outwits the Operative, he does not kill him. Instead he disables him and leaves him trussed up to watch the recording from Miranda. Returning to the crew, he is informed that River was trapped on the other side of the blast door with the Reavers. The door opens a moment later to reveal River, standing with her head bowed amidst a roomful of dead Reavers. After a moment, Alliance troops blow in the wall behind her and enter, but instead of giving permission to shoot her, the Operative orders the squad to stand down. After the crew buries the bodies of their friends Mr. Universe, Shepherd Book, and Wash on Haven, the crew patches up Serenity in a repair yard on the planet Persephone. Just as they are ready to leave, the Operative makes his own exit, promising Mal they will never encounter each other again. Serenity heads back into outer space, with Mal in Wash's seat at the helm, and River acting as his copilot. The final shot shows the ship flying off triumphantly, until an unidentified piece of metal flies from the back of the ship and hits the camera.

Promotion and release

Sneak previews

Australian audiences were the first outside North America to get preview screenings. After an exclusive Sydney test screening, Melbourne held a public screening on July 21, 2005. This was followed by a film festival screening on the Gold Coast on July 22. Public preview screenings were held in Adelaide and Sydney on August 1, and Perth on August 4. Further screenings were held in Victoria, Tasmania, and Queensland in late August. A showing of the finished film billed as the "Gala Premiere" was held at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 22,[Serenity] at the Edinburgh International Film Festival followed by an interview with Whedon the next day,[Reel Life: Joss Whedon Live Onstage Interview] at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and preview screenings across the United Kingdom and Ireland on August 24, in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Dublin. Several of the screenings in all the countries featured the attendance of Joss Whedon and the film's cast, followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Whedon also attended two Q&A sessions after sold-out screenings of the finished film in Melbourne and Sydney on September 12 and 13.

Online promotion

River (left), upset with the interviewer in Session 165 of the R. Tam sessions released on the internet.

Universal also utilized a viral marketing campaign, producing five short videos that were released on the internet between August 16 and September 5. These short films, known as the "R. Tam sessions," depicted excerpts of counselling sessions with the character River Tam while she was being held at a "learning facility" known only as "The Academy". The counsellor in these sessions is played by Joss Whedon himself. Taking place before the events of the film or the television series, the videos shed some light on the experiments and torture "The Academy" conducted on River. They "document" her change from a shy child prodigy to the mentally unstable character of the television series. [R_Tam_Sessions_Full.mov] (The site's FAQ states that it was not involved with the making of these videos in any way.)

On October 5th, 2005, Universal also made the first nine minutes of Serenity available online.http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html A browser plugin allowed the viewer to see the opening of the film in full-screen broadcast quality (bandwidth permitting). The clip was removed a few weeks later.

Fan-organized charity screenings

Beginning in January 2006, fans began organizing charity screenings of Serenity to benefit Equality Now, an organization supported by Joss Whedon. By mid-June, 41 such screenings had been confirmed for cities in Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, and the United States, and as of June 19, there were 47 scheduled screenings. The project is referred to as "Serenity Now/Equality Now", and was coordinated through [Can't Stop The Serenity](sic), where a full list of screenings is also available. As of July 15 the Can't Stop The Serenity website, after getting reports in from 41 of the 47 scheduled screenings, stated that the project had raised an estimated $64,871.27 for Equality Now. There has already been some discussion amongst those organizing the 2006 screenings of repeating the event in 2007, though Can't Stop The Serenity states: "There will be discussions about next year, and this website will be working to enable and foster those discussions. But let's finish enjoying this year, first!" and notes that "There will be a letter going out to [their] Universal distribution contact in early July, posing the set of questions [they] would need answered before any substantive discussions can occur amongst organizers regarding a new round of charity screenings in 2007" [link].

Reception

Serenity received mostly positive reviews from film critics, with a "fresh" rating of 81%[Serenity (2005)] at Rotten Tomatoes from the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of film critics. Ebert & Roeper gave the film "Two Thumbs Up," and The San Francisco Chronicle called it a triumph, while The New York Times described it as a modest but superior science fiction film. It is listed at #45 of top Science Fiction movies on IMDB.

Science fiction author Orson Scott Card called Serenity "the best science fiction film ever."

However, some reviewers felt the film was unable to overcome its television origins, and did not successfully accomplish the transition to the big screen. USA Today wrote that "the characters are generally uninteresting and one-dimensional, and the futuristic Western-style plot grows tedious" while Variety declared that the film "bounces around to sometimes memorable effect but rarely soars".

Despite critical acclaim and Internet buzz, Serenity performed modestly at best at the box office. Although several pundits predicted a #1 opening, the film opened at #2 in the United States, taking in $10.1 million its first weekend, spending two weeks in the top ten, and totalling a box office gross of $25.5 million. Movie industry analyst Brandon Gray described Serenity's box office performance as "like a below average genre picture".

Serenity's international box office results were mixed, with strong openings in the UK, Portugal and Russia, but poor results in Spain, Australia, France and Italy. Universal International Pictures cancelled the film's theatrical release in at least seven countries, planning to release it directly to DVD instead. The box office income outside the United States was $13.3 million, with a worldwide total of $38.8 million, slightly less than the film's $39 million budget, which doesn't include the promotion and advertising costs, the budget for which was approximately $10 million. The film's creators and supporters are hoping that strong DVD sales, similar to those of the Firefly television series, may lead to a sequel production.

Cast

The crew of Serenity at the start of the film, from left to right: Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau.

• Nathan Fillion as Mal. A former sergeant on the losing side of the Unification War, he struggles to survive free and independent of the Alliance. Captain Malcolm Reynolds was named #18 in TV Guide's "25 Greatest Sci-fi legends" list in 2004. Whedon approached Fillion to play the lead and after explaining the premise and showing Fillion the treatment for the pilot, Fillion was eager for the role.

• Gina Torres as Zoe. Another veteran who fought alongside Mal in the war, she is fiercely loyal to Mal, whom she calls "the captain."

• Alan Tudyk as Wash. The pilot of the ship, and Zoe's husband. He often acts as a voice of reason on the ship.

• Morena Baccarin as Inara. She is a companion and formerly rented one of Serenity's shuttles. In one of the Operative's traps, Mal is reunited with Inara at her training house, and the two escape back to Serenity.

• Ron Glass as Shepherd Book. A shepherd, or preacher, Book was once a passenger on Serenity, but now resides on the planet Haven. Mal and the crew look to him for guidance.

• David Krumholtz as Mr. Universe. A "techno-geek" with good relations with the crew of Serenity, especially Wash, Mr. Universe lives with his "love-bot" wife and monitors incoming signals from around the 'verse.

Themes

Freedom

Sin and belief