| Contact | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | |
| Based on | Contact 1985 novel by Carl Sagan |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Edited by | Arthur Schmidt |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90 million[2] |
| Box office | $171.1 million[3] |
Contact is a 1997 Americanscience fiction drama film co-produced and directed byRobert Zemeckis, based on the1985 novel byCarl Sagan. It starsJodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, aSETI scientist who finds evidence ofextraterrestrial life and is chosen to makefirst contact.Matthew McConaughey,James Woods,Tom Skerritt,William Fichtner,John Hurt,Angela Bassett,Rob Lowe,Jake Busey, andDavid Morse co-star. It features theVery Large Array inNew Mexico, theArecibo Observatory inPuerto Rico, theMir space station, and theSpace Coast surroundingCape Canaveral.
Sagan and his wife,Ann Druyan, began working onContact in 1979. They wrote afilm treatment and set up the project atWarner Bros. withPeter Guber andLynda Obst as producers. Whendevelopment stalled, Sagan publishedContact as a novel in 1985, and the film reentered development in 1989.Roland Joffé andGeorge Miller planned to direct, but Joffé dropped out in 1993, and Warner Bros. fired Miller in 1995. With Zemeckis as director, filming ran from September 1996 to February 1997, whileSony Pictures Imageworks,Weta, Ltd. andIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM) handled the visual and special effects. Sagan died before the film was completed.
Contact was released on July 11, 1997, and received positive reviews, winning theHugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and twoSaturn Awards. It grossed over $171 million worldwide.
Dr. Ellie Arroway works for theSETI program at theArecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. She was inspired to pursue a career in science, starting withamateur radio, by her father, who died in her youth. Her work involves listening to radio emissions from space in the hopes of finding signs ofintelligent extraterrestrial life. The program loses funding after David Drumlin, thePresident's science advisor, deems it futile. However, Arroway receives financial support from S. R. Hadden, the secretive billionaire industrialist who runs Hadden Industries, which enables her to keep working at theVery Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico.
Four years later, when Drumlin is about to terminate the SETI program at the VLA, Arroway discovers a signal containing a sequence ofprime numbers originating from the starVega. Drumlin and theNational Security Council, headed by Michael Kitz, attempt to seize control of the facility. Arroway's team discovers a video hidden within the signal:Adolf Hitler's opening address at the1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The Hitler transmission was the first to penetrate the Earth'sionosphere and reach Vega.
The project is put under security and its progress is monitored around the world. Arroway discovers the signal contains over 63,000 pages of encoded data, and Hadden provides her with the means to decode it. The decoded data reveals schematics for a machine that may be a form of transportation for a single person. Multiple nations provide funding for the construction of the machine, at theKennedy Space Center inCape Canaveral.
An international panel will select a candidate to travel in the machine. Arroway is a leading candidate until the Christian philosopher Palmer Joss, a member of the panel with whom she briefly had a romantic relationship in Puerto Rico, draws attention to her atheism. The panel selects Drumlin. During the first tests, a religious terrorist destroys the machine with a suicide bomb, killing himself, Drumlin, and several others. Hadden, now residing on theMir space station and dying of cancer, reveals to Arroway the U.S. government and his company have used a secret contract to build a second machine in Hokkaido, Japan. Arroway, the only American remaining among the candidate pool, will use it.
Equipped with multiple recording devices, Arroway enters a pod which is dropped into the machine, and seemingly travels throughwormholes. She observes a radio array-like structure at Vega, signs of civilization on an alien planet, and a celestial event that makes her ecstatic. Arroway finds herself on a beach similar to a childhood drawing she made ofPensacola, Florida. An alien approaches, taking on the appearance of her deceased father. He explains that the aliens detected humanity's radio emissions and judged them worthy of being shown a first step into the cosmos.
Arroway regains consciousness in the pod. The mission control team tell her that the pod fell through the machine into a safety net and that the experiment achieved nothing. Arroway insists she was gone for about 18 hours, but her recording devices show only static. ACongressional Committee headed by Kitz speculates the signal and machine were a hoax designed by Hadden, who has since died. Arroway requests the committee accept the truth of her testimony on faith, saying that, while her testimony cannot be proven scientifically, it has affected her humanity.
Arroway reunites with Joss, who says he believes her. Kitz and the White House official Rachel Constantine discuss the confidential information, and observe that Arroway's device recorded 18 hours of static. Arroway receives ongoing financial support for the SETI program at the VLA.
The scientistCarl Sagan conceivedContact in 1979. That year,Lynda Obst, one of his closest friends, was hired by the film producerPeter Guber as astudio executive for hisproduction company, Casablanca FilmWorks. Shepitched Guber the idea forContact, and he commissioned a development deal.[2] Sagan andAnn Druyan (who later married) finished the film treatment in November 1980.[5][6] Druyan said they hoped "to write something that would be a fictional representation of what contact would actually be like, that would convey something of the true grandeur of the universe".[citation needed] They added the science and religion analogies as a metaphor of philosophical and intellectual interest in searching for the truth of both humanity and alien contact.[7]
Sagan incorporatedKip Thorne's study ofwormhole space travel.[8] Druyan denied that Arroway was inspired byJill Tarter, the head ofProject Phoenix of theSETI Institute, though Foster met her to research the role.[9][10] The name Ellie was short for Eleanor, which was taken fromEleanor Roosevelt, whom both Sagan and Druyan adored; Arroway was selected based on bothVoltaire's real name (Arouet), and that Ellie "was going to travel like an arrow through the cosmos", according to Druyan.[10] Tarter was a story consultant, and advised on how to portray career struggles of women scientists from the 1950s to 1970s. The writers debated whether Arroway should have a baby at the film's end.[11]
Although Guber was impressed with Sagan and Druyan's treatment, he hired various screenwriters to rewrite the script. New characters were added, including a Native Americanpark ranger turned astronaut.[2] Guber suggested that Arroway have an estranged teenage son, whom he believed would add depth to the storyline. Guber said: "Here was a woman consumed with the idea that there was something out there worth listening to, but the one thing she could never make contact with was her own child. To me, that's what the film had to be about."[2] Sagan and Druyan disagreed and did not incorporate the idea.[citation needed]
In 1982, Guber tookContact toWarner Bros. Pictures. As the film'sdevelopment stalled, Sagan rewroteContact as anovel, which was published bySimon and Schuster in September 1985. The film adaptation remained in development, and Guber leftWarner Bros. in 1989.[2] Guber became the new president ofSony Pictures Entertainment and tried to purchase thefilm rights from Warner Bros., but the studio refused. In 1989, Obst was hired as a new executive at Warner Bros. and fast-tracked the film by hiring more writers.[2]Roland Joffé was hired to direct,[12] using a screenplay byJames V. Hart.[13] Joffé almost commencedpre-production, but dropped out.[12] Obst hiredMichael Goldenberg to rewrite the script, who finished his second draft in late 1993.[2] Goldenberg's draft rekindled Warner Bros.' interest inContact,[12] and askedRobert Zemeckis to direct; he refused[2] in favor of making a film based on the life ofHarry Houdini.[14] Zemeckis liked the script, but did not like the ending, which had "the sky open up and these angelic aliens putting on a light show".[2]
In December 1993, Warner Bros. hiredGeorge Miller to direct,[12] andContact entered pre-production. Actresses includingJulia Roberts expressed interest in the role of Ellie. Miller consideredUma Thurman before he castJodie Foster. He approachedRalph Fiennes to play Palmer Joss, and considered castingLinda Hunt as the US president.[citation needed]
In addition to having aliens put on alaser lighting display around Earth, another version of the Goldenberg scripts had an alien wormhole swallow up the planet, transporting Earth to the center of the galaxy. Miller also asked Goldenberg to rewriteContact to portray thepope as a key supporting character. Warner Bros. was hoping to have the film ready for release by Christmas 1996, but pre-production lasted longer than expected.[2][10] Warner Bros. fired Miller, blaming pushed-back start dates, budget concerns, and Miller's insistence that the script needed five more weeks of rewriting.[2]
Zemeckis decided to accept the offer to direct. Warner Bros. granted him totalartistic control andfinal cut privilege.[2] Zemeckis cast Matthew McConaughey as Palmer Joss; McConaughey dropped out of the lead role inThe Jackal to take the role.[15] Despite being diagnosed withmyelodysplasia in 1994, Sagan remained involved in the production of the film. For the cast and main crew members, he conducted anacademic conference that depicted a detailed history ofastronomy.[2] The production crew watchedStanley Kubrick's2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for inspiration.[11]
Principal photography began on September 24, 1996, and ended on February 28, 1997. The first shooting took place at theVery Large Array (VLA) nearSocorro, New Mexico. "Shooting at the VLA was, of course, spectacular but also one of the most difficult aspects of our filming", producerSteve Starkey said. "It is a working facility, so in order for us to accomplish shots for the movie, we had to negotiate with theNational Science Foundation for 'dish control' in order to move the dishes in the direction we needed to effect the most dramatic shot for the story."[8] After arduous first weeks oflocation shooting in New Mexico andArizona, production forContact returned to Los Angeles for five months' worth of location andsound stage shooting that used a total of nine soundstages atWarner Hollywood Studios inWest Hollywood, andCulver Studios. Theart department created more than 25sets.[8]
In an attempt to create a sense of realism for the storyline, principalCNN news outlet commentators were scripted intoContact. More than 25 news reporters from CNN had roles in the film, and the CNN programsLarry King Live andCrossfire were also included.Ann Druyan makes acameo appearance as herself, debating with Rob Lowe's character, Richard Rank, onCrossfire. In January 1997,second unit filming, directed by producerSteve Starkey took place for one week at theArecibo Observatory inPuerto Rico.
Other second-unit work took place in Fiji,Saint John, US Virgin Islands andNewfoundland,Canada. Also essential to the production were a host of technical consultants from theSETI Institute, theCalifornia Institute of Technology, the VLA and a formerWhite House staff member to consult on Washington, D.C., and government protocol issues.[16] Sagan visited the set a number of times, where he also helped with last-minute rewrites. Filming was briefly delayed with the news of his death on December 20, 1996.Contact was dedicated to Sagan: "For Carl" appears on the screen at the fade.[2]
CinematographerDon Burgess shot the film inanamorphic format usingPanavision cameras, as well as using large-format 65 mm andVistaVision for visual and special effects shots. Thesound designers usedPro Tools software for thesound mixing, which was done atSkywalker Sound.[17]
DesigningContact's visual effects sequences was a joint effort by eight VFX companies, includingSony Pictures Imageworks (SPI),Weta Digital,Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Warner Digital, andEffects Associates, withPixar'sRenderMan used for CGI rendering. Weta Digital, in particular, was responsible for designing thewormhole sequence.[18] Foster found working withblue screen technology for the first time difficult: "It was a blue room. Blue walls, blue roof. It was just blue, blue, blue. And I was rotated on aLazy Susan with the camera moving on a computerized arm. It was really tough."[2]
News footage ofBill Clinton was digitally altered to make it appear as if he is speaking about alien contact. Zemeckis had approachedSidney Poitier to play the president, who turned the role down in favor ofThe Jackal.[19] Shortly afterwards, Clinton gave a speech about theMartian meteorite fragmentAllan Hills 84001, which was used inContact. Zemeckis said: "I swear to God it was like it was scripted for this movie. When he said the line 'We will continue to listen closely to what it has to say', I almost died. I stood there with my mouth hanging open."[2]
Digitalcolor correction was used to solvecontinuity errors during the location shooting at theVery Large Array in New Mexico. "The weather killed us, so we were going back in and changing it enough so that the skies and colors and times of day all seem roughly the same", said thevisual effects supervisor Ken Ralston.[20]
The opening scene is a five-minuteCGI sequence, beginning with a view of Earth from high in the exosphere and listening to numerous radio broadcasts emitting from the planet. The camera zooms backward, passing the Moon, Mars, and other features of theSolar System, then to theOort cloud,interstellar space, theLocal Bubble, theMilky Way, other galaxies of theLocal Group, and eventually into deep space. As this occurs, the radio signals start to drop out and reflect older programming, representing the distance these signals would have traveled at the speed of light, eventually becoming silent as the distance becomes much greater. The sequence eventually resolves into the iris of young Ellie's eye as she is listening on heramateur radio base station. The scale-view shot of the entire universe was inspired by the short documentary filmPowers of Ten (1977). At the time, it was the longest continuous computer-generated sequence in a live-action film, eventually surpassed by the opening ofThe Day After Tomorrow (2004).[21]
One sequence, with young Ellie running upstairs to try to retrieve her father's medicine, appears to have Ellie running just behind a camera as they move into the bathroom, but the shot resolves to show that this was part of the medicine cabinet mirror's reflection, pulling back to have Ellie open it. It is noted as one of the film's most impressive visual effects due to the seamlessness of the transition. According to Carin-Anne Strohmaier, first assistant film editor, the shot was created through three differentplates and manipulated in CGI to create the effect: one plate was from the cameraman leading Ellie, the second of Ellie opening the cabinet door (which was a blue screen instead of a mirror), and the third of the reflection of the photograph of Ellie and her father when the door closes.[22]
In the sequence with the death of Ellie's father, they planned to use an effect similar tobullet time fromThe Matrix to show him stopped in time as he died. As the movie was filmed, they found the approach did not fit the casting or the direction the film was going. They decided it would be most effective to create something distressing but with Ellie's father absent from the shot, leading to the development of the mirror sequence.[23]
The decoding of the extraterrestrial message, with its architectural drawings of the machine, was created by Ken Ralston and Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was Zemeckis's and Ralston's sixth film collaboration. Imageworks created more than 350 visual effect shots, using a combination of model and miniature shots and digital graphics. On designing the Machine, Zemeckis said, "The Machine in Sagan's novel was somewhat vague, which is fine for a book. In a movie, though, if you're going to build a giant physical structure of alien design, you have to make it believable... It had to be huge, so that the audience would feel like it was bigger than man should be tinkering with. It had to look absolutely real."[8] The machine was designed by concept artist Steve Burg, reusing a design he created as a "time-displacement device" for an unused scene inTerminator 2.[24]
Early conceptual designs of the Pod were based, as in the novel, on one of the primary shapes in geometry: adodecahedron, or a twelve-sided body. Eventually it was modified to a spherical capsule that encased the traveler, with a dodecahedron surrounding the sphere. Zemeckis and the production crew also made several visits to theKennedy Space Center atMerritt Island adjacent toCape Canaveral, where officials gave them access to sites off-limits to most visitors. Filmmakers were also brought ontoLaunch Complex 39 before the launch of the Space Shuttle,[8] where they studied the mechanics of the elevator, gantry area and loading arm for the design of the Machine's surrounding supports and gantry. Once the concept met with the filmmakers' approval, physical construction began on the sets for the Pod, elevator interior and gantry, which took almost four months. The rest of the effects were compiled digitally by Imageworks.[8]
The climactic scene depicting the mysterious beach near the galactic core where Arroway makes contact, in particular, called for major visual innovations. The goal was an idyllic seashore with a sky blazing with stars that might exist near the core of the galaxy. Ralston said that "the thought was that this beach would have a heightened reality. One that might make the everyday world seem like a vague daydream."[11] To keep the question alive whether any of it was real in Arroway's mind, elements such as ocean waves running in reverse and palm tree shadows swaying with sped-up motion were applied.[11] The Hitler newsreel also required digital manipulation.[11]
| Contact: Music from the Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Alan Silvestri | |
| Released | August 19, 1997 (1997-08-19) |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records |
Theoriginal score was composed and conducted byAlan Silvestri, most of which was released on August 19, 1997, byWarner Bros. Records.[25] The full score is approximately an hour long, 44 minutes of which is on the CD, including every major cue. The CD track entitled "Good to Go" features a slightly different opening—a brief brass motif that is not in the film—but all other cues are identical in orchestration to the mix in the film.
The Region 2 Special Edition DVD release contains a 5.1 music score track,[26] which presents the complete score (this feature, as with many isolated scores, is not mentioned in most product descriptions of the DVD).[27][28]
Contact often suggests that cultural conflicts between religion and science would be brought to the fore by the apparent contact with aliens that occurs in the film. A point of discussion is theexistence of God, with several different positions being portrayed.[11] A description of an emotionally intenseexperience by Palmer Joss, which he describes as seeing God, is met by Arroway's suggestion that "some part of [him] needed to have it"—that it was a significant personal experience but indicative of nothing greater. Joss compares his certainty that God exists to Arroway's certainty that she loved her deceased father, despite her being unable to prove it.[11]
Contact depicts intense debate occurring as a result of the apparent contact with aliens. Many clips of well-known debate shows such asCrossfire andLarry King Live are shown, with participants discussing the implications of the message, asking whether it is proof of the existence of alien life or of God, and whether science is encroaching upon religious ground by, as one believer puts it, "talking to your god for you".[29] The head of a religious organization casts doubt on the morality of building the machine, noting: "We don't even know whether [the aliens] believe in God." The first machine is ultimately destroyed by a Christian extremist, in the belief that building it was detrimental to humankind.[11]
Although the revelation at the end of the film that Arroway's recording device recorded approximately 18 hours of noise is arguably conclusive proof of the fact of—if not the experience of—her "journey", several coincidences and indications throughout the film cast doubt on its authenticity. Zemeckis said: "The point of the movie is for there always to be a certain amount of doubt [as to whether the aliens were real]."[29] These indications consist mostly of visual cues during the "journey" that echo Ellie's experiences earlier in the film (which Ellie believed to be the result of the aliens "downloading [her] thoughts and memories"), but the timing of the message's arrival and its eventual decoding are also coincidental: the message was first received shortly before Arroway and her team were to be ejected from the VLA facility and was successfully decoded only by S. R. Hadden (Arroway's only sponsor, who was close to death from cancer) after weeks of failed attempts by the team at the VLA.[29]
At the end of the film, Arroway is put into a position that she had traditionally viewed with skepticism and contempt: that of believing something with complete certainty, despite being unable to prove it in the face of not only widespread incredulity and skepticism (which she admits that as a scientist she would normally share) but also evidence apparently to the contrary.[29]
Zemeckis stated that he intended the message of the film to be that science and religion can coexist rather than being opposing camps,[29] as shown by the coupling of scientist Arroway with the religious Joss, as well as his acceptance that the "journey" indeed took place. This, and scattered references throughout the film, posit that science and religion are not nominally incompatible: one interviewer, after asking Arroway whether the construction of the machine—despite not knowing what will happen when it is activated—is too dangerous, suggests that it is being built on the "faith" that the alien designers, as Arroway puts it, "know what they're doing".[11]
Contact's release in July 1997 rekindled public interest in Sagan's 1985 novel. The book remained onThe New York Times Best Seller list from July 27 to September 21, 1997.[30][31]
Contactpremiered on July 1, 1997, at theVillage Theater in Los Angeles, California.[32] It was released in the United States and Canada on July 11, 1997, in 1,923 theaters, earning $20,584,908 in its opening weekend, ranking in second place behindMen in Black.[33] The film would hold the record for having Jodie Foster's highest opening weekend untilPanic Room replaced it in 2002.[34] It eventually grossed $100,920,329 in North America and $70,200,000 in foreign countries, reaching a worldwide total of $171,120,329.[3]
Contact was released onLaserDisc,VHS andDVD in December 1997. Among the special features are threeaudio commentaries: by director Zemeckis and producer Starkey, by visual effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Stephen Rosenbaum, and by star Jodie Foster.[35]Contact was released onBlu-ray Disc on October 6, 2009.[36]
On the basis of 68 reviews collected byRotten Tomatoes, 68% of critics gave positive reviews, with an average score of 6.9/10. The critical consensus reads, "Contact elucidates stirring scientific concepts and theological inquiry at the expense of satisfying storytelling, making for a brainy blockbuster that engages with its ideas, if not its characters."[37]Metacritic calculated an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, denoting "generally favorable" reviews.[38] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[39]
Roger Ebert, who gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, said that "Sagan's novelContact provides the inspiration for Robert Zemeckis' new film, which tells the smartest and most absorbing story about extraterrestrial intelligence sinceClose Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). "Movies likeContact help explain why movies likeIndependence Day leave me feeling empty and unsatisfied", Ebert commented.[40] On December 21, 2011, Ebert addedContact to his "Great Movies" collection.[41]
Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times said that the film carried a more philosophical portrait of the science fiction genre than did other films, but still managed "to satisfy the cravings of the general public who simply want to be entertained".[42] Internet reviewerJames Berardinelli said thatContact is "one of 1997's finest motion pictures, and is a forceful reminder that Hollywood is still capable of making magic". Berardinelli likened its awe and spectacle toStanley Kubrick's2001: A Space Odyssey, while adding that "IfContact falls short in any area, it's an inability to fully develop all of its many subplots..."[43]Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle largely enjoyed the first 90 minutes ofContact but felt that Zemeckis was too obsessed with visual effects rather than cohesive storytelling for the pivotalclimax.[44] Rita Kempley, writing inThe Washington Post, did not like the film's premise, which she described as "a preachy debate between sanctity and science".[45]
In 1984, a meteorite calledAllan Hills 84001, thought to be fromMars, was found in Antarctica. Twelve years later, an article by NASA scientistDavid S. McKay was published in the journalScience, proposing that the meteorite might contain evidence for microscopic fossils of Martian bacteria (later, a disputed interpretation).[46][47] The announcement made headlines around the world, and the following day, on August 7, 1996, during a press conference about the news, the President of the United States,Bill Clinton, made remarks that were in places sufficiently generic in nature to allow fragments of his videotaped statement to be included inContact, implying that Clinton was ostensibly speaking about contact with extraterrestrial life, congruent with the film's story:[48]
Good afternoon. I'm glad to be joined by my science and technology adviser ...[words cut by film editors]... This is the product of years of exploration ...[words cut]... by some of the world's most distinguished scientists. Like all discoveries, this one will and should continue to be reviewed, examined, and scrutinized. It must be confirmed by other scientists. But clearly, the fact that something of this magnitude is being explored is another vindication ...[film scene performed over recording, with dialogue obscuring Clinton's remarks and creating a gap]... If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered. Its implications are as far reaching and awe inspiring as can be imagined. Even as it promises answers to some of our oldest questions, it poses still others even more fundamental. We will continue to listen closely to what it has to say as we continue the search for answers and for knowledge that is as old as humanity itself but essential to our people's future. Thank you.[49]
Later in the film, a separate fragment of generic remarks by President Clinton, speaking aboutSaddam Hussein and Iraq at a different press conference in October 1994, was lifted out of context and inserted intoContact:[50]
I would encourage you not to inflame this situation beyond the facts. Let us deal with this on the facts. We are monitoring what has actually happened.
On July 14, 1997, three days after the film opened in the United States, Warner Bros. received a letter fromWhite House CounselCharles Ruff protesting against the use of Clinton's digitally-composited appearance. The letter made no demands, but called the duration and manner of Clinton's appearance "inappropriate". No legal action was planned; the White House Counsel simply wanted to send a message to Hollywood to avoid unauthorized uses of the President's image. Zemeckis was reminded that official White House policy "prohibits the use of the President in any way ... (that) implies a direct ... connection between the President and a commercial product or service".[51]
A Warner Bros. spokeswoman explained: "We feel we have been completely frank and upfront with the White House on this issue. They saw scripts, they were notified when the film was completed, they were sent a print well in advance of the film's July 11 opening, and we have confirmation that a print was received there July 2." However, Warner Bros. did concede that they never pursued or received formal release from the White House for the use of Clinton's image. While the Counsel commented that parody and satire are protected under theFirst Amendment, press secretaryMike McCurry believed that "there is a difference when the President's image, which is his alone to control, is used in a way that would lead the viewer to believe he has said something he really didn't say".[51]
Shortly after the White House's complaint,CNN chairman, president, and CEOTom Johnson announced he believed that in hindsight it was a mistake to allow 13 members of CNN's on-air staff (includingJohn Holliman,Larry King andBernard Shaw) to appear in the film, even though both CNN and Warner Bros. were owned byTime Warner. Johnson added that, forContact, the CNN presence "creates the impression that we're manipulated by Time Warner, and it blurs the line". CNN then changed their policies for future films, which now require potential appearances to be cleared through their ethics group.[51]
The scene where theNASA scientists give Arroway the "cyanide pill" caused some controversy during production and when the film came out.Gerald D. Griffin, the film's NASA advisor, insisted that NASA has never given any astronaut a cyanide pill "just in case", and that if an astronaut truly wished to commit suicide in space, all they would have to do is cut off their oxygen supply.[29] However, Carl Sagan insisted that NASA did indeed give out cyanide pills, and they did it for every mission an astronaut has ever flown. Zemeckis said that because of the two radically different assertions, the truth is unknown, but he left the suicide pill scene in the movie, as it seemed more suspenseful that way, and it was also in line with Sagan's beliefs and vision of the film.[29] Along with being NASA Technical Consultant for the project, Griffin had acameo in the role of "Dynamics" in Mission Control. He was a technical advisor for Ron Howard's 1995 filmApollo 13. While working for NASA during theApollo Program, he was a flight director for that mission, among others, and in the 1980s was director of theJohnson Space Center.
SETI.org published a review of the film in 2011, where they gave a side-by-side chart of a few relevant details from the film, and how they differed from reality.[4] One example being that, despite having 27 radio telescopes, the VLA is actually smaller and less sensitive than the Arecibo Observatory—making Arecibo a better location for SETI work, if possibly a less photogenic filming location than theVLA. Despite these small inconsistencies, they maintained that "Contact is indescribably more accurate in its depiction of SETI than any Hollywood film in history."
DirectorGeorge Miller, who had developedContact with Warner Bros. before Zemeckis' hiring, unsuccessfully sued the studio overbreach of contract policies.[2]
During filming on December 28, 1996, filmmakerFrancis Ford Coppola filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Sagan, who had died the previous week.[52][53] Coppola claimed that Sagan's novel was based on a story the pair had developed for a television special[54] back in 1975,[52] titledFirst Contact. Under their development agreement,[54] Coppola and Sagan were to split proceeds from the project, as well as from any novel Sagan would write, withAmerican Zoetrope and theChildren's Television Workshop. The TV program was never produced, but in 1985, Simon and Schuster publishedContact, and Warner moved forward with development of a film adaptation. Coppola sought at least $250,000 in compensatory damages and an injunction against production or distribution of the film.[52]
In February 1998, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ricardo Torres dismissed Coppola's claim. Although Torres agreed that Sagan violated some terms of the contract, he explained that Coppola waited too long to file his lawsuit, and that the contract might not be enforceable as it was written. Coppola then appealed his suit,[54] taking it to theCalifornia Courts of Appeal (CCA). In April 2000, the CCA dismissed his suit, finding that Coppola's claims were barred because they were brought too late. The court noted that it was not until 1994 that the filmmaker thought about suing overContact.[53]
Carl and I wrote the more than 100-page treatment in November of 1980...
| Scientific career | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books |
| ||||
| Media |
| ||||
| Family |
| ||||
| Prizes | |||||
| Recognition | |||||
| Related | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
