Ten years on from its release, Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival…
Within a span of a decade Denis Villeneuve has gone on to become one of the most respected and sought-after directors in the industry which such efforts as Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Dune and Dune: Part Two to his name. With Arrival, the filmmaker gave us a cerebral sci-fi piece that upended familiar genre tropes whilst delivered a very human story centered around grief, loss, destiny and time. As the effort celebrates its 10th anniversary, we look back at its behind-the-scenes story…
Arrival was based on a Nebula-winning sci-fi novella published in 1998
Arrival was the feature film adaptation of the Nebula award-winning novella titled “Story of Your Life” written by Ted Chiang and first published in the sci-fi anthology Starlight 2 in 1998 and later in Chiang’s own collection of short stories called Story of Your Life and Others. The novella centers around Earth’ s first communication with Heptapods, extra-terrestrial beings from an advanced civilization, who communicate using a complex language called Heptapod B. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer was introduced to Chiang’s story through another one of his works called “Understand”, which made him look up the author’s collected works and stumbled across “Story of Your Life” which had a profound emotional impact on him.
Wanting to share the thought-provoking story with a wider audience, Heisserer crafted a spec script and pitched it to several production companies but most studios turned it down citing it was “too smart”. This took place for several years and Heisserer had all but given up on his pet project when a positive development took place in the form of his 2013 film Hours, which he wrote and directed. This finally made people take interest in the work of the creative.
Interstellar played a role in changing the ending of the movie
Heisserer made several changes to Chiang’s story between the first draft and the final shooting script. The chief of it concerned the arrivals of the Heptapods on Earth, which Heisserer envisioned as a sort of “first contact” situation with the extra-terrestrial beings, in order to ramp up the tension, sense of urgency and the conflict needed for the feature film. Further changes to the script were also included to accommodate director Denis Villeneuve’s vision for the film and one of the suggested alterations centered around the ending the filmmaker wanted. An earlier version of the script featured the Heptapods bequeathing the “blueprints to an interstellar ship, like an ark of sorts”, but after the release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, both Villeneuve and Heisserer agreed that the ending of their story should change and that the Heptapods’ gift would be “the power of their language”.
Denis Villeneuve was looking to make the right sci-fi film
As at present Denis Villeneuve is bunched alongside the likes of Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino, who are giants in the film industry. But when Villeneuve was considered to helm Arrival, the Canadian filmmaker’s most well-known effort was 2015’s Sicario. 21 Laps Entertainment run by Shawn Levy, was aware of Chiang’s novella, back when it was first published, and having learned about Heisserer’s script adaptation, the production company swiftly connected with him in order to fine-tune the script before they could approach potential directors. One of the directors 21 Laps approached, at the very outset, was Villeneuve and the filmmaker too was seeking the right property to adapt as a sci-fi film. Producers Dan Levy and Dan Cohen, who work with Levy at 21 Laps, introduced the novella to Villeneuve and the creative was immediately taken up by it. After completing his work on Prisoners, Villeneuve worked with Heisserer to refine the existing draft and reworked it into the final shooting script.
Amy Adams was Denis Villeneuve’s first choice for the lead role
Well-known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, Amy Adams is a critically lauded actress who has received numerous accolades throughout her acting career for her performances on movies such as Doubt, The Master, The Fighter, Vice and American Hustle. Adams was Villeneuve’s first choice to play the lead role of Dr. Louise Banks and the actress agreed to the part within 24 hours of receiving the screenplay. For her performance in Arrival, Adams would go on to receive multiple nominations at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, SAGs and Critics Choice Awards but sadly failed to nab an Oscar nomination despite being nominated previously a whopping six times.
Arrival was a refreshing departure from action flicks for Jeremy Renner
Following his breakout role in the critically acclaimed Kathryn Bigelow film The Hurt Locker in 2008, for which he received unanimous critical acclaim, Jeremy Renner’s filmography became stacked with mostly heavy affairs due to his involvement with the Mission: Impossible franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At one point Renner was even eyed to take over the Bourne franchise from Matt Damon, with the debut of The Bourne Legacy. Although this didn’t pan out, Renner’s involvement with the other two movie franchises quickly transformed him into a bona fide action star. Therefore, Renner’s role in Arrival, where he plays theoretical physician Ian Donnelly, proved to be a refreshing departure from the type of physically demanding roles he’d usually be involved in.
A fictional alien language was created from scratch for the movie
The creation of a unique alien language from scratch is no mean feat. For the movie, this process required the collective input of director Denis Villeneuve, production designer Patrice Vermette, language designer Martine Bertrand and tech innovator Stephen Wolfram and his son Christopher. Instead of the conventional linear script, Villeneuve & his team opted to make “logograms” which is essentially an entire word or sentence represented by a single symbol or a written character. The Heptapod logograms were designed to resemble circular, ink-esque symbols, which isn’t a commonly encountered form of script we see every day.
Bradford Young’s cinematography gave the film a unique aesthetic
Director Denis Villeneuve had a very specific look in mind for his effort, when he handpicked cinematographer Bradford Young to be his DOP for Arrival. “Dirty Sci-Fi” was how the duo described the unique aesthetic they created for the film and it was greatly influenced by Scandinavian photographer Martina Hoogland Ivanow’s work on her exhibition and book titled “Speedway”. For his work on Arrival, Young became the first African American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The talented creative was also the second Black person to be nominated, after Brit cinematographer Remi Aderfarasin nabbed an Oscar nomination for his on 1998’s Elizabeth.
Box office success, critical acclaim and an enduring legacy
Made on a production budget of $47 million Arrival went on to make a respectable $203 million at the worldwide box-office. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film maintains 94% based on 439 reviews and its critical consensus reads as follows, “Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person’s sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.” Many film critics praised the compelling lead performances dished out by Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner as well as the introspective nature of the sci-fi flick. These thoughts were mirrored in the reviews of Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com, who gave the film three out of four stars calling the effort: “It’s a movie designed to simultaneously challenge viewers, move them and get them talking. For the most part, it succeeds”, and Sam Lansky for Time who called it “sophisticated, grownup sci-fi: a movie about aliens for people who don’t like movies about aliens”. The film received further praise by linguists and academics for its accuracy in approaching the discovery of a new language. Come awards season Arrival received many nominations at different awards festivals and ended up nabbing eight Oscar nominations (winning for Best Sound Editing), nine BAFTA nominations (winning for Best Sound), and ten Critics Choice Awards nominations (winning for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sci-Fi/Horror movie).
A decade following its release, Arrival still continues to be considered one of Denis Villeneuve’s finest sci-fi efforts, which is quite the accomplishment, as the filmmaker went on to helm Blade Runner 2049 shortly after, as well as directing his epic Dune trilogy, which will conclude this December with Dune: Part Three. This is because Arrival trades off the conventional alien invasion clichés, rife with cheap thrills and pyrotechnics, for a more thought-provoking and cerebral approach that centers around communication and syntax. The effort also acts as a profound meditation on the nature of time – as comprehending the alien language allows Amy Adams’ character to perceive time in a non-linear fashion – as well as functioning as a deep-dive exploration of grief and its inextricable nature with humanities very existence. Villeneuve’s utterly spellbinding adaptation of Chiang’s property does make us fans excited about what the filmmaker can do with Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama – another seminal piece of sci-fi literature, which he intends to tackle in the future.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
