The story of brand spanking new sci-fi blockbuster Oblivion may be an original idea thought up by director Joseph Kosinski, but the influences of brilliant classic sci-fi films of the 1970s on his second feature film are especially apparent for all to see.
by Eoghan Doherty
Kosinski, a self-confessed movie nerd, has made no secret of his love of science-fiction films, in particular citing 1970s The Omega Man and Silent Running as huge influences when it came to penning his own script set in a futuristic, dystopian world.
The Omega Man’s concept of ‘last man on earth’ starring Charlton “I love big guns and I cannot lie” Heston and the environmentally-themed Silent Running are mirrored in the latest Tom Cruise-helmed film.
And of course the star of Oblivion himself, is no stranger to sci-fi having already starred in Steven Spielberg’s cracking sci-fi double-bill of Minority Report and War Of The Worlds, been married to sexy, spindly alien-type-creature Nicole Kidman and is an advocate of that made-up futuristic, Scientology-thingy.
Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien (1979) is a masterpiece that Kosinski has named as one of his all-time favourite films but one that he felt influenced a lot of other film-makers to venture into the deep, dark, emptiness of space.
With Oblivion, however, he “liked the idea of bringing sci-fi back into the daylight,” a move I whole-heartedly agree with. And no, it has nothing to do with being terrified of the dark. Well, maybe. But don’t tell anyone. Seriously.
The number of other influential sci-fi movies from the 1970s are too many to list here but, as well as Kosinki’s personal favourites, the phenomenon that was 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope is impossible to ignore.
Hugely popular and a continuing financial golden goose, it in particular paved the way like no other film for Hollywood to invest in big-budget, heavily-marketed sci-fi films.
Coming full circle, Michael Arndt, one of the screenwriters on Oblivion has just recently been announced as the screenwriter of the new Star Wars: Episode VII – “I love it when a plan comes together” said no one in a sci-fi movie ever.
And finally, special honourable mention goes to the 1974 cult classic Zardoz which, although Kosinski has never mentioned in any interview, I’m sure he’s been scarred by influenced for life, by Sean Connery’s red adult nappy costume. Haven’t we all:
Oblivion hits Irish cinemas on April 10
