When comics artist and children’s book illustrator Richard McGuire published his unconventional graphic narrative Here, he had no idea he was creating the perfect vehicle to test the viability of AI in movies. His innovative 2014 comic strip turned graphic novel about a family portrayed over many decades in the same space—a concept that enthralled those of us who have ever wondered who inhabited our physical worlds before us—was destined to become one of the first films created with artificial intelligence.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright (the reunited stars of Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump), the film’s pioneering of AI into the creative process has stunningly unnerved some in Hollywood (who may have welcomed headlines this week like Forbes‘ stinging “Flops At Weekend Box Office”—although The New York Times was more favorable). For this production, cast and crew teamed up with AI studio Metaphysic on a tool to rejuvenate and “age up” the actors—a process conventionally achieved with makeup and CGI visual effects. Here was shot from one static camera, positioned for the most part in the corner of a suburban living room. Like McGuire’s graphic novel, the viewer sees frames within frames showing not just the passage of time but simultaneous views of the same place.
Having written about McGuire’s book, I felt that Here was an opportunity to get the artist’s take on how AI accomplished or reinterpreted his artistic goals, especially in a different medium with live actors. His commentary may surprise those in the illustration world who dread the specter of this tool.
When you created and published Here as a graphic story/comic strip, did you originally envision your storytelling elements in motion? Was it always a static juxtaposition of different times in one place?
I never envisioned it in motion. I was primarily thinking of it as a diagram. A few years after the original six-page strip was published in 1989, a live-action student film was made that was low budget but technically pretty sophisticated [below].
How did you react when Robert Zemeckis wanted to create a feature film of Here?
Honestly, I was shocked. My agent sent me an article from Variety that said it was actually happening, and that it would be starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. I just couldn’t believe it! About a year earlier my agent told me that Zemeckis was interested in adapting the book and wanted to talk. We had a Zoom call, and I remember him saying that he wanted to make it “just like the book” with a locked camera. I was joking with him, saying, “I get it, you want to go old school, back to the Lumière brothers. Sounds great.” But I was thinking, Who would finance a film without the camera moving? It’s never going to happen.
Was there any reluctance on your part to have your work transformed into a live-action “experience”?
No, I was excited by the idea! There had already been a few live-action adaptations before Zemeckis. In 2019, there was a stage production that was renamed Déja, put on by a Norwegian theater group called The Krumple. It was first performed at a theater festival in Stamsund, which is a fishing village on an island off the north coast of Norway. I had to take three planes to get there to see it. They came up with all these clever ideas to make it work, including little battery-operated illuminated boxes that would show the year that the action was taking place. They also built tiny versions of the set and used puppets to be able to show multiple views of time.
There had also been talk of it being a TV series. A script was written, and it was shopped around and nearly bought by the Starz channel.
In 2020, a British company called 59 Productions was interested in making it a VR experience. The company Intel had been experimenting with a new technology that could digitize actors using hundreds of cameras to simultaneously capture a performance in a huge domed stage set. They were looking for the right content to try out this system so they joined forces. It all fell apart in post-production. Intel pulled the plug and it was never finished, but there is a trailer.
Zemeckis directed many well-received films that experimented with live action, illustration and animation. I recall that when Chris Van Allesburg’s Polar Express was made, it was a cinematic innovation. Did you get excited by the concept that Zemeckis was proposing?
At the beginning there was no mention yet of using any AI. At some point Zemeckis told me about the company Metaphysic Live that could do real-time “de-aging.” When I visited the set I got to see some examples. They were impressive.
Did you have any hesitation about sharing your creation with another creator who would restructure, rewrite and recast your original work?
Film relies on emotion for storytelling. I knew they needed to develop storylines and characters that an audience could invest in emotionally, but I nearly did a spit-take when he told me Hanks’ character would be named “Richard” and that he would be a “failed artist”!
That’s hilarious! What about control? Was there anything in the script or treatment that made you think twice?
I didn’t want to read the script.
Were you involved in the shooting in any way as a consultant, producer or observer?
I had been asked if I wanted to be a consultant on the film but I declined. I felt everything I had to say was already in the book. Eric Roth was already on board to write the screenplay. He and Zemeckis worked together on Forest Gump and Castaway.
I was also extremely busy working on a pitch for a new book project and a retrospective exhibition of my work for a museum in Switzerland. I had my hands full co-designing the catalog for the show, as well.
Was the outcome as you expected? Or was there a sense of something indescribable when you saw the film for the first time?
I saw the trailer first and I was overwhelmed by it. Then I got to see the film in a small screening room and it was very emotional. I had a million thoughts running through my head and it was nearly impossible to be objective, but there was one thing for sure: It’s unlike any film I’ve ever seen. I think it was brave to make this film.
When I met Eric Roth on the set, he was surprised that I hadn’t read the script and that I didn’t want to. He did fill me in a little bit about the ending, which I won’t spoil for you, but he said “everyone cries at the end.” And god dammit if that isn’t exactly what happened to me! I was thinking, I am such a sucker. How could they push those buttons when I knew what was coming?
Is it your work or does it now belong to the adapter?
It feels like someone is covering a song I wrote. I am perfectly fine with someone making it their own. Multiple realities are built into the book, and the concept is expansive, so therefore anything is possible. I am just thrilled to have had this crazy experience of seeing it adapted and presented on this level. Being able to visit the set, meet the actors, see the army of technicians at work, walking down a red carpet at the premiere—it’s surreal! I’m also detached in a way. I’m just along for the ride, and it’s been a wild one so far.
The post The Daily Heller: Richard McGuire’s Book “Here” is Now a Movie appeared first on PRINT Magazine.