Few movies demonstrate the value and impact of long takes like Alfonso Cuaron did in the 2006 Children of Men.
In one shot, it tells viewers that the lead character, Thelonious (nicknamed Theo), played by Clive Owen, is detached and despondent.
This movie takes place in a dirty and pessimistic future in which the youngest person in the world is just 18.
Much like Blade Runner, a great dystopian sci-fi benefits from a strong opening.
“Theo” Faron, a former activist who was devastated when his child died during a flu pandemic. Theo is the “archetypal everyman,” who reluctantly becomes a savior.
Impressed by Owen’s creative insights, Cuarón and Sexton brought him on board as a writer. “Clive was a big help. I would send a group of scenes to him, and then I would hear his feedback and instincts.”
Clare-Hope Ashitey as Kee, an asylum seeker and the first pregnant woman in 18 years. She did not appear in the book, and was written into the film. “The fact that this child will be the child of an African woman has to do with the fact that humanity started in Africa. We’re putting the future of humanity in the hands of the dispossessed and creating a new humanity to spring out of that.”
For Julian Taylor, Cuarón wanted an actress who had the “credibility of leadership, intelligence, and independence.” Julianne Moore was cast in June 2005, initially to play the first woman to become pregnant in 20 years. “She is just so much fun to work with. She is just pulling the rug out from under your feet all the time. You don’t know where to stand, because she is going to make fun of you.”
Two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine plays Jasper Palmer, Theo’s friend. Caine based Jasper on his experiences with his friend John Lennon. It was the first time he had portrayed a character who would fart or smoke cannabis. Cuarón explains, “Once he had the clothes and stepped in front of the mirror to look at himself, his body language started changing. Michael loved it. He believed he was this guy”.
Jasper calls Theo “amigo”—just as Schwartz referred to Ramon Miguel Vargas in Orson Welles’ 1958 Touch of Evil.
Why was Children of Men, a critically acclaimed picture, such a commercial failure?
Its grim, downbeat tone? Killing off a major character (played by Julianne Moore) in the first sequence?
