#directors commentary

The voice of the Hail Mary was recorded live on set with Ryan so they could react to each other in real time!!

Ryan was so nervous and intimidated by the kids in Grace's class (who were played by children of the cast and crew 🥹)

The dots of astrophage Grace shows his class??? That was done by filming burning steeling wool, inverting it, then PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE

Ryan didn't know what was going to be in Yáo and Ilyukhina's bags, and they were real photos of the actors. He was told to "remember who these people are" and a lot of the emotions we see from him in that scene were real 🥹

The walk outside the classroom was one of the first scene Sandra and Ryan shot together. Sandra whispered "You wanna race to the bike?" And they DID and they KEPT THE SHOT which is why they're doing that hysterical little speedwalk I- ajdgsjshsj

They purposely emphasized reflections to reflect the themes of the movie. They loved glass, they loved light, they loved reflections.

They called the hardware store "off brand homedepot" LMAO

When talking about the shopping trip they said they wanted to show that "Playfulness and creativity are intertwined" 🥹

Grace's goggles that he uses to find the astrophage in the box in a box are literally made from an iPhone duct taped into makeshift goggles. And the infrared footage of him finding the four dots was actually shot ON an iphone!!!

There's a bright orange sticker that reads "CIVILIAN" on the back of Grace's flight helmet and the directors don't know if thats something they actually do but they found it hilarious

When Grace is shoved in front of the room full of world leaders to explain the astrophage, they said, "One of the many times we demonstate Ryland Grace's social anxiety by having people stare at him" ajdgsjdgsjjs

There was a team called "The Poetry Unit" who's job was just getting beautiful shots. And goddamn did they do a beautiful job. Also I've been talking nonstop about the inherent poetry of space travel since Artemis II launched and this just solidified it for me.

Talking about Daniel Pemberton's masterful soundtrack, they said, "He would not be alone in the soundtrack. In fact, two different planets would be rooting him on." 😭

THAT SCENE ON THE BEACH IN THE DONT GO CRAZY ROOM WHERE SOMEONE IS WALKING TOWARDS HIM??? THATS HIS FUTURE SELF ON ERID. (They also said "we dont know how they let us keep this in the movie" which is very funny but im very glad its there)

The scene where he catches the canister took ELEVEN takes for him to actually successfully catch it and everyone on set cheered

They call song that plays (or maybe they're were referring to the scene? A little unclear) when Rocky's ship starts spinning "The Gravity Tango" because "as Rocky spins his ship, its an invitation to dance."

They had 3 ramen ship models on set and every single one broke at some point 😆

Some of Ryan's reactions to Rocky copying his dances are his live reactions of being "absolutely delighted" by the puppet team

Rocky is 200 years old!!

The "Close Encounters" joke was pitched by STEPHEN SPIELBERG HIMSELF

Rocky's carved patch has the petrova line, as well as the base line six number for 23, the number of crew on his ship

The overlapping blue circles on Rocky's arm is his wedding band!!

When Rocky puts his forearms together, he's displaying his family crest!

Rocky has a lot of nonverbal communication cues, and one of them is that every time he says "Question" to form a question, he stomps twice!

They had a deaf consultant for Rocky's nonverbal communications!

Quote from one of the directors: "Its a movie about looking, witnessing one another."

In the scene where Rocky is bossing Grace around telling him how to build his enclosure and Armando and Mary get involved, one of the directors says, "Mary, Rocky, Armando- he's [Grace] creating his space family!"

When Stratt sings "Remember everything will be alright" it is confirmed she is singing it directly to Grace. They talk alot about how much she cares and loves but cannot care and cannot love, and how much she believes in him. How much she sees in him. I just. Man. Wow. They also say that this scene is a bit of an exchange. Grace is daring her, "Come, be human with us." And Stratt is accepting that dare, as much as she can.

I have seen this film three times (counting today) and until the directors' commentary pointed it out, I didn't notice the little HEEL CLICK Grace does when he comes in from collecting the astrophage coming from and going to Adrian AHHHH

"I love how on the spectrum Rocky is" CANON AUTISTIC ROCKY also the director who said this is a parent of a child on the spectrum which makes this all the more authentic and heartwarming 🥹

A lot of the scene where its revealed to Grace that he is the back up is improvised by everyone at the table

After Rocky saves Grace. The little model of himself that Rocky made that he holds up. The little item he holds up beside it? Thats a model of the device that opens the orb that caught the Taumeoba. Its Rocky telling Grace to finish the job. I'm in tears.

"As Rocky wakes up, the lights turn on, the movie warms up. Its like day breaking." 😭😭😭

They built the flexible panel on Rocky's ball MAINLY so Grace could give him the Earth ball akdhjshd

THE RAINBOW WHEN GRACE IS GETTING SEDATED IS REAL IT HAPPENED WHEN THEY WERE FILMING THAT SCENE IT APPEARED IN THE SKY JUST WHEN THEY WERE FILMING AND THEY HURRIED TO CATCH IT IT WAS JUST TOO PERFECT

"Even though he's going away from his home, Earth, he's going towards his real home, which is Rocky." HIS REAL HOME IS ROCKY Y'ALL MY HEART

When Grace and Rocky reunite on Rocky's hull, the translation of what Rocky chirps at him through the transparent xenonite is "You came back for me, question?" 😭😭😭

The tattoo Stratt has at the end means Life In Prison Without Parole

The beach in the Earth Dome on Erid is so rocky because the Eridians got the scale of sand wrong 😭 They're TRYING OKAY

About all the imperfections of Grace's habitat: "Really, all that matters is that he's with his best friend." 🥹🥹🥹

The song choice for the end credits, the "Hallelujah", is because Grace has ascended 😭😭😭😭

link to the update here, I forgot I was supposed to be doing that lol

ANYWAY

this bit was actually supposed to be at the end of the last update, but I ran out of room on the page and didn't wanna sacrifice the moment. It's only 3 panels and all they do is look at each other lol but I feel like it says a lot about what War and HW Zelda's relationship is like. people have also pointed out it's a parallel to how they first meet in the game, which i didn't even do on purpose 😂 but yeah it certainly is

obviously the difference in their status is made visual with Zelda looking down on him from the balcony, but it's also worth noting that like. Zelda doesn't get to be a part of the gathering. She's relegated to a painting looking down on high like the goddesses on the ceiling

there was meant to be a scene after this that I cut where War goes back to his rooms and changes into his travel/hero outfit. I really wanted to show him essentially putting the persona back on, but I started to feel like I was languishing in this opening lol. we've got to get to business

this man is hungover. he has not slept. it's 1 william degrees on Death Mountain. he's frying out here he's unwell. excellent mission start

actually on that note I realized that at some point they are standing in the springs talking and that would potentially healing little. so like you can probably barely tell because of the lighting effects but I gave him shadows under his eyes that lighten over the course of the update lol I also made his face flushed :-)

Impa is 10000% just being evil to him here lmao. I almost took that gag in the corner out but was convinced on patreon to keep it in 😂 war works really hard to maintain his good boy face, but we can't win every battle LMAO also war might not like Impa, but rest assured he will do whatever she says.

okay so. this is a completely made up spring of power. I rlly had a rule for myself that I was not going to just make up locations for the rifts bc I wanted it to be places that are actually significant to the games, but I completely misremembered where the spring of power was in BOTW and got myself in this situation 😂 I got it switched with the hot springs, which is where Ive placed this. this time travel shift is gonna be a little bit of a stretch to the next location bc of it but shhhhhhh. That statue is of Din rather than the traditional Hylia one. we now have our three storylines, each starting at a spring; courage, wisdom, and now power

ALSO MISS LANAAAAAAAAA yeah there was no way i was gonna use much of her canon design. heart emoji. love the j-pop idol thing but it's really not the vibe. Ive made the choice to model her clothing design after the Guardians in skyward sword. this is a mouseketool we'll be using later :-))))) tho I did end up changing the tabard thing design to look more like an hourglass kind of in the final update

this is where hyrule warrior's fucked up lore actually becomes relevant, because Lana's (and Cia's) role as this sorceress who watches over time is actually quite useful to me. I imagined that if someone was going around tearing up time, she'd be the first to notice, even if she can't do much about it. There's an implication that they have some sort of ability to how the future is supposed to go, hence this deviation from that foretold plan not being "on the books." There's also an implication that they're not really supposed to interfere with it either, which justifies her kind of hands-off approach of making War do the legwork here. at least in my head HAHA

I am conscious of the fact that every one of these "seeing the portal for the first time" beats kind of goes the same way, and that it might be getting repetitive and expository. but it was very important to me that War is the only one who is specifically ordered on this quest, rather than choosing to make the jump himself, or getting shoved in via some surprise circumstance like at the party. this is not an adventure for him, it's a mission.

going into his little hands behind the back soldier pose lol

now war is 1000% saying this just to be a bitch to Lana. translation: last time wasn't really on the books either and look what happened. remember :-))))) Originally I had him say a line that was much more on the nose, something to the effect of "I hope you've been keeping Cia on a tight leash." I changed it not because that Isn't something he'd say but because I think he'd be a more indirect and snide about it. I like this change also because you can literally go two pages back and see where he learned it from. Impa does it to him, and he does it to Lana

There's no real reason for her to do this, but Impa deliberately places herself behind War, as if blocking the exit. it's not about actually blocking him in any material way, it's about making it very clear that there's no turning back.

I deliberately don't really show what War's face does here when he bows. Lana is troubled overall by his lack of reaction; no further questions, just immediate obedience. One might infer from her reactions in this update that he might not have always necessarily acted this way.

on that note, a lot of people have interpreted War's behavior in this update as reluctance or a "here we go again" kind of mentality, which to be clear I think is true and something I put in there on purpose. But i'd also invite people to try reading this scene like he might actually be excited at the prospect of another war, or another mission, and is trying not to show it. A lot of these expressions where his jaw is tensed, I've just barely turned the corners of his mouth up. it could be trying to fake a smile, or trying to suppress one? My intention was not really one reading or the other but both at the same time.

And lastly some thoughts about this necklace. A lot of people have brought up the pirate's charm, which is actually where I go this idea! this is one of those fan theories that I just kind of hold in my heart and probably doesn't make sense, but I like to think things like the pirates charm, the royal ocarina, and this made-up pendant are actually made of time stones. something something blue crystal that lets u create a pocket in time. gestures vaguely. do u get me

-In this fic, Link was dead prior to being placed in the Shrine of Resurrection.

-He has a proven ability to communicate and serve the dead/spirits (botw- king, the champions, the dragons, Lord of the Mountain, koroks. totk- Rauru, sages, poes, soldier spirits in depths).

-The fact these poes/spirits/dead often give or show link things he needs.

-Per Tauro's research notes, there have been various temples and sages across time...separately, there appears to be limited Secret Stones.

-The Bargainer described the Temple of Shadow as a place that holds Hyrule's deepest secrets, and wicked history. Grand Poes are required to unlock the temple.

-Secret Stones amplify abilities an individual already has. Death is the only way for a Secret Stone to pass to another.

-The Silent Princess flowers appeared in the depths for Link after he lost track of the Light Dragon. He still has not seen the LD since he entered.

Introducing my new venture with Spectrevision Radio!

Growing up, one of the most valuable parts of my film education came from Director's Commentaries on Laserdisc, DVD and blu-ray. Sadly, they have largely fallen by the wayside in our increasingly streaming world.

That's why I'm so excited to introduce my new podcast with Spectrevision Radio, DIRECTORS COMMENTARY with MIKE FLANAGAN.

Each episode, I'll interview a filmmaker (or filmmakers!) about how they got started in this business, what movies mean to them, and then we'll watch one of their films together, generating a syncable watch-along track that you can play home with the movie itself. Listen here or wherever you find your podcasts!

Earth has the golden records room that is meant to be a history of Earth and what they did to try and save the planet, so if any intelligent creature finds the ship but no one alive? They’ll know what happened and some part of Earth’s history will live on.

But Rocky’s ship had the same thing. Rocky shows Grace, right before he remembers how exactly he got recruited for this mission, his ship’s records of Erid. Erid, like Earth, planned for their ship to be a living record of their planet should the mission fail and their planet dies.

Let’s all take a moment to appreciate the fact that RDA took a look at that helmet after Children of the Gods and said:

“Nope. Not wearing that for the next 8 years of my life.”

By the next off-world mission in Emancipation it is gone, with Daniel’s and Carter’s following shortly after.

Slow Bloom (Extended Edition)

Oscar always beats him home, largely due to the fact that the flat is a thirty minute walk from Oscar's work and an hour-long trek through train-bus-hell for Lando. But the rent is good and Lando gets paid shit at the studio compared to Oscar's suit-and-tie salary, so it's a sacrifice that must be made.

And it's not all bad.

It's warm when he presses the door open, Oscar anxiously pacing around the kitchen – the way he always does when he's trying to cook, convinced he's going to set the place ablaze. Which, to his credit, there was that time at their old place in–

"Should I dial 999?" Lando calls, toeing off his paint-splattered shoes and tossing his bag in the corner.

"That was one time," Oscar rolls his eyes, nervously peering into the oven before snapping it closed. "Reckon I'll let you starve, if you're gonna be a dick about it."

Lando perches himself on the counter, ignoring the way Oscar sighs and shoots him a withering glare. "Something on your mind?"

Oscar furrows his brows, pausing his small laps around the space in his confusion. "Why would–?"