After directing a huge blockbuster movie like Rogue One, Edwards came up with the idea of The Creator when unwinding on a trip with his girlfriend.

“There are lots of ways of trying to explain where the idea came from,” Edwards said during the film’s press conference. “The most unique one, which I remember very clearly was that I had just finished Star Wars. I needed a bit of a break, and we decided, with my girlfriend, that we’re going to go and see her parents who live in Iowa, which is on the other side of America. And we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll do a four-day road trip. And the great thing about having finished a movie is your brain sort of deletes, like, formats the hard drive.”

Putting on a pair of headphones and looking out the window, he saw a farmland with a Japanese logo. Gareth’s imagination quickly went to sci-fi mode on his trip, and he imagined robots being built there.

“And so, then you’ve got this, like, blank canvas,” the director explained. “And I wasn’t expecting to think about the next film or get any ideas. But I’d just put some headphones on, I was looking out the window. And we went through this, like, tall grass, sort of farmland area. And there was this factory that went by and it had what looked like a Japanese logo on it. And I thought, just ’cause the way I’m wired, like in science fiction, I was like, ‘I wonder what they’re doing in there?’ Like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s robots or something cool.’ I’m like, ‘I doubt it.’ But and then I was thinking, ‘Oh, imagine being a robot built in a factory and you step outside the factory for the first time.'”

The idea continued with Edwards envisioning a robot walking outside for the first time and seeing a new world filled with grass and nature. The concept was tossed to the side, but he couldn’t escape it when it grew bigger and bigger.

“And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a cool little moment in a film,’ but I don’t know what that would be,” he said. “And I threw it away and carried on thinking about other things. But it kept coming back the rest of the trip. And I was like, ‘Oh, you know what that could be?’ And I started building on the idea. And by the time we got to my girlfriend’s parents’ house, I kind of had the basics of the whole movie mapped out, which is really rare.”

About The Creator

Synopsis: Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.

Gareth Edwards directs the film from a script by Edwards and Chris Weitz, from a story by Edwards. It’s produced by Gareth Edwards, Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer, and Arnon Milchan and executive produced by Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Natalie Lehmann, Nick Meyer and Zev Foreman.

The film also stars Ken Watanabe (Inception, Godzilla), Sturgill Simpson (Dog) and Allison Janney (I, Tonya).

The Creator releases in theaters on September 29, 2023.

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The Creator follows Joshua, a former soldier who takes part in a mission to find the robot’s ultimate secret weapon—a weapon to end the war between humans and robots. Yet, upon discovering the secret weapon, Josh discovers that Alphie isn’t a weapon but a robotic child. Also, Josh discovers that Alphie holds the secret to finding his wife, who he thought died long ago.

As shown above, The Creator has an intriguing story, even though it may feel derivative of other films that have come before it. You’ll recognize the assortment of various sci-fi tropes, but it still manages to entertain. There’s enough intrigue to hold your interest, even if it is relatively easy to get bored by its slow-burn approach to the story. That’s because the relationship between Josh and Alphie is a sweet one.

The Creator is one of those rare sci-fi films that embraces the future even though society has rejected it.

John David Washington is fantastic in the role. Brandishing utter, unwavering conviction, almost to a fault, Josh is relentless as he faces the harrowing possibility that perhaps to save his wife, Maya, he may have to let Alphie go. Madeleine Yuna Voyles is a quiet MVP. Alphie is caring and naive, driving home just how unique and special of a child she is. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is unable to make anything of their cardboard characters. The consistently excellent Ken Watanabe is the only supporting actor doing anything interesting to even the vaguest degree.

With Rogue One and now The Creator, director Gareth Edwards has crafted breathtaking but gritty, lived-in sci-fi worlds that are instantly intriguing. It has the kind of attention that many sci-fi films seem to ignore.

Overall, The Creator is a slow-burn movie with weighty existential and topical themes and ideas. Yet, at its heart, the film is about the mournful power of fatherhood. Large-scale, original sci-fi is hard to come by these days, and despite its familiar story, The Creator does dream up some great ideas. Though not without problems, The Creator transcends flaws and trappings to become unique and engaging. Nevertheless, as good as Edwards is at dreaming up this world, it still makes you wonder what it would be like to visit this place under someone who knew how to have fun with it.

Rating: 4/5 atoms

The Creator hits theaters on September 29th.

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