Other Worlds Austin 2018 / Boston Sci-fi Film Festival 2019 - 2050
A married video game developer is introduced to a warehouse that customizes androids for human companionship.
Interview with Writer/Co-producer Brian Ackley
Watch 2050 on Vudu
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thanks! We're excited to be sharing our film to see how it plays with intellectual audiences. So why did I write and produce this particular film? That's a hard question cause it's so layered. I guess I'll just get right to the bottom layer. I like to place myself with intellectual and philosophical challenges. If I think one way about something – a social issue, a political cause, an ethical belief – I like to consider the opposite, or the argument against that idea. And then I like to think about what it would take for me to believe in whatever that is? I develop my stories from this new perspective which forces me to try out new ideas, a lot of which end up making sense. This entire process is lots of fun because it becomes an intellectual adventure. So, why did I make this particular film? Basically, I made it to challenge my ideas about how technology helps and hurts our human race.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Robots and androids are coming. Fully functional ones. For all sorts of purposes. Our film considers what this may mean for mankind, both on a large, philosophical scale and on a smaller, personal one. How will AI affect the everyday lives of people? We go deep in contemplating outcomes involving interpersonal relationships – sex, romance, companionship. How will AI affect our marriages, our dating? How might the human race evolve to deal with this?
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I think they work well because I don't see the difference between them in our film. The personal experiences that we represent are universal, and the ideas connected with them can easily be relatable by the average person. We weren't trying to make a complicated movie. We wanted to make a vehicle that any individual could step into and see themselves, and therefore see the problems and possible solutions of the super high-tech world that we're entering.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
From the time we settled on the subject matter of sexbots (we call them e-mates, short for evening mates, because it's not just about sex but companionship), the process of developing the material was simple and smooth and organic. My partners David (also an actor in it) and Princeton (the director) were heavily involved in steering and fleshing out the story. Princeton and I probably had the most ideas, and David kept us balanced and on track. Not that David didn't have his own ideas. The three of us were equally critical and complimentary throughout. Later, on-set and in post, we found ways to strengthen our point-of-view, or at least our intentions with the film. I think this comes from feeling a sense of clarity after all our ideas had sat with us for so long. So there are 2 or 3 scenes that were re-written or adjusted during filming to better suit our thematic purposes. Even these changes were organic, though.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Mostly, we've gotten confirmation that our film is a 'thinker' of sorts. It makes you think. We set out to challenge certain ideas and explore others, and people are responding to it. The other thing is that our film seems to offer different things to different people – maybe it has to do with its universality. Both critically and individually, we've been praised for our performances, our music, our editing, our f/x, our cinematography...and of course I have to mention...my writing. We've gotten awards for all these things, and we've had people at various festivals congratulating us on these elements, too. I find this strange but exciting. In the past, I've always found audiences to single out one or two elements of my films, so there'd be a general consensus on what stands out, usually the performances. But here, different people are responding to different things. Pretty cool, really.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
There have been small surprises along the way. At the Other Worlds Austin Sci-Fi Film Festival, a prominent veteran TV director happened to catch our screening and praised the film publicly. I was honored and grateful to hear the news that our star, Dean Cain, was very pleased with the film after Princeton screened it for him privately. An early review by Sonic Cinema got everything there is to get out of our movie. It goes so far as to state that 2050 does a better job of infusing emotional substance into a story about human interaction with artificial intelligence than Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049! So yeah – small but significant surprises in the last few months.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
That's easy. Sites like this one that are truly geared to the indie film community are a great way to explore and discover films. It's kinda like initiating a conversation – you don't know where it'll lead you. With this site, it didn't take me long to find a film I'd love to see that I hadn't heard of anywhere else. It's called Behind The Curve, and it's a doc that asks how people could believe the flat Earth theory. Wild stuff! If someone discovers 2050 in this kind of random way, it'd be the coolest thing.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Just an audience. An audience willing to be engaged by new ideas, perhaps scary ideas. An audience that's open to seeing something that they haven't seen before.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love to see people talking about some of the ideas in the movie. For them to contemplate some of our key questions. People could feel strongly at different ends of the spectrum – it wouldn't matter. But it would be fun to see where the discussions may go. Best case scenario, our movie makes people think a little differently.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
2050 is loaded with these key questions. If you had the chance to customize your lover to be the perfect companion without any judgment, would you? If people start turning to robots for pleasure and companionship, what will this do to our society, if anything? Is there a correlation between sexbots and porn? Are these damaging to society, and if so, what do we do about them while maintaining freedom of choice in our society?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Lots to look forward to. Princeton has moved into distribution, although he'll continue to executive produce. David continues to act in TV and film projects, and as a producer/director he's finishing a horror film called It Hungers. I'm organizing a release tour for an artsy/musical/horror/thriller feature that will by-pass festivals in favor of more intimate settings to encourage more meaningful connections and discussion with filmmakers, fans, other artists, friends and family. It's a project I wrote and directed called Til Death Do Us Part.
Interview: December 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
2050
A married video game developer is introduced to a warehouse that customizes androids for human companionship.
Length: 104 min
Writer: Brian Ackley
Co-producer: Brian Ackley
About the writer:
BRIAN ACKLEY is an award-winning writer, director, producer and actor with several feature films and shorts to his name.
Key cast: Dean Cain, David Vaughn, Irina Abraham, Devin Fuller
Facebook: 2050
Twitter: @2050movie
Instagram: @2050movie
Funders: Butterfly Chasers LLC
Made in association with: Be Your Own Hollywood
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival in Feb; In select theaters on Valentines Day nationwide