While The Mercury Men will no doubt draw comparisons to the last serial revival attempt Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (mainly in part because we're in black and white and feature a character in aviation goggles), I wanted to quickly set the record straight on the films that truly did influence the creation of our story. Therefore, throughout the week I'll be posting a look the inspirations for The Mercury Men.TMM is originally born out of the old Hitchcockian idea of a normal man in extraordinary circumstances. In fact, the original concept short on which the series is based, was written around one simple question: what if you saved the entire world and then had to go to work the next morning? Like the classic Hitchcock characters, Edward Borman is no super-hero. He has no skills that would make him suitable for a mission of this sort. I'd go so far as to call him incompetent. Audiences will truly be wondering "how could HE possibly get out of this?" These themes are fully inspired by great Hitchcock films such as Saboteur, North By Northwest, The Wrong Man, and of course by the classic TV show The Twilight Zone.
A few weeks back I asked (via Twitter) what were people's favorite Hitchcock film, and the general consensus came to Vertigo. What's your favorite Hitchcock film?
My favoruite is Vertigo but all Hitchcock is great ans sublime: from wrong man to Marnie there is a filmmaker that bring the cinema most of their masterpieces. But Vertigo is the best, the tragic and the romantic and the bizarre tale that talks sincerely about love and death.
ReplyDelete"North By Northwest" or "Rear Window" are my favorites, with "The Trouble With Harry" as an offbeat comedic choice.
ReplyDeleteAs for "The Twighlight Zone" type influences, the office building setting calls to mind Harlan Ellison's "Demon With A Glass Hand" episode of "The Outer Limits.