ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: USS Callister.
When we last spoke, you hinted that a certain other piece of material inspired USS Callister beyondStar Trek.
Which reminded me of that episode, a story they revisited again inThe Twilight Zonemovie.
Credit: Jonathan Prime / Netflix
I watched the episode again not that long ago and its still utterly terrifying.
Its like a depiction of what it must be like living under King Joffrey.
Youve got to watch your step.
That was the starting point.
What if we do a story about an all-powerful tyrant who cast himself as the hero?
Thats an aspect of it.
Its not where the idea came from.
Really USS Callister is about someone who is wielding absolute power who shouldnt be, and people overthrowing him.
My kids are 3 and 5 years old and I worry about them constantly.
Rather than a critique, its sympathetic.
You said previously that Jodie Foster changed some things from your original script.
What was changed?She had lots of thoughts about Maries relationship with her father.
She beefed up the role with the father; that role wasnt really in there.
It was very slight before.
She also had a lot of observations about how the technology would work.
She had thoughts across the board but those were ones that occur to me right now.
I was surprised at the level of violence in her attack on her mom.
Was there some discussion of how many whacks mom deserved?Well, yeah, weirdly.
You also needed enough to knock her unconscious.
I think we did dial it back, actually.
There was quite a few extra whacks in there.
There was more that you saw in a longshot that weirdly felt more brutal.
This was a nasty piece of work with great performances.
Thats what I was assuming.
Its like a traditional food truck, except fully automated.
You order the pizza using an app, and it comes and finds you like an Uber.
Because once weve named a company its easier to just re-use it.
I so want to see a trial where a hamster is the star witness.
[Laughs] That was the darkest twist.
That was one where I was going, I dont know if Im going to get away with this.
I absolutely loved this episode.
We figured it was long enough so youd think that its not devastating news, but its not forever.
He does react like hes disappointed but not reassured.
Five years is long enough so you might think, Maybe were going to drift apart.
Because we realized it couldnt be infinity, so he knows shes not going to be his ultimate match.
I hope the takeaway is that its playful and hopeful.
So I would think they would be matched with a random other person and their world would end.
We did have a lot of torturous conversations about whats really going on.
And it deliberately is setting a tight framework.
And if they do rebel, that means theyre destined to be together.
So if you dont rebel, the system has served its purpose and your reality ends.
Also loved this episode.
It was from watching Boston Dynamics videos, but crossed with have you seen the filmAll Is Lost?
I wanted to do a story where there was almost no dialogue.
You never filled in questions such as: How did the robots take over?
Is anybody controlling them?
But it felt a bit weird and too on-the-nose.
It kind of felt superfluous.
We deliberately pared it back and did a very simple story.
Why did you shoot black and white?
Was it just to be evocative?
He wanted it to be black and white.
I dont think it saved money on CG.
It felt like something I hadnt seen before doing lots of CG in black and white.
In the end, the crate sought by the humans is revealed to contain teddy bears.
We went back and forth on what should be in that warehouse.
Originally in the script, it just said toys.
The idea was a box of toys for a dying child.
David wanted it to be the only soft and comforting thing that we saw in the entire piece.
He wanted it to be something softer and more immediately comforting.
So we went for bears.
Which is probably just as well because a crate full of fidget spinners would have been ridiculous.
But I hope itsCreepshow,Tales from the Crypt-feeling comes across.
Yes, its got a Stephen King-y vibe.
I dont know where that name came from.
For our complete ranking of all theBlack Mirrorepisodes,head here.Black Mirroris available on Netflix.
I deliberately left the text unchanged to maintain the accuracy of our conversation.
Besides, hamster is funnier.
