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Modern classic: Pitch Black - Page 3 of 3 - SciFiNow

Modern classic: Pitch Black

Taking a look back at the production that unleashed Riddick.

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Aside from claustrophobia and broken gimbals, as well as the cold of the desert, which the actors all described as “freezing” at points, there were other, more technical issues with some of the direction and action called for by the script. “Some of these out of focus shots… you really have to tell the camera guys,” said Twohy, remembering the distinctive camerawork seen in the film, from quick cuts through to intentional blurs. “It’s almost painful for them to shoot out of focus. These guys are fired for shooting out of focus, they’re gone, they’re history.”

In addition, some of the more throwaway scenes caused the director a headache, as he explains regarding a scene when the pilgrims are thanking Allah following their survival of the crash. “The pilgrims aren’t all facing Mecca, they’re facing each other, because it’s a place of multiple suns. They came to me and I’d scripted in… I think they had their backs to each other in the script or something like that, they were covering all of the bases.” Unfortunately, this detail caused a little religious strife on the set. “So they came to me and said ‘Mecca’s only one way’. And I said ‘You don’t know what way it is though’. And it took a little bit to get them to do it that way, because the pilgrims were actually Muslim kids.”

It wasn’t all problems on the set, however. One of Riddick’s most memorable scenes is when he escapes Johns’ handcuffs by dislocating both of his shoulders and levering his arms through a gap in the post that he’s chained to. Surprisingly, the scene isn’t 100 per cent CGI, but closer to three quarters practical. “Well, they set up this $60,000 special effects day to shoot that scene,” said Diesel. “And I walked on the set, and held the chain in my hands and actually did it. And everyone on the set just looked at me, like, ‘Vin! You didn’t tell me you could do that!’ But then, once my hands were locked in the cuffs and chains I wasn’t able to do it, because I wasn’t able to rotate my hands, it was a little tighter.”

The reception of the film was somewhat lukewarm at the time. Critics are divided on the subject, some praising Twohy’s directorial style and the compact nature of the film, while others lambasted some of the more ridiculous dialogue and what they perceived as wooden acting. Time Out called it a “smart, suspenseful sci-fi film”, while the San Francisco Chronicle labelled it “a tiresome experience”. Despite this, it has remained popular on DVD, with sales high enough to justify the creation of a sequel as well as its recent re-release onto the high-definition format Blu-ray. Echoes of Pitch Black can also be seen in other media, such as a particular scene in the popular videogame Gears Of War, where the main characters have to fight a swarm of flying creatures reminiscent of Pitch Black’s Bioraptors, who emerge from towers in much the same way as the film and who die when struck by a powerful searchlight. Ultimately, however, it is a divisive film, due to its protagonist being uncomfortably likeable, particularly if you ignore the more flimsy attempts to make him into a hero through the extended fictional universe and the weird decision to make him into a Furyan warrior in the sequel. Perhaps Twohy says it best during the commentary for the feature, in which he summarises the essence of the film itself. “Pitch Black was a modest film that we shot in Australia for about $20 million, and it was really a place for us to discover the Riddick character. Pitch Black is all about, if not shades of grey, shades of black, and we owe that to our central character, who is not a hero at all, but he is an antihero.”

This article originally appeared in the print edition of SciFiNow, issue 31 by James Rundle. To buy a copy of the magazine or subscribe, go to www.imagineshop.com, or call our subscriptions hotline on +44 (0) 844 844 0245.