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The Midnight Sky

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This article is about the 2020 film. For the Miley Cyrus song, see Midnight Sky.
The Midnight Sky
Official release poster
Directed byGeorge Clooney
Screenplay byMark L. Smith
Based onGood Morning, Midnight
by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMartin Ruhe
Edited byStephen Mirrione
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • December 11, 2020 (2020-12-11) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$100 million[1]

The Midnight Sky is a 2020 American science fiction film directed by George Clooney, based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It stars Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall, and follows a scientist who must venture through the Arctic Circle with a young girl to warn off a returning spaceship following a global catastrophe.

The project was announced in June 2019, with Clooney to star and direct. Felicity Jones became pregnant after being cast in July, forcing a rewrite of her character, and the rest of the cast joined through the rest of the year. Filming took place in the United Kingdom, Iceland, and the Canary Islands, from October 2019 through February 2020.

The Midnight Sky began a limited theatrical release on December 11, 2020, before beginning to stream on Netflix on December 23. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising "the ambition and emotional tone," as well as its visuals and score, while others compared it unfavorably to previous sci-fi films.

Premise

Augustine, a lonely scientist in the Arctic, races to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe. He is the only survivor after a recent worldwide catastrophe, which has rendered the planet largely uninhabitable. He is gravely ill, but refuses to be taken to any remaining sanctuary site, in order to meet his destiny alone.

The scientist's solitude is broken by the notification of the scheduled return of a deep-space exploration crew, who are unaware of the catastrophe awaiting them. As he ponders whether to alert them of what awaits them, a six-year-old girl suddenly turns up in the Arctic solitude. Her situation is unknown and unexplainable, since she cannot speak.

The film explores the dual challenge of scientist bonding with child, and of scientist balancing how to advise the incoming spaceship crew, who by this time are aware of their inability to contact anyone on their regular lines of communication.[2]

Cast

Production

The film was announced in June 2019, with George Clooney directing and starring. Netflix would distribute, with filming set to begin in October.[3] Felicity Jones was added to the cast in July.[4] Jones became pregnant sometime after having been cast. Clooney opted to rewrite her character as pregnant versus using a body double.[5] Kyle Chandler and David Oyelowo joined the cast in August.[6][7] Tiffany Boone and Caoilinn Springall were added in October.[8] In November 2019, Demián Bichir joined the cast of the film.[9] Sophie Rundle, Ethan Peck, Tim Russ and Miriam Shor were announced as being added in January 2020.[10]

Filming began on October 21, 2019 in England, and wrapped in Iceland on February 7, 2020.[11][12] Some shooting also took place at La Palma, in the Canary Islands.[13] A scene that takes place in blizzard was filmed in 50-mile-per-hour winds with temperatures at 40 below zero. For his role, Clooney lost 25 pounds.[1] Scenes set on Earth and involving Clooney were shot before the end of 2019, while scenes set in space were shot after the production's Christmas break.[5]

Release

The film had a limited theatrical release on 11 December 2020, and was slated for digital release in late December.[14][15]

Reception

The Midnight Sky received some praise for its "ambition and emotional tone," though was compared unfavorably to other sci-fi films.[16] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 53% of 72 reviews of the film were positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critics consensus states, "The Midnight Sky lacks the dramatic heft to match its narrative scale, but its flaws are often balanced by thoughtful themes and a poignant performance from director-star George Clooney."[17] According to Metacritic, which sampled 23 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[18]

Alonso Duralde of TheWrap wrote "There's a lot that’s frustrating about George Clooney's new film The Midnight Sky, from its egregious borrowing from any number of better movies to its pacing issues, but thanks to a few grace notes, its shortcomings are mostly forgivable."[19] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B and described it as "a dystopian drama whose fluctuating tone—grim, with flickers of hopeful sentiment—feels almost comfortingly familiar, if a little on the nose for 2020."[20]

Wall Street Journal reviewer Joe Morganstern gave the film a warm review, but added: "The film isn't perfect. The narrative piles crisis upon crisis, from a fat fire in the observatory kitchen to spectacular repair efforts in space and a startling sequence that involves droplets of blood. The pace, paradoxically, can be awfully slow, but it may seem less so to home viewers with plenty of time and patience; the metabolic rate of motion pictures will be changing in the streaming era, to an extent we can't foresee."[2] However, he ends with a recommendation: "In the here and now, [the film] makes a dramatic case for planetary stewardship, and a stirring one for the connections we crave. In the course of those deep-space repairs the astronauts start to sing Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline . . "Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you" . . it sounds silly in the telling, but not in the singing. Whenever they can, reaching out and touching is what people do."[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Thompson, Anne (December 7, 2020). "George Clooney's 'The Midnight Sky' Could Bring Netflix to the Oscars — Here's Why". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Morganstern, Joe (10 December 2020). "Reaching Out In The Void - The Midnight Sky". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  3. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (June 24, 2019). "George Clooney To Direct & Star In Film Adaptation Of 'Good Morning, Midnight' Novel For Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  4. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; N'Duka, Amanda (July 9, 2019). "Felicity Jones Joins George Clooney Netflix 'Good Morning, Midnight' Film Adaptation". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  5. ^ a b George Clooney on COVID-19, Family, and Directing and Starring in Netflix's Oscar Contender 'The Midnight Sky'
  6. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (August 14, 2019). "Kyle Chandler Joins George Clooney & Felicity Jones In Clooney-Helmed Post-Apocalyptic Netflix Film". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 20, 2019). "David Oyelowo Joins George Clooney in 'Good Morning, Midnight' Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  8. ^ Galuppo, Mia (October 3, 2019). "Tiffany Boone Joins George Clooney's 'Good Morning, Midnight' Adaptation". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 8, 2019). "Demian Bichir to Join George Clooney in 'Good Morning, Midnight' Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  10. ^ Galuppo, Mia (August 20, 2019). "George Clooney's 'Good Morning, Midnight' Adaptation Adds Ethan Peck, Sophie Rundle". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  11. ^ "Aether". Production List. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  12. ^ https://www.filmstories.co.uk/news/george-clooney-heading-to-britain-for-his-next-film/
  13. ^ Mitchell, Damon (2020-03-02). "Celebrity News: George Clooney spotted filming scenes on the Canary Islands, Spain". Euro Weekly News Spain. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  14. ^ Alter, Rebecca (27 October 2020). "Is George Clooney Actually Santa in The Midnight Sky Trailer?". Vulture. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  15. ^ Alter, Rebecca (3 December 2020). "New poster for The Midnight Sky". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  16. ^ Gillespie, Daniel (December 9, 2020). "George Clooney's The Midnight Sky Review Roundup". Screen Rant. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  17. ^ "The Midnight Sky (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  18. ^ "The Midnight Sky Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  19. ^ Duralde, Alonso (December 9, 2020). "'Midnight Sky' Film Review: George Clooney Saves the Universe in Patchwork Sci-Fi Saga". TheWrap. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  20. ^ Greenblatt, Leah (December 9, 2020). "George Clooney shoots for the moon in moody space thriller The Midnight Sky: Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 9, 2020.

External links

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