- Social:
filmmaker
Jonathan Cavendish is an independent film producer.
PROFILE
Jonathan Cavendish
Guest
FROM Jonathan Cavendish
The Business
Director Andy Serkis and producer Jonathan Cavendish on 'Breathe' Actor Andy Serkis has played many roles in his 20-year-plus career where he looks like himself. But he's best known for his pioneering roles in performance capture, in which computer technology transforms him into characters like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies, the towering King Kong, and the highly evolved Caesar in the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy. In 2011, Serkis and producer Jonathan Cavendish created Imaginarium, a performance capture studio in the UK. They've also made the new film Breathe , with Serkis stepping behind the camera to direct. It's not the kind of movie you'd expect from people focused on new technology -- it's an old-fashioned love story starring real humans. For Cavendish, Breathe is a very personal project -- the story of his extraordinary parents. Cavendish's father Robin was stricken with polio in 1958 and became paralyzed from the neck down, unable to breathe without a ventilator. At the time, few people in that condition lived long and all were confined to hospital beds. Breathe depicts Robin Cavendish's battle to change that. In the film, Andrew Garfield plays Robin, while Claire Foy plays his wife Diana, who is determined to help him escape from the hospital. Robin Cavendish went on to become a pioneer in the fight for rights for the severely disabled. Breathe is the first film Serkis has directed to hit theaters, though it's not technically his directorial debut. He has been at work on a long-gestating performance-capture version of the Jungle Book -- not from Disney but from Warner Brothers. That film is still in post production. Serkis and Cavendish tell us about some of the projects in the works at Imaginarium, and share why they wanted to make a rather old-fashioned film like Breathe, a hopeful movie that demonstrates triumph in the face of adversity. They also talk about Andrew Garfield's commitment to the role (including wearing a mold of Jonathan Cavendish's teeth!), and another of Serkis' contributions to the film: you can hear him play saxophone on the soundtrack.
Recommended
Design and Architecture
Securing Public Spaces, Super Wealthy Asians Vehicles are increasingly being used as weapons, as seen in the London Bridge attack over the weekend and in New York’s Times Square last month. The Compton-based company Calpipe is designing security bollards to help make public spaces safer. And novelist Kevin Kwan satirizes the “crazy rich” Asian jet set and their luxurious tastes in his latest book, “Rich People Problems.”
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Trump says goodbye Paris Accord: What does it mean for U.S. and the planet? President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, the landmark international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Trump was to renegotiate a new deal, but will that happen?
The Treatment
Hua Hsu: A Floating Chinaman Author Hua Hsu stops by to discuss his book A Floating Chinaman, recounting the life of 1930's actor/writer H.T. Tsiang and his struggles entering the American literary world.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why is Trump so behind on filling staff jobs, establishing concrete policies? Yesterday Donald Trump signed a “decision memo” to revamp the air traffic control system. But there was little legislative detail in the plan. There’s not much to other splashy announcements from the White House, including tax cuts and the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And hundreds of positions are unfilled in federal agencies.