Paramount+ premiered the series ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’, inspired by the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis and the iconic film by David Bowie. It features the work of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Jimmi Simpson, Rob Delaney, Sonya Cassidy, Joana Ribeiro, Annelle Olaleye, Kate Mulgrew, Clarke Peters and Bill Nighy.La story follows a new alien character who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must face his own past to determine the future. For that he is accompanied by Justin Falls, a scientist and engineer who must conquer her own demons in the race to save two worlds.
“We all had that first day at school, we all have the kind of emotions of feeling like we don’t belong at all or figuring out how to do it. To understand the character I based myself on all those experiences, and I also mean my story, my family, which includes migration… My family emigrated from Nigeria to the UK, with all that that means,” the actor said in a roundtable that filo.news was able to access. There are some elements of the story and the show that are more literal than others, but I feel like that part has the sense of migration in the sense of being an outsider, it’s part is one of the most literal ideas on the show and I really think it’s important.”
Oscar winner for “12 Years a Slave,” Ejiofor’s last work had been “Infinite,” the film directed by Antoine Fuqua; this year he was also part of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, the new Marvel release that hits theaters in May. “There are projects in which I lean: how to tell the stories of our complicated times, through science fiction or other narratives,” he said in dialogue with A.V. Club.
To compose his character in the new series he had the guidance of creators, producers and writers Alex Kurtzman (“Xena”; “Hercules”) and Jenny Lumet (“Star Trek”; “The Mummy”). The team is completed by John Hlavin, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Rola Bauer and Françoise Guyonnet. “It was fantastic to work with Alex. He has a lot of vision and understanding in every detail, on the creative level, how he wanted to film things. It was very interesting to work with someone who has that kind of scope,” Ejiofor said, “Together we try to really understand Faraday’s soul and what happens when he understands humanity, does that understanding affect him? What’s the fusion type point where he’s a little bit of both?” Recall that the series is based on the novel and the 1976 film, which starred David Bowie and directed by Nicolas Roeg (“Don’t Look Now”). It was one of the first works of the British singer-songwriter, actor and designer, which earned him the Saturn Award for “Best Actor”. The film also featured Rip Torn, Candy Clark and Buck Henry.
“I love David Bowie, and I loved the movie. I thought it was amazing, iconic, every scene and every shot was wonderful. Faraday was an emotional and intelligent being and Bowie communicated it in a very effective way, there was a vulnerability in him and intelligence, so we captured a little bit of that. I think there are some similarities between the films, but they are also very different, I think this program really speaks to our time,” he told this media. “I think our planet faces dangers. I think this program talks about that, without necessarily being didactic. I think it also speaks to the power of someone who says I don’t know what the future is, but what I can do is talk about what happened on my planet, and that’s what he really offers, and in that there’s a kind of real depth and integrity. It is the planet that is falling apart and it is in the process of being completely destroyed and therefore life is very difficult,” he said. Then he comes to Earth and one is still a planet for everything we are doing to him, it is still a planet that works so well for us, and it lets us know why it is still working because it allows us the freedom to do all these other things, to love and enjoy the community, the family and all these things. I think the show talks about the problems facing humanity but also the kind of extraordinarily beautiful things.”
