Predestination (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Predestination

| image = Predestination poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = The Spierig Brothers

| producer = {{Plainlist|

The Spierig Brothers
Tim McGahan
Paddy McDonald

}}

| writer =

| screenplay = The Spierig Brothers

| story =

| based_on = {{based on|"{{thinsp}}'—All You Zombies—'{{-"}}|Robert A. Heinlein}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| narrator =

| music = Peter Spierig

| cinematography = Ben Nott

| editing = Matt Villa

| studio = {{Plainlist|

Screen Australia
Screen Queensland
Blacklab Entertainment
Wolfhound Pictures

}}

| distributor = Pinnacle Films
Stage 6 Films

| released = {{Film date|df=y|2014|03|08|SXSW Film Festival|2014|08|28|Australia}}

| runtime = 97 minutes{{cite web | url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/predestination-film | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709150511/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/predestination-film | url-status=dead | archive-date=9 July 2015 | title=PREDESTINATION (15) | work=British Board of Film Classification | date=3 October 2014 | access-date=8 July 2015}}

| country = Australia

| language = English

| budget = $5 million{{cite web| url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/ethan-hawke-to-make-scifi-film-in-melbourne-20130220-2erpz.html| author=Karl Quinn| title=Ethan Hawke to make sci-fi film in Melbourne| publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald| date=February 20, 2013}}

| gross = $5.4

million{{cite news |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Predestination#tab=international |title=Predestination (2014) |website=The Numbers|access-date=March 1, 2021}}

}}

Predestination is a 2014 Australian science fiction thriller film{{cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/arclight-films-acquires-spierig-bros-predestination-39761/|title=Arclight Films Acquires Spierig Bros.' 'Predestination'|website=TheWrap|date=14 May 2012 }} written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor, and is based on the 1959 short story "{{thinsp}}'—All You Zombies—'{{-"}} by Robert A. Heinlein.

Plot

In 1975, a time-traveling agent fails to stop a bomb from detonating, suffering severe burns. An unseen person helps him activate his time-travel device, allowing him to escape to 1992. Deemed a failure for not capturing the elusive “Fizzle Bomber,” his injuries and mental health concerns prompt his superiors to remind him of his impending retirement.

For his final mission, the agent goes undercover as a bartender in 1970 New York City, where he meets a customer who writes under the pen name “The Unmarried Mother.” After prompting, the customer tells his life story.

Assigned female at birth as Jane, he grew up in an orphanage, later recruited by a secret agency posing as SpaceCorp. After falling in love in college and becoming pregnant by an unknown man, Jane was abandoned. During childbirth, doctors discovered he was intersex. Complications during the birth led to gender reassignment surgery, and his baby was mysteriously kidnapped. He renamed himself John and relocated to New York City, harboring resentment toward the man who had left him and destroyed his life.

The agent offers John revenge by revealing he works for a time-travel agency. Together, they go back to 1963, where John discovers that he was his past self's lover all along. Despite knowing their love is doomed, John cannot bring himself to leave Jane.

Meanwhile, the agent illegally returns to 1975 and helps his wounded past self, completing a predestination loop. He kidnaps John's baby and leaves them in 1945 at the orphanage where John grew up. Thus, John is his own parents. Returning to 1963, the agent compels John to leave Jane as is his inevitable fate and recruits him into the agency in 1985.

Upon retiring in 1975, the agent is told where to find the Fizzle Bomber—only to discover the Bomber is his future self, who believes his actions prevented greater disasters and insists that Robertson is responsible for their entire life. The agent, refusing to accept this fate, kills him.

John's surgical scars are shown on the agent's body, confirming he is an older John—an orchestrated paradox created by Robertson. On a tape recording for his past self, John wonders whether the future can be changed.

Cast

{{Castlist|

Ethan Hawke as Agent Doe (listed in film's end credits as "The Barkeep"), an agent of the Temporal Bureau obsessed with catching the Fizzle Bomber
Sarah Snook as Jane/John (listed in the film's end credits as "The Unmarried Mother"), a confession stories author whom the Agent recruits into the Temporal Bureau
Monique Heath as 10-year-old Jane
Olivia Sprague as 5-year-old Jane
Noah Taylor as Mr. Robertson of the Temporal Bureau
Kuni Hashimoto as the Agent's doctor
Christopher Kirby as Mr. Miles, an employee of the Temporal Bureau
Christopher Sommers as Mr. Miller, an employee of the Temporal Bureau
Cate Wolfe as Beth, the orphanage director who finds baby Jane
Ben Prendergast as Dr. Clarke, a doctor who frequents the orphanage
Christopher Stollery as the SpaceCorp interviewer
Madeleine West as Mrs. Stapleton, who does psychological testing for SpaceCorp
Tyler Coppin as Dr. Heinlein, Jane/John's doctor
Freya Stafford as Alice, an antique store clerk
Christopher Bunworth as Jerry, the Agent's fellow barkeep

}}

Production

=Development=

The film is based on the 1959 short story "{{thinsp}}'—All You Zombies—'{{-"}} by Robert A. Heinlein.{{cite web| title= Arclight Films Snags the International Rights for the Spierig Brothers' Predestination| url= https://anythinghorror.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/arclight-films-snags-the-international-rights-for-the-spierig-brothers-predestination/ | date=2012-05-24| website= Anythinghorror |access-date= 3 July 2017}} At one point in an internal monologue in the film, the narrator quotes the story title. On 14 May 2012, the Spierig brothers—who had already written a screenplay—were announced as the directors of Predestination.{{cite news| last= McNary| first=Dave| title= 'Predestination' eyes early 2013 shoot| url=https://variety.com/2012/film/news/predestination-eyes-early-2013-shoot-1118053997/|access-date=23 March 2014|newspaper=variety.com|date=14 May 2012}} Peter Spierig explained in August 2014 that they remained close to Heinlein's 1959 short story.{{cite news| first=Alex | last= Godfrey|title=Ethan Hawke: 'Mining your life is the only way to stumble on anything real'| url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/29/ethan-hawke-boyhood-before-midnight?CMP=twt_gu|access-date=5 December 2014|work=The Guardian| date=29 November 2014}} They did not try to take apart the logic of the more than 50-year-old narrative: "... so we [Spierig brothers] worked on the [premise] that if there was a way to pick apart the logic, over that time it would have been done by now. We kind of say, 'let's trust the short story and trust that logic', so we stuck very closely to it."{{cite news| first=Michael | last= Bodey|title=Spierig brothers tackle time travel in their new movie 'Predestination'| url= http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/film/spierig-brothers-tackle-time-travel-in-their-new-movie-predestination/story-e6frg8pf-1227029721750|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140821022838/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/film/spierig-brothers-tackle-time-travel-in-their-new-movie-predestination/story-e6frg8pf-1227029721750| archive-date=21 August 2014|access-date=5 September 2018|work=The Australian| date=20 August 2014}}

Ethan Hawke was selected for the lead role, while Wolfhound Pictures and Blacklab Entertainment collaborated to produce the film.{{cite news| last=Shaw| first=Lucas| title=Arclight Films Acquires Spierig Bros.' 'Predestination'| url=https://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/arclight-films-acquires-spierig-bros-predestination-39761| access-date=23 March 2014| website=thewrap.com| date=14 May 2012| archive-date=23 March 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323121433/http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/arclight-films-acquires-spierig-bros-predestination-39761| url-status=dead}} Hawke explained in November 2014 that he is a longtime fan of the science fiction genre, but he prefers its human elements, rather than special effects:

Whether it's Robert Heinlein, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, H. G. Wells or whoever ... that kind of mind-bendy science-fiction where you can really attack themes in a new way. And when I read Predestination it was like: "What the f*** did I just read?!"

=Distribution=

Arclight Films had bought the international rights to the film, and on 18 May 2012, Tiberius Film attained the German rights to the film from Arclight.{{cite news| last= Roxborough |first= Scott|title=Tiberius Takes Ethan Hawke Thriller 'Predestination'| url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-tiberius-takes-ethan-326602 |access-date=23 March 2014| website= hollywoodreporter.com| date= 18 May 2012}} On 23 May 2012, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the American and some international rights to the film.{{cite news|last=Kit| first= Borys| title=Ethan Hawke Time-Travel Thriller 'Predestination' Bought By Sony| url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ethan-hawke-time-travel-project-predestination-328799| access-date=23 March 2014| work= hollywoodreporter.com|date=23 May 2012}}

=Financing=

On 5 September 2012, Screen Australia announced that it would finance the film as part of a A$4.8 million (US$3.6 million) investment in three feature films.{{cite news| title=Screen Australia Backs Ethan Hawke 'Predestination', 2 Other Projects| url= https://deadline.com/2012/09/screen-australia-backs-ethan-hawke-predestination-2-other-projects-330233/ | first= Don | last= Groves |access-date=23 March 2014| work= Deadline Hollywood| date= 5 September 2012}}

=Casting=

On 28 February 2013, Snook signed on to star in one of the film's lead roles,{{cite news|title=Sarah Snook Set To Star Opposite Ethan Hawke In 'Predestination'| first= Don | last= Groves |url= https://deadline.com/2013/02/sarah-snook-predestination-movie-casting-ethan-hawke-443161/| access-date=23 March 2014| website= Deadline Hollywood| date=28 February 2013}} followed by Taylor, who joined the cast of the film on 13 May 2013. Also in 2013, Pinnacle Films secured the Australian and New Zealand distribution rights to the film.{{cite news|last= Blatchford| first=Emily| title=Noah Taylor joins Hawke, Snook in Predestination cast|url= http://if.com.au/2013/05/13/article/Noah-Taylor-joins-Hawke-Snook-in-Predestination-cast/TIJODGNVSJ.html| access-date=23 March 2014| website= if.com.au|date=13 May 2013}}

=Filming=

On 19 February 2013, pre-production was scheduled to begin on 25 February 2013, while shooting was scheduled to begin on 8 April 2013 in Melbourne, for a duration of six weeks.{{cite news|last=Swift|first=Brendan|title=Spierig brothers' Predestination to shoot in April|url=http://if.com.au/2013/02/19/article/EXCLUSIVE-Spierig-brothers-Predestination-to-shoot-in-April/HJUXVCUZJE.html|access-date=23 March 2014| website= if.com.au|date=19 February 2013}} By 13 May 2013, filming was underway. Filming predominantly took place at the Docklands Studios Melbourne facility, located approximately {{cvt|1.5|km|mi}} from the Melbourne city centre.{{cite news|last= Quinn|first=Karl |title=Ethan Hawke to make sci-fi film in Melbourne| url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/ethan-hawke-to-make-scifi-film-in-melbourne-20130220-2erpz.html|access-date=23 March 2014| website=smh.com.au|date=20 February 2013}} Some scenes were shot at the Abbotsford Convent, located in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, the foyer of 333 Collins Street, the University of Melbourne old quad, and at the RMIT Design Hub.

In regard to Snook, the Spierig brothers explained to the media that they always seek to cast a lesser-known actor in their films. Michael Spierig later compared Snook's acting ability to that of fellow Australian actress Cate Blanchett. They also said that they prefer to film in Australia, with its rebates and incentives, but will film in any geographical location.

Release

Predestination{{'}}s global premiere was held on 8 March 2014 at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, US.{{cite news|last=Chang|first=Justin|title=SXSW Film Review: 'Predestination'|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/sxsw-film-review-predestination-1201128430/|access-date=23 March 2014|newspaper=variety.com|date=9 March 2014}} The film was then selected for the opening night gala of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), held at the Hamer Hall venue on 31 July 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. The MIFF promotional material described Predestination as a "distinctive blend of sci-fi, noir and crime fiction with a Bukowskian streak."{{cite web|title=MIFF Opening Night Gala 2014|url=http://miff.com.au/openingnightgala2014|website=Melbourne International Film Festival|access-date=5 August 2014|date=31 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802165418/http://miff.com.au/openingnightgala2014|archive-date=2 August 2014|df=dmy-all}} The Sydney premiere of the film, which also featured a live Q&A session with the directors, occurred on 6 August 2014 at the Palace Verona cinema.{{cite web|title=Predestination Sydney Premiere and Q&A with Spierig Brothers|url=http://www.palacecinemas.com.au/events/predestinationsydpremiere/|website=Palace Cinemas|access-date=5 December 2014|date=6 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210002252/http://www.palacecinemas.com.au/events/predestinationsydpremiere/|archive-date=10 December 2014|df=dmy-all}}

The film went on general release in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2015. Following the release of two trailers, and a seven-minute excerpt that was published on 3 December 2014, Predestination premiered on 9 January 2015 in the United States.{{cite web|author1=Evan Dickson|title=Ethan Hawke Is Looking Rough In This Seven Minute PREDESTINATION Opening Scene|url=https://collider.com/predestination-opening-scene-clip/|website=Collider|date=4 December 2014 |publisher=Complex|access-date=5 December 2014}}

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a score of 84% based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10. The site's critical consensus stated: "Fun genre fare with uncommon intelligence, Predestination serves as a better-than-average sci-fi adventure—and offers a starmaking turn from Sarah Snook."{{cite web|title=PREDESTINATION (2015)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/predestination/|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Flixster, 89Inc|access-date=8 April 2020|date=8 April 2020}} The film also has a score of 69 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web|title=PREDESTINATION (2015)|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/predestination|website=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=9 January 2015|date=9 January 2015}}

Variety magazine's review of the film called it an "entrancingly strange time-travel saga" that "succeeds in teasing the brain and touching the heart even when its twists and turns keep multiplying well past the point of narrative sustainability." In anticipation of the MIFF opening night's screening, the Sydney Morning Herald's National Film Editor Karl Quinn called Snook's performance a "career-making role". In terms of the plot, Quinn states that it is "intriguing" even though it could "unravel at the slightest tug on a thread of loose logic."{{cite news|author1=Karl Quinn|title=MIFF 2014 review: Predestination|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/miff-2014-review-predestination-20140730-3cunf.html|access-date=5 August 2014|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=30 July 2014}}

The lead character was variously described as transgender or intersex in different media articles.{{cite news|author1=Henry Barnes|title=Predestination has Ethan Hawke running out of time|url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/09/sxsw-2014-predestination-review-ethan-hawke|access-date=8 December 2014|work=The Guardian|date=10 March 2014}} Hawke told The Guardian that the narrative is relevant to all people: "There's something about Predestination that actually does get at identity, for me".

=Accolades=

Predestination won the 2014 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing in the AWGIE Awards.{{cite web| url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awgau/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/30130252/2014-AWGIES-Special-Awards-List-1973-2014.pdf|title= AWGIE special awards 1973-2015| publisher=AWG| access-date=23 December 2023}}

class="wikitable"
Award ! Category ! Subject ! Result
rowspan=11\|AACTA Award (4th){{cite web \|url=http://aacta.org/winners-nominees/4th-aacta-awards.aspx \|title=AACTA Winners & Nominees - 4th AACTA Awards \|date=29 January 2015 \|website=AFI / AACTA \|publisher=AACTA \|access-date=30 January 2015}} \|rowspan=3\|Best Film \|Paddy McDonald \|{{nom}}
Tim McGahan \|{{nom}}
rowspan=3\|The Spierig Brothers \|{{nom}}
Best Direction \|{{nom}}
Best Adapted Screenplay \|{{nom}}
Best Actress \|Sarah Snook \|{{won}}
Best Cinematography \|Ben Nott \|{{won}}
Best Editing \|Matt Villa \|{{won}}
Best Original Music Score \|Peter Spierig \|{{nom}}
Best Production Design \|Matthew Putland \|{{won}}
Best Costume Design \|Wendy Cork \|{{nom}}
rowspan=5\|AFCA Awards \|colspan=2\|Best Film \|{{nom}}
Best Director \|rowspan=2\|The Spierig brothers \|{{nom}}
Best Screenplay \|{{nom}}
Best Actress \|Sarah Snook \|{{nom}}
Best Cinematography \|rowspan=2\|Ben Nott \|{{nom}}
ACS Award \|Award of Distinction \|{{won}}
rowspan=10\|FCCA Awards \|rowspan=3\|Best Film \|Paddy McDonald \|{{nom}}
Tim McGahan \|{{nom}}
rowspan=3\|The Spierig brothers \|{{nom}}
Best Director \|{{nom}}
Best Screenplay \|{{nom}}
Best Actress \|Sarah Snook \|{{won}}
Best Cinematography \|Ben Nott \|{{nom}}
Best Editing \|Matt Villa \|{{won}}
Best Music Score \|Peter Spierig \|{{nom}}
Best Production Design \|Matthew Putland \|{{won}}
rowspan=3\|Toronto After Dark Film Festival \|colspan=2\|Special Award for Best Sci-Fi Film \|{{won}}
Special Award for Best Screenplay \|rowspan=2\|The Spierig brothers \|{{won}}
Audience Award for Best Feature Film \|{{won\|2nd place}}

class="wikitable"

Award

! Category

! Subject

! Result

rowspan=11|AACTA Award
(4th){{cite web |url=http://aacta.org/winners-nominees/4th-aacta-awards.aspx |title=AACTA Winners & Nominees - 4th AACTA Awards |date=29 January 2015 |website=AFI / AACTA |publisher=AACTA |access-date=30 January 2015}}

|rowspan=3|Best Film

|Paddy McDonald

|{{nom}}

Tim McGahan

|{{nom}}

rowspan=3|The Spierig Brothers

|{{nom}}

Best Direction

|{{nom}}

Best Adapted Screenplay

|{{nom}}

Best Actress