AEON FLUX: Kiss of Life or Kiss of Death?
by Dr. Craig Reid
In Hollywood, original movie scripts are becoming increasingly uncommon; now, more than ever, the film industry is churning out films based on book adaptations, old TV shows, re-makes, comic book characters, news stories and cartoons. AEON FLUX is the latest such project that could take an old TV cartoon franchise, give it the kiss of life and make it even more mainstream, lucrative and special. However, there are certain red flags that can appear before a film hits the screen and which signify instead the kiss of death; and AEON FLUX is showing some of these. In particular, the studio has opted to hold no press screenings of the film, and advertising has been kept to a bare minimum. But as with many projects, there are interesting subtexts in AEON FLUX that go beyond the surface of the film, things that touch upon narrative virtues of neat, cool and the inadvertent. The bottom line is whether the movie can connect with the teenage couch potato who relishes bondage, bizarre sex, science fiction and overheated violence. Or, to put it another way, can Charlize Theron pull off playing a character who by day is a high-priced dominatrix/fetish model and by night is a beautiful leather-clad assassin predisposed toward blowing up government installations, subverting automated border security systems and killing high-class, ruling class members?
In her first action-heroine role, Theron called upon her unique skills as a ballet dancer to bring the character to life.
"I was a ballerina for 12 years, where it took me that long to figure out why I loved ballet so much. It wasn't because I liked the technical aspect of it; I liked to get on stage and tell a story. For years, I did that, just using my body. For me, the physical aspect is as important as any line of dialogue."
In a neat twist and reverse process ? so to speak ? Theron prepared for AEON FLUX in a way similar to Christian Bale's approach to the character of Batman. Bale dedicated himself to five months of rigorous physical training, using the Keysi Fighting Method to prepare not only for the physically demanding role but also to overcome his 63 pound weight loss (he dropped from 184 pounds to an emaciated 121 pounds for his previous role as a tormented insomniac in THE MACHINIST). Conversely, after gaining 35 pounds for her character in MONSTER, Theron was eager to take on the physical challenges of AEON FLUX as a means to lose weight.
"I got very excited about how far I could actually push myself, and how many new things I could learn to do on my own on this film to really physically feel like I was this character," she says. "I got excited about pushing my body to that limit."
Theron trained for almost four months prior to the start of production. "When I began training, I hadn't done anything with my body for two years," recalls Theron. "I had to lose weight and build muscle, get some strength back. I wanted to get to a place where I felt stronger and more capable of doing the things that I had to do in this film."
Theron insists that stunt work is a necessary part of finding the character. "It was important to me that if I could believe in myself doing these things, then it wasn't so unrealistic," Theron says. "That was a question that I asked myself every time we did a stunt. The physical aspect sometimes is so much more important than my lines of dialogue, and that's the case for a character as physical as Aeon. I know I am being helped at times by a wire and mats ? there has to be a security blanket ? but I think it is important to get as close as you possibly can to doing it yourself. I think it helps tremendously with playing a character like this."
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To prepare for the action as well as to lose those final pounds and build long, lean muscles, Theron combined her already embedded dance elements with working with a Cirque de Soleil gymnast to hone gymnastic, trampoline and acrobatic skills, and spent four months learning various martial arts such as karate, judo, Capoiera and Krav Maga.
As the movie's filmmakers proudly boast and laud these aspects of her training, those of us who practice martial arts must view it with suspicion. This, after all, has become an unsettling trend, with studios purporting that their leads have undergone extensive martial arts training, to the point of becoming legitimate martial artists who can truly kick butt. It is ludicrous to think that a person, regardless of who they are and what their background is, can practice a martial art for 4-5 months and suddenly do what has taken serious practitioners years of dedication and training to do. The sad thing too is that whoever trains these actors invariably gushes that they were surprised and impressed with the actor's abilities. If you were training any big-name stars for a role and you wanted to keep working in the industry, what ? realistically ? would you say to the press if you were asked, (How good was the actor?) Would you tell the truth or the words that will get you another gig?
It also doesn't bode well when director Karyn Kusama (GIRLFIGHT) firmly states, "No one else could have played the role" ? a wasteful statement when you consider that one of many actresses could in fact have fit the bill. Michelle Yeoh, for example, with her current ruggedly etched body type, is much closer to Aeon's animated physique than most of the "soft", round, or voluptuous body types commonly associated with Hollywood actresses. Aeon Flux is not soft, round or voluptuous, therefore negating, for example, Angelina Jolie, who many critics feel would also have been an apt choice.
Created by Korean-born Peter Chung, AEON FLUX started off in 1991 as a segment of MTV's animation series, LIQUID TELEVISION, its first incarnation as a twelve-and-half minute short serialized weekly into two-minute segments. Budgeted at $90,000.00 and animated at Luk Film in Korea, the dialogue-free AEON FLUX blazed its way onto the screen with Aeon Flux wiping out ridiculously large numbers of armored security guards during an assassination mission. The segment ended with Aeon's now signature method of firing blindly above and around her, with wounded adversaries dropping all about like a swarm of flies hit by an insecticide bomb ? an abstract nod to the absurdity of violence seen in Hollywood blockbusters of that time. We eventually learn that the freelance spy and assassin hails from Monica, a land ruled by the precept of benevolent anarchy and total, personal freedom, a land that borders on the totalitarian nation of Bregna, which is ruled by her arch nemesis Trevor Goodchild. There is an interesting if subliminal pretext here, an inference that Monica is based on LA's peaceful and more carefree beachside community of Santa Monica while Bregna refers to Santa Monica's adjacent more highbrow, stricter neighborhood of Brentwood (the area featured when the police where chasing O.J. Simpson after he didn't commit murder).
Chung's intention was to make the show a parody of violence. "Many thought AEON FLUX was visual candy with no story," he says. "Not so. People equate text with story, and when there are no words, people assume there's no story. I wanted to tell and invent stories without words.
"I'd always wanted to do animation for adults," continues Chung. "I'd seen a lot of animation from Japan and I'd seen a lot of graphic novels from Europe. They were sophisticated in their storytelling; they weren't about good versus evil, heroes versus villains. Those were my main influences as I tried to create something people hadn't seen before. Aeon isn't a crime fighter; she isn't a government agent. She's not a hero in the classical sense. Instead, she's a force for personal freedom."
Budgeted at $200,000.00, the second season (airing in 1992) included five three-to-five-minute shorts where each episode followed a controversial blueprint: vital mission, tragic mistake, inevitable death. Chung's notion was that, in all other shows, one starts with the precept that the hero will live regardless of what situation is thrown at the hero.
"So there's never really anything at stake," Chung contends. "Real suspense involves not knowing what the actual outcome is going to be; but since you know the outcome every time, there is no real suspense, just the simulation of suspense. I thought it would be interesting to turn that on its head and presume that the character was going to die and see what that did."
When MTV found that the show tested well with female as well as male viewers, they gave the green light to convert AEON FLUX to a full-fledged, half-hour series. This change to a budget of $400,000.00 per 22-minute episode necessitated Aeon to have a voice as provided by Denise Poirier, which, according to Chung, forced the stories to be more ambiguous, denser and requiring more interpretation. Production was split between Mook Studios in Japan and Gana Animation in Korea. We first learn how to say Aeon's name in the opening episode, UTOPIA OR DEUTERONOPIA. It was pronounced "Ee-on."
Curiously, comparing Japanese and American animators is similar to comparing Hong Kong and American stuntmen. In American animation studios, they have different people who specialize in doing specific elements that need to be animated. So someone who draws women well animates a woman, the effects are drawn by effect animators, and so on. The Japanese animators are expected to do everything: background, character, props, effect, etc. Similarly, American stuntmen are usually specific for the stunts they can perform, where Hong Kong stuntmen are expected to do everything. That is why, when you need to do action or cartoons and you want quality but have little budget, Asia is the haven.
The show's continued success led to MTV's announcement in 1997 that they were working toward developing AEON FLUX into a feature. Back then, Chung was quoted as hoping that the project would remain as animation. "I tried to convince the studio that it's safer to keep it as animation, cheaper, thinking that a lower-budgeted feature could be more aimed specifically at fans of the show, knowing the fans would go see it, which is a guaranteed audience." Well, they didn't listen to Chung.
Set in 2415, when government agents murder her family, Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) swears revenge. In the film, she's a highly trained soldier on the front lines of a war against the perfect society. Aeon is also one of the few to suspect that this perfect life is hiding a perfect lie.
"When her family is killed by government agents, Aeon Flux is eager to take revenge. But before she can complete her mission, she uncovers secrets that change everything," Theron shares. As the top operative in an underground rebellion against the dictatorial leaders of Bregna, a walled future city, everything Aeon knows is challenged when she receives her latest assignment: the assassination of Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), ruler of Bregna and, in the TV show, an antagonist lover.
"This is the mission she has been waiting for her entire life," says producer Gale Anne Hurd, who previously produced the sci-fi classics THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, THE ABYSS and THE HULK. According to Hurd, Aeon Flux is the only agent who can perform such a mission. "Aeon is able to do things that others can't. She's the best on every possible level, but what she discovers shakes her beliefs about how the world operates."
"Aeon is ruthless; all she cares about is the mission," says Theron. "She gave up the idea of a normal life long ago; she is a professional killer. As far as she's concerned, she's on the planet for one reason: to avenge the murder of her family. She thinks this one mission will change her life and make everything better, but nothing is that simple.
"I wanted to take the elements that Peter Chung created for Aeon and celebrate them as much as possible, physically, where we could, but also who she is," Theron reminisces. "Aeon is a very strong woman, quite a free thinker, who questions the things happening in the society she lives in. She thinks that this one mission will change her life; but as it turns out, she has to make some tough decisions."
The film features new characters not seen on the show. However, one character, Aeon's prot?g? Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo, best known for her role in HOTEL RWANDA) seems to be modeled after Scafandra, a double agent who had hands for feet and was featured in episode four of the third season, LAST TIME FOR EVERYTHING ? the link being that Sithandra elected to modify her body in order to be a more effective soldier by surgically altering her feet to make them hands, or "fands" (a contraction of "feet for hands").
Will the show live up to the expectations of the fans while also being accessible to new viewers? The fans need only watch the trailer to have their answer. As for attracting a new audience, no one in the media has seen the film, so it can neither be praised nor trashed. You're on your own on this one, folks. However, Chung finally and perhaps pleadingly adds, "It's very exciting to see something I worked on such a long time ago to be given a new lease on life and introduced to a whole new audience. Fans will not be disappointed."
Written by Dr. Craig Reid for KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM
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