The ILMxLAB created world will immerse you in a border crossing journey between Mexico and the United States.
Alejandro Inarritu is taking a big step into the world of virtual reality. The acclaimed director of films like Babel, Birdman and The Revenant is teaming up with long-time collaborator cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to create an experimental VR short film. Work has already commenced on the project, which includes collaboration with Legendary Entertainment, Fondazione Prada and ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s recently established Immersive Entertainment division.
After four years of development, this will be the director’s first foray into the immersive medium and Legendary’s largest commitment yet for VR filmmaking.
The VR short film will follow a group of immigrants and refugees crossing the border between Mexico and the United States.
Inarritu and Lubezki teamed up on last year’s The Revenant and also the Michael Keaton lead movie, Birdman. Both films got the duo back-to-back best director Oscar wins.
Fondazione Prada is an institution devoted to art and culture created by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. They will be coming on to help fund the project and have experimented in the past with new visual languages. The company has presented shows by international artists, philosophy conferences, research exhibitions, and performing arts projects.
Inarritu joins a small but growing list of top talented directors entering the VR filmmaking space. He joins Steven Spielberg, who is consulting on a “family-oriented” VR project, and Michael Bay who is directing VR projects with Rogue Initiative.
Lucasfilms’ ILMxLAB will build the VR world and characters for the new project. ILMxLAB is already working on a Star Wars VR film with David S. Goyer, the co-writer of Batman v Superman and the Dark Knight trilogy, as well as partnering with Magic Leap to bring popular Star Wars characters to life in augmented reality.
