This goes to show the range and talent River had as a 14-year-old. Lawrence later wrote that Phoenix was playing against type as the techie Wolfgang was completely different at the time from his real-life self.
Lawrence was on the set of Explorers (as a prop maker?) and saw Hawke and Phoenix at one of the locations, unaware of their roles in the movie. Their focused performances also benefitted from Dante's sharp direction. It's apparent that they each had natural acting ability and clearly understood the characters that Eric Luke wrote. Will the trio be able to reach the alien planet and what will they find?Įxplorers was the big-screen debuts for both Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix. They find an old Tilt-a-Whirl car that they convert into their spaceship, the Thunder Road (named after the Springsteen song). Darren's father has a job hauling old machines and spare parts to a junkyard where the boys poke around. Luckily, Wolfgang comes back and the boys decide they need something more solid and concrete for their voyage to outer-space. Ben types some keys in and sends Wolfgang off on a high-speed journey inside the bubble. Wolfgang, Ben, and Ben's friend, Darren Woods (Jason Presson), further the experiment outside in the open hills. He types into a keyboard connected to a 1984 Apple 11c and the program keys produce a roving spherical bubble. Wolfgang has his own laboratory in the basement of his parents' house. He communicates via handheld transceiver with his aspiring scientist friend, Wolfgang Müller (River Phoenix), that the design features could potentially help in constructing a traveling vessel. Upon awakening, Ben immediately draws a diagram of the circuit. Ben has a dream where he's flying above a long circuit board. Working at a breakneck pace and peak efficiency helped Dante and his crew get through the experience of making the film, although to this day the director still feels it's an unfinished work.īen Crandall (Ethan Hawke) is a bright and perky boy with dreams of one day making it into space. Several of the crew members who worked previously with Dante, including Bottin and cinematographer John Hora, were familiar with his creative preferences and what he wanted. This necessitated the crew build the sets and Rob Bottin create the aliens in a span of three months. What Dante didn't anticipate was Paramount imposing a firm summer release date to get Explorers into theaters. When Dante learned that Explorers revolved around three junior-high boys constructing a spaceship and traveling to another planet, he thought the scale of the production would be relatively simple and straightforward. Gremlins had been difficult to make for Dante primarily because the design and effects for the titular creatures were so involved. So, Petersen opted to make Enemy Mine with Fox instead. But, according to film historian Jeff Bond in his copious liner notes to Intrada's soundtrack album release, Petersen wanted to film at the studios in Bavaria but Paramount preferred to keep the production in the US. Wolfgang Petersen was originally tapped to direct Eric Luke's original screenplay, Explorers, for Paramount in 1985.
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