'The Creator' Director Gareth Edwards On Creating Films With Heart

Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi blockbuster The Creator is finally in theaters. Despite being a wholly original story, the director has been very transparent about its visuals and aesthetic being inspired by classics such as Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now. While doing press for the film, however, he explained that there were other films that inspired some of the film’s deeper elements, including its heart.

At a conversation moderated by Total Film UK’s Jamie Graham, Edwards was specifically asked why all of his films had such an emotional core and why creating such heartfelt stories was important to him. Edwards’ reply was simple.

“I feel like that’s the goal [for] every movie you make,” he said. ” You don’t say this out loud because you set yourself up for failure. But, like, if you don’t make some people well up or cry, then you’re not really abusing, like, the power of cinema.”

He added that deep down every filmmaker’s secret is that they want to create something that affects them emotionally.

Edwards also spoke at length about how important Steven Spielberg’s E.T. was for him as a child.

“As a kid,” he said, “All I wanted to see an alien and a spaceship, you know? And BMX’es. And then I got absolutely moved to tears on this emotional journey with the two [characters].”

While he is hopeful is film has the same impact on some viewers, he acknowledges that everyone has their own opinion and he welcomes criticism.

“It’s up for other people to say if you are successful…or not,” he said.

READ: Director Gareth Edwards Reveals How ‘The Creator’ Came To Be, Which Films Inspired It And More!

The Creator stars John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles and Allison Janney.

Set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, it follows Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Chan), who is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war…and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives’ journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory, only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child (Voyles).

The film is directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One), with a screenplay by Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz (Pinocchio) from a story by Gareth Edwards. The producers are Gareth Edwards, p.g.a., Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer, p.g.a., and Arnon Milchan. The executive producers are Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Natalie Lehmann, Nick Meyer, and Zev Foreman.

The Creator is in theaters now.