STEALTH: The New Generation's 'Top Gun'

Writer-director Rob Cohen's high-flying action-adventure, "Stealth" revolves around three fighter pilots (Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel) deeply ensconced in a top-secret military program who must struggle to bring an artificial intelligence-based unmanned combat plane under control... before it initiates the next World War.

Over the years, Cohen has been contemplating making a movie about Navy fighter pilots, but in a way that had never been seen on screen before. "I really thought there was a way to create an intense experience in the air," says Cohen," not dissimilar to the way I depicted drag racing in `The Fast And The Furious' or the avalanche in `xXx'." Cohen was also fascinated by a recent technological advance called Tergen (terrain generator), developed by the special effects company Digital Domain, which would give him the ability to create virtual backgrounds. "So, if you want to fly over the mountains in Tajikistan, you dial up the real maps of those mountains," he explains. "From there you can create the actual terrain and, once it's virtual, match it to whatever you want. Prior to Tergen, when you wanted to make an aircraft change its position in space, the background had to change its position exactly as well. That was very difficult to do. But now we can match the terrain to any move a jet might make, no matter how extreme."

Thematically, "Stealth" is about war and technology, and just as importantly, according to Cohen, about technology being the child we have created and what can happen if that child surpasses us in ability. "What will be the consequences when computers become smarter, faster, more creative, self-generating and self-replicating?" he asks. "If they have control of our energy, they have control of our communication systems and of our military systems. What happens when they decide, in their evolution, to exercise free will?"

The action in "Stealth" revolves around a prototype of a computer driven aircraft, known as "EDI" (Extreme Deep Invader). He's what the military refers to as a UCAV (unmanned combat aerial vehicle). "In the film, we examine technology and what happens to the nature of war when the technical equation shifts because America has the ability to create a capable air force of smart drones, like 'EDI.' This capability already exists in the present, so it's not science fiction. It's where we're heading. The Navy told me they will no longer be ordering jets for human pilots."

In preparation for "Stealth," Cohen worked on the designs for "EDI" and the Talons, the other naval jets used in the movie. "These are swing-wing, hyper sonic fighter bombers with pulse detonation engines, which are on the naval drawing board but haven't been totally executed yet," Cohen explains. They also created the unmanned "EDI."

"I wanted the Talons to be sculpturally very beautiful, as well as powerful," says Cohen. "And I wanted 'EDI' to be both cool and terrifying. I was extremely pleased with the final results." - Columbia Pictures