MANILA, Philippines - In 2073, a 37-year-old former-Marine commander Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed at Earth which was nearly destroyed by an alien invasion 60 years ago. As part of a massive operation to extract the planet’s remaining vital resources, he lives in an airborne “town†floating thousands of meters above the Earth.
His mission nearly complete, Jack’s soaring existence comes crashing down when he rescues a 22-year-old female stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a series of events that forces Jack to question everything he knows about the war and its aftermath. In addition, after being captured by an insurgency led by 102-year-old Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), Jack is told that the society in which he lives may in fact be a police state.
Cruise has achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer and philanthropist in a career spanning over three decades. He is a three-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Golden Globe Award winner whose films have earned in excess of $8B worldwide — an incomparable accomplishment. Seventeen of Cruise’s films have grossed over $100M in the US alone and 19 have grossed over $200M globally. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol opened in December 2011 to critical acclaim and grossed nearly $700M worldwide making it the biggest box-office success of Cruise’s career. The franchise has brought in over $2B globally since Cruise conceived the idea for the films and began producing them at Paramount while starring as the legendary spy, Ethan Hunt.
Freeman, on the other hand, is one of the most recognizable figures in American cinema. His works are among the most critically and commercially successful films of all time and Freeman himself ranks 10th among worldwide top-grossing actors of all time, with his films having earned more than $3B in cumulative ticket sales. Whether a role requires an air of gravitas, a playful smile, a twinkle of the eye or a world-weary, yet insightful soul, Freeman’s ability to delve to the core of a character and infuse it with a quiet dignity has resulted in some of the most memorable portrayals ever recorded on film. Freeman won an Academy Award in 2005 for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Million Dollar Baby. In 1990, he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical for his performance in Driving Miss Daisy. Freeman also received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for Best Supporting Actor for Street Smart and in 1994 for Best Actor for The Shawshank Redemption.
For casting one of the lead roles opposite Cruise, the producers considered five actresses: Jessica Chastain, Olivia Wilde, Brit Marling, Noomi Rapace and Olga Kurylenko, and all five auditioned on Aug. 27, 2011. It was subsequently announced that Chastain would play one of the film’s two female leads. In January 2012, Chastain entered into talks for a part in the Kathryn Bigelow film Zero Dark Thirty and subsequently dropped out of Oblivion contention. It was later announced that the role had been given to Kurylenko.
For the other leading role, the producers initially considered Hayley Atwell, Diane Kruger and Kate Beckinsale. The three actors traveled to Pittsburgh to screen-test with Cruise, who was filming Jack Reacher. The role finally went to Andrea Riseborough. Melissa Leo was cast at a later date.
Joseph Kosinski is a director whose uncompromising visual style and dynamic approach to the filmmaking craft has quickly made a mark in the filmmaking zeitgeist. His feature film debut, TRON: Legacy, for Walt Disney Studios, grossed more than $400M worldwide and was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award and a Grammy.
Oblivion is a Universal Pictures presentation. It is distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corporation. Showing in cinemas on April 10.