Rebecca, what is your feeling about this whole technology thing?
Rebecca Hall: It’s an interesting topic that the film raises. Technology is arguably the thing that’s going to get us out of a lot of problems. It’s probably our greatest hope in terms of solving everything that’s problematic now in terms of our environment. But equally it’s likely to throw up a whole world of problems that we have no perception or even imagination to anticipate what they could possibly be at this point. It’s complicated but, whether we like it or not, we’re becoming more and more closely integrated with it so we have to deal with these problems.
Will is so romantic and did what he could do to be with his wife forever. But did he go too far? Have you ever done anything that went too far?
Johnny Depp: (Laughs) So many things come into my mind. I could come up with a 45-minute doozy for you… We’d all go to jail. We’d all be implicated. Yes! Paul (Bettany) told me to say, “Yes.” I’ve done horrible things in my life.
What went wrong?
Johnny Depp: Things go wrong all the time, especially between me and technology. I’m not familiar with it and I’m too old school a brain and dumb to be able to figure it out. Anything I have to attack with my thumbs for any period of time makes me feel stupid. So I try to avoid it as much as possible—to protect my thumbs, of course.
Evelyn does everything she can to save the man she loves. Do you think you should do anything for the one you love, and is there a line you shouldn’t cross?
Rebecca Hall: There probably is a line. I’d like to think that, were I in Evelyn’s shoes, I would think about the moral ramifications of deciding to maintain my husband in cyberspace. But those decisions come out of a place of high emotion, denial and grief, so who knows? The line is a bit difficult to draw in that respect.
Johnny Depp: The technology we’re talking about in terms of uploading a human consciousness is probably not all that far away.
Rebecca Hall: It’s probably going to happen whether or not we think there are lines. They’re all agreed about it happening, they are just arguing about when it’s going to happen.
Johnny Depp: Indeed, it will happen. It’s pretty close.
Paul Bettany: I spoke to a professor at Cal Tech who is gratifyingly enough called Professor Christoph Koch. He’s a brilliant man, and when I walked into the room he was also gratifyingly enough looking at a slice of the human brain whilst listening to Wagner; I kid you not. I said, “Professor Koch?” And he put his hand up like this to finish the aria. I said, “I’m a blonde actor and I’m not a science guy. I deal with trying to make the unreal things seem real, so what is the truth of this? How far-fetched is this?” And he said, “30 years.” It was a terrifying thought that they unified in the opinion that we have always been on a collision course with technology. The next stage of our evolution will involve machinery, and that’s a hell of a thought.
Would you make the same choice as Evelyn to upload her husband’s consciousness to a computer?
Johnny Depp: Technology is moving and reshaping itself every day, radically. If her character was in that situation and the technology/intelligence existed right this second and given a split second to decide, we’re all capable of answering that question ourselves with the person you love: would you do it? Would you be married to a hard drive? Think about how technology is moving so rapidly. Things become obsolete very, very quickly. So let’s say, Will Caster, in 15 years time, is going to be in some weird room in Vegas, and people are plugging quarters into him. Right? Who has a minidisc or laser disc player? It’s over.
Wally Pfister: In each character there’s a point of desperation. In Evelyn’s character she’s desperate to have some part of her husband who’s dying remain, and that drives her, along with the science in medical applications, to do what she does. It then becomes desperation with Will: we don’t know if this machine’s sentient or not, but he measures her hormones, which he thinks is making some sort of connection. But I think to us as an audience, certainly to Evelyn, it is quite a desperate level to reach and that’s what changes the course of her character’s direction. So there are a lot of things to think about in the question as to whether this machine is sentient or not.