The Aeronauts brings the joy and perils of Victorian ballooning to vivid life, Ars Technica
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“I believe there are answers in the sky” –
Co-producer Todd Lieberman on the challenges of bringing this story to the silver screen
Jennifer Ouellette – Dec 7,******************************************************************************** (8: ********************************************************************************************************************************** (PM UTC) **************
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/Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones star inThe Aeronauts************ Amazon StudiosJust in time for the holiday season, Amazon Studios has releasedThe Aeronauts, a soaring historical adventure film about the perils faced by a Victorian scientist and a balloonist attempting to fly higher than anyone before them. Granted, the characters might be a bit thinly drawn when it comes to emotional depth, and the earth-bound first act is solid, if unremarkable, period drama. However, once the film (literally) gets off the ground, it blossoms into a gripping, thoroughly entertaining epic tale of survival at punishing altitudes. Above all, the film looks spectacular; Every frame is practically a canvas, painted in vibrant, almost Disney-esque hues.
(Some spoilers below.)
The Aeronautsis a fictionalized account of a historic balloon flight by pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher. He and his pilot, Henry Coxwell, made several balloon flights to measure the temperature and humidity of the upper atmosphere between and . Armed with scientific instruments and bottles of brandy, Glaisher and Coxwell set a world-altitude record, reaching an estimated 90, (feet) (*******************************************************************************************************************************************************, (meters) on September 5, (****************************************************************************************************************. They were the first men to reach the atmospheric stratosphere, and they did it without the benefit of oxygen tanks, pressure suits, or a pressurized cabin.
During the flight, the men released pigeons at various altitudes to see how well they flew, recalling that those released above the three-mile mark “dropped like a stone.” They would have continued rising and likely died because the valving rope Coxwell needed to manipulate to begin their descent got tangled up with the balloon net. Coxwell had to climb out of the basket and up into the rigging to release the valve with his teeth — his hands were badly frostbitten — in order to begin their descent. By then, Glaisher had passed out. Eventually, the men landed safely (if a bit roughly) about 38 miles from their original launch point.
The film version recreates many of those elements, but while Glaisher is a primary character (played by Eddie Redmayne of (The Theory of Everything
) (in The Aeronauts, writer / director Tom Harper opted to replace Coxwell with a fictional female character, Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones, also of
The Theory of Everything
). It opens with a frustrated Glaisher trying in vain to convince his scientific colleagues of the potential of ballooning to enable better study of Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in more accurate weather prediction. Meanwhile, a widowed Amelia is facing pressure from her mother and sister to remarry and leave her ballooning adventures with her late husband behind her. When Glaisher offers Amelia a job piloting a balloon higher than anyone has attempted before, she is initially reluctant, but then accepts. They end up facing far more peril than they bargained for. Up, up, and away
Harper wanted his sky-borne scenes to be as authentic as possible. These were by far the most challenging aspect of the production, since he wanted to shoot his actors in an actual balloon at 2, 07 feet. According to co-producer Todd Lieberman, that involved finding someone willing and able to build an 150 – foot helium-filled (as opposed to a hot air) balloon — and someone willing and able to fly it. A company calledFlying Pictures, headed by Colin Prescot, obliged. Prescot also brought renowned Swedish aeronaut
Per Lindstrandaboard to pilot the balloon. (Lindstrand famously made a series of transoceanic hot-air balloon flights in partnership withSir Richard Branson.
“I think a balloon of this kind hadn’t been built in over four decades, and this might be the first replica of a period balloon of that era ever built, “said Lieberman.
Falling Upwardsby Richard Holmes. Intrepid aeronauts of the past really did make a parachute of the balloon, or witness butterflies at surprisingly high altitudes. And per Lieberman, an aeronaut named Charles Green – inventor of the trail rope as an aid to steering and landing a balloon, among other accomplishments — really did summit the side of a balloon, albeit at a lower altitude than is portrayed in the film.
The decision to replace Coxwell with the fictionalized Amelia proved rather controversial, when the Royal Society’s head of library, Keith Moore,told The Daily Telegraphlast year, “It’s a great shame that Henry isn’t portrayed because he performed very well and saved the life of a leading scientist,” adding that he wished the film had chosen to include one of the “many deserving female scholars of the period.
Amelia was actually inspired by several historical female aeronauts, most notably Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to find work as a professional balloonist when her balloonist husband, Jean-Pierre, died. (The account of Amelia’s husband’s death in the film was inspired by the real demise of aviator
were also influential as Harper was developing the character.
“The idea of two scientists sitting in a basket going up and down who shared the same basic outlook on life didn ‘ t hold much tension, “said Lieberman. “So we decided to do an amalgamation: take the best of these different flights from the time period, and find a counterpoint to James Glaisher.”
Glaisher really did struggle to raise funding for his expeditions from the Royal Society. His eventual success resulted in his becoming president of the newly formed Royal Meteorological Societyjust five years after his historic flight with Coxwell. In the end,The Aeronauts
) is an uplifting story, both literally and figuratively — just as the filmmakers intended.
The Aeronautsis now playing in theaters.
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