The Invasion

Australia, United States

2007

99 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 2.1/5 Stars.
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DIR Oliver Hirschbiegel, James McTeigue

EXEC Bruce Berman, Doug Davison, Susan Downey, Roy Lee, Steve Richards, Ronald G. Smith

SCR David Kajganich, Jack Finney

CAST Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Veronica Cartwright, Josef Sommer, Celia Weston, Roger Rees

While returning to Earth, the space-bus explodes and the fragments bring an alien virus that recodes the human DNA. In Washington, the psychiatrist Carol Bennell observes the modification of the behavior of one of her clients first, then in her former husband and finally in the population in general. Together with her friend Dr. Ben Driscoll the researcher Dr. Stephen Galeano, they discover that the extraterrestrial epidemic affects human beings while sleeping and that her son Ollie, who had chickenpox when he was a baby, is immune to the disease and may save mankind from the outbreak. —IMDb

Director

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Oliver Hirschbiegel, born December 29, 1957, in Hamburg, went to sea as a scullion after finishing Waldorf school. On his return, he studied painting and graphic with Sigmar Polke at Hamburg’s Hochschule der Künste but soon turned more and more to the departments of photography, video, and film; did installation art and performances, and finally switched to film directing.

Hirschbiegel started his professional career as a filmmaker in the mid-1980s as a unit manager for the TV series “Losberg”. In 1986, he made his debut as a director with the TV movie “Das Go! Projekt”. Hirschbiegel also wrote the screenplay for the film. Five years later, he caused a stir with the cutting-edge TV project “Mörderische Entscheidung” (“Murderous Decisions”): The thriller tells the same story in two separate films from the perspective of two different persons. Viewers were able to choose their perspective depending on the situation by switching between the ARD and the ZDF TV channels as both films… read more

Oliver Hirschbiegel, born December 29, 1957, in Hamburg, went to sea as a scullion after finishing Waldorf school. On his return, he studied painting and graphic with Sigmar Polke at Hamburg’s Hochschule der Künste but soon turned more and more to the departments of photography, video, and film; did installation art and performances, and finally switched to film directing.

Hirschbiegel started his professional career as a filmmaker in the mid-1980s as a unit manager for the TV series “Losberg”. In 1986, he made his debut as a director with the TV movie “Das Go! Projekt”. Hirschbiegel also wrote the screenplay for the film. Five years later, he caused a stir with the cutting-edge TV project “Mörderische Entscheidung” (“Murderous Decisions”): The thriller tells the same story in two separate films from the perspective of two different persons. Viewers were able to choose their perspective depending on the situation by switching between the ARD and the ZDF TV channels as both films were broadcast simultaneously – a novelty for German television.

In the following year, Hirschbiegel directed the “Tatort” episode “Kinderspiel” that won the Grimme award. After a number of crime series episodes for “Kommissar Rex” (1997) and TV movies such as “Das Urteil” (1997), that also won a Grimme award, Hirschbiegel made his debut on the movie screen in 2001: The thriller “Das Experiment” (“The Experiment”) featured a top-class cast and became a box office hit. Furthermore, the film won three Bavarian film awards and four German film awards, among others.

After the one-person chamber play “Mein letzter Film” (“My Last Film”, 2002), starring Hannelore Elsner, Hirschbiegel became internationally known in 2004 with “Der Untergang” (“Downfall”, 2004), based on the book by Joachim Fest. The major production features several character actors and tells the story of the final hours in Hitler’s Führerbunker in Berlin. While the film received a lot of bad reviews from German critics, critics from the US and from Great Britain, for instance, were far more sympathetic with the movie. Despite the negative reviews, “Der Untergang” attracted a large audience. More than 4.6 million German movie goers saw the film in the cinemas. Furthermore, “Der Untergang” won numerous national and international awards, including the award of the association of London film critics and three Bavarian film awards.

With the success of “Das Experiment” and “Der Untergang”, Hirschbiegel landed his first offers for Hollywood movies. After finishing “Ein ganz gewöhnlicher Jude” (2005), another ambitious chamber play, Hirschbiegel finally gave in to the large offers and made his Hollywood debut with the science fiction thriller “Invasion”, a remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. But during the production of “Invasion”, he encountered creative differences with the producers who pulled Hirschbiegel from the film shortly before he could finish the project and replaced him with director James McTeigue (without crediting him).

In 2009, Oliver Hirschbiegel directed “Five Minutes of Heaven”, a British drama starring Liam Neeson in the leading role. — Filmportal.de

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James McTeigue

James McTeigue (born 29 December 1967) is an Australian film director. He has been an assistant director on many films, including No Escape (1994), the Matrix trilogy (1999–2003) and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and made his directorial debut with the 2006 film V for Vendetta.

Early life

Born on Sydney’s North Shore, he grew up in Collaroy Plateau, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. McTeigue attended Marist Brothers North Sydney then Cromer High School, in Cromer, a northern beach suburb of Sydney. He completed tertiary study in film at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Campus.

Career

He first became involved in the film industry in the late 1980s, acting as production runner or production assistant in a number of small Australian films. In 1991 his role became assistant director, being the third assistant director in another Australian film, titled The Girl Who Came Late.

In 1994 he was the second assistant… read more

James McTeigue (born 29 December 1967) is an Australian film director. He has been an assistant director on many films, including No Escape (1994), the Matrix trilogy (1999–2003) and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and made his directorial debut with the 2006 film V for Vendetta.

Early life

Born on Sydney’s North Shore, he grew up in Collaroy Plateau, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. McTeigue attended Marist Brothers North Sydney then Cromer High School, in Cromer, a northern beach suburb of Sydney. He completed tertiary study in film at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Campus.

Career

He first became involved in the film industry in the late 1980s, acting as production runner or production assistant in a number of small Australian films. In 1991 his role became assistant director, being the third assistant director in another Australian film, titled The Girl Who Came Late.

In 1994 he was the second assistant director in Country Life, a film adaptation based on Michael Blakemore’s National Theatre production of Uncle Vanya, which had a much wider audience than his previous affairs. He also acted again as second assistant director in a small Australian television film.

It was however, later in the year of 1994 the McTeigue broke into mainstream Hollywood, being the second assistant director for No Escape, and the big budget Street Fighter. In 1996, McTeigue again assumed the role of second assistant director, with an American television film and a small Australian film being completed that year.

In 1997 he was the second assistant director for WWII film, Paradise Road, as well as The Well, that year he also became first assistant director for a television series, Big Sky. The following year he was the second assistant director for the American science-fiction film, Dark City as well as Australian film, The Sugar Factory.

It was the following year, 1999, that McTeigue really came to prominence. McTeigue was apparently going to act as second assistant director for The Matrix film, that is, until the first assistant director, a friend of McTeigue who told him about the project had to drop out, which saw The Wachowski Brothers make McTeigue first assistant. The film was released in 1999 and became a huge success.

The following year he acted as first assistant director on the massively popular Australian film, Looking for Alibrandi. He was also involved in The Monkey’s Mask that year, again as first assistant director.

In 2000, McTeigue worked with George Lucas and became the first assistant director for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which was released in 2002. Following this, he was also the first assistant director for both Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

In 2006 McTeigue made his directorial debut, directing the Wachowski brothers’ produced film, V for Vendetta. After spending so much time on The Matrix film series, the brothers gave the opportunity to McTeigue to direct, first showing him a copy of the Vendetta graphic novel during post-production of The Matrix Revolutions. McTeigue has been highly praised since the film’s release in March 2006.

He directed the Wachowski brothers-produced film Ninja Assassin which was out in 2009.

McTeigue is currently in talks to direct Osiris Release and is stated to direct the adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon in 2009. That same year, he expressed interest in directing a reboot of the Superman film series, though Warner Bros. ultimately gave the job of rebooting the Superman franchise to Zack Snyder. —Wikipedia

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