Evolution (2001)

Plot: A strange meteorite crashes to Earth, triggering the evolution of an alien ecosystem in an underground cavern. Top scientists are sent in to stop the growth before it threatens all life on the planet. The movie will be a comedy in the same vein as Ghostbusters.

News:

10 May, 2001

There are trailers galore available for this movie. Take your pick and have fun with it.

• Trailer 1 Lo-Res MOV
• Trailer 1 Med-Res MOV
• Trailer 1 Hi-Res MOV
• Trailer 2 MOV
• Trailer 3 MOV

23 January, 2001

Ivan Reitman talked to Cinescape about this project and why he chose Duchovny. "I knew David Duchovny from Beethoven, which I produced about 10 years ago," says Reitman. "I remember even then thinking, 'Wow! This guy is really good looking. He's got this wonderfully wry, ironic sense of humor. He's smart as hell, and someone ought to do a comedy with him.' And then he got this job on TV for seven years, where he plays [somebody] smart but not very funny at all. So most people don't realize he has that as part of his personality. Ever since then I've had it in the back of my mind that this is a guy who should be a movie star, and probably a movie star who could actually do comedy."

Reitman also gives a nice synopsis of the film. "Two scientists from the local community college are called in and they take a chip off the rock," he says. "And there's some kind of liquid material inside. They check into a microscope and [discover] one-celled organisms from outer space. And when they check about an hour or two later, these one-celled organisms seem to be multiple-celled organisms. If you just sort of follow that progression along you can imagine where it gets to."

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22 January, 2001

Entertainment Weekly printed a couple of photos from the set in their 2001 preview issue. The first shot gives us a good look at several of the aliens that have evolved in the cave. They look like some odd sort of dinosaur with an extra pair of limbs that could be wings if they had membranes stretched over them. The second shot shows David Duchovny and Orlando Jones taking a seat while somebody holds a much smaller version of the aliens.

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2 January, 2001

The ever popular Stax got his hands on the script for this beast and was kind enough to share his thoughts.

I only really laughed out loud a couple of times reading this, and there were no truly memorable one-liners or jokes. (I'm curious what Evolution would've been like had it been played straight.) This script was like that kid in high school everyone kind of liked but who never did anything to distinguish himself except to be amiable. Indeed, these heroes were so amiable and laid-back, and everything was played so tongue-in-cheek, that whatever menace the aliens presented was undercut. This helped make the story predictable. I hope the final film is edited tightly; there may be spells where the pace grinds to a halt as we wait for what we know will happen to happen.

Evolution was a hit-and-miss hybrid of comedy and science-fiction that, despite its best intentions, never completely win me over. It was a sweet and amiable romp – and I might still like the finished film – but this story read like a Ghostbusters retread. That's not necessarily a bad thing just nothing terribly new, either. – STAX

You can read the entire review here.

5 December, 2000

The movie may have just gotten underway as far as production goes but the marketing team is in full stride. At least that's my take considering that they have a poster out already. If the movie has a similar sense of humor as the poster I think it will be just fine.

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10 October, 2000

David Duchovny confirmed that he will be starring in Evolution. In an online chat last week, Duchovny said, "Evolution has been official for several days. I've signed with Dreamworks. It's a comedy about aliens - but then you probably know that already." He says that filming will begin shortly.

"In Evolution I play a Professor who is charged with saving the world from agressive aliens," he explains. "I think that it's a transition that will take me away from the X-Files towards other roles. I think it will be difficult to do another series since people will always remember my work in the X-Files. I think its the best time to turn the page and do something else."

Duchovny goes on to say that he has several projects coming up. So many in fact that he might have to skip an opportunity to appear in Star Wars Episode III. He said that George Lucas had approached him about a role in that movie. "I'm a fan of Star Wars," he says, "but I'm not sure of having the time to act in it...I've got tons of projects in production after the X-Files series."

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25 September, 2000

A cast is quickly being assembled for Ivan Reitman's next project Evolution. Julianne Moore (Hannibal), David Duchovny (Return to Me), Orlando Jones and Seann William Scott have all signed on or are in negotiations to join the cast.

The movie will tell the story of a strange meteorite that crashes to earth, coming to a rest in a giant cavern. Scientists discover that life forms are quickly forming in the cavern and growing and evolving rapidly. Pretty soon they realize that these lifeforms could soon threaten human existence.

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