Andy Serkis moderated the Mortal Engines panel at New York Comic Con 2018, during which producer Peter Jackson, director Christian Rivers and writer Phillippa Boyens joined castmembers Leila George, Rob Sheehan, Steven Lang, Jihae and Hera Hilmar to discuss the upcoming postapocalyptic sci-fi adventure. Set three thousand years in the future, Mortal Engines sees the city of London transformed into a "predator city" mounted on wheels, capable of unleashing holy hell on similarly tricked-out mobile metropolises and tiny "traction towns."
Serkis took the stage and opened by lamenting his "post-franchise depression," noting the end of his stint playing Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars and Caesar in the rebooted Planet of the Apes films. He then introduced the first 25-minutes of Mortal Engines, a dizzying mashup of steampunk and giant robot anime aesthetics. The footage introduces the principal characters, including the bookish historian Tom (Sheehan), his upper-crust friend at the museum Katherine (George), her shady dad Valentine (Weaving) and Valentine's would-be assassin, Hester (Hilmar). There's a lot of roller-coaster action and dazzling setpieces even in the opening moments, but those unfamiliar with the books who need a reason London has become a giant death vehicle might be left scratching their heads.
"It's set about three thousand years from now," Jackson explained. "It's in our future. It's not immediately post-apocalyptic. It's a time where society wiped itself out in the 60-Minute War, which we think of being 100 years from now, but the way things are going, it could be Tuesday."
Jackson admitted production on the adaptation was held up for a good chunk of time due to his continued work on the Lord of the Rings series. "I read the novels in about 2006 or 2007," he said. "We did about a year's worth of work on the scripts, then The Hobbit came along, which you will recall. That sort of put us out of commission for five-and-a-half years."
From there, Boyens took the opportunity to explain the meaning of the film's title. "It's from Othello , Act III, scene iii. [Author Phillip Reeve] chose this title, because it works on so many different levels. Yes, these cities are huge engines but they are teeming with life, and they have grown to become an entity in themselves. It's speaking to the fact that this is a lifecycle, it's about the predator-prey situation. Even these cities can fall, and their big, giant carcasses can be fed upon by the little villages."
Serkis then turned his attention to the actors, asking them to share some insight into their characters. Both Hilmar and George were eager to step into powerful, dynamic roles. "Hester's such an amazing character, flawed and crazy, but lovely at the same time. To play a female character that's allowed to be that, on that scale, was just a dream for me," said Hilmar.
Kristine isn't a knife-toting badass like Hester, but George believes her character's journey will resonate with audiences nonetheless. "She's been brought up to respect class and social standing. But, in spite of that, she has such a huge heart, and she's eager to help people whenever she can. We catch her at a really interesting time in her life, when she is discovering what the real world is, and how it's different from what she thought. That's really important to young people today. You have your childhood, and then you get woken up to what's really happening. Her journey is one of great strength, and we see her go from a girl to a really strong woman."
Tom, the protagonist of the film, has a somewhat similar background. "He's had the closest thing to a sheltered upbringing you can have in this world, this harsh environment. His parents are no longer in the picture, but they've given him a kind of unquenchable cheerfulness in a broken world. No matter what was thrown at him, he could tackle it and deal with it. He has a really strong spirit," said Sheehan.
Mortal Engines comes to theaters Dec. 14. Check back with Newsweek throughout the weekend for ongoing NYCC 2018 coverage.
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