Hasitha Fernando revisits Edge of Tomorrow as it turns 10 to look at the story behind the sci-fi action thriller…
It’s a damn shame that Tom Cruise hasn’t done a great many sci-fi movies ‘cos the ones he’s been part of have been surprisingly good. Starting with 2001’s Vanilla Sky, which was somewhat of a messy outing, Cruise then headlined Steven Spielberg’s dark sci-fi actioner Minority Report the following year. In 2005 the actor teamed up again with Spielberg for the cinematic adaptation of H.G Wells’ War of the Worlds and took a small hiatus from the genre before returning to it once again in 2013 with Oblivion. The very next year Cruise started production on Edge of Tomorrow, which saw him playing against type to deliver an unconventional yet utterly engrossing performance. And, as the film celebrates its tenth anniversary, we look at some interesting details of this “Groundhog Day meets Saving Private Ryan”-esque affair. Enjoy.
The film was a loose adaptation of a Japanese sci-fi light novel
Hiroshi Sakurazaka is a Japanese sci-fi and fantasy light novels who started his career as an IT specialist before shifting careers and becoming a novelist. In 2004 Sakurazaka made his first break with the short story “The Saitama Chainsaw Massacre” which nabbed the S-F Magazine Reader’s award. That same year saw the young writer received high-praise from genre writers in his country for his sci-fi light novel All You Need Is Kill which also went on to be nominated for the Best Japanese Long Work category at the 36th Seiun Awards in 2005. Four years later the American entertainment company Viz Media picked up the property and published translated copies of the work under its Haikasoru imprint. The IP drew the attention of 3 Arts Entertainment founder Erwin Stoff who immediately optioned the novel but instead of making a pitch to a major studio, Stoff reached out to writer Dante Harper to develop a spec script he can shop around to studios.
Script development was a thoroughly messy affair
Indie-filmmaker cum screenwriter Dante Harper was given a daunting task when Stoff approached him to hammer out a spec script based on “All You Need Is Kill”. Harper found the source material “too complex” to effectively make an adaptation but ultimately took the risk and accepted the job. The process ended up taking a fairly lengthy eight-month period and sadly Harper wasn’t even renumerated for his troubles. However, upon completing the spec script Warner Bros. purchased it in a $3 million deal in April 2010 but didn’t have a director attached to the project. Harper’s screenplay was therefore listed in the 2010 edition of the Black List, an annual survey of the industry’s most-liked yet unproduced screenplays. In mid-2011 Joby Harold was hired to rework Harper’s spec script and by August of that same year the studio has locked in Doug Liman as the director.
The studio first envisioned this as a flick headlined by A-lister Brad Pitt but after the actor declined the offer Warner Bros. approached Tom Cruise and got lucky. Six months before shooting commenced, however, Liman had a change of heart regarding Harper’s original script discarding two-thirds of it. British playwright Jez Butterworth and his son John-Henry Butterworth were hired to rework the script with screenwriter Simon Kinberg also contributing. Eight weeks prior to production Christophe McQuarrie joined the project to fully revamp the script and hew it closer to what Tom Cruise wanted. In the end, it was Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth that received final ‘screenplay by’ credit in the movie.
An atypical Tom Cruise role attracted Doug Liman to the project
Over four decades Tom Cruise has made a name as one the top performers of Hollywood and in nearly most cases the chap has gone on to play virtually infallible male leads brimming with confidence and skill. So, when Cruise decided to take on the role of Major William Cage, a cowardly paper pusher working in the military, filmmaker Doug Liman jumped at the opportunity to helm the movie. Hailing from an indie – film background Liman quickly won the love of audiences and the attention of major studios with such efforts as Swingers (1999) and Go (2001). He was then offered the opportunity to direct the first installment of the Bourne franchise – Bourne Identity – an IP he was already familiar with due to his relationship with author Robert Ludlum.
After the smashing success of Bourne Identity, Liman helmed the incendiary rom-com actioner Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) followed by the lesser successful Jumper (2008). However, in spite of his success Liman has been known to be a bit of a difficult person to work with due to his maverick filmmaking style. As a result, his recent spate of movies, namely Chaos Walking (2021) and Road House (2024), had famously troubled productions and became messy outputs. Even Edge of Tomorrow had its fair share of problems from the get-go when the beach set pieces scheduled to last a mere two weeks extended to nearly three months due to what the Los Angeles Times called, “the director’s self-described ‘workshop-y’ filming style”.
Emily Blunt almost killed Tom Cruise during a stunt
Since making waves with 2006’s Devil Wears Prada, British actress Emily Blunt has gone on to become one of the most sought-after performers in Hollywood. As such, she is currently the recipient of multiple accolades including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as a recent Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Katherine Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller Oppenheimer (2023). In Edge of Tomorrow Blunt plays the gutsy war hero Sergeant Rita Vrataski, who leads the charge against the alien Mimics. Whilst shooting the white knuckling car chase sequence that take place in a minivan Blunt was instructed to drive fast and take a right hand turn so that the van would shake. However, whilst performing the stunt Blunt missed her mark, driving the minivan straight into a nearby tree. It only later occurred to her that the impact could have actually killed mega star Tom Cruise as he was in the passenger seat, which made the experience both a hilarious and terrifying one for them both.
Over 100 practical exo-suits were developed for the film
During a podcast interview in 2022 Blunt confessed that she wasn’t ready for how heavy the weight of her practical exo-suit was for the movie. As a result, Blunt broke down and cried when she couldn’t move around in her 85-pound suit. This prompted her co-star Tom Cruise to come over and poke fun at her by saying, “Come on. Stop being such a pussy, ok?” which encouraged Blunt to steel herself and tackle the challenge head on. The exo-suits weren’t constructed just for Cruise and Blunt but for all their co-stars and background extras as well. Because of this over 100 practical exo-suits were painstakingly crafted by hand over a five month period by production’s lead builder Pierre Bohanna. Each suit consisted of three-hundred-and-twenty custom-made components and one-hundred-and-fifty “off-the-shelf” pieces made up of nuts and bolts. The movement of the suits was realized by wirework, via stunt coordinator/second unit director Simon Crane. The performers would essentially be strapped into the suit by a team of outfitters and then “puppet it” manually.
“Operation Downfall” was a real-life codename of a planned invasion during World War II
In the story, Operation Downfall was the codename given for the final onslaught between the global military alliance known as the United Defense Force (UDF) and the invading extra-terrestrial lifeforms known as the Mimics. Interestingly, Operation Downfall was the real-life codename given to a planned final invasion of the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. However, this operation never came to pass as the Japanese surrendered after the devastating attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The movie was one of Bill Paxton’s final few films before his demise
Over the course of several decades Bill Paxton made a himself a name as one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors. Getting his big break on James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Aliens (1986), Paxton wracked up quite the resume by starring in some of the most critically acclaimed feature films of the 90s which included the likes of revisionist western Tombstone (1993), action-comedy True Lies (1994), docudrama Apollo 13 (1995) and disaster thriller Twister (1996). After a career lull in the early 2000s the talented performer made a comeback with the dark social drama Nightcrawler (2014) and of course his hilariously memorable turn as Master Sargeant Farell in Edge of Tomorrow.
Designers created the Mimics to look different to any terrestrial animal in existence
The designers of the film didn’t want the extra-terrestrial Mimics to remotely resemble anything terrestrial. As Sony Picture Imageworks described its appearance it was akin to a “heavy black spaghetti” and the tentacles of the otherworldly creature proved to be quite a challenge for modelers. Since Liman didn’t want the Mimics to look “too organic or too terrestrial” the digital artists over at Sony Picture Imageworks devised the idea of making the aliens look as if they were made of an obsidian-like material resembling naturally occurring volcanic glass. Guillermo del Toro worked on the initial design of the Mimics, but the design changed so many times during post-production, that the final products seen in the movie bear little resemblance to del Toro’s original design.
The title underwent a major change at the very last moment
At first the movie took on the same title as Sakurazaka’s light novel All You Need Is Kill, but following the conclusion of the shoot in July 2013, Warner Bros. decided to change the title to Edge of Tomorrow. The last-minute change was influenced, in part by, the “negative chatter” regarding the word “kill” in the title according to then Warner Bros. president Sue Kroll. The film’s director Doug Liman also wasn’t a huge fan of the original title either because it “didn’t feel like it was the tone of the movie I had made”. Liman instead wanted to rename the film “Live Die Repeat”, but Warner decided to use that just as the film’s tagline. The studio’s opinion of this changed in light of the lukewarm box-office reception. So, when time came for the home release the tagline was given more prominence and the title of the movie was downplayed.
A lukewarm box-office, solid reviews and the birth of a potential sequel
Warner Bros. invested over $100 million in the marketing campaign for Edge of Tomorrow. However, in spite of these efforts, weeks before the film’s release, early reports predicted an underwhelming box-office performance in North America for the film. With a budget of over $175 million, The Hollywood Reporter called Edge of Tomorrow one of the “biggest box-office risks” for mid-2014. The sci-fi actioner ended up grossing $100.2 million in North America and $270.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $370.5 million, which was a respectable achievement but when one factors in the massive production budget and the sum dished out for the marketing campaign it becomes a cause for concern. Film critics were largely impressed by what they saw with praise heaped on the movie’s sense of humor, Liman’s direction, the aliens’ design, Cruise and Blunt’s performances, and the time-loop premise’s ability to remain fresh.
Although the flick tanked initially at the box-office, it gained a steady following when it came out on home video and streaming. Since then, Edge of Tomorrow has been embraced as one of the best sci-fi movies of the 2010’s, often bunched along with the likes of Inception (2010), Ex Machina (2014), Gravity (2013) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Talks of a potential sequel has been around since the original’s release with Doug Liman, Tom Cruise and the producers dropping updates every few years or so, the latest update coming following a contractual partnership between Cruise and Warner Bros. in January 2024 where it was stated that co-heads/co-chair people Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy had been in negotiations with Cruise to develop an Edge of Tomorrow sequel following the project’s many delays. Now, all we can do is wait for it to happen.
What are your thoughts on Edge of Tomorrow? Are you still hoping to see a sequel? Let us know on our socials @FlickeringMyth…
Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
