Future Imperfect

Envisage a future where you could predetermine every characteristic of your children. You could choose at birth whether they are to be astronauts or binmen. And forget the whole sex thing - scientists will simply extract your genes and suitably mix them with your partner’s. That is the future as shown in Gattaca, in which Ethan Hawke plays an imperfect man (an "in-valid") trying to pursue both a career and a woman (Uma Thurman) beyond the destiny determined by his genes.

It’s not really surprising to discover the reason behind writer/director Andrew Niccol’s decision for choosing this particular movie for his debut: ‘My genes made me do it. I don’t know when I first thought of it, hot you can open a newspaper today, and I’m certain that you’ll read something about a new gene, and it became inescapable for me as a story idea."

New Zealand-born Niccol cut his artistic teeth writing and directing commercials in London until, four years ago, he decided that he had to try his luck in film land. He uprooted to Los Angeles and began to build up contacts while writing screenplays —Gattaca and The Truman Show. The first of these he directed himself, the second — helmed by Peter Weir and starring Jim Carey — is out later this year.

Gattaca, Niccol says, took him just under a year to write, and there came a point when he realized he simply had to stop updating the script. He wanted the film to feel like the near-future, but is well aware that technology is moving so fast that we already know that much is not science-fiction but science-fact. Niccol was more interested in the moral implications of gene technology and, on a different level, of one man fighting against the odds.

"I don’t put a date on the film," he says. ‘Some of it is now. There is already genetic discrimination in the workplace. There are Fortune 500 companies that arc already doing genetic testing on people, so that if you earn’ the gene for sickle cell anaemia, say, you can be denied a job or insurance. There is this fantastically horrific phrase that is used in genetics called the ‘healthy ill.’ It means that you will probably never get something, but that they have identified a chance that you will."

Niccol’s own feelings on the morals involved in genetic engineering are that his movie should serve as a warning of what could lay ahead for all of us. He recognises that genetic engineering can certainly help people but feels that it’s more a question of where you decide to draw the line.

"It’s a difficult situation because, on the one hand, you can’t say to someone who has the gene for something as devastating as Huntington’s Disease that there shouldn’t be genetic engineering, and that we can’t tamper with Nature. I think it’s a dangerous road to travel when you go the other way. It’s a fine line between ensuring that your child is healthy and doing something inhumane like trying to ensure your child is Mozart."

He owes a debt of gratitude to Jersey Films - Danny DeVito’s production company - which provided him with the $20 million budget to make the picture on his terms. "They didn’t have a choice. That was the condition - I would direct or there wouldn’t be a film. It was up to them to decide whether they wanted the material and they did." He is also extremely grateful that the stars of the feature - Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman - were happy to sign on the dotted line. "They were both brave enough to work with a director they had never heard of and they were drawn to the material. And it’s very gratifying to know that there are actors prepared to make those choices."

For 27-year-old Hawke, best known for his roles in Dead Poet's Society and Reality Bites, the decision to take the role of Vincent, the "in-valid", was instant once he’d met with Niccol. "I thought it was incredible," says the actor. "And I’d never seen a script like it before. I loved my part, and when I met Andrew in his office the walls were covered with this collage of stuff about DNA and genetics that he’d cut out from newspapers and magazines.

"We talked and he was so enthusiastic and I just thought ‘Yeah, this guy is going to make a very interesting movie. And Peter Weir was making one of Andrew’s scripts - I’m a

big fan of his - and he just called me and said ‘Work with this guy - he’s the real thing’." Hawke obviously enjoyed working with Uma Thurman, who stars as Irene, one of Vincent’s co-workers at the Gattaca Space Corporation - they started dating after the movie had finished, and she’s now expecting his child.

"Uma’s the primary reason the movie got made," he says. "I mean, she doesn’t have a really big part, but because she said to Andrew that yes, she’d do it, all these people were behind the film. She’s a frighteningly intelligent, disciplined young woman, and I really enjoyed working with her."

Niccol is already scribbling away on a new project, now that his first outing as a feature film director is finally over. But he’s unwilling to reveal what it’s about or whether it’ll be as bleak as Gattaca. "Somebody said to me the other day that not only do I think the glass is half-empty I think that the half that is full is poisoned." He laughs it off. "I think there is hope at the end of Gattaca. I don’t think it’s such a pessimistic view of the future."