See who Sandra Bullock was talking to in this Gravity spinoff short, then cry your damn eyes out
In what could be considered a minor spoiler for those who have yet to see Gravity—but are clicking on articles about spinoffs of things they haven’t watched yet for some reason—Gravity screenwriter Jonas Cuarón has given The Hollywood Reporter a short film he directed that reveals the other side of a pivotal scene. Titled Aningaaq, the seven-minute companion piece follows an Inuit fisherman, his baby, and his dog—the sounds of whom are picked up by the stranded Sandra Bullock, as she attempts to make a distress call back to Earth.
“It's this moment where the audience and the character get this hope that Ryan is finally going to be OK," Cuarón said. "Then you realize that everything gets lost in translation.” Now you can watch the other side of that awkward conversation in the short that Cuarón shot in Greenland, with “drunken native” Orto Ignatiussen playing the title character who unknowingly chats with Bullock “about dogs, babies, life, and death,” but not so much with the “helping her get out of space.” But, as you’ll see, he’s got his own problems. The kind of problems that, depending on how you feel about pets, might make being stranded in space seem like not that big a deal.
Aningaaq has thus far made the rounds at a couple of festivals, but it will obviously get wider exposure as part of Gravity’s video release—and even before that, as it’s also been submitted for Oscar consideration. If Aningaaq gets nominated alongside Gravity (which already seems like a lock), it would be the first time a feature and a spinoff short were both up for the award. And even if it doesn’t, it’s still a remarkably affecting piece of work on its own.