Gattaca

The exteriors (including the roof scene) and some of the interior shots of the Gattaca complex were filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright's 1960 Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California.[7] The speakers in the complex broadcast announcements both in Esperanto language and English; Miko Sloper from the Esperanto League of North America went to the recording studio to handle the Esperanto part.[8] The parking lot scenes were shot at the Otis College of Art and Design, distinguished by its punch card-like windows, located near Los Angeles International Airport. The exterior of Vincent Freeman's house was shot at the CLA Building on the campus of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Other exterior shots were filmed at the bottom of the spillway of the Sepulveda Dam and outside The Forum in Inglewood. The solar power plant mirrors sequence was filmed at the Kramer Junction Solar Electric Generating Station.

The film is noted for its unique use of color. Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak employed vibrant gold, green, and electric blue tones throughout the film, and shot the film in Super 35mm format, which adds an enlarged layer of grain.

The movie uses a swimming treadmill in the opening minutes to punctuate the swimming and futuristic themes.[9] The production design makes heavy use of retrofuturism; the futuristic electric cars[10] are based on 1960s car models like Rover P6, Citroën DS19 and Studebaker Avanti,[11] futuristic buildings represent modern architecture of the 1950s, and clothing and hairstyles also evoke the 1940s and 1950s.

The film was shot under the working title The Eighth Day, a reference to the seven days of creation in the Bible. However, by the time its release was scheduled for the fall of 1997, the Belgian film Le huitième jour had already been released in the US under the title The Eighth Day. As a result, the film was retitled Gattaca.[12]

The opening title sequence was created by Michael Riley of Shine design studio. It features closeups of body matter (fingernails and hair) hitting the floor accompanied by loud sounds as the objects strike the ground. We later learn that these are the result of Vincent's daily bodily scourings. According to Riley they created oversize models of the fingernails and hair to create the effect.[13]

Gattaca was released in theaters on October 24, 1997, and opened at number 5 at the box office; trailing I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Devil's Advocate, Kiss the Girls, and Seven Years in Tibet.[14] Over the first weekend the film brought in $4.3 million. It ended its theatrical run with a domestic total of $12.5 million against a reported production budget of $36 million.[15]

Gattaca was released on DVD on July 1, 1998,[16] and was also released on Superbit DVD.[17] Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray versions were released on March 11, 2008.[18][19] Both editions contain a deleted scene featuring historical figures like Einstein, Lincoln, etc., who are described as having been genetically deficient.[15]

Gattaca received positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film received an approval rating of 82% based on 60 reviews, with a rating average of 7.11/10. The site's critical consensus states that "Intelligent and scientifically provocative, Gattaca is an absorbing sci-fi drama that poses important interesting ethical questions about the nature of science."[20] On Metacritic, the film received "generally favorable reviews" with a score of 64 out of 100, based on 20 reviews.[21] Roger Ebert stated, "This is one of the smartest and most provocative of science fiction films, a thriller with ideas."[22] James Berardinelli praised it for "energy and tautness" and its "thought-provoking script and thematic richness."[23]

Although critically acclaimed, Gattaca was not a box office success, but it is said to have crystallized the debate over the controversial topic of human genetic engineering.[24][25][26] The film's dystopian depiction of "genoism" has been cited by many bioethicists and laypeople in support of their hesitancy about, or opposition to, eugenics and the societal acceptance of the genetic-determinist ideology that may frame it.[27] In a 1997 review of the film for the journal Nature Genetics, molecular biologist Lee M. Silver stated that "Gattaca is a film that all geneticists should see if for no other reason than to understand the perception of our trade held by so many of the public-at-large".[28]

In the 2004 book Citizen Cyborg, bioethicist James Hughes in arguing for democratic transhumanism avoiding libertarian transhumanism and bioconservatism, criticized the premise and influence of the film,[29] as fear-mongering and arguing:

1. Astronaut-training programs are entirely justified in attempting to screen out people with heart problems for safety reasons;
2. In the United States, people are already screened by insurance companies on the basis of their propensities to disease, for actuarial purposes;
3. Rather than banning genetic testing or genetic enhancement, society should develop genetic information privacy laws such as the U.S. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act signed into law on May 21, 2008 that allow justified forms of genetic testing and data aggregation, but forbid those that are judged to result in genetic discrimination. Citizens should then be able to make a complaint to the appropriate authority if they believe they have been discriminated against because of their genotype.

On October 30, 2009, Variety reported that Sony Pictures Television was developing a television adaptation of the feature film as a one-hour police procedural set in the future. The show was to be written by Gil Grant, who has written for 24 and NCIS.[31]

Writer-director Andrew Niccol has called his 2011 film In Time a "bastard child of Gattaca".[32][33] Both films feature classic cars in a futuristic dystopia; a caste privilege schism which the protagonist challenges; and which prejudices the authorities into neglecting a thorough investigation in favor of condemning the protagonist.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul used near-verbatim portions of the plot summary from the English Wikipedia entry on Gattaca in a speech at Liberty University on October 28, 2013 in support of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's campaign for Governor of Virginia. Paul accused pro-choice politicians of advocating eugenics in a manner similar to the events in Gattaca.[34][35]