The Summer of Ulysses and Spider-Man

The cinema – in terms of box office takings and cinema audiences – was in great form this summer. Two films – Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ (who had previously made the sensational ‘Dunkirk’, about the rescue of Allied soldiers – thousands upon thousands of them – who had retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk) and Destin Daniel Cretton’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ – have given the box office a boost. In Italy too, following a rather forgettable season after Checco Zalone’s success (and a certain amount of scepticism that had built up towards summer releases), it’s never possible to predict how they’ll fare.

No one had a crystal ball to predict, a few summers ago, the record-breaking box office takings of “Barbie”. Who would have imagined that we’d spend this summer discussing Homer and Odysseus? And who would ever have bet on this latest “Spider-Man”, when even superheroes have proved fallible at the box office?

Yet that is exactly what happened. The summer cinema season lived up to its finest tradition, when people rarely went on holiday and only the wealthy had air conditioning at home. Things are looking worse from a production perspective, as the industry has traditionally relied on the summer for its longer daylight hours and milder climate. In France, where they’re always a step ahead – this year out of necessity, as their summer has been sweltering and plagued by massive wildfires – production companies have had to take emergency measures, writes Screen International.

Alongside the French sets, cool areas were set up to catch one’s breath; whenever possible, filming took place at night, and there were doctors on hand. All this to cope with the sweltering summer, which made the work more difficult. If you’ve ever been on a film set, you’ll surely remember how often the actors’ make-up is touched up, even if it isn’t a period film. Woe betide you if you sweat, woe betide you if your face is shiny: they’ll be there straight away to dab it dry. Even the costumes suffer in the heat – just ask the wardrobe assistants. And, of course, the directors, technicians and all the crew suffer too.

You can’t shoot all films inside a studio. Keeping them at the right temperature under the blazing sun would eat up a fair chunk of the budget. We’ll end up seeing nothing but cartoons, which don’t sweat. The artists and animators, on the other hand, do sweat, but this can be remedied by having them work during the colder months, so that we have new films featuring the ducklings during the hot or very hot season.

Take “Oceania”, for example. Why on earth did they feel the need to remake it with real actors, in this sweltering heat? The animated film was already dull enough. The only notable thing was how much the heroine, Moana, had slimmed down: you can draw a plump young girl, but when she arrives on set, she loses weight.