Production Info

Scarlett celebrated her 20th birthday during filming.

Tom Lincoln is from Scotland and has a liking for custom sport bikes – these character traits are based on those of Ewan McGregor.

During filming, Scarlett and Michael Bay had a disagreement over the bra she was required to wear in the sex scenes with Ewan McGregor. She felt it looked cheap and that the scene would lack authenticity, instead insisting that she be nude for the scene. Bay refused as the film was aimed at the PG-13 certification.

Though the city shots through the middle of the film are purportedly in Los Angeles, the city of Detroit served as the principal location for filming. Notable landmarks include the Johnny Rocket’s restaurant on Woodward Avenue across from Comerica Park, the giant building mural of Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, the U.S. Federal Building, and the raised tracks of the People Mover. These shots were overlaid with CGI-produced shots of tall, futuristic buildings to create the composite city of Los Angeles.

The black and white commercial starring Sarah Jordan is actually footage of Scarlett’s Eternity Moment ad for Calvin Klein.

Character Quotes

I promise I’ll go easy on you.

We could live like real people.

Quoting: Scarlett Johansson

On her character: Jordan is very sweet and innocent. She knows nothing other than the containment she’s been living in, apart from the world that she was told has been contaminated.

On Jordan and Lincoln’s relationship: She trusts him more than as a friend. They are attracted to each other–not really physically; it’s more of a soulful connection. They don’t know anything about sexual intimacy. They are totally naïve because they have been living in a kind of plastic bubble with no knowledge of the outside world. It’s a wonderful love story in a way, because it shows that, against all odds, people who are supposed to come together, will.

On her attraction to the role: I am a big fan of genre movies, and when I read the script, I was excited to know what was going to happen next. I really wanted to work with Ewan [McGregor] and Michael [Bay], too, so all of those elements made me want to do this movie.

On changes to the script: You know the first draft, I got of my character was completely different. My character’s name was Ester. I was pregnant. I had horrible asthma, which was cause for us to stop constantly and Ewan was taking care of me. I almost died and it was kind of the classic thing where Ewan was the big macho man and I was kind of helpless young girl. And I met with Michael and we were about to start the shoot. And I was thinking of ways I could bring some integrity to my character and Michael says, ‘Oh, by the way, we changed the name and the entire character.’ And this was like a week before we started shooting. And he was very proactive about my character. He wanted me to kick ass in this film. He didn’t want me to be some weakling. We trained for the film. We’re eating well, we’re physically trained, we’re up for this kind of adventure physically. And Michael wanted to make sure we were both in it together. We were both saving each other’s lives. It was very interesting. And Michael was very respectful of that. He wanted to create a strong female character, which was great.

On the film’s premise: I’m pro stem cell research. I think it has a lot of wonderful possibilities. If they could eliminate diseases like Alzheimer’s and Polio, that would be incredible. On the same note, people may say we’re playing with fate or the idea of people creating a master race or being able to choose their children’s eye color and that seems quite strange to me. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

On what she hopes audiences take from the film: I don’t believe movies should deliver messages. I don’t pick films based on what kind of messages they’re delivering. With this, when you leave the theater, you question how far would I go? But after all, when I go to a film, I paid 15 dollars and paid for my popcorn and you just want to be entertained. You wanna leave the theater and say, ‘that was cool. I had a good time.’ I don’t feel like films always have to deliver the big picture. That can be preachy and boring. I just hope people have a good time when they watch it. It’s a trip.

On the physical demands of the role: We’ve been doing a lot of running, it has been physically demanding, it is something you want to be in shape for. Early on, I was coming home with, like, shin splints: “Okay! I got to start working out.” But, you know, I think you don’t realise how hard you run when you are running for your life. I mean don’t know if you’ve ever run for your life before, to freak out and a full sprint. Yeah, it has been quite physically demanding.

On working with a green screen: You are learning how far you can push yourself as an actor. You become familiar with your ability to put yourself in an uncommon situation. You are experiencing, even though that massive truck isn’t coming towards me, but you are thinking ‘Jesus Christ, a massive truck is coming towards me!’ I don’t think that is harder than trying to fumble through dialogue, or make something silly sound realistic. We have all sorts of bizarre challenges that are only in this industry.

On working with Michael Bay: Michael is so incredibly energetic, he never ever leaves the set. I was convinced he never used the bathroom, because he was never gone. You have to love these characters to want to go on an adventure with them. To want them to survive. At the same time, you’re also buying your ticket to see the Michael Bay explosive action. It’s a totally different experience.

On working with Ewan McGregor: I couldn’t wish for a more lovely or sweet person to work with. It’s very rare that you actually work for the whole day and then you actually want to hang out with somebody off set. He’s such a sweetheart, he’s got a wonderful family, and he’s such a regular guy. I mean we laugh a lot, especially when you are working this hard, working this long on a show, you want to make sure you can laugh a lot when no one else is laughing. Everybody is working so hard, and you’ve been running for your life, you want to be silly about it. I would love to work with him in other capacities, outside of this film, in a dramatic piece, in a comedy. We make a good team.

Quoting: Cast and Crew

Director Michael Bay: Once we had Ewan, we knew we had to find someone who was not only a good actress, but would pair up well with him. I hadn’t met Scarlett before, but I knew she was a very fine actress. Sometimes you have to take a gamble when you try to find a good onscreen pairing, but Ewan and Scarlett ended up having great chemistry.

Co-star Ewan McGregor: I liked working with Scarlett very much. She’s terribly young – she was 19 when we started this film, she’s just turned 20 – but she’s terribly together and wise about the whole thing. She’s quite a tough cookie.

Critical Response

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: McGregor and Johansson do a good job of playing characters raised to be docile, obedient and not very bright. The way they have knowledge gradually thrust upon them is carefully modulated by Bay, so that we can see them losing their illusions almost in spite of themselves.

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Though Johansson was lauded for her performance in Lost in Translation, her acting in The Island constitutes her first truly adult work. Yes, she spends half the movie running and some of the rest hanging from buildings — and her director cares more about demolishing cars than about human interaction — and yet The Island constitutes an advance for her. For the time since Manny and Lo, which she made as a child, she’s listening to her fellow actors and reacting without any apparent consciousness of what her face happens to be doing. The cloud of adolescence is lifting, and she’s able to be as spontaneous and inspired as she was at 11 years old.

Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter: McGregor and Johansson’s characters comprise an impossible combination of innate smarts and born-yesterday naivete. Yet the young though veteran actors pull these conflicting conceits off with a fair amount of conviction and credibility.