Maxance Vincent
Approaching Liu Cixin‘s The Three-Body Problem for the screen certainly seems daunting, especially since its author has deemed it unadaptable. But for cinematographer Martin Ahlgren, who was recently nominated for an Oustanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour) Emmy regarding his work on 3 Body Problem‘s fifth episode, Judgment Day, having previously read the books made him know what kind of approach the showrunners could take in translating some of the more complicated sci-fi concepts on screen:
“What’s interesting is that, if you read the books, you have a more profound knowledge of what some of these concepts are, what they’re referring to, even if it’s touched upon in the TV show. It’s interesting to go back to the books and delve deeper into it.
The books are a little more in the genre of hard science fiction, where they present concepts that we can’t know precisely how they work that we can’t understand, or we don’t have much knowledge about, but they come from somewhere with a scientific background. That also informed how we wanted to approach shooting the material. We wanted it to have a grounded look and tone and not let it become too stylized, which could have detracted from the reality of what’s happening in the show, even though it’s aliens invading Earth. But it’s still done in a more grounded way.”
Ahlgren had previously worked with director Minkie Spiro, who helmed episodes four, five, and six of the series, before joining the project. Throughout each project, he explains, the two have developed a shorthand and “a close working relationship where, in prep, we always look into precisely what kind of visuals we want to go for and how we want to approach it. We spend a reasonable amount of time working together to figure out not only the visual language of our episodes but also how to tell the story visually, even though, by the time you’re reading a script, it’s already translated into a filmable version.
You still have to decide how to create what will be in front of the camera. We spent a lot of time figuring out how things worked and how to make it feel like this was something real. In some cases where, maybe, we’re pushing up against the limits of what’s entirely plausible, or that we know about, you leave things vague. Still, you want to present a world that feels like the world that we know, and the things that are happening, although a bit extreme and wild, still fall within the realm of plausibility.”
There was much to unpack in discussing such an incredible episode, including how Martin planned the centerpiece Judgment Day sequence with Minkie, the close collaboration the two had with the visual effects department, how Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and Thomas Wade’s (Liam Cunningham) trip into the video game with the Sophon (Sea Shimooka) was captured, and, of course, discussing episode five’s iconic final shot.
You can listen to my full interview with Martin below and see all episodes of 3 Body Problem on Netflix today:
[Some of the quotes in this article were edited for length and clarity]
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