Hey guys,
We're the filmmaking team behind CIRCLE and figured we'd start a thread to chat with people who had seen the movie and wanted to share theories or ask questions. Assume this will have spoilers, so if you haven't seen the film yet, read at your own risk!
Thanks,
Team Circle
It was an amazing movie, loved it. Hope you make more of such clever stuff. 🔼
shareWhat was the fake husband's motivation for staging the fake marriage? He seemed to be sacrificing himself for a woman he just met, and drawing attention to himself in a way that didn't benefit either of them. In reality shows, existing pairs who enter together are an easy target (you don't want to be in the final 3 with a married couple). What was the reason not to make them a real married couple?
shareWhat was the fake husband's motivation for staging the fake marriage? He seemed to be sacrificing himself for a woman he just met, and drawing attention to himself in a way that didn't benefit either of them. In reality shows, existing pairs who enter together are an easy target (you don't want to be in the final 3 with a married couple). What was the reason not to make them a real married couple?
Exactly this. I clarify a bit more in my response to the original question but it was 100% a ploy to get sympathy. Bearded Man notices that Husband probably thought that no one would want to kill him in front of his wife and this would buy him some time. He was correct.
I think he would have eventually turned on her in the final three, but he might have done it sooner, especially if he could vote for her without anyone realizing he did it and then act devastated when she died. I also don't know that he was thinking that far ahead. He was just focused on surviving in the near term and lying about his connection seemed as good of a plan as any.
Thanks,
Mario
Hi and thanks for checking out the film.
The husband told his story because he wanted sympathy from the group. Bearded Man points this out later when they're exposed-- Husband was taking a chance that the group would not want to execute him in front of his wife, all the while making himself look like a great man for saying "vote for me." He hoped (rightly so) that the group wouldn't go after him for that reason. I imagine if it got down to the final three, he would turn on her, as he eventually does in the film.
From a narrative and cinematic perspective, we liked the idea of someone using sympathy and lying about his relationship to another group member in order to sneak his way into final rounds. That was more interesting to us than if they were actually married. Plus, as Bearded Man points out again, what are the chances that a married couple would be placed right next to each other in the circle, all things being equal?
Thanks,
Mario
I personally would have tried to use it against them. Just like the Interpreter and Hispanic Man were basically two votes, so would they have been if they were married.
shareI really like the movie. Like it would be great to see in psychology class and to analyze why people act a certain way. However, I did not like the stereotypical Latin guys. Yeah, one was an illegal alien that knew no English and the other one had been in prison for being in a crime gang. Please remember that movies help mold minds and I would to think that you could maybe make one Latino a bad guy, and the other one a doctor that works in a free clinic - some balance please.
shareThanks for watching. I just wanted to point out that we had other Latin characters in the film who were not "stereotypical."
Of the main group, the Translator is a Latina and a graduate student in psychology, the Soldier is Latino, and the mother who sacrificed herself was also Latina.
When we developed this script, we wanted to have characters that were representative of archetypes that exist in Los Angeles, since that's where all these people were from. Gang members and undocumented immigrants are, for better or worse, types of people who can be found in this city and we thought it would be interesting to include them because of stigmas and preconceptions that surround these roles.
(Side note: I think that the undocumented immigrant (his official name is The Hispanic Man) is one of the most heroic and sympathetic in the film. His character type comes with baggage because immigration is such a hot topic, but he's clearly a good man and sacrifices himself to save the little girl.)
That being said, we 100% agree with you that diversity and representation is important and were definitely mindful of it in casting and will continue to be mindful of it in future projects. We're very interested in telling stories that include characters and actors who are under-represented in mainstream storytelling.
Thanks again,
-Mario
I'm curious whether the minor pro-life theme was intentional or not, with the unborn fetus counting as a "life" to the machine?
Also I accidentally double posted by replying to the wrong post. Loved the movie though!
Whoops- replied to your other comment, I'll repaste here-
We actually were very aware that going this route with the unborn fetus in the tie could and would be perceived by some people as being "pro-life," or a commentary on abortion in general, but I can confirm it wasn't our intention to make it a theme of the film or really comment on it one way or the other.
Just as there may seem to be pro-life themes, I think you could arguably make the same case for "pro-choice," as the fetus, despite being quite developed, still clearly cannot survive without the mother so Eric voting again may seem like a no-brainer.
Ultimately, we were more interested in putting Eric into a tie that may be harder for him to justify voting in... Unlike some of the other players, is a baby arguably a "pure" life since it hasn't yet had a chance to be corrupted by ideas and culture?
Also, considering the pregnant woman wanted to keep the child, the baby's death would TECHNICALLY be considered "murder."
Thanks for checking out the film, really glad you liked it.
-Mario
Hey guys. Loved the film. Always impressed with what people can do with a limited budget but great concept. I have a few questions for you...
What inspired the idea for this movie?
Was their any personal inspiration for the characters, especially Eric?
And what kind of reaction were you expecting from watching this film?
You likely knew that we'd be playing this game during the movie, rooting for who we want or judging others based on limited knowledge. Was that a subtle way of reinforcing how we perceive others and make snap judgements?
Thank you for doing this.
Hey, thanks!
The idea came as we were wrapping up our web series THE VAULT. We wanted to take the single room concept we used in vault but expand it to a feature with a wide cast of characters. Aaron, co-writer and co-director on that project as well, suggested the idea of 50 people having to vote for a single survivor and the rest is history. In developing it we were definitely thinking about the Twilight Zone and 12 Angry men.
I think all the characters are based - at least in some small part - on real people or real TYPES of people. I think some of the characters have bits of each of us, and others are pulled from people we've met or people we see in the public arena.
Personally I hope audiences are engaged with what's happening and surprised/shocked/horrified by the ending, haha. I'm not sure I expect any one reaction, but I hope people find it dark and fun and that the questions it raises are worth thinking about.
We definitely wanted to play with stereotypes and expectations, who we think people will be hoping lives and dies. We never wanted to make anyone TOO comfortable and we wanted to really reinforce that no one is safe, so we definitely tried to keep the kills surprising, at least sometimes. Ultimately we would love for the audience to think about who they're rooting for and why, even if the person they're rooting for to die is kind of an *beep*
-Mario