How the Tomb Raider video game inspired an experimental film by Gus Van Sant

The first “Tomb Raider” game was released in 1996 and immediately caused a small media stir for the design of its main character, Lara Croft. Lara wore short shorts and was animated to have ample breasts and large pouty lips of inhuman proportions. While video games had been sexualized for many years (don’t look for the 1982 Atari game “Custer’s Revenge” at work), Lara Croft’s lascivious treatment caused a few monocles to pop.

In 2001, a film “Tomb Raider” was released, starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. The film left Gus Van Sant pensive. He played the “Tomb Raider” games and was upset to learn that director Simon West was going to shoot the film adaptation as, well, a movie. Van Sant was accustomed to the video game visuals of keeping Lara in the center of the screen with the camera always facing the back of her head. As she ran and turned, the background rotated around her. Van Sant felt that a “Tomb Raider” film should employ a similar tactic. He then took this idea and suggested it to Harris Savides (his cinematographer on “Gerry”):

“(When I heard they were doing ‘tomb Raider“, I was a little interested, but I also knew that they were thinking in terms of an action movie, and the game is not like that. I mean, there are action moments, but there There’s a lot of other stuff going on: swimming, walking, climbing across large areas. One of the interesting things is the sound, but also the camera. I showed Harris the game before shooting.

We can see the language of video games at work in “Gerry.”