Taglines: She’s Not Human… Not Entirely.
Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) hope to achieve fame by splicing animal DNA to create hybrids for medical use at the company N.E.R.D. (short for Nucleic Exchange Research and Development). Their work previously yielded Fred, a dog-sized vermiform creature intended as a mate for their female specimen, Ginger.
After successfully mating them, Clive and Elsa plan to create a human-animal hybrid that could revolutionize science. Their employers Joan Chorot (Simona Maicanescu) of N.E.R.D. and William Barlow (David Hewlett) forbid them from doing this. Instead, they are to find and extract proteins used for commercial drug production from Fred and Ginger. Clive and Elsa pursue their own agenda in secret. They develop a viable female creature (Abigail Chu).
Although they had planned to terminate the hybrid before it reached full term, Elsa persuades Clive to let it live. The hybrid subsequently becomes aggressive and stings Elsa several times. The hybrid sheds body parts in an effort to escape when they try to destroy it, but they subdue it anyway. They discover that she is aging at a vastly accelerated rate. Elsa discovers the creature is undergoing mental development such as that of a young human child. Elsa names the creature “Dren” after the creature spells out NERD having seen the letters on Elsa’s Shirt. Elsa subsequently refuses to let Clive refer to her as a “specimen”.
After moving Elsa to a new location for fear of discovery they find Dren has a dangerously high fever. In an attempt to save her they place her in a large industrial sink full of cold water. Clive places a hand round Dren’s neck and pushes her under the water, seemingly drowning her, however it is found that Dren is amphibious, though it is unclear if Clive knew about this, having analysed scans of Dren, or if he did intend to kill her.
While studying Dren, Elsa and Clive neglect their work with Fred and Ginger. At a highly publicized presentation of their work, Fred and Ginger savagely fight to the death. It is subsequently discovered that Ginger had spontaneously changed to a male, but Elsa and Clive failed to notice because they were focused on Dren.
Elsa forms a motherly bond with Dren. After Dren attacks Clive’s brother Gavin (Brandon McGibbon), they move her to an isolated farm. There, Dren develops carnivorous tendencies and retractable wings. She grows into adolescence (Delphine Chanéac) and becomes bored with being locked up in the barn, but Elsa and Clive fear letting her outside where she might be discovered. Clive realizes that the human DNA used to make Dren was Elsa’s, not from an anonymous donor as Elsa had told him. When Dren assaults Elsa again, Elsa removes Dren’s stinger. She then uses the living tissue from the stinger to isolate and synthesize the protein for which they had been searching.
Dren seduces Clive, and Elsa discovers them having sex in the barn, and becomes upset. Clive accuses Elsa of never wanting a “normal” child because of her fear of losing control; instead she chose to raise one as an experiment, where control could be assured. Deciding the only solution is to terminate Dren, they return to the farm and find Dren already dying.
William Barlow discovers human DNA in Dren’s protein samples and arrives to investigate. Elsa tells Barlow that Dren is dead. When he doubts her, Elsa tells him that Dren’s corpse is buried behind the barn. Dren, who has transformed into a winged male, rises from the grave and attacks the group. Dren kills Barlow and Gavin. Dren rapes Elsa as Clive searches for Gavin. Dren is attacked by Clive during the act and kills Clive just before he is killed by Elsa.
Elsa is later informed by Joan that Dren’s body contained numerous biochemical compounds for which the company has begun filing patents. Joan offers Elsa, now heavily pregnant with Dren’s baby (or possibly Clive because of a sexual relationship earlier in the film), a large sum of money to which Elsa accepts.
Splice is a Canadian-French science fiction horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, and Delphine Chanéac. The story concerns experiments in genetic engineering being done by a young scientific couple, who attempt to introduce human DNA into their work of splicing animal genes. Guillermo del Toro, Don Murphy, and Joel Silver executive produced.
About the Production
Splice was written by director Vincenzo Natali and screenwriters Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. The script was originally meant to follow up Natali’s Cube (1997), but the budget and restricted technology hindered the project. In 2007, the project entered active development as a 75% Canadian and 25% French co-production, receiving a budget of $26 million.
The director described the film: “Splice is very much about our genetic future and the way science is catching up with much of the fiction out there. [This] is a serious film and an emotional one. And there’s sex… Very, very unconventional sex. The centerpiece of the movie is a creature which goes through a dramatic evolutionary process. The goal is to create something shocking but also very subtle and completely believable.”
In October 2007, actors Brody and Polley were cast into the lead roles. Production began the following November in Toronto. It was aided by Telefilm Canada’s funding of US$2.5 million. Filming took place in Toronto and concluded in February 2008.
In an interview, when asked if there would be any sequels, Natali responded, “I don’t think so. It could happen, but it would have required the movie to make a lot of money in the States, but even though the ending of the film appears to be setting up a sequel, that was never my intention. All of my films end with a question, and somewhat ambiguously, and they always imply the beginning of another story, I like to leave the audience with something to ponder.”
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Splice (2010)
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chanéac, Brandon McGibbon, Abigail Chu, David Hewlett, Simona Maicanescu, Doug Hicton
Screenplay by: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant
Production Design by: Todd Cherniawsky
Cinematography by: Tetsuo Nagata
Film Editing by: Michele Conroy
Costume Design by: Alex Kavanagh
Art Direction by: Joshu de Cartier
Music by: Cyrille Aufort
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 4, 2010