Sunshine is a 2007 British
science fiction thriller film directed by
Danny Boyle. The film was adapted from a screenplay written by
Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent on a mission to reignite the star with a nuclear bomb with the mass of
Manhattan. The script was based on a scientific
back-story that took the characters on a psychological journey. The director cast a group of international actors for the film, and had the actors live together and learn about topics related to their roles, as a form of
method acting. To have the actors realistically react to visual effects that would be implemented in post-production, the filmmakers constructed live sets to serve as cues. The
ensemble cast features
Cillian Murphy,
Chris Evans,
Rose Byrne,
Michelle Yeoh,
Cliff Curtis,
Troy Garity,
Hiroyuki Sanada,
Benedict Wong and
Chipo Chung.