THE BALLOON MAN

Cirque du Soleil moves from big top to big screen
Credit: Reel FX/Paramount Pictures
The reknowned circus arts company's first film in its 28-year history, Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, opens Dec. 21.

 

After Mia (Erica Linz, back to camera) falls instantly in love with The Aerialist (Igor Zaripov), the two fall into a vortex and are transported to a faraway land. Says Linz, “(Mia) lands alone in a vast desert. Off in the distance she sees these tents and walks toward them, beginning her adventure and search for The Aerialist.”

 

Linz calls her co-star Igor Zaripov “the best aerial straps artist on the planet. Easily.” In this scene “that’s him being super strong and acting like I don’t weigh anything,” she adds. “There is a risk to what you do,” Linz says of her aerial Cirque work four stories in the air. “But there comes a certain point where you might be upside down hanging by one foot and thinking of your grocery list.”

Credit: By Mark Fellman, Paramount Pictures
Worlds Away features many of the sets from the current Las Vegas Cirque shows, including this number from KÁ. In “The Bird Flight” scene, what seems to be a tent is revealed as a spectacular flying machine called “The Bird” controlled by The Mountain Tribe.

Credit: By Mark Fellman, Paramount Pictures
The lead from Cirque’s O production called Le Vieux (played by Benedikt Negro) opens the curtain “revealing the strange and extraordinary world of Cirque du Soleil to Mia for the first time,” says Linz. It’s much the same wonder the Colorado Springs native felt when she saw her first Cirque show.

Credit: By Mark Fellman, Paramount Pictures
The ethereal carousel horses are ridden by characters called Comets from a scene from Cirque’s O, now playing in Las Vegas. “They go up and down and round and round,” says Linz.

Credit: By Mark Fellman, Paramount Pictures
Worlds Away director Andrew Adamson, left, calls his work with executive producer James Cameron an “incredibly enjoyable collaboration.” The two were always looking for new ways to shoot in 3-D. While on an 80-foot catwalk above the stage they were required to wear safety straps. “We were all over the place, and every once in a while we’d get yelled at by the Cirque safety people,” says Adamson. “There were a number of times we pushed the edge a little bit.”