Exclusive: Producers Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman Discuss Authenticity in “The Aeronauts”

Film producers Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films and Television have been behind some of the most impactful movies of this decade, from real-life biopics like The Fighter and Stronger to fantastical epics such as the live action Beauty and the Beast and upcoming Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

This holiday season, Lieberman and Hoberman debut their latest critically-acclaimed film The Aeronauts based on the landmark ballooning flight that broke the 1862 altitude record.

After speaking with the producing duo at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October prior to the film’s East Coast premiere, The Knockturnal sits down once again with Lieberman and Hoberman ahead of the film’s December 6th release to discuss working with Amazon Studios, the dedication of leading stars Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne, and what types of stories speak to this generation.

The Knockturnal: How did you both become connected to the story behind The Aeronauts? 

Todd Lieberman: This was an idea that director Tom Harper and his DP, George Steel generated. They had read a book called Falling Upwards by Richard Holmes and it told the stories of many different aeronautic adventures in the early days of ballooning. The Flight of the Mammoth in 1862 was one of the stories in that book and Tom became kind of fascinated with that. He pitched it to story co-writer Jack Thorne and then he brought us into the mix. We fell in love with it.

David Hoberman: We loved the originality of it. I think we both had a good sense of what it could be if it were the best it could be.

The Knockturnal: Todd, you’ve spoken a lot in previous interviews about blending grand scale storytelling with smaller intimate moments. How important was keeping the historical period element while maintaining this timelessness of the story itself? How did that balance work? 

Todd Lieberman: Yeah that is one of the many unique aspects of this film. What could be assumed to be a traditional British period piece is blended with this wild, absurd, beautiful action side. I think across the board, authenticity was first and foremost, from the costumes and the production design to the scriptwriting itself and the verbiage and the words all the way to what the action felt like. Tom’s vision was “let’s make sure the people who see this film feel like they’re experiencing it as the characters are experiencing it.” So I think we towed a line between complete and utter period accuracy with the addition of some injection of modernity. I think that’s showcased itself across all different blends of the film when you look at the costumes– the amount of research that went into these costumes are period accurate which was extraordinary and at the same time, Alexandra Byrne our costume designer injected a little bit of a modern flair into all of them so none of it’s stuffy. I think the same goes for the dialogue, the same goes for the look. I think the balance between all those things was intentional from the beginning.

The Knockturnal: Speaking more towards the cast, you’re reuniting two of the Academy Award nominees from The Theory of Everything. How do you think this film pushes both of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones’ acting abilities?

David Hoberman: I always hate to guess as to whether a film like this would or would not be Oscar-worthy for them or for the film. I can tell you that the performances are great and Felicity [Jones] does an incredible job and certainly flexes her muscles in ways that she hasn’t in other films. I think the dire nature of the situation brings out a lot of drama and dramatic moments for both of them. You never know about awards. On The Fighter, we had no idea that Christian Bale or Melissa Leo would get nominations and wins on that movie. I find it really hard to say.

Todd Lieberman: What I can say is if awards were given out for research and attention to detail and time and effort put into characters, Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne would win every single one across the board on this. They put so much time and attention to detail into these characters. Felicity [Jones] took ballooning lessons in Germany and did acrobatic training for months. Eddie Redmayne did oxygenia training where he put himself into oxygen depravation tank which simulated 37,000 feet with the lack of oxygen to see what it would feel like to actually be at that height. We had a stage that was below freezing, so in all of the parts of the movie where they’re meant to be freezing, they actually were freezing because it was below zero. We had buckets of ice put on the stage so right before they would start shooting, they’d dip their hands into buckets of ice for 5 minutes to get them blue. All the capillaries on their faces came out because of the cold– that isn’t makeup, that’s actually them being freezing. They did an extraordinary amount of  their own work and stunts. Who knows what comes out of the way people interpret performances, which we think are brilliant, but these are two incredibly talented and dedicated performers. There’s a lot of what’s filmed in this movie that one might assume is a visual effect or a special effect or makeup, and it’s actually real.

David Hoberman: I think everybody was going for complete authenticity in the making of the movie.

The Knockturnal: As producers, you’ve worked on incredible projects like The Fighter but also so many unique stories similar to Beauty and the Beast. What is your process when looking for your next project?

David Hoberman: We’ve always responded to character journeys and original stories and real life dramas. At the same time, we try to do something new like The Proposal or The Muppets. I think part of it is being stimulated by the story and the other side is being stimulated by doing something we’ve never done before. I think the combination of those speak to the differences in the type of films we like to tackle. At the same time, I think it’s evident in almost all our films that we like happy endings. We like that emotional uplift at the end, even in a film like The Fighter or Stronger.I think it’s sort of the combination of things which makes our choices in films really varied, probably more varied I would imagine than most producers out there.

Todd Lieberman: For The Aeronauts in particular, we were awed by Tom Harper’s prior work and had worked with Jack Thorne before on Wonder and knew the skill of his writing. Besides that, there was the challenge of the technical achievements and the potential for this. How in the world are we going to make this movie? Like David said, sometimes we take on things because we’ve never done it before. We’re storytellers willing to learn too and that’s kind of part of the fun.

“The Aeronauts” is set to be released in theaters on December 6 and available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 20.