HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Superstar genetic engineers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) specialize in splicing DNA from different animals to create incredible new hybrids. Now they want to use human DNA in a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine. But when the pharmaceutical company that funds their research forbids it, Clive and Elsa secretly take their boldest experimentation underground—risking their careers by pushing the boundaries of science to serve their own curiosity and ambition.
The result is Dren (Delphine Chaneac), an amazing, strangely beautiful creature of uncommon intelligence and an array of unexpected physical developments. At first, Dren exceeds their wildest dreams. But as she grows and learns at an accelerated rate, her existence threatens to become their worst nightmare.
It’s not such an unlikely scenario. In a private, state-of-the-art lab funded by a pharmaceutical giant, two brilliantly talented young bio-engineers, Clive and Elsa, combine genetic components from different species into hybrids that could produce new disease-fighting compounds. It’s vital. It’s exciting. It’s the future.
As Elsa tells Clive, it’s their job as scientists to push the boundaries.
But how far?
Director Vincenzo Natali, who devoted years to developing Splice, often found it challenging to outpace the science that fuels his story. “The technology is advancing so rapidly, I think it took scientists less time to map the human genome than it took to write the script,” he jokes. “How does Splice fit into the world we live in now? I don’t even know what world that is. I don’t think anyone does. Things are changing in dramatic ways in all aspects of our civilization, culture and science, and that’s something Splice explores: our relationship to technology and the doors it unlocks. It pushes us to places we’re unable, or afraid, to go.”
“What takes place in this movie is not far from the truth,” notes Brody. “We’re living in a world in which science fiction is becoming reality, and that gives the film its weight. It’s frightening to a certain extent, to see how precarious things can be, but also exciting because there is potential for wonderful things.”
Watch: Splice Cast Interviews
