Science pulls Hollywood into line

By Katie Baird

An American physicist has come up with a set of guidelines for science fiction films to follow, believing audiences will be put off if a film breaks more than one law of nature.

Sidney Perkowitz, a professor of physics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, an advisory body run by the US National Academy of Sciences, came up with the guidelines in an attempt to reduce the film industry's abuses of scientific law by confining scriptwriters to plotlines embracing the suspension of disbelief for dramatic effect but stops short of demanding it from every scene.

Dr Perkowitz said science fiction movies should only be allowed one major transgression of the laws of physics while still allowing the film to develop in a realistic way. "I am not offended if they make one big scientific blunder in a given film," Dr Perkowitz said. "You can have things move faster than the speed of light if you want. But after that I would like things developed in a coherent way."

"If you violate that you are in trouble. The chances are that the public will pick it up and that is what matters to Hollywood."

Though, producers these days are becoming a little more savvy. "We know a lot of this stuff is inaccurate, but we try to make it seem plausable," said Heroes producer Aron Coleite. The Science and Entertainment Exchange has lent its expertise to Heroes and to the film The Watchmen.

"Someday, I hope we’ll see credits that read: 'No scientific concepts were harmed in the making of this movie.'" Dr Perkowitz said.