Trailer
Plot summary
Heaven and Hell have long warred over purgatory and the souls held there. Each realm sent seven warriors; the Fallen now control the city. Gabriel, the last archangel, takes human form and enters to find out what happened to his comrades and to restore the Light. Michael's apartment stands abandoned, a note left behind about the difficulty of staying pure. A vision shows him where Uriel is, and he finds the archangel hiding in a rundown bus. Uriel explains that human form made them vulnerable to human desires and cut them off from their power, while the Fallen strengthened. He shows Gabriel how to hide his angel eyes and reveals that Amitiel, now called Jade, was defeated and put to work in a brothel. Gabriel goes out to search for her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Gabriel (2007)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- One day before shooting began, the insurance company ruled Gabriel too risky and tried to shut the production down. Director Shane Abbess had to lie about the film's content, claiming its climactic rooftop action scene was 'all green screen', to get insured, and the new company agreed only after tripling its price.
- With no money for rain towers, the rain in Gabriel's climactic scenes was made with hoses and unheated water. Lead actor Andy Whitfield became hypothermic, his temperature dropping to 32.5 degrees Celsius (90.5 Fahrenheit), and one night of production wrapped three hours early.
- A team of freelancers completed 805 effects shots for Gabriel on a budget Sony had estimated would only cover six, the filmmakers chose freelancers over an effects company.
- Director Shane Abbess worked as a building labourer, removalist, call-center worker and truck driver at the docks to help fund Gabriel out of the filmmakers' own pockets. Five weeks into shooting he planned to return to removalist work to pay the caterers, but his old boss gave him money to get the production over the line.
- Gabriel's deferred-payment plan caused friction with extras, who after two nights on set demanded immediate payment 'or basically we're going to kill you.'
- Lead actor Andy Whitfield says some of Gabriel's fight scenes were rehearsed for only three minutes before the cameras rolled, and the hallway fight between Gabriel and Asmodeus, a 98-move sequence, was learned and executed in only an hour.
- Andy Whitfield was hesitant to audition for Gabriel because he and his wife had just had a baby and the part paid deferred. His agent compelled him to consider the lead role in a feature film: 'What you've always wanted to do.'
- On its tiny budget, Gabriel's art department took props from the local tip and thrift shops and bought costumes second-hand from St Vincent de Paul, and sets were built in abandoned industrial sites and condemned buildings due for demolition.
