Custom Kinetic Mobile Sculpture for the movie The Upside

In 2017, I made a custom designed mobile for the movie The Upside, featuring Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman and Kevin Hart. The trailer for the movie in which the mobile is featured several times was released on October 3rd 2018, and the movie itself was released on January 11, 2019. It reached a total worldwide gross of $122.7 million. The film follows a paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a recently paroled convict (Kevin Hart) whom he hires to take care of him. Although not clearly implied in the movie but discussed during the design process, the mobile was a present from Bryan Cranston’s character’s wife who passed away from cancer, and in the movie symbolizes their past love and marriage, as well as his character’s past passion for paragliding.

In the film, the mobile is suspended in Bryan Cranston’s character’s bedroom:

Nicole Kidman with the mobile in the film:

Kevin Hart with the mobile in the film:

The design of the mobile in the design of the cover of the Bryan Cranston’s character’s book:

The movie set for the bedroom scenes with the mobile:

The mobile suspended in my shop before shipping it to the movie set in Philadelphia:

My custom-made Mobile 92 that served as inspiration for the design:

The art credits at the end of the movie:

A 3D “fly-around” animation of the computer model of the mobile:

From our local neighborhood newsletter:

Fan Artist Commissioned for Major Hollywood Film

By Katherine Jordan, Marco Mahler

In late 2016, Fan resident and kinetic sculptor Marco Mahler received a phone call from Alyssa Winter, who introduced herself as the assistant set decorator for a film under the working title Untouchable. She was interested in the possibility of having a large mobile sculpture custom created for the movie. Apparently much of the film was still in the early stages and yet to be decided, including members of the cast, but the fact that she had previously worked as set director for the television series Mr. Robot gave him an indication that this might be a major film.

They discussed the work of artists, such as Alexander Calder and Bruno Munari, the present copyright holders of their work, and possible implications of making and showing a mobile sculpture similar to theirs in a movie. Mahler sent some initial design ideas that she presented to the director of the movie, who turned out to be Neil Burger (who also directed Divergent, Limitless, and The Illusionist). They decided to commission Mahler for the mobile for the film and sent him a sketch of what they had in mind, modeled after an original work that he featured on his website. “The sketch they sent looked great, but the structure of it would never have worked as a mobile,” Marco Mahler remarked, “In a true mobile, the balance of the upper parts depends on the weight of the lower parts. If the sketch they sent would have been made as a mobile, the structure of it would have just collapsed.” Over the next month, they reworked the design, with him sending images and animations of new design variations to the set director Beth Rubino (IMDb) then sending back comments on the new designs from Neil Burger. By the end of January 2017, the design was finalized, and by mid-February, the mobile had been made and shipped to the movie set in Philadelphia, where the set crew installed it with the help of instructions that he sent along.

In the meantime, more details about the film emerged. The title of the film had been changed to The Upside, and Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman were cast for the main characters. The film is a remake of the 2011 French film The Intouchables, which grossed over $400 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie in a language other than English. Based on a real-life story and very similar to the original movie, The Upside follows a paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a recently paroled convict (Kevin Hart). Marco Mahler added, “As I understood in the early stages of the movie when designing the mobile, I believe that Bryan Cranston’s character receives the mobile as a gift from his wife. After she passes away, the mobile becomes a symbol and reminder of their past love and marriage. Last I heard regarding the whereabouts of the mobile, Beth said they might display it at the premiere of the movie.”

The Upside is scheduled for release on January 11, 2019. In the meantime, you can see the mobile in the trailer for the movie and check-out more of Mahler’s work at www.marcomahler.com.

Custom dimensions for the mobile:

Additional ideas from the design process:

Mobile modeled after The Upside mobile made from a Dr. Pepper can by Jason L Nuttle:

Additional links:

“The Upside” Is the Money
Movies and TV to Watch for the Interior Design (featuring The Upside)

Oct 23rd 2018 – The Upside premieres at Philadelphia Film Festival
Nov 2018 – Fan Artist Commissioned for Major Hollywood Film
Jan 13th 2019 – The Upside Tops Aquaman With Surprising $19.6M Weekend
Feb 27th 2019 – The Upside With Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston Tops $100 Million Box Office

Artists whose artwork is also shown in the movie:

Rick Bartow
Helen Frankenthaler
Alex Katz
Lee Krasner
Saul Leiter
Robert Motherwell
Paul Bonet
Ed Ruscha
Kiki Smith
Cy Twombly
Robert Mapplethorpe
Edward Burtynsky
Joel Meyerowitz
Marilyn Minter

– See more of my custom designed mobile sculptures –