Floria Sigismondiâ??s Intergalactic Leap

ABOVE: FLORIA SIGISMONDI ON THE SET OF “SLEDGEHAMMER.”

Pleasing a tried-and-true Trekkie isn’t easy. Neither is making a music video, notwithstanding being the first to use an IMAX camera for that purpose, shooting for only nine hours in the remains of an ancient volcanic field, and creating an interstellar expanse in post-production. This was the task set before Italian-Canadian filmmaker Floria Sigismondi in creating the video to accompany “Sledgehammer,” Rihanna‘s latest single. Sia composed the track for the forthcoming film Star Trek Beyond and the video, which was released this morning, places Rihanna in a rocky extraterrestrial setting. Sigismondi describes her as a “mystical being” channeling her alien powers.

“I went to see an early screening of the movie,” Sigismondi tells us over the phone (we can hear the collective gasp of the franchise’s fans now). “I extracted elements and made a stand alone piece. It was pretty free and open. I was looking at themes and what the song is talking about, [specifically] how you may have a goal and then once you reach it, you kind of feel stifled. It’s about breaking through yourself, through the boundaries and finding new goals,” she continues.  “[In the video] you have this character manipulating the elements and the rocks, and then conjuring up the energy and the light, ultimately embodying the power to transform into the universe itself.”

While we’ll all have to wait until July 22 to see Star Trek Beyond, the music video for “Sledgehammer” will begin airing in IMAX theaters tomorrow (ahead of regular film screenings). Its closing shot of the U.S.S. Enterprise should help hold us over.

FOR MORE ON FLORIA SIGISMONDI, VISIT HER WEBSITE