Being locked in an execution chair sounds extremely uncomfortable, and that's exactly what Hollywood actor Chris Pratt requested when filming the movie. Grace (Mercy).
Known to audiences as a humorous action hero from blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy i Jurassic Park, Pratt's new role is a big departure from anything he's done before.
He plays Detective Chris Raven, who is accused of murdering his wife, forcing him to fight for his own life.
Raven is an alcoholic who, after a binge, wakes up tied to the execution chair and has only 90 minutes to convince the judge - an artificial intelligence - that he is innocent.
Otherwise, he will be executed.
In real time, we watch Raven present her defense, while simultaneously dealing with a devastating hangover.
In addition, he cannot remember what actually happened.
"I've never played a character like this before, or in a genre like this," Pratt tells the BBC.
He also explains why he asked director Timur Bekmambetov to actually lock him in a chair for up to 50 minutes continuously.
"I thought it would help the acting, to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia and confinement."
"I was sweating, if my face itched – I couldn't scratch myself, I couldn't even get up," he says.
He wanted additional acting challenges.
"I'm always trying new things, I want to be challenged in different ways and maybe offer the audience something they don't expect from me," he explains.
"In this case, I couldn't rely on what I usually bring to roles, that slight silliness and naivety - this is serious."
The science fiction thriller depicts a world where everyone is under digital surveillance, and artificial intelligence is used to reduce crime rates.
The result is a court Grace, presided over by AI Judge Maddox.
The game is by Rebecca Ferguson.
The defendants have full access to any surveillance camera footage they request, as well as brief telephone conversations with witnesses.
However, there is no jury or right to appeal, and 92 percent of trials end in immediate execution.
"Today you commit a crime, tomorrow you're dead," Pratt emphasizes.
The scenes with Rebecca Ferguson were filmed while he was tied to a chair and he couldn't see her at all during filming.
"I heard her voice, but she wasn't physically with me on set."
“Being alone and isolated was a really great challenge,” he explains.
A large part of the action scenes, of which there are quite a few, are shown through surveillance camera footage.
This allowed Pratt to occasionally "free up" the courtroom during filming.
"It was almost like we were making two movies at once," he says, recalling "great stunt fight scenes and brawls."
"Everything I face during the trial, we filmed separately."
He calls the whole experience very fulfilling.
"Big blockbusters are fun to watch, but filming can be exhausting - you're working all day on something that ends up showing for 15 seconds on screen, and the next day you're filming something completely different and it all feels disjointed."
In contrast, work on Grace was "like a long, continuous performance of a two- or three-act theatrical play", but "with special effects on par with the greatest Hollywood spectacle".
Although the story is pure fiction, artificial intelligence is already part of our reality and is increasingly being used in police work.
Some British police are now using "facial recognition technologies" to "help identify criminals," according to a British parliamentary report.
Academics, parliamentarians and human rights organizations have expressed concerns that it could "endanger civil liberties and the right to privacy," they added.
The British government has also announced that AI technologies being rolled out by 2030 will aim to help “police catch criminals before they act”, using interactive crime maps to “predict where crime is most likely to occur”.
However, the National Council of Police Chiefs stresses that while “the potential for artificial intelligence to transform policing is enormous,” there are also “ethical issues, privacy concerns, and the risk of criminal misuse of artificial intelligence.”
Pratt says that working on this film hasn't changed his view on artificial intelligence, but he is clear about one thing - a trial before an AI judge, jury, and executioner is not the way to go.
"I believe in a jury of ordinary people and the right to be innocent until proven guilty," says Pratt.
He emphasizes that he wants to protect his four children from the "onslaught of digital mania" and excessive screen time.
"But I'm not exactly a complete pessimist who expects the world to end," he adds.
"I am moderately optimistic about how these technologies are developing and how they could help humanity move forward."
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