Worlds away; Fall bounty of films certain to immerse moviegoers.

• Author: Coyle, Jake
• Position: Living

Byline: Jake Coyle

NEW YORK -- Tom Hanks didn't know where the cameras were.

''Captain Phillips,'' a based-on-a-true-story tale about a cargo ship taken by Somali pirates, was Hanks' first time working with Paul Greengrass, the ''United 93'' and ''Bourne Identity'' director known for his visceral, documentary-like filmmaking. Hanks, who plays the titular captain in a performance sure to be hailed as one of his best, had been warned by Matt Damon about the chaos of Greengrass's unblocked, naturalistic approach.

But Hanks, after one particularly chaotic take, asked his director: ''Are you going to get that little session over by the maps?''

''They'd say: 'No, we got that,''' recalls a still perplexed Hanks. ''When? When did you get that?''

''Captain Phillips'' (out Oct. 11) is only one way moviegoers this fall will be fully, often staggeringly immersed in worlds as varied as slavery-era Louisiana ("12 Years a Slave''), 1970s Massachusetts con men ("American Hustle'') and outer space, among the detritus of a space station torn apart by a storm of debris ("Gravity'').

The movies, perhaps more than any other art form, have the ability to transport -- a capacity to carry away -- that's on full display this fall.

''We shot this in the real world: the real engine rooms, the real decks,'' says Hanks. ''They'll say: How did you make that movie where that ship was out in the middle of the ocean? Well, we got on a ship and we went out to the middle of the ocean and we shot it there. Extraordinary how that happens.''

Soon, the fall movie season will unofficially commence, the superheroes (mostly) falling from theaters like autumn leaves. After a summer of blockbuster gluttony, Hollywood will, as if penance for its bingeing, trot out its more serious and ambitious fare. George Clooney -- this fall directing ("The Monuments Men''), producing ("August: Osage County'') and acting ("Gravity'') -- will put down stakes.

There's some hope that after a knock-about summer heavy with city-destroying tumult and some spectacular flops, that a degree of levity will return to the multiplexes. (That is, until the ever-expanding Oscar horse race commences in earnest.)

Last fall, after all, showed that good, adult-oriented movies could still draw crowds. A varied best-picture field, from ''Lincoln'' to ''Life of Pi,'' made more than $2 billion at the box office worldwide even before the Academy Awards.

This autumn promises no less a mix of both aspirational filmmaking...