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• August 2007

ARCHIVES FOR August 2007

First Post

August 24, 2007 9:32 AM

I never thought I would create a blog but after speaking to my good friend and stunt co-ordinator/action unit director Vic Armstrong (www.vicarmstrong.com), hearing how much he enjoys contact with hundreds and thousands of film fans, it changed my perspective completely.

I’ve always enjoyed my contact with people who love movies, or are interested in my films. Filmmaking is communicating through the most elastic medium yet created but it is less direct than theater, more formal than a face-to-face conversation. The blog is a new form of identity, a medium unto itself. So why not try?

Photo by Jasin Boland

Right now I’m in Montreal directing “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” which is the third in the series created by Stephen Sommers. My film stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Wong, and new-comers Luke Ford and Isabella Leong.

I am taking the story to a new place: China. Jet Li plays a despotic Emperor in 50 B.C. whose evil is punished by a terrible curse laid on him by wizardress Michelle Yeoh: he and his army are turned into to terra cotta for all time; that is, unless he is re-awakened which, of course, is where the O’Connell’s come back into it.

The story moves to the year 1946. When we find them, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) are retired to Oxfordshire, England, having been spies for the British during World War II. They are bored silly and welcome the offer of “one last mission” from the Foreign Office. Their assignment: courier a precious artifact back to the museum in Shanghai, China from which it was stolen.

Back to Asia: China is in turmoil but Jonathan (John Hannah) owns an Egyptian-themed bar in Shanghai. Unbeknownst to his parents, now grown-up Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) is following in the family business as a young archaeologist on a dig in north-central China. He makes the discovery of a lifetime: the tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which has been buried for millennia. A beautiful assassin (Isabella Leong) tries to kill him to keep the location secret but Alex prevails. The Emperor’s monument is transported back to Shanghai where another plot is in motion: military zealot Anthony Wong intends to awaken the Emperor and aid him in the re-conquest of China and the raising of his terra cotta army of ten thousand clay warriors (google The Terra Cotta army of Xi’an if you want to read more about the history of this wonder of the ancient world).

The family is reunited and high adventure ensues: crash landings, treks thru the Himalayas, Yeti, avalanches (bigger than the one I did in “XXX”), Shangri-la, three-headed dragons, pools of eternal life, epic battles, a shape-shifting Jet Li….I could go on but I don’t want to give it all away.

As you can tell, I’m stoked about what I’m creating up here with some of the best collaborators. Beside the cast, Simon Duggan (“Live Free or Die Hard” “I, Robot”) is my director of photography and the production is being designed by Nigel Phelps (“The Island” “ Troy” and “Pearl Harbor”) and, of course, the powerful stunts of Vic Armstrong. Steve Sommers, Bob Ducsay, and Sean Daniel produce.

From time-to-time, I will be sharing some of my progress here on the site. We have shot about five weeks of our twenty-week schedule so there is a long way to go until July 30th next year when the movie hits the theaters.

Assistant Director P.J. Voeten just called me to camera, so take care for now.

Rob