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ARCHIVES FOR October 2007

JET RIDES!

October 24, 2007 8:01 PM

Just a quick one, family, to give you the first look at Jet Li as the Emperor riding into battle about to re-take command of 5000 terracotta mummies. The sword fight between Jet and Michelle Yeoh that I have been shooting for two days is nothing less than poetry. Such great stars of World Cinema, mano a mano against the desert mountainscape as the whole battle roars behind them. This a landmark day for me and my film.

Photo by Jasin Boland

DEAR “MUMMY 3” COMMUNITY

October 22, 2007 10:22 PM

When I went into the blog business, I didn’t know what to expect but I felt that, by reaching out, I could talk more directly to the people always in my mind in shaping a movie—namely you guys. So, it’s been a great pleasure for me to read your posts, which I do, and to listen to your enthusiasm, your thoughts, your world-view. Some, like Delilah, David C., Clouded Realty, KL, Maz, and Matthew I have come to sense as people through their posts. But even with the occasional visitors, I feel my “movie family” expanding, while my wife gets ready to expand my personal family, as well.

Today, I shot Jet Li on his black stallion riding into battle in his jade armor. He looked nothing short of an Emperor. He has been totally professional and warm to me and the entire crew, like the prince he truly is.

As to the music: guys, trust me. Randy and I have done two classic scores (DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY and DRAGONHEART) that continue to be used in trailers and commercials a decade and a half later. This will be an original score with new themes, played by the London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios. There will nothing “synth paddy” about it. It will be massive, thematic, and pulsing. I have great respect for Al Silvestri but this is a new, re-booted “Mummy” and it will have the score to match.

Here's some flavor of the mano a mano Brendan Fraser/Jet Li fight. Out here in Tianmo, there is no internet (there is no indoor plumbing!) so it takes some time in ‘dial-up’ back at the hotel. Be patient. I am trying to serve you up something special next July 30th, which takes the other 23 ½ hours a day!

Bye-Bye for now….

Rob

Photo by Frank Masi

TIANMO, CHINA

October 21, 2007 8:15 PM

The dawn is breaking over the Great Wall, the original wall made of tamped earth that towers across the horizon. The sun is real; I had the wall built. Soon Jet Li, the Dragon Emperor himself, will mount a 50-foot high colossus of himself to wake his 5,000 Terracotta Warriors from 20 centuries underground and lead them in one final battle against the O’Connell’s and the Mystical Forces of his ancient enemy played by Russell Wong who has been raised by Michelle Yeoh. Armies will clash. Good vs. Evil. The living vs. the Undead.

In other words, it’s Monday on “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.”

We have made the move to China north of Beijing in a desert valley perfect for my climactic scene. Hundreds of our Chinese art department craftsmen have labored for months to prepare the site for this day and the other sixteen like it that we will spend shooting out here, commuting an hour and a half each way on bumpy, dirt roads congested with donkey-pulled carts taking in the corn harvest. Sometimes, the cart is so loaded, it takes up the entire country road and we have to pull onto the desert floor to let them pass.

I have 2000 people (200 Americans, French Canadians, and Brits, 100 from Hong Kong, 1700 from Mainland China) working on the film now with 1500 here with me and 500 technicians in Shanghai with Vic Armstrong who is directing the Action Unit at the Shanghai Studio. There both teams will ultimately film a wild chase with the O’Connell’s in a fire-works truck on the tail of The Emperor Mummy, his Chariot racing drawn by four bronze horses right through the Bund Area of Shanghai, Chinese New Year, 1946. Sparks will fly, indeed.

The move from Montreal to here was so smooth, I was truly amazed. Producer Chris Brigham and China Producers Chiu Wah Lee and Doris Tse KarWai, and China Production Supervisors Mitch Dauterive and Er Dong Liu actually performed a miracle. Not a wrench, a lens, a crane or a roll of film enters China without enormous red tape. To move 200 westerners on a Friday to shoot on a Tuesday seemed virtually impossible—but they did it. As a guy who produced 17 films, my jaw was suitably dropped, my hat way, way off to them.

The weather has been very kind, blessing us with beautiful autumn light and D.P. Simon Duggan and I have been following the sun around to maintain the finest cross and backlights for all the scenes, shooting towards our Wall in the mornings and the Colossus of Jet in the afternoons. Even during a wicked sand storm, the sun stayed out and I kept shooting. Days start at 5 a.m. and end around 4:30 p.m. with a constant hustle from sun up to sun down.

The thing that has affected me the most is the true “ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM” feeling that is palpable here in China. That’s the Olympic slogan that’s plastered everywhere but, in daily life, it is totally true. They cannot be helpful enough whether it’s directions to a great restaurant or getting crystal sharp focus on a 600 mm. lens on take 1. I have a truly international crew including Malaysians, Croatians, Slovenians, and Taiwanese, in addition to Americans, Australians, Quebecois, and New Zealanders. There has been only harmony and hard work, smiles, translators, and the polyglot hum before and after each shot. If the world could work like this movie set, it would be a much better place to live. I have always felt a brotherhood among international film people from my first experiences at Cannes in the 1970’s. Everyone’s problems seem the same: money, time, vision. “C” camera operator Tony Cheung is a cinematographer of many films. When he, Simon and I talk T-stops, n.d. filters, lenses ratios—the words may be different but the meaning is crystal clear.

To be here at dawn, to feel the brother/sisterhood is to know how lucky I am to be successful in my career path, to be privileged to work with so many talented people, to trust my cast and their instincts, to feel the beautiful pulse of a big movie at my fingertips.

Maybe all directors have this feeling at some point in a production—but everything on “The Mummy 3” is just bigger. Jet is climbing on the shoulder of his own colossal sculpture protruding from the golden sands of Tianmo so I must close and call “Kai shi!’ which obviously means “Action!” in Mandarin.

A new Todd Grossman video called “Company Move” is coming shortly so you, too, can get a sense of all this. Until then, bye for now.

Rob

THE JET HAS LANDED

October 2, 2007 11:47 AM

Jet Li finally has joined us in Montreal and the production has palpably kicked up into a higher gear. As I shoot our "trekking through the Himalayas" sequence where our heroes are searching for Shangri-la, I am madly refining the Emperor/Rick O'Connell fight with stunt co-ordinators Ku Huen Chzu (known to everyone as Dede) and Mark Southworth. It's a real contrast in styles, Brendan's and Jet's, highly balletic, powerful Wushu vs. the brutal directness of Krav Maga plus magic and shape-shifting creatures leading to the the climax aided by Luke Ford and the clash of armies overhead. I have seven days to shoot it so this will be my last entry until China. We wrap here next Thursday; then I'm off to L.A. for less than twenty-four (obstetrician and VFX meetings with D.D. and R&H) then straight to Beijing and Tian Mo, the desert three hours north of the capitol.

I'm stoked by what's ahead, editing with Joel Negron and Kelly Matsumoto as I go and encouraged by the early shape of things are taking. We are putting the pipelines in place to create the some 700 visual effects shots: the Terracotta Army, the Yeti and much, much more (I have to leave some surprises.)

Brendan, Jet, Jet's right-hand men Jason and Vincent, and I had a warm, collegiate dinner last Saturday night and, for two guys who have to kick the shit out of each other, there was a true camaraderie. Jet spoke to us a lot about his ONE FOUNDATION (link listed on the blog) and the true greatness of him as a human being came through. When this man talks about how we can help those that need it, how we can take our resources and invest them in the poor, to "share the love" as he said over and over, you really feel the depth of his soul. I'm supporting his foundation now because his cause is all of ours: trying to do whatever we can to make this a better educated and healthier world. I hope you will check out the One Foundation and find a way to join his great effort.

My wife Barbara and I thank all of you who took the time to send us good wishes on our new pregnancy. It has made me feel very close to all of you and to re-double my efforts to make "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" a spectacular entertainment which will put a new mojo spin on a set of characters and a state of mind we've enjoyed in the first two. I've decided to put a few new photos on the site to give you a closer look at the stars. They all have been shining with equal light.

Bye, for now....

Rob



Photos by Jasin Boland