Production Blog
- July 2008
- |
- June 2008
- |
- May 2008
- |
- April 2008
- |
- March 2008
- |
- February 2008
- |
- August 2007
ALMOST THERE
July 11, 2008 1:50 PM
Dear Mummy Family--
We are now in the final days of finishing the film. Everything must be wrapped up by this Sunday (gulp!). There are 14 VFX shots still incomplete although I will review around 10 presented for final tonight. The final color timing is progressing with reels 2, 3, and 4 put to bed. I cannot finish a reel until all the final visual effects are in and timed. We have been working 18-hour days for the past three weeks, and every night around midnight Papa John's Pizza delivers a pile of hot pies to the dubbing theater where we are mixing the sound track. It keeps us going till 3 or 4 a.m. Thank you, Papa John! I'm having the first "Mummy" pizza box I got framed. By the way, the box comes with a medium pizza.
I hope you all saw the Olympics/Mummy commercial that has been airing on NBC. I think it's the coolest thing ever done for one of my films. A very clever piece and I'd like to thank David O'Connor and his team for the great creative work.
We are on an impossible schedule but we are on schedule to finish. A negative has to go out tonight for Russia in order to make their release date and the 800 prints they need to make, sub-title, etc. so there are many internal deadlines, as well.
The commercials and trailers have been out there and the long trailer will be on the head of Universal's "Hellboy II". I hope you've been catching some looks at all this stuff.
In gratitude to my friends here, I am glad to announce a special offer from Newmarket Press. The beautiful and informative art book THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, A Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook, with an introduction by yours truly, is available to readers of this blog at a special 40% discount ( $18.00 + shipping (regular retail price is $29.95) for hard cover, and $12.00 + shipping (regular retail price is $19.95) )
For this special discount, call (212) 832-3575 x19, and mention code: MUMMYRC08.
Offer valid through August 31, 2008.
For those of you unable to place the call, the book is still available at a slightly smaller discount currently at at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and booksamillion.com. Enjoy!!
I have worked these past 18 months for one over-riding goal: to make this new chapter of "The Mummy" the most crafted and entertaining film it could ever be so that all of you who have supported me with your comments and compliments will have a transporting experience on August 1st. Even the trolls have played their part as they always point out the worst face that could ever be put on anything and it gives a director pause to think. I have enjoyed this blog and all of you, felt a special connection since my first entry. I have taken you into my world and process with as much candor and insight into the film making experience as I could and I hope the documented journey will enrich your viewing of the movie. In a very real way, you have been with me every step of the way.
This is not goodbye. xXx Rob Cohen
Theatrical Trailer
June 20, 2008 12:39 PM
Dear Mummy Family-- Events
got a bit away from me and Universal and Papa John's Pizza put our final
trailer on my site before I could write to you. I truly hope you enjoy it in
1080p so you can see all the details that I put into it. It also can be viewed
on the Papa John's site, as well. I'm
excited to hear your reactions, as always. I'm
also stoked to have Papa John's tied in with my film. I have won my share of
awards but having "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" getting its own PIZZA
BOX is an unexpected pleasure. I love pop culture, making movies about pop
culture, and love it when the work I do makes an impact in the pop cultural
fabric. Besides, it's damned tasty pizza. Dubbing
away on Reel 5 as the O'Connells stand off the Emperor Mummy and his forces at
the gateway to Shangri-La high in the Himalayas. A wicked gun battle complete
with Kung Fu, magic, Yeti attack, and avalanche--all in fifteen minutes of
running time. We
had a good research sneak in Sacramento a few nights ago (see the AICN.COM
Review) and like all good previews I learned many things from the audience
about the movie. Been making some cuts and adjustments to prefect the pace, to
make it unspool in the most perfect rhythm I can discern. It's deeply
satisfying to me to feel the pas de deux between audience and movie when
the dance is going well. I think all directors want to feel this. You get the
most immediate feedback with humor because you hear laughs and we heard plenty
of those the other night. I think you'll find Brendan Fraser working at his
full, delightful powers. It is so great to see him back in this role and with
this new interpretation and his new, super-buff looks. All that Krav Maga
training really came to fruition. 165
visual effects left to go and time is running short but we will make it. In
the meantime, enjoy the trailer and talk to you soon. Rob
FINISHING AUDIO TOUCHES
June 17, 2008 9:17 AM
Dear Mummy Family--
I'm here at TODD-AO Dubbing Reel 3 (out of seven) up against
the time line, as usual. The baby will soon be out for everyone to see on
August 1st, but, in order to make that date with the 4,000 plus
prints, everything, including the 949 visual effects shots have to be locked by
July 3rd. Time is growing short.
Dubbing is a fascinating process, a meticulous process by which the sound effects (tens of thousands of them), the music, and the dialog are balanced together to create the sound tapestry of the movie. If it's done well, the mix will deliver the excitement of the effects, clarity to the dialog, and the cohesion of the music--but all these elements have to share a common space in your local theater, even in 5.1 and that's the trick, to choreograph the three elements for maximum effect. Of course, that is a matter of taste. Some directors favor a vivid, almost naked sound effects and dialog approach ("No Country for Old Men"); other like to let the music dominate (like Terry Malick's film "Days of Heaven"). In the first two "Mummy" movies, Stephen Sommers did an excellent dub, balancing everything for maximum effect that made those movies extremely vivid.
I want to deliver no less to you.
The scoring in London went so well. Randy spent ten days, two sessions a day, with the 105 piece London Symphony and the music is doing a great job giving the movie bravado, adventure, and thematic beauty.
I'm not seeing much of my wife Barbara or my triplets these
days as dubbing goes on ten hours a day, visual effects about five hours a day,
and color timing another three hours from 10 till 1 A.M.
It's a glorious process finishing a film, seeing it all knit together. I have completed 783 visual effects and have 196 to go. It will be a photo finish but I take a lot of pride and satisfaction in the quality and diversity of the effects. You've gotten a taste in the teaser trailer, which brings us to this...
The full trailer will be attached to the head of "WANTED" coming out June 27th. But, of course, it will debut here first.
I've attached a few photos for your perusal. In six weeks, you will be seeing 24 pictures per second for 1 Hr. 54 Minutes of "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" with all its bells and whistles blazing.
Then, I'm going surfing!!!!!
Bye, for now...
Rob
International One Sheet
Off To London
May 24, 2008 12:02 PM
Dear Mummy Family-- I'm off to London tonight after finalizing 43 Cool Full 3-D VFX shots today. We are up to 580 finals, 366 shots to go. The scoring begins on Tuesday and while there, I will shoot a few London-base shots with Brendan, Maria and John Hannah. The VFX work will continue by satellite hook up. The trailer has been getting a good reaction and there was a really cool article on www.maxim.com that I'm sure you will enjoy. There will be another trailer out with Universal's film "Wanted" starring Angelina Jolie on June 27th. Of course, I will have it here on my blog for all of you. More from London! Bye-Bye for now, Rob
TEASER TRAILER
May 14, 2008 5:21 PM
Hey, Family-- I just wanted to let you know that, as I promised long ago, the TEASER TRAILER will appear here on my blog before anywhere else, Friday May 16th at 9:00am PST. I'm really stoked, and I think the trailer guys at Universal (led by Frank Chiocchi) did a great job. It will make its US debut in theaters May 16th with prints of Prince Caspian, and will make its international debut on prints of Indiana Jones on May 22th. I'm really looking forward to your reaction. So crank up the sound and view it full screen as soon as you can!! Today I just approved the 400th visual effects shot, and we're now almost halfway through that journey. Randy Edelman is in London working with the music arrangers and putting special musical groups together, like traditional Chinese instruments, Tuvan super-basso singers, a full choir, and Koto drum percussionists, all at the famed Abbey Road Studios. I will join him later this month for the large orchestra sessions. I just got back from Hong Kong where I looped Jet Li, and met up with my son Kyle. I'd like to thank you for your concern for him as he was in Shanghai during the recent major earthquake in China. It makes me really feel like you all are an extension of my true family. If anyone feels like donating any help to the victims of this disaster, I highly recommend Jet Li's One Foundation, where even pennies will make a difference. Bye-bye for now, Rob
Teaser Poster
April 29, 2008 12:16 PM
Hey, Family--
The day has arrived that I can start showing you some of the film's advertising. Here for the first time in America is the teaser poster for our film. I hope you enjoy the image and that it stimulates your imagination of all the wonderful film moments that lie behind it. Plus, on Wednesday at midnight I will relaunch the design of this site with new photos, set designs and conceptual art drawings for your enjoyment.
As of now I have completed a little over 300 of 964 visual effects shots (I feel like I'm drowning) and it is all coming really well.
Starting May 27th I go to London to record Randy's score with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road, including traditional Chinese instruments, traditional Tibetan instruments, a choir, Buddhist monk chanters, and koto drum percussion. I will soon get back to you as to a debut date of the trailer.
Bye-bye for now,
Rob
TRULY EASTER
March 24, 2008 1:20 PM
DEAR MUMMY FAMILY—
Well, my family increased by three last Thursday night. Jasi, Zoe and Sean arrived very small (around 3 ½ pounds) but very healthy. They’re now in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where they will stay for the next month before coming home. Barbara is terrific and coming home from the hospital as I write this. It is truly the season of re-birth so happy Easter to you all.
There’s more good news on “The Mummy” front: I have shown the film to the exec’s at Universal and they are through-the-roof ecstatic. We screened a few weeks ago for all the relevant department heads (home video, distribution, foreign, p.r., marketing, etc.) and the reaction was unanimous. It’s running around 1 hr. 53 minutes and, daily as we hone, it’s taking its final shape. The studio has been very collaborative and supportive. You know they love it when they ask you if you need any more money to enhance the visual effects budget!!! Are there more shots that I want to do but didn’t have the money to do?!!! Of course, the answer is yes; there is never enough to entertain the audience in any film. That kind of support from Chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde, President Donna Langley, and V.P.’s Jeff Kirschenbaum and Erik Baiers is rare in Hollywood so I am very pleased all the way around.
Still more good news: the studio’s marketing department headed by Adam Fogelson, Eddie Egan, and Frank Chiocchi cut a cool teaser trailer and debuted it at Showest in Vegas week before last and it played off the chart to 2000 cigar chomping guys who own all the theaters in the United States. Some of the effects in it were temp so I am now polishing them up so it can be released in theaters soon.
I will premiere the piece here on my blog so you guys who have been so supportive to me through the entire process will get first crack at it. Of course, I will be very open to your reactions and hope that you will be as excited by it as I am.
I am moving the film’s completion down field on many fronts: Bruce Stambler is deep in the sound design; Randy is writing the score which is big, colorful, thematic, and going to be recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, a choral section, various Chinese and Tibetan instruments, Tibetan over-toning monks, and more at Abbey Road in London starting in mid-May. We have begun the long laborious process of ADR (dialog replacement) with all the principal actors. When you are on the set recording sound very often the tracks are polluted by wind and snow machines, engines, or in our case once, a huge sand storm. All the dialog in these cases has to be replaced with perfect matches to the lip synch of the original. Dialog editor Becky Sullivan and I start with Michelle Yeoh tomorrow after she flies in from Malaysia. Really looking forward to seeing her queenly presence again. The visual effects are a constant struggle but, pixel by pixel, DD, R & H and I carve out our successes. There are around 1100 vfx shots in the film and, as of now, I have final’d only 100. This sounds disastrous, but the majority of the time is spent on the minority of effects and the ever-increasing momentum of the pipelines usually carries the day. It always gets nasty near the end. Our Academy Award-winning sound mixers, Gary Summers, Scott Milan, and Dan Leahy will start the beginning of May on the pre-dubs.
Eventually, all these strands will weave into one movie. There are over 400 people working on the film at this phase and each has only one thing in heart every day: how to make “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” the very best viewing experience for you guys it can be.
Todd Grossman and I have put together a webisode on visual effects to give you the feel of what we are up to (without giving too much away!) and this will air this week.
I know there have been big gaps in communication but I think you can see the complexity of time commitments involved plus, when the swells come, I have to get out there into the break to catch a few waves, if for nothing else, to preserve my sanity. Some say I am not achieving that goal but what the hell…
Bye-bye, for now….
Rob
POST ON POST
February 18, 2008 10:59 AM
Dear Family—
It’s been over a month since my last entry so it’s time to catch you up on where we are.
Joel, Kelly and I continue with the editing process. The film is running 2 hours and 5 minutes long and strong and we continue to refine it in preparation for our first studio screening February 28th. Here all the Universal execs will get to see it unveiled for the first time. I have taken many of them into my confidence already showing large swaths of the movie to Marc Shmuger, the chairman, Donna Langley, the president of production and Jeff Kirschenbaum the senior v.p. Everyone has been really stoked. Whew!
I showed the entire film to marketing heads Adam Fogelson and Eddie Egan and trailer chief Frank Chiocchi because it is critical they have as much time to work on the film’s presentation to you, the audience, as possible. We should have the teaser trailer out within a month and, hopefully, you will find it as exciting as I have dreamt this year of work to be.
I will talk to Universal about premiering the teaser here on my blog so that you, who have showed so much interest in my film, will get to see it first. I’ll let you know what they say.
Jet Li came by the editing room last week. He was extremely pleased by the sections I showed him, which was personally satisfying to me as I hold him in great regard.
Saturday, I showed it to the producers: Stephen Sommers, Bob Ducsay, and Jim Jacks (Sean Daniel is in London working on “The Wolfman”) along with Vic Armstrong and many others all to great applause, so happiness reigns supreme….so far.
The visual effects work is going on apace. We have nine finals at this point out of 800 shots. Sounds dismal and hopeless, but this is how vfx work goes: the first 50% of the time on 10% of the shots and the second 50% on the 90%. There is so much R & D going in defining the visual rules for each fantasy creature, object, or landscape (what does Shangri-la look like?) that the refinement of this first 100 shots defines all the rest. Once the aesthetics and methodology are set, the production pipelines are refined and the work begins to accelerate.
So far, the Yeti (the abominable snowmen) done by Rhythm & Hues, that appear in the Himalayan sequence are my favorite achievement. They are flat out cool! Supervisor Derek Spears and team have been kicking ass on the creatures.
Meanwhile, over at Digital Domain, Co-supervisors Joel Hynek and Matthew Butler have been working with me on the terracotta Jet Li and the final battle where Michelle Yeoh’s undead square off against Jet’s terracotta army. There are 400 vfx shots in the last 25 minutes of the film, the vast majority belonging to DD.
So, that’s my post on post. To round it off, I will put on another of Todd Grossman’s excellent webisodes that take you inside the editing room.
I will get back to you on the date of the teaser. Until then, bye bye for now…
Rob
POST-PRODUCTION HAS BEGUN
January 7, 2008 1:02 PM
Hey, Family—
First, all of us at Team Cohen wish you a happy New Year! I am back in rainy L.A. warm and dry in my editing room cutting the million feet of film I shot together. My editors, Joel Negron and Kelly Matsumoto, and I meet each morning to discuss the plan for the day’s attack. Sometimes I like to go in scene order, sometimes we strike at scenes more randomly, and soon I will have a good first pass through the entire movie.
Editing is one of my favorite phases of the film making process. This is my 30th movie and the elasticity of the medium is still constantly illuminating. There are “the rules” of matching, screen direction, etc., but all of those can be broken to good effect at the right time. Editing is rhythm, modulating the storytelling at the proper pace like a conductor setting the time signature for the orchestra. There are passages of your story you have to slow down for nuance, performance, and information. There are times when the narrative must have more attack. Scenes need to breathe—but not too much or the movie might drag, seem too long, too obvious. It is so much like music, dependent on rhythm, and storytelling melody.
There are thousands of cuts in a film and each cut represents a thousand considerations: go to Brendan who is speaking the line or to Maria who is reacting to it? Show the full scope of the set or build up a unique location in pieces? Actors are the main driving force of the edit and performance is the highest value. A film might move along so fast that the humanity is lost; it might be wallowing in humanity and the narrative excitement is lost. It depends on the nature of film and the inner voice of the film and how well a director and his/her editors respond to the urgings that actually come from inside the movie itself.
Film is plastic in the best sense. It is pliable to a degree difficult to explain. It’s almost mystical. Editing software is readily available and I urge all of you who are interested to experiment. Shoot a simple scene giving yourself a number of angles with which to work and cut it. After your first few cuts, the portal to this creative process will open and, once you pass through, you may find what I’ve found—an addiction.
I took part in an excellent documentary a few years ago along with Scorsese, Spielberg, and many other fine directors called “THE CUTTING EDGE: The Magic of Movie Editing” which I highly recommend to all of you.
Todd Grossman and I have another video, which should be posting shortly, taking you inside our wrap night and the mighty fireworks display that our Chinese and American effects team put on to commemorate the end of shooting. I hope you enjoy it.
800 visual effects, music, sound design, and dubbing all lie ahead so I will keep you abreast of my pilgrim’s progress. Until then, bye bye, for now….
Rob
WE ARE WRAPPED!
December 8, 2007 10:25 PM
Dear Mummy Family—
After 91 days of shooting and 2,021 shots, “THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR” has wrapped. I finished shooting the “Imhotep’s Nightclub” sequence with Isabella Leong slow dancing with Luke Ford and, across the dance floor, Brendan Fraser guiding Maria Bello through the steps in a very romantic ending quickly turning to comedy as upstairs in the lounge, John Hannah gets caught skipping out of town on his partner Liam Cunningham.
It was with some considerable emotion I announced “shogung!” in Chinese and the set went up with applause and tears. People hugged, flash cameras flashed like strobes and the cast and crew shared the same sweet sense of achievement in many languages. Chinese grips and French Canadian grips, big, strong tough men, slapped each other’s backs and whisked away a few budding drops from their eyes with calloused fingers. The most common words in the air were “I learned so much from you.” “I will miss you.”
There was an announcement from production that the wrap party was set immediately outside and that a “show” would start soon. We filed out of the soundstage at the back of the beautiful Shanghai Studio where tables had all been prepared with champagne and beer. Bruce Steinheimer, my special effects head, handed me a button attached to a long wire and said, “push it” which I did…
That set off a non-stop eight-minute long barrage of FIREWORKS the likes of which no one had ever seen, wave after wave, patterns and colors of light beyond imagining. A friend of mine videotaped some of it, and I will post it for you all to enjoy as soon as a copy gets in my possession.
We used a ton of fireworks in the chase I mounted through the streets of Shanghai on Chinese New Year so our Chinese fireworks team had just gone to the limit to mark the completion of the film. I never saw anything like it.
It was 3:30 on a cold December morning and there was enough light and sound over Shanghai to,,,dare I say?…wake the dead. I had my arm around my wife Barbara and watched the heavens with joy and gratitude in my heart for the way the breaks fell for us, the good weather (we shot in Shanghai for five weeks during the “rainy season” and didn’t lose one day to rain); we shot in the Tianmo desert for three weeks and only lost a few hours due to a sandstorm driven by gale force winds. We shot in Montreal on two exterior sets for three weeks with snow made from a hundred tons of Epsom salt which rain would have ruined and never got wet. The weather gods were with me and they made all the difference.
I was grateful that, having staged over 500 stunts, not one actor or stuntman was hurt, only one close call for our great stunt woman Ming Qiu doubling Michelle Yeoh in a wire ratchet but, after X-rays, she was all good.
I was grateful for the talent of my actors and the characters we co-created together. Brendan is a true talent on many levels and I truly believe you are going to embrace this new Rick O’Connell with an even greater passion than you now feel. Just a hunch.
Maria Bello joined the family and blasted out a new Evy with charm and fire. Her beauty and intelligence, wit and courage were something I appreciated each and every day.
Newcomers Luke Ford and Isabella Leong made me love my job working with fresh talent, guiding their instincts and energies through the immense process of a long shoot and seeing them exceed all my demands.
Jet Li epitomizes graciousness, spiritual depth, and physical grace. He never lost his sense of humor, even when I had him covered from head-to-foot in terracotta mud; he was so committed to the role, nothing was too much. I learned a lot from him in more ways than just film.
Michelle Yeoh should be made Queen of the World. If so, I would be a monarchist. What an elegant woman! She is a light being. She glows from within , even in sunlight.
John Hannah is such an inventive actor and I believe you will see a re-invigorated “Jonathan” in my film, a character with more to do and say but bringing the same comic energy on which we all depend. A great guy to hang out with as well!
Liam Cunningham who I first saw in Ken Loach’s fine film ‘THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY” turned out to be a comic revelation as “MAD DOG MAGUIRE” the mercenary pilot who flies the O’Connells into the Himalayas on their quest to thwart the Emperor Mummy. He and John made duets of laughter. You’ll see.
David Calder brought a much needed weight to the story, a fine Shakespearean actor, not well known in America…yet…but bringing a Sydney Greenstreet/Claude Rains type characterization to the mad goings on of “Mummy 3”.
Also, I am grateful I started this blog. What began as an experiment goaded forward by Vic Armstrong, has become one of most stimulating new aspects of my professional life. I feel better in touch with the very people for whom I have been making movies all these years (this one is my 30th) but now I hear your voices directly, feel your personalities and can enjoy a new sense of dialog.
Rest assured, I will continue to update you on the post-production process, give you sneak peaks, and take you right through to the world premiere in Beijing, China on July 24, 2008.
Most people think that once you’ve finished shooting, you are mostly done. Nothing could be more untrue. What lies ahead, editing, sound effects, design, score, 800 visual effects shots, the mix, timing the digital intermediate with Simon Duggan my D.P., the release plans, art, advertising, marketing---they all lie ahead and within each are countless challenges.
Stay tuned, and I will take you along on PART TWO of MUMMY 3.
Bye, bye for now….
Rob
The End is in Sight
November 22, 2007 2:12 AM
As you can see from the new video from Todd Grossman, the production of “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is enshrouded in nights but just around the corner lies the light of day and the airport. We have two more long nights on the Shanghai streets and four days in ‘IMHOTEP’S,” Jonathan’s Egyptian-Deco nightclub on The Bund. (You haven’t lived till you see John Hannah in a bright blue brocade tux!) Yes, it is that time when the long process is behind me and a new half of the production lies ahead—the post: editing, 700 visual effects shots, sound design, music, mixing and setting the final look in the digital intermediate. This second half of the process will be as pressured as the first half since I must turn over the finished movie in early July so that thousands of prints can get struck in time to ship to our worldwide openings.
I won’t be late, believe me. On July 30th the baby will be out for everyone to enjoy—and to judge.
Marc Shmuger the Chairman of Universal has been in Shanghai visiting with some of the worldwide distribution team David Kosse and Duncan Clark to make plans for the release. Their vision is so large and supportive that I can breathe easier. The difference between a movie well- advertised and well-released and the converse is gigantic. Same movie and one will soar; the other, crash and burn. Like it or not, we live in an era of marketing.
I have mixed emotions about finishing. This has been a fresh and exciting ride. I got stretched, I pushed the limits of everyone, I got to do amazing things every hour of the past five months, and the amount of energy it has taken is everything right down to the fumes. We have done 2500 shots between Vic and I. Maybe the average movie has 800. But that’s what a movie like this takes to give you, the viewer, the ride.
I need some surf time! I need some wife time! I need to re-charge and ready my head to shape all this material and to let the greatest possible version of my film emerge.
I am totally appreciative of all your enthusiasm, your questions and comments. All of us working on the film enjoy hearing from you on my blog (which is now being translated into Chinese for Chinese sites). Your passion for “The Mummy” and films in general is totally exciting to me as it is something we share. I will continue to post all through the editing, right on to the release for, after all, in a very symbiotic way, we are in this together.
Bye bye, for now.
Rob
SHANGHAI, CHINA
November 10, 2007 1:15 AM
It seems that at the end of a production, time compresses. It gets dense. There is some kind of warp that happens where a day feels like a week and a week passes in a moment. I was shocked to read our “Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” family comments and realize that there has been a considerable gap between posts. I regret that, family, but I invoke the above sense of time as my defense.
A great deal has happened on the movie: we have successfully moved to Shanghai, we have finished Jet Li’s time with us in the movie and today, I finish sweet, sweet Michelle Yeoh. I have two weeks of a crazy chase and a few days of the O’Connell Family drama in Jonathan’s Egyptian-themed nightclub in Shanghai named appropriately “IMHOTEP’S,” complete with scantily clad dancers, live orchestra and deco motifs.
Jet was great to the last shot, his suffering under the curse of Zi Yuan (Michelle), which involved considerable discomfort for him in real life, but he took it like the pro he is and turned it into something unforgettable.
We shot all the scenes in the Emperor’s Throne Room with a team of Chinese culture advisors constantly helping me with Qin dynasty language, ceremonies, and behavior. Every film is a journey in which you learn new things about life at every level. This film has been packed with new knowledge, that “art” and “intellect” people would stand at the Emperor’s left, “military” at his right; that musicians were not allowed swords, that no one was ever allowed to turn his back to the Emperor, on and on. But the film gods dwell in the details. Even if it’s a world with which you’re not familiar, it feels true. Generalize them at your own peril.
Another great thing that has happened is my re-union with my 20-year old son Kyle who coincidentally is here in Shanghai at Fudan University. He’s taking his junior year abroad away from Sarah Lawrence College to learn Mandarin (a very smart choice for the future, I believe considering the cultural/business/and political renaissance that’s taking place here in China). After three months apart, it was just wonderful to see him, to meet his Chinese friends, to hear him speak Mandarin. He looks dubbed!
Also, my wife Barbara and I learned that we are expecting two boys and a girl so life couldn’t be finer. She posted a comment a while ago to thank all of you for your good wishes.
Last night our Action Unit, directed by Vic Armstrong, blew up a trolley on a main street in the Shanghai Bund section as part of our massive chase sequence. In this scene, Rick, Evy and Jonathan have hijacked a fireworks truck (it’s Chinese New year, 1946) and are chasing the Emperor Mummy and Anthony Wong through the streets. They take out the mother of all rockets and aim it right at the fleeing chariot. Jonathan lights the fuse with his Dunhill and it rips down the boulevard. The Mummy deflects the rocket straight into the trolley. Vic and I had set eight cameras and the damn trolley blew ten feet straight up off the ground with a fireworks display that could be seen from outer space! Special On-set Effects Supervisor Bruce Steinheimer designed the event with an extensive team of American and Chinese fireworks experts. The concussion was so intense it broke every window on main street and the rockets' red glare set the third story of the set on fire. It was glorious!
Well, I hope this post makes up in length for the gap between updates. Right now I have to get back to the task of filming Russell Wong in a love scene with Michelle Yeoh. Two more beautiful people were never created.
Bye-bye for now….
Rob
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 amon