First feature

So I don't know whether they even knew about it. Did we bill them? We should bill them now. It was interesting to figure out how to start this film because the studio were quite insistent for a long time that we have a prologue, the same as the first film. They wanted Cate Blanchett, in actual fact, to give us a sort of a backstory of what's happened so far in this movie, you know, the Fellowship of the Ring, and to set us up. And we resisted doing that, didn't we? Yes, yes.

0:33 · jump to transcript →

It was ironic, really, because they didn't like the idea of Cate Blanchett doing the prologue in the first film, in Fellowship. It was something we were keen on, but they weren't. And then it flipped around the other way. Yes, and then in this one, they decided that it was a good device, but we sort of moved on from there and thought, no, we're just going to go straight into this one. Nobody needs more backstory. I kind of think it's just important to be able to join all three movies up.

1:01 · jump to transcript →

you know, what's the first shot? And then I thought the mountains. I love the idea of hearing the voices coming from the first movie. It occurred to me, it's reminiscent of what Zemeckis did on the Back to the Future Part II when the characters were sort of, you know, went back to the first film again. And I love the idea of we hear something that's familiar coming from inside the mountain, but it's not really the first film, although it's sort of going back to halfway through the first film, which is kind of neat.

1:52 · jump to transcript →

It was interesting with Rhona because she had to create... ...a new character, you know, somebody... It's a different time. It's a much more rougher time. I mean, I think the warrior that she created... ...IS, In a sense, quite different from the Kate character. I think she did a fantastic job there. And I think she fits the tone of the movie very well. I was very happy. I mean, she looks great. And she has a very special quality of.... What I like best about Rhona is also the looks, how she looks... ...and tell a love story just by the looks on them. You'll see that through the movie, little moments like this, she really.... Beyond being a great... She works great with swords and things. Look at the shape Michael's in. It's incredible. This was-- He started.... He came off of Frost/Nixon I think in the end of October... ...and started shooting this in January... ...and had three months to go through incredibly intense physical training... ...to get into the shape that he's in in this movie. It was a Startling transformation that he was able to do to himself. It's good to be a Lycan. I'd like to be one. Yeah. That helps. Now, this is one of the great Dan Hennah sets. I remember Len and I came from California... ...in, what was it, for the first day of shooting... ...and we walked through the sets. And not only were they beautiful to look at... ...but the flooring was all corrugated. It looked like natural cement. And apparently, Dan had some sort of formula... ...where he could lay down these floors. And they made them look absolutely... They brought in a cement mixer and dumped it on the floor. And then there's this team of guys with forms and moulds... ... sort of going along with the cement mixer. So the entire floor is actually made... ...of two or three inches of actual concrete. It makes a huge difference. On the first film, we would've liked to, in the crypt, do that. Just didn't have the money for it. It was, you know, any way that you can possibly do it... . like a faux paint job. It just doesn't pick up the light. It doesn't work. The texture, yeah. - Here's a transformation. This was late in the game. This is Michael's suggestion or no? Am I wrong about that? - This was a scene, he was really... We actually tried to cut it. And he was so adamant that we had to shoot it. This one here. This turned out really well. Who did this? A company called Intelligent Creatures. From Toronto. - This one came out really good, yeah.

6:38 · jump to transcript →

So this is work... I mean, we had two companies doing the CGI werewolf on this movie. I need to mention that. The very first section of the movie, Sonja attacked... ...coming to the castle we saw before and this... ...was done by a French company called Duboi. And later on, the other part of the movie... ... you'll see werewolves again, the same one... ...done by another company called Luma. I need to say something about those guys. When the French started to do the first werewolf... ... they had a way of making those guys look quite elegant and sexy... ...but they were lacking a bit of weight, we felt. So we talked about that. The opposite came from Luma, giving them a lot of weight... ...but they were a little bit too brutal in some ways. And that's a typical example. When we met those guys, we had them looking at each other's work. And at the end, it sort of, like, you know, got better by looking at... Each other's work. - Yeah, covertly, and that really helped. There's a lot of practical wolf there as well, like, this is practical stuff. But there are probably 35 CG wolves in this sequence. Yeah. How many CG shots were in the whole movie, James? About 400. - Four hundred. But not just for the wolf. Everything. There's, like, 80 CG wolves. But this scene in particular, it's mixed from shot to shot to shot. And you really have to look closely now to tell the difference. Yeah, - Even in here, these three, four shots... ... they're back and forth, back and forth. That's a suit. And.... That one's CG. - Yeah. Sonja! Remember it took us, like, three different days to shoot that tunnel? That was such a nuisance, that thing. It was incredible. We really tried to prep ourselves, like great storyboard laid out. It was still a difficult scene to shoot. We're also talking over the appearance of Kevin Grevioux, and.... Fire. Who was obviously Raze in the first film... ...and, you know, a big part of the creation... ...of the writing of the first script. That's a Luma transformation. It was a great transformation. - It looks really good. And Luma's the only visual effects company that has worked in all three. That right? - True. How many visual effects companies ended up on Underworld? Is that 11, was it? Ten. - Ten. There's tons of them. This is one of the latest... - This is Kevin, guys. additions in the script of having Michael... ... actually do this roar that has the others back off. And it kind of.... It really opened up his character, and.... Yeah. Michael was really specific at the beginning. He asked if he could actually be doing the entire transformation... ...and being shot all the way to the end to bring his language. And I thought that helped everybody. CGI looking at him. He basically kept screaming almost like at the end of the transformation. And then he was replaced, but they got a good guideline. I wished we could have done a transformation back-to-human shot. Am I not master of this house? There's another shackle add-on right here. you are forbidden to remove your shackle. lt was added in later. you break my law after I gave you your life. Your days of plush living are over... We were lucky to have Bill Nighy on this movie. I mean, he's just a wonderful actor. He really is. He's fanta... And just a really, really great guy as well. He's always fun to work with and have on set. You couldn't have an Underworld without Viktor, Bill? I doubt it. - God, I don't know. It's tough because, like, you know, you kill these people off. And, you know, we'd always intended to do, you know, kind of a... In hopes and fantasize about doing a trilogy... ...which we've been able to be very lucky to do so now. And then you kill a lot of these great actors off. And, you know, I don't know. Don't know if it would feel the same without him. I mean, he wasn't... You know, it was great that we had him start in Underworld 2. You know, he wasn't in Underworld 2 for the beginning part of the film. Okay, that of... This is the best shot in the movie to see the size of the set. So now, we're in CG world. And we're entering now the practical set. So that's actually the set that Dan Hennah built for us... ...the last 20 feet of that, if you may. And there was this wall across to try to separate.... ...on the different flavours on both side. Yeah, this is one of my favourite shots. When I saw this, I was just... - Gorgeous. That's beautiful. - Thrilled. It looks fantastic. I was worried about that too. When we showed up... ...the sets were amazing, but they weren't very tall... in terms of how grand the space is. You know, to actually capture that on film... ... you're gonna have to see that it stops pretty short. Shoot off the edge. - And so it just meant... Every time you see that, it's a visual effects shot. It was basically the choice for that. Either wide or a little taller. But I felt the wise choice was to be wider for what we... The only other way to build it taller would've been to build it outside. Which would have been a disaster.

20:49 · jump to transcript →

Now, there's a very Underworld prop. Yeah, it shows up all over the place. - You know, this was something that.... There's many things to.... Actually, that I can actually address now. I'm hearing questions that are asked, and I don't really get to answer them. The.... The Sonja back-story... You know, Sonja was always the one that.... Well, Selene reminded Viktor of his daughter... ...and there was a similarity between them. And when we actually shot the death scene of Sonja... ... ln Underworld 1, we actually... People talking about, "Why is she blond?" "And now you've got Rhona Mitra, and she's got dark hair." "And couldn't the filmmakers just go back and watch the first film?" Of course we watched the first film. And it really just came down to a budget in the first one. And, Richard, you'd probably remember... ... that we literally, we had... We were given the okay to actually shoot that. One day. We got one day. - That back-story. One day, and no money, and one actress... ... that even remotely had an interesting look, but had blond hair. And at the time... Then we had, like, a day to find her too. And it bugged me at the time, I'm thinking: But it's supposed to be Sonja who reminded... Viktor. - Viktor. And so she has to have dark hair. And we asked the actress to dye her hair... ...she wanted more money. It was one of those things that you just think... And it just couldn't happen. We literally did not have the money to pay to dye her hair... ...and then have it coloured back again. And we didn't have time to build a wig that looked appropriate in one day. And so there we have it. And Sonja was more of a blond girl. And so that's.... I would actually now love to, in some version... ...take the death scene that we have now... ...and put it in Underworld 7. Funny you should say that. That's what I was doing all day today. - What do you mean? Recutting the genetic memories using footage from 3... For fun? - Yeah. For who? For a future... Exactly, just to have it in the bank. Cool. - Yeah. You know, there's a.... You know, I'd love to see this whole series all put together... ...because I think, unlike a lot of series... ... this actually does tie in fairly well, hopefully, to the other films... ...and actually arrange them in a proper timeline. With this one first. - Yeah, it really does. And therefore, kind of swap out... And also, just money-wise, we didn't have the ability... ...to do the kind of set and setting for her death scene in the original one. We had to revamp the crypt, which I never think really sold... There was an interesting thing when I watched it again... ...While we're doing this one, that there was actually Lycans... ...people standing around the room. Yeah. It was interesting. Actually, when you first talked to me about directing this one... ...I was thinking she was gonna be blond... ...because of that, because you had established that. I was not thinking. When I was starting to think about casting... ... I was like, "Oh, so she's Eastern European blond. That's what she's gonna be." - No, not at all. I was actually.... I was amazed at how many people actually, for a scene... ...that shows up for, you know, maybe 30 seconds... ...1n the original film, how much everybody really remembered... ... that she had, you know, blond hair, and.... I guess of course they're going to. For me, it's just... To do an entire film where the whole basis... ...of Viktor saving Selene is that there was such a parallel... ...to his own daughter that she had to be dark hair.

36:47 · jump to transcript →

urged to please cut away sooner, and I thought, no, you gotta see the actors get out of the car. And the broken mirror on the car, by the way. But these two guys, Andres and Armando, the one on the right, the older guy, is a stuntman, and the younger guy has never acted in his life. This was his first film.

1:20:42 · jump to transcript →

How do you feel about the movie? How do I feel about the movie? I'm extremely proud of everything that everybody did in the movie, with exception to myself. It's my first film, and I promise I'll do better next time. I'm very proud of it. I think you should be. I...

1:55:18 · jump to transcript →

I think now that I've done this film, I'm finally prepared to score my first movie. Yes. Well, you know what? I remember the day very specifically when you and I were on the recording stage and we were there to record the score of the film. And we were having a great deal of difficulty.

1:57:59 · jump to transcript →

And with the knowledge of the first film, we went into this film with a much better idea of what that should be. So it made actually cutting the film from a tone standpoint much easier. It was pretty much A to B. Bob just kind of put things together. Yeah, it was really easy. What was really nice just working with all the actors is they also got the tone, they understood. And it's like before I started this movie, I thought, well, if I could go back and change anything on the first one, I wouldn't because it made so much money. But I thought...

11:53 · jump to transcript →

this movie for the first time and not having seen the first picture. So it sort of complicates matters and you'll see that throughout the picture where there are references to the first movie for the enjoyment of audience members that saw the first film. Was that clear? I don't think it was at all. I was trying to follow that. I couldn't even follow. I kind of understand why you...

52:36 · jump to transcript →

Okay, this was all shot by the river. What's going on? Oh, yeah, he's a caterer. - Yeah, that's right. How much will you pay me not to reveal the secret of this scene? Taste explosion? No, you can reveal the secret of this scene. Okay, so this highly amusing scene coming up now about catering, with this girl, is a reworking of a highly amusing scene about catering which bore a remarkable resemblance, down to the last line, which was originally in Four Weddings and a Funeral, and which was one of my audition scenes, but which got cut from the final film. But waste not, want not. - Do you know what's most shaming about it is that when I put it in the film, I forgot to change the name on one of the lines. So it said, "Colin says this, Colin says this," and then, "Charles says this," for some reason. So this woman is the most extraordinary actress. I think you'll get to know her very well in the future. I've just worked out why I can never find true love. Why is that? - English girls. Now, this was Abdul's first film, I think, and I have never known a man be happier on a set. Yeah. He was lovely. I really liked him. - He had no nerve. Just always completely perky. Unlike some people. Hugh, over to you. What was my cousin like on the film set? Deep. - Was he? Yeah. Completely unflustered. We're talking about Thomas here, who is related to Hugh. Did you know that? Is that something you'd been talking about at school or were you shocked and ashamed when you found out? -/ think he's played it down. - Did you know? Did you know? I knew, yeah. - Yeah, okay. No, I mean, I wouldn't talk about it if it was me. His great-grandmother... - Yeah. ... Aunt Bala... Bala? -... yes, is my grandmother's sister. There you are. - Nice. And I used to play cricket with his Uncle George. Now these two... This was a very, very brave part to accept. Martin is a star of The Office, and the first time I saw The Office, I just thought, "He just has to be in the next film we do." - Crikey! Yeah. - And I mean he is the most wonderful actor. And Joanna here is so divine. She's marvelous. - And so guilelessly sweet. Yeah. - Nice face, too. She's getting married in a few weeks' time, and I spoke to her about her wedding and she said that her best friend wasn't going to be the bridesmaid because she'd had a breast job and she wasn't having a woman with enormous breasts walking behind her down the aisle. down the aisle. And then I said, "Well, who's taking her place?" And she said, "The dog." She's actually going to have a dog dressed in white. And I said, "If you thought that the people in the audience were going to be distracted "by a large-breasted woman, I promise you, a dog's gonna be worse." Now, this is clearly a sad scene. And the girl in the pictures is a girl that I've been in love with a long time called Rebecca Frayn. Yeah. - She's a director and a writer and her dad's Michael Frayn and her husband is Andy Harris. I managed to get her to agree that we could have all the prettiest pictures of her from her whole life. ls that... I see, in the photographs. - Yeah. Get out. Get out. - Yeah. No, I meant get out. So there we go, that's actually Rebecca as a baby and there's this wonderful... Oh, God, she's lovely.

12:16 · jump to transcript →

Abdul could not believe that day. It was his first film. I think it was his first day, and we Said, "This is what you've got to do now." I love that shot of you as well.

2:08:30 · jump to transcript →

They call themselves the Monicans. This was my first day, wasn't it? It was. Coming down the stairs here. Yeah, that right there is the first thing we shot. And let me tell you, those heels and those steps, trouble. Can you imagine? I twist my ankle just coming down steps and high heels on this film, Æon Flux, with all the special effects. I would be such a lame-o for that.

3:34 · jump to transcript →

This was my first time doing a film like this. And actually watching it right now, you realize how you shoot these really tiny little moments constantly because it really is impossible to shoot everything at one place. And if you do that, I don't think it lends itself to the visual film as this one is. And so I'm realizing all these little moments that you just shoot like three seconds here on one location and then...

8:35 · jump to transcript →

What did you do here? What I tried to do with the sky and the clouds. I thought it would be really smart if we said Paramount. And there you go. There it is. On the mountain. Hi, I'm J.J. Abrams. No, you're not. Yes, I am. No, you're Line of the People. I am J.J. Abrams. And I am Tom Cruise. Okay. You produced this film with Paula Wagner. You directed it. First film directed. Thank you for doing it. Thank you.

0:05 · jump to transcript →

How amazing is that? Isn't that incredible? Of course, Luther knows what's going on. There's a nice little, you know, when he says, you know, Langley was a cakewalk compared to this. I love the reference of the first film. You know what I mean? Yes.

1:21:43 · jump to transcript →

Because I knew we always needed that shot, and we planned it for second unit, and we never had a chance to shoot it. But no one ever notices. Yeah, that's great. I mean, now that I've opened my big... Man, these guys, if anybody heard the other commentary on the first film with Kate and Scott, that when you have the two of them together, like in a scene like this, it's very dramatic and very serious. It is so brutal to get them to stop laughing. They, uh, it's, uh... We actually have a lot of fun, but, man, they just, uh...

28:50 · jump to transcript →

And just a little bit of wrap-up on the... There's a lot of questions that I find out there with just internet and such. This was all shot in Vancouver, and we had about a 71-day schedule, I believe, which was the same schedule that we shot Underworld 1 on, difference being that on this time, on this film, we had the second unit running from the beginning. And first film, second unit was kind of scattered about and a bit more of a...

1:40:24 · jump to transcript →

Who is in charge? Who's in charge? Well, for the purposes of this commentary track, we've got two people in charge for Tinto Brass' first film of the current millennium, or at least of the 2000s, whether you consider the year 2000 part of this millennium is still being debated, but it's a new era, it's a new time for Tinto, and we'll be talking about how that is true in very many ways for this film. My name is Nathaniel Thompson from Mondo Digital, and joining me here today is Eugenio Ercolani. Hello. Hello. It's...

0:02 · jump to transcript →

It's been months and months on this. It's totally fascinating. We were so into the shot that you could hear the music swell, just an appreciation of our one big special effects shot here. Halfway, as they're still making that, we had the music, so I told those guys, you hear the music, you have to live up to that music, to that gong. Now, I recognize that guy. Yes, it's my father figure from my first three movies. Mr. Lang Xiong, the good old Lang Xiong.

6:04 · jump to transcript →

to make a PG-13 film. I must tell you, this is my first PG-13 movie ever made. We are very careful about everything. So no matter the action or the drama or anything, we got to so much careful about it. And I also need to tune down about the violent thing. And I also need to tune down the bullet head and the body counts. The whole movie is all about love. It's not about violence.

45:03 · jump to transcript →

E. Elias Merhige

knowing that you're spending the night with him in the castle alone. You watch him. Orlok, drop your paper. When I made my first film, Begotten, that was a feature silent film. And I did the cinematography on that film, and I talked to my actors while I was filming them. And that experience as a silent film director is something that I talked a lot to John about and also

38:03 · jump to transcript →

Ridley Scott

I thought this was great for Barney, who'd had a relatively small part in the first film, Silence. And to use him in the book as the person, as the way in... ...was, I think, a great stroke by Tom. And Frankie Faison really turned out to be the right man for the job. So it's one of those circumstances where instead of recasting...

24:48 · jump to transcript →

into something that has a little bit more significance. And was doing more than one thing. Yeah, it was introducing Mary and Pippin is what it was, which was great. And it's also magic. I didn't want to have too much magic in the movie because I don't like magic in fantasy films. But having a dragon like this, a firework dragon, is a pretty cool thing. My first introduction to The Lord of the Rings was when I saw the Ralph Bakshi cartoon film in 1978.

23:39 · jump to transcript →

Tom Tykwer

what some people consider his testimony. It was the last screenplay that he had worked on together with Piesiewicz. And even though it wasn't completely clear whether he wanted or intended to direct it, it was definitely the last proof of his genius that was left behind. So when Harvey Weinstein had the idea to give it to me and have me have a look at it, my first instinct reaction was,

2:33 · jump to transcript →

Mr. Metcalf, do you still have the Jacobis' check stubs and credit card statements? We're looking for any kind of service call or purchase that might've required a stranger to enter the house. A repairman or a delivery guy. When you would watch these dailies with Dino and Martha, I was only there once or twice, but again, it seemed to me like they had a very shrewd sense of where the best takes were. Their shrewdness came in length. Dino is very sensitive to pace, I think. - Right. He, like myself, likes to get on with things. Not just within an act or within the whole movie, within a scene. Within a scene, yeah. - A true sense of what you can do without. Yeah, exactly. Sometimes you get lost. When you're making it, you get too close... Where I got the most out of Dino was right before we wrapped the shoot. He started going through the script with me, he started pulling pages out. Remember we... - He would say, "We already know this. "We'll understand this without it being said." I guess if you've made as many movies... - Making 600 movies, you Kind of... ...aS Dino and Martha you really begin to learn something about storytelling. They were a huge help in that way. It's Chromalux. This was a great stock shot. We just got a fax. This is the first thing I shot. First day of shooting. It wasn't in my first cut. I ended up putting it back. Because it helped explain that... - That Dolarhyde is in some transition. Or, maybe, he's trying to stop. - Maybe. Which helps us explain the story of why he's eating that painting. But, unfortunately, which comes later. If it came before or while seeing the scene it would have helped more. But here... - You weren't happy with the way that scene came out in some versions. It seemed like very important information, emotionally. I love this location. This is a real photo lab that we just took over and... This is a long nighttime shoot. - Yeah. This exterior and the interior of this location are two different places. This is why I wish she was hurrying more, so that it would catch his interest more. Why is she running into the office? - That was my fault. That was one of the days we didn't talk on the cell phone. I would usually call Ted and say, "Ted, this is what I'm doing." Pick his brain.

1:40:42 · jump to transcript →

I don't think I'm gonna have an experience like this again. I mean, it did feel like, you know, a family... ...and that it was a bit like making a student film... ...where everybody was really passionate. Everybody was. It was like everybody's first... It was my first time playing a part like that... ...and Speedman's, and Brad's first time stunt coordinating. Wasn't it? Yeah, and first time, I think, doing second-unit directing as well. lt was a first time for a lot of people. I think Bruton Jones, my production designer... ...who I had worked with on videos and commercials and things... ...fight there, had not done a feature. And, you know, it was Danny's first... Danny McBride's first screenplay. And it was the first time for a lot of people. It was really special, and it was really, really great. Thank you for being so nice then... ...and such an asshole now that you've gone all Hollywood on me. No, I had, really... Just the support and everything that I had from everybody.... And like I've told you, it's because when you have... ...from the actors and everybody... ...when they're trying to make the best project... ...and they're really as passionate as you... ... you can kind of just put yourself in this bubble with the actors... ...and it helps take away the stress and nightmares you're dealing with... ...with the studio and the schedule and all that stuff. And it was such a great help. Forrest. So everybody, thanks again... ...to all of the 12 of you who are listening to this track... ...and we will see you again. We'll probably see you on Easter... ...because that's probably Mom Wiseman, right? Yes. Thanks, guys. We'll see you again. - Bye.

2:05:41 · jump to transcript →

It's funny, watching it, I really remember now reading the script and my first emotion. It's like when you talk to somebody over the phone and then you meet the person and it's a different person than what you imagined.

1:31:34 · jump to transcript →

Andrew Niccol

always in the shape of an AK-47. This was my first time shooting with a vulture. This is, according to the animal wrangler, vultures are untameable. But it was actually very cooperative. We were concerned it was gonna bite off a finger of the extra who was

55:33 · jump to transcript →

James McTeigue

I know there's no way I can convince you... ... this is not one of their tricks, but I don't care. lam me. My name is Valerie. I don't think I'll lve much longer. I wanted to tell someone about my life. This is the only autobiography that I will ever write and, God... .../'m writing it on toilet paper. There is always that great history of the first people... ...picked on or imprisoned are minorities. And it was important to, you know, show the Valerie character... ...and where she starts off with... ...and where, you know, where her life leads her... ...and then, you know, how the government come in... ...and they sweep up all those people... ...and then... ...and then how it affects Evey... ...and how Evey comes to, like, understand what has happened to those people... ...and how it, I guess it really sparks her political consciousness after her parents. Natasha, who plays Valerie is really, really lovely. And she, I mean, incredible actress. And James had her on set so that when I was reading the letter... ... that she would be reading it live for me... ...Which made it so much more human, instead of... I mean, not to disparage script Supervisors in any way... ...but a lot of times when there's voiceovers that you hear... ...the script supervisor will just read it from the script. And obviously they shouldn't be trying to act it out or anything... ...but that can be a very cold feeling. When you have the actual actor there, that's pretty amazing. For me, it's a point in the film where you're both propelled on... ...and also you're propelled backwards. And so you're going down this fantastic rabbit hole... ...at a point in the film where it expands the film... ...and it expands your mind. And you have to stay on the train you're on, but also at the same time... ...get onto another train. And I love it when films do that. So It's a fantastic thing to do at that point in time. It also is a very important back-story for V as well. Because it's to that note... ...1S something that links all three characters. And, you know, I love that all that... The thing that changes them... ... IS written on a piece of toilet paper. I think that is, like, totally fantastic. You would. I'd always known what I wanted to do with my life... ...and in 2015 I starred in my first film, The Salt Flats. lt was the most important role of my life. Not because of my career... ... but because that was how I met Ruth. The first time we kissed... ...I knew I never wanted to kiss any other lips but hers again.

1:12:51 · jump to transcript →

We were in rehearsal and you had something sort of like that. I walked down, I walked into one of our early rehearsals. I had gone to Girl Props in Soho. I bought a big freaking flower and then it started to become part of our improvisation and we ended up incorporating it within Sophia's ensemble. Kurt and Bart are costume designers who were known for their rock and roll stylist's work and videos from Britney Spears, etc. This was their first film.

55:22 · jump to transcript →

James Mangold

And one of my first goals here in this film was to create a sequence that grabbed you and pulled you into the film very quickly, and that we didn't indulge in a kind of extended opening credit sequence, that we just plunged you right into action and into the world of Dan Evans, played by Christian Bale and his family, out here in Bisbee, Arizona. God damn it, William! William! God damn it, put that down! Come here! Let go!

2:17 · jump to transcript →

the pedophilia theme. We took that out from the film because I thought it would really take too much space shadowing the love story. Yeah, I think it was like one of the first things we said when talking about how to do the script. This must go out. But for me it was necessary because my first version of Håkan when writing the book was a terrible Patrick Bateman American Psycho type of character doing it for money and power. And I had to...

45:12 · jump to transcript →

Rob Cohen

at the Shanghai studios of Jonathan's nightclub, which, how could it be more perfect than to be an Egyptian-themed nightclub? And that's my dear friend Marcia Nasatir, my first agent, literally my first friend in California, who's acting with our inimitable John Hannah. She plays a Russian princess, just, you know, after the war, after World War II.

26:54 · jump to transcript →