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Issue Date: April 20, 2008
Movie tidbits for summer releases
Things you didn't know about the newest films headed your way
By Jamie Malanowski
Yes, it's been an exciting election year. No, we don't have a winner yet. But go ahead, take a break. See a movie. There'll still be candidates around when you get home (a couple, anyway). To help get you motivated, here is a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the biggest films opening between now and Labor Day.
Baby Mama (Coming April 25) In this comedy, Tina Fey playsa business executive who learns she's infertile and hires a working-class woman played by Amy Poehler to serve as a surrogate mother. Poehler recalls one night when she and Fey were completely exhausted after long hours of shooting; their next scene required them to sit in a car mounted on a trailer so the cinematographer could film them driving around New York. "We both fell dead asleep," Poehler says. "So, just remember, when you see us in that scene where we're driving over the Brooklyn Bridge, Tina and I are zonked out."
Speed Racer (Coming May 9) Paulie Litt, 13, who plays Speed's brother Spritle, is a big sports fan and was delighted to discover that on Fridays, crew members wore their favorite team's jersey. But being a Minnesota Vikings fan, Paulie was less excited to discover that directors Andy and Larry Wachowski are fans of the rival Chicago Bears. Turning the tables, Paulie acquired about 150 Vikings shirts and distributed them around the set. The Wachowskis got payback by adding a scene that required Paulie to stand by a toilet and act sick. Once he leaned over,the Wachowskis jeered: "That's where your Vikings belong -- in the toilet!" Later, the Vikings beat the Bears, and Paulie sent the directors an arrangement of yellow andpurple flowers, along with a card: "Sorry for your loss."
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Coming May 16) Ben Barnes, who plays Prince Caspian, not only was new to this troupe, but he also began filming two weeks after the other actors. William Moseley, who plays the oldest boy, Peter, decided that the best way to make Barnes feel at home would be to play a practical joke on him. On Barnes' first day, Moseley went up to him with a slightly shaken bottle of orange soda, planning to lift the cap while faking a sneeze, thus giving him a slight spritz. Alas, Moseley inadvertently squeezed the bottle, and its entirecontents shot out, spraying Barnes. "Thirty people screamed," Moseley recalls. "Poor Ben looked like he was about to cry." And what did Moseley do? "Oh, I ran, I ran."
Ben Barnes steps up in the "Chronicles of Narnia" sequel.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Coming May 22)
"We have a great relationship with the stuntmen," says Harrison Ford. "They're planning stuff you need a degree in physics to understand. Still, stuff happens." Ford says there was a scene in which Indy crashes a truck through a wall. Explosives were set to go off an instant before impact, making it appear that the truck had caused the collapse. Somehow, something went wrong, and "a big [expletive] box," he says, "flew through the air and landed on the seat next to me. Close! You can see it in the movie."
Sex and the City (Opens May 30) "When we filmed in Manhattan, every day was pandemonium," recalls director Michael Patrick King. "Spectators would just break through the barricades, like we were running a celebrity petting zoo." King's favorite moment of fan interference came when they were shooting a scene between Mr. Big (Chris Noth) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) on a sidewalk opposite a Catholic girls' high school. "In the middle of the scene, they had a fire drill, andhundreds of teenage girls in knee-highs and plaid skirts poured out of the building. Well, as soon as they saw Chris and Kristin, they charged across the street, screaming, 'We love you! We love you!' To which I said, 'Cut!' "
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (Opens June 6) In this comedy, Adam Sandler is a former Israeli agent who disappears, only to resurface as a hairdresser. "Zohan is surrounded by Arab and Israeli characters -- shopkeepers, neighbors," says co-screenwriter Robert Smigel. The production went to enormous lengths to cast people from that part of the world. "And what was funny was how grateful they all were not to be playing terrorists. 'Oh, I'm
a cab driver,' they'd say, 'Thank you! I'm so glad you don't want me to blow anything up!' "
Kung Fu Panda (Opens June 6) How well do you know your kung fu trivia? Only an expert will catch all the inside tributes and jokes in this animated comedy about a panda who is called upon to defend his village. Key locales in the film were called the Golden Harvest Noodle Shop (in honor of Bruce Lee's great films) and the Dragon Gate Inn (a tribute to a film made by seminal martial arts moviemaker King Hu). But to get the references, you'll also have to be bilingual. Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson put the names of these places on signs in Chinese.
Get Smart (Opens June 20) James Caan, who plays the president of the United States in this film based on the hit '60s spy comedy, has the distinction of being the only person in the cast who appeared in the TV series. Caan, a buddy of the original Maxwell Smart -- Don Adams -- was offered a guest-starring role in a two-part episode in 1969. "It was a swordsman, Douglas Fairbanks kind of character," Caan recalls. "I appeared on the condition that my credit would read: 'Rotten Rupert of Rathskeller, played by Himself.' "
Hancock (Opens July 2) In this film about a sardonic superhero who needs an image makeover, there's a scene in which Will Smith has to fly. In an era of computer-generated trickery, "Hancock" went old school for one of its big stunts. Says director Peter Berg: "We shut down eight blocks of downtown L.A., brought in eight cranes, hoisted Will onto a rig 80 feet up and hauled him 300 vertical feet through the air at 40 mph. Will came down with the biggest smile, saying, 'Let's do that again.' He's fearless."
Will Smith breaks new ground in the superhero flick "Hancock."
Step Brothers (Opens July 25) In a scene in this comedy about two grown men who become rivals when their single parents marry, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have to share a bedroom -- the one Reilly had as a kid. "We decorated the room with stuff a boy might have," says director Adam McKay. "One item was this $8 plaster of Paris lamp that had a pack of wolves howling at the moon. Will went on this long riff about this lamp -- the names of the wolves, how much it's worth now -- that was hilarious. It didn't make the final cut, but we'll use it somwhere. Later, when we were shooting another scene, we heard a crash, and when I went to investigate, I saw the lamp was broken. 'What happened?' I asked. 'Nuthin,' they said. They were upset, and they acted like boys, shifty and embarrassed."
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Opens Aug. 1) Part of the story in this film, the third in the "Mummy" series, takes place in ancient China. Director Rob Cohen wanted to depict the Great Wall under construction, but it wasn't clear how exactly the wall was built. One day, scouting locations north of Beijing, Cohen saw some ruins: part of the Great Wall. "We'll shoot here," he decided, and those seldom-seen ruins became part of a long tracking shot that shows the blood, pain and labor that built the wall.
Tropic Thunder (Opens Aug. 15) In this comedy about actors abandoned in a jungle by their director in order to make a realistic war film, Jack Black spends a lot of time strapped to a water buffalo. "Her name was Bertha," producer Stuart Cornfeld says. "The first two weeks, she was fine, then she began acting skittish, violently so, bucking and moaning. We wondered what to do because we couldn't work with her. Then, suddenly, she gave birth. We had no idea she was pregnant!" Remarkably, Bertha then went back to work. And did Bertha and Jack stay together after the shoot? "No, it was movie set thing. They shared a moment and a memory."
Ben Stiller, second from left, unloads in the comedy "Tropic Thunder."
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Online Bonus: More things you didn't know about the newest films headed your way
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (April 18)
One of the things that appealed to actress Kristen Bell about this romantic comedy was a long scene in which she and co-star Jason Segel ride horses in the Hawaiian surf. "The scene went well," Bell says, "until a horse came up behind my mount and ground itself against me. My right knee became the center of a 1,000-pound sandwich, and I was in so much pain that I couldn't see or hear." Bell says she walked with a limp for three weeks. "As it turned out, the horseback scene was cut [it will be on the DVD], but I'm pretty sure audiences will be able to detect that limp."
Then She Found Me (April 25)
Helen Hunt directed, co-produced, co-wrote and starred in this story of an adult woman who meets her birth mother. "But it's a measure of how rushed we were and how much I had on my mind," recalls Hunt, "that one time I said 'Roll 'em' and began filming with my stand-in still on the set. It took the script supervisor to say, 'Doesn't it bother anyone that Helen is now being played by a 21-year-old brunette?' "
Iron Man (May 2)
When producer Kevin Feige hired Gwyneth Paltrow to play Iron Man's trusted assistant "Pepper" Potts, he knew she didn't know much about comic books. Still, he was surprised when she snatched one from his hands and said, "Oh, is that a comic book?" and started looking though it. "So that's what Chris gets all excited about." Chris, of course, is husband Chris Martin of Coldplay, who is a big comic book fan.
Made of Honor (May 5)
In this romantic comedy about a man who agrees to serve as a friend's maid of honor, one of the scenes takes place in Bloomingdale's, where bride-to-be Michelle Monaghan and maid of honor Patrick Dempsey go to register her for gifts. "We started to film," recalls producer Neil Moritz. "Patrick entered the scene and, on the spur of the moment, proceeded to pick up a bunch of plates and juggle them. When he finished, he laid them out in a perfect place setting. And we all said, 'Whoa! Can you do that again?' Well, of course, he could, and we included his extemporaneous juggling in the film."
What Happens in Vegas (May 9)
Tom Vaughan, the director of this comedy about a couple that marries in haste in Vegas and then has a calamitous breakup, was surprised by the adjustments he had to make because of paparazzi interest in his stars, Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. "When they went to their dressing rooms, we had to figure in delays, and when they came back, we had to figure in that they'd be tired from fighting their way through, and when we were filming, we had to figure out where the paparazzi were to keep them out of the shot," he says. "Once we were shooting and a couple of paparazzi started fighting, and everyone on set stopped to watch. Finally, somebody had to go over and ask them to take it somewhere else."
Meet Dave (May 30)
This "fish out of water" comedy starring Eddie Murphy was the first production permitted to shoot on Liberty Island since 9/11, although certain restrictions applied. For one thing, they weren't allowed to bring onto the island the large trailers that customarily serve as dressing rooms for the actors. To make sure their leading man had an appropriate place to dress, the production got Murphy a yacht, an act that was a bit expensive, but one that presented producer David T. Friendly with a memorable vision. "One evening, I sat looking across New York harbor at the lower Manhattan skyline. And in the foreground was Eddie's yacht, with Eddie on the deck, dancing away as the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive blared over the sound system," he says. "It was priceless."
The Love Guru (June 20)
Michael De Luca is one of Hollywood's savviest producers, but as he admits, when he misses something, it isn't exactly minor. A crucial scene in this Mike Myers comedy about a self-help guru who assists a hockey player called for two elephants to appear on the ice at the Stanley Cup finals. "There I was, center ice at the Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I was expecting to see green screens, I was expecting to see tech people, I expect to see some kind of computer miracle, and instead -- I saw elephants! And I said, 'Whoa! We have elephants in our
movie!' "
Wanted (June 27)
For this comic book adaptation in which a nobody turns into a hero, actor James McAvoy underwent a rigorous training program. "The very first thing they had me do was run up and down five flights of steps," McAvoy says. "After three days of that, I went home and puked my guts out." McAvoy was happy he eventually became faster and stronger without bulking up. "The story wouldn't have worked if I looked like Schwarzenegger in a shirt and tie," he says. McAvoy is especially proud of his progress in the wide-grip pull-up. "When I started, I couldn't do any," he says, "but at the end, I was doing 20-odd." And now? "Oh, it's been five months. I can't do any now."
WALL*E (June 27)
Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt has worked on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, but he says this animated film about robots is the most aurally complex movie he's ever worked on because everything the robots do must be accompanied by a sound. Burtt used synthesizers and computers to generate the most fanciful sounds, like those of the robots speaking, but others are simpler. "One character is a cockroach," he says. "I used a pair of handcuffs opening and closing for him."
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (July 2)
Open auditions for this film, which is based on the American Girl dolls and set during the Depression, drew an estimated 10,000 hopefuls, four of whom actually made it into the cast. Two were hired to play the main character's neighbors, whose family is evicted. "After playing the scene," recalls producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, "one of the girls asked me, 'What happens to my character?' I asked her, 'What do you think happens?' " The girl thought for a bit and decided that the family turned out all right; they moved to a smaller house, but they ended up healthy and together because they stuck it out as a family. "Then she said to me, 'Life is like a knot in a necklace. You have to keep working at it until it straightens itself out.' "
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (July 11)
Director Guillermo del Toro upped the ante for this sequel about the devil's spawn. "In the first film, we had three or four creatures. This time, we had more than 30, who are created with a mix of digital technology and costumes. That meant every day we were working with at least five, and sometimes 20, actors who couldn't see, hear or move properly [and they had to engage] in complex action, often involving pyrotechnics. It was like trying to orchestrate a ballet with severely impeded people. The results, I'm happy to say, are magnificent." And the results that weren't magnificent? "They'll be on the DVD!"
Space Chimps (July 18)
This animated comedy about a new generation of simian astronauts features the Blue Man Group, the cutting-edge performance artists, on the soundtrack. "We had the best of both worlds," says director Kirk DeMicco. "They used these custom-made instruments that included PVC-tubing drums, zithers and air poles to produce all these unusual and exotic sounds, which we were able to combine with a traditional score played by 60 classically trained musicians. I assure you, Stradivarius violins and PVC tubing playing side by side make for a unique score."
Mamma Mia! (July 18)
"We shot on the Greek island of Skopoles," says Judy Craymer, the producer of this love story set to the music of the famous pop band ABBA. "And we had endless parties, which culminated in our wrap party. Benny Andersson, ABBA's keyboardist, began playing, and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan and the rest of the cast got up and did karaoke for an hour. At one point, the owner of the restaurant pointed to Benny, who was tanned and scruffy and kind of looked like a fisherman, and said, 'He's pretty good -- he could have a career.' "
The Dark Knight (July 18)
Are you ready for a wholly new Batmobile? This version, which was designed from scratch by director Christopher Nolan and production designer Nathan Crowley, combined parts of model cars and planes in a re-imagined vehicle. The new Batmobile has six wheels (two in the front and four monster truck tires in the back), runs on regular unleaded fuel, weighs 2.5 tons and includes parts from a Hummer, a Lamborghini and a stealth bomber.
Swing Vote (Aug. 1)
Although he has six seasons of a TV show under his belt, George Lopez feels he's a newcomer to films. On location in New Mexico for this comedy about a man who, after an improbable series of events, is left to cast the deciding vote in a presidential election, Lopez was most impressed with how relaxed the set was. "People from the area visited the set and wandered around like it was a flea market; teachers took off from school to get autographs. Kevin Costner set up shop in a trailer, and at night he and his band hooked up to portable generators and played music," Lopez says. "And he was good! I went through three lighters listening to that dude!"
Pineapple Express (Aug. 8)
In what producers Shauna Robertson and Judd Apatow call "a pot action comedy" starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the actor Danny McBride was cast as a middleman. Director David Gordon Green told McBride that his character had shaved his underarms, and McBride obliged. Not until much later, after many pages of the script had been shot, did McBride realize that there was nothing in the story about his underarms and that Green was just kidding. Undaunted, McBride ad-libbed an explanation: "They make me more aerodynamic when I fight."
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (Aug. 8)
While filming on the Greek island of Santorini, the young actresses (Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel) saw a group of local boys jumping off cliffs into the ocean. The boys invited them to join in. The girls were at first hesitant but decided to go for it. So exhilarated by the experience, they persuaded the director to create a scene in the movie in which they go cliff-jumping.
Wild Child (Aug. 15)
To play a Malibu brat who is exiled to an English boarding school, Emma Roberts had to spend almost four hours a day for two weeks learning to play lacrosse. But that wasn't the hardest thing; she also had to learn to speak in a British dialect. "The rest of the cast thought I was so weird," Roberts says. "I'd say, 'I have to put on my sneakers,' and they'd say, 'What? Do you mean trainers?' I was happy when the cast all came back to L.A., and they could meet other people who talked like me."
The Accidental Husband (Aug. 22)
A key moment in this romantic comedy involves a couple applying for a marriage license and discovering that one of them is already married. Seeking realism, director Griffin Dunne and writer Bonnie Sikowitz tell us they decided to find out what this would actually be like and went to New York's City Hall and filled out the forms. They, of course, knew that Bonnie had a husband, but they wanted to hear the clerk break the news. "We were giddy with nervousness," recalls Dunne, "and we began to imagine things. What if they actually issued us a license? What would Bonnie's husband say? Just as we were about to submit our forms, Bonnie chickened out. 'I changed my mind,' she said. 'I'm sorry, I can't go through this.' In other words, she dumped me! All the other couples commiserated with me."
Crossing Over (Aug. 22)
While scouting locations for this film about immigration, the crew received a deeper insight into the realities of the subject than they had bargained for. "We were visiting the checkpoint between San Diego and Tijuana," reports director Wayne Kramer, "and the officials were treating us like VIPs, showing us all their procedures. Later in the day, we went into Mexico for some preproduction work and then headed home. But at the border, our production designer, Toby Corbett, a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, realized he only had his British passport, and he didn't have the necessary visa to get back into America. We were hoping they would remember that we'd just been there that very morning, but uh-uh. They held us up while they checked him out for around an hour, but just spending that hour at the mercy of the bureaucracy gave us a new insight into our subject."
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Surprises about the newest films headed your way