Nine Pieces of Eight - 2006. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 5.
Nine Pieces of Eight - 2006. Из дневников Терри Россио,
сценариста фильмов «Пираты Карибского моря». Часть 5.
MySpace Blog Entry
by Terry Rossio
Перевод: Девять восьмёрок - 2006. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 5.
The release date of DEAD MAN'S CHEST nears, so we do the traditional press junket, which for us amounts to a day of interviews, both traditional media (newspaper, magazines, radio and television) and new media (internet sites). For the group interviews the actors, Gore, Bruckheimer and Ted and I rotate from room to room filled with reporters who have attended press screenings of the film. I can tell from the near-hostile questioning that the screenings did not go well. "Why is the film so much darker?" "Why is the film so much more comedic?" "Why is there so much plot?" "Why is there so little plot?" Etc.
One thing becomes clear, many critics seem angry to be given a film that is not, by their estimation, a complete story. Although it's well known that the third film is already in production, they feel duped to be given only a 'middle' section of a trilogy. Ted's response is to say that the second film is in fact complete, it's just that it's a tragedy. The reporters do not looked convinced.
The reporters also seem very concerned with running time -- why is the film so long? Perhaps that is the essential difference between critics and fans, fans are happy to have more story to watch, and excited to know that a third film is on the way, but critics have appointments to keep.
One reporter wants to know why the film is "overly complex." This allows me to climb my favorite soapbox and rant on the topic of complexity -- which I believe is an asset to any film. "Audiences love complexity," I tell them. "You wouldn't say a film is too funny or too dramatic, and so it's nonsense to say a film is too complex -- as long as it makes sense and is logical." You would think that critics, who must suffer through many films that are boring because they are far too simple, would appreciate this point, but again they do not look convinced.
Day of the big Disneyland premiere arrives! My girlfriend Jocelyn has decided to make use of her unused Burning Man outfit -- platform boots, short skirt, leather vest, and colorful cape crafted by our friend and assistant Oceana. She looks stunning but what can I wear to match? That morning we search Hollywood second hand stores and I end up with black leather pants (!) and a puffy armed shirt. Homemade red sashes and headbands complete the effect (not saying what the effect was, just that it was complete!)
On the limo ride is my brother, his girlfriend, my daughter Janay and her boyfriend. We wonder if Disney will let us take in our large bags of swag onto the red carpet. A long line of cars outside the park, finally we exit and meet our own personal guide... Ted and I take a picture with Aladdin, shake Dick Cook's hand, and we're in -- swag and all!
On the red carpet, we're hit by a WALL OF SCREAMS. Much bigger and crazier than the Academy Awards, even. There is no way to prepare for this -- fans are lined up behind the ropes twenty rows deep. Last premiere it was about three or four rows deep. Fans in costumes, fans holding out stuff to sign, kids up on shoulders, and everyone happy to grab for the flying swag. Once we start throwing out our eyepatches and headbands and beads, the SCREAMING goes up a notch, people surge, riot-like, and plead and beg -- not that the stuff is valuable, but it represents some small reward for their hours of effort and waiting. We've got several huge bags stuffed but we could easily hand out everything in the first twenty feet, and that doesn't even get us partway around the first turn, on the way toward the looooong stretch that is Main Street, which is just as crowded. Wow!
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Мировая премьера фильма в Диснейленде.
Посмотреть все фото:
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Фотографии с премьеры, Диснейленд. Часть 1.
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Фотографии с премьеры, Диснейленд. Часть 2.
As we move along, even guests on the red carpet are asking for our beads. I pick out people who look deserving (fans who have dressed up, kids who look overwhelmed, etc.) I start to have fun with throwing stuff, I pick out people way in the back, and see how far I can manage an effective toss. Later, I get a MySpace message from someone who was there, she said, "I was the girl up on my boyfriend's shoulders, way in the back, I caught one of your bandanas!"
Moment of Humility: All along Main Street we hear chants of 'TER-ry! TER-ry! TER-ry!' and I'm feeling pretty good and then some. But then a glance to my side reveals: legendary wide-receiver Jerry Rice is pacing our group. All the shouts are for him! Poor guy, cutting a swath through that frightening jungle of notoriety while I follow in a serene wake of anonymity.
We leave the media and fan crush of the red carpet and enter Adventureland. I can't wait to go onto the newly refurbished Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Back in the Bahamas, Johnny had called us into his trailer to discuss the proposed changes he'd been sent. We agreed that the Jack Sparrow vignettes felt uninspired, and made suggestions on how they could be improved. The original Marc Davis sketches were all about the suspended moment, a particular situation that indicated a larger story (think of the dog with the keys). So we were really curious to go on the ride and check out the results.
So we hop onto our boat, and some of it is impressive and some is disappointing. The Davy Jones character is effective and the Jack Sparrow appearances are uncanny. You stare at him and you can convince yourself that they must have hired a life actor/Depp imitator to stand there and look back at you. But the vignette poses were still bland; to end the whole affair with Jack Sparrow sitting on a bunch of treasure, that's about as straightforward as you can get (Ted and I call it 'first draft theater.') It's not that captured moment style that Marc Davis did so well. Later we heard that the imagineers wanted to do something more creative, but ran into budget restrictions.
Midway through the ride, I note with some amusement that Barbossa is on a ship which could have been the Black Pearl, but the sails are not black. Reason is, Disney does not want to pay any small tiny percentage of gate fees to the writers, so they can't use in the ride any physical items or props that were described in specific detail in any of the screenplays. Same thing with some of the toys, that's why you see Black Pearl toy sets for sale where the Black Pearl has grey sails. For the record, as of this writing, Disney has not been willing to pay a single dollar in royalties to the writers (that's us!) for any book, video game, toy, amusement park installment, poster, jewelry item, t-shirt, lunchbox or any other product associated with the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films, even when specifically called for in our contract. Which is kind of sad, really.
Night falls. The crowd gathers in the bleachers facing Tom Sawyer Island. Happily, I find out I am not 'on the boat' so to speak. The way it works is they put a big screen over on Tom Sawyer Island, and they present key cast and crewmembers to the giant crowd by sailing them out on the Rivers of America aboard the Columbia. It's one of Gore's least favorite things to do, be in the spotlight like that, kind of cool yes but kind of goofy. I find out from our personal guide that Ted and I are not invited onto the Columbia, which is fine by me. So we sit in the stands, there is a long long wait -- some issue with Depp being late, it turns out later he was doing a charity gig, I think it was for Make-a-Wish. Our seats are right next to screen legend John Landau, so that's very cool. Jocelyn and I know that he owns the house above ours, in the Hollywood Hills, but he's never there so we've never met. Finally the ship appears, introductions are made, and that BOOMING VOICE of the Disney announcer guy says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest!"
Right away there is a Good Omen. I'm pretty excited to see the new Disney logo trailer -- it's done a bit in the style of the old Columbia trailer, three dimensional, and features Tinkerbell over the castle, etc. And, and, and, just as the trailer starts, just before Tinkerbell appears (and others at the event have confirmed this so I know it's true) a FALLING STAR sparkles across the night sky, a real star in the real sky behind the screen, out over the trees, out beyond Disneyland. A bit of Disney magic, there, right on cue!
Okay, so in some ways it's not the best of viewing conditions. The sound is not clear and there is a delay because the screen is so far away, and the screen is not a bright as you might want, it's cold, the benches are hard, and we got a late start. Parts of the film are great but expectations are so high. Afterwards I give the film a solid C+, to the utter shock and horror of Chad Oman, one of the exec producers. He thinks the film is an A and assures me a second viewing is needed, that the film plays far stronger the second time you see it.
This is confirmed two days later where, at the cast and crew screening at the El Capitan, I have an entirely different experience. The sound is better, you can hear all the dialogue, I watch the film... and it works. Jokes play, the tension is held, themes emerge, Bill Nighy's performance is thrilling, setups pay off and payoffs are set up, the ending is gangbusters, and overall it's that collective shared experience you hope to get from a trip to the movies. Outside, I raise my rating to B+ or A-, and Chad just grins at me. We bask for a moment in the satisfaction of finishing the massive thing, well actually the fact that Gore finished the massive thing, and knowing that the film is likely to be a phenomenon.
Watching the film, though, I really feel some of the edits and cuts. The original concept was to open the film with Gibbs singing, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest..." and so match the opening of the first film, with the singing on the 'Pirates Life for Me' song. And then we'd have another song for the third film, so they would all match. Gore and the editors said they tried it that way, but it didn't work; it was too difficult to cut from Jack's story to the wedding, Jack's story was so compelling it made it difficult for the audience to buy into the wedding, to care about the wedding. They might be right, but part of me is doubtful, I would have liked to have at least seen it once the original way.
And there were lines of dialogue that didn't make it: "I was nothing more than an almost innocent bystander." "I make no promises." "Keeps my aim sharp." "Never mind let's go!" "I love marriage, it's like a wager to see who will fall out of love first." "You just want Elizabeth for yourself." "Pot. Kettle. Black." Fans expect there to be quotable lines in the film, and we can't afford to lose any of them. Would 90 seconds more running time to include some of the better lines really have been a problem?
My girlfriend Jocelyn figured out the 'falling into the grave' issue. In the trailer, there is a shot from the front, of Jack striding forward and flopping into the grave. It was a fabulous pratfall performed by one of Jack's stunt doubles. We noticed in the film that Gore and the editors used an alternate shot, Jack striding forward and falling, shown from the side, and then you see the grave. It wasn't as funny, and I asked Gore why it was changed. Their theory was that the audience could 'register' the fall better from the side view, and then it was funny to reveal the grave. There was no time to test the film for audiences, so it was left that way. As it turned out, no one laughed at the 'see the fall from the side' version. Jocelyn hit on the reason why, she figured out that foreshortening is the key. When you see Jack from the front, he starts to fall, but what's funny is (because you are viewing from the front) you don't register the fall for just a half-second -- and then suddenly he's gone! That's the joke. So yes, you do 'register' the fall better from the side, but in this case, it was not registering the fall, and then getting the surprise, that was effective, that's what created the joke. I think she's right.
For the record, there are six instances in the film of foreshadowing Jack's death at the end. 1.) Jack's entrance, where he pops out of a coffin. 2.) His first line to the corpse, "Mind if we take a little side trip? Didn't think so." (A side trip implying that he will eventually rejoin the corpse to their main destination.) 3.) Bootstrap Bill tells Jack: "Then it's the Locker for you!" 4.) The first sailor Will talks to when searching for him, "Jack Sparrow? I heard he was dead." 5.) Gibbs lines in the cage, 'Release him from his fleshy prison... Jack Sparrow will die... when the drums stop." 6.) Jack falls headfirst into the grave.
*****
So the release date is upon us. We have a couple of traditions. One is that I make an opening weekend bet with Spencer, Gore's agent. For the first movie I had 65 million and under. He won a hundred bucks. For this film, I upped it to 103 million and under. The other tradition is we all get in a big van (Jerry, Gore, Ted and I, other key production personnel, wives and girlfriends...) and we go from theater to theater in and around LA, to check on the crowds, see what the reactions are, see if theaters are sold out, etc., and end with a late dinner and wait for the numbers to roll in.
In one theater, Gore notices that the sound in the left front speaker is out and tracks down the manager to have it fixed. In another theater, he notices that the framing is slightly off. Man that guy is good.
Driving in between theaters, Gore mentions the early reviews, "They're tearing us apart, man. Vicious." We try to figure out what the deal is. We made a smart, ambitious film that was not formula. We used literary techniques such as foreshadowing, thematic unity, dramatic irony, etc. We made a payoff line of 'the dichotomy of good and evil.' Our film is visually spectacular and funny. We invented distinctive characters, Davy Jones, Tia Dalma, Bootstrap Bill, and Lord Cutler Beckett, adding them to our pirates universe. This is all stuff the critics would usually love. And they're mauling us. We wonder, is there an anti-Jerry Bruckheimer bias?
At dinner Jerry gets the phone call, and the early estimate is near 130 million for the weekend, a number no one dared dream of, a new record. Spencer wins the bet, again. Later we hear from Johnny, who was in France at the time. "Scary numbers" he called them. "We ordered a bottle of wine, drank it, and the numbers kept rolling in, the estimates kept going up, and we just kept drinking more wine."
Reactions from the fans are mixed... but weirdly, the 'it's really good on second viewing' phenomenon appears to be true. The Rotten Tomato rating drops below 60%; too bad, because now all future descriptions of the film will be along the lines of, 'the critically disappointing DEAD MAN'S CHEST...' or 'dismissed by critics, DEAD MAN'S CHEST...' etc.
No rest for the weary, there's still another film to shoot -- on location at Redondo Beach. After a few days shooting we realize, this is the first time we are 'on location' in a public place in the United States, and not at the studio on a secured site. So for the first time we get a glimpse our fan base, who begin to ring the production site. Word of the production makes the news, and the crowds swell, many people spending all day behind the barricades. Unfortunately the shooting is all out at sea, so the only time for the fans to see any of the actors is early in the morning when they set out, or after sunset when they return.
One evening, fate hands the waiting fans a real treat. One shot was done just beyond the harbor. End of the day, sunset and into twilight, fans lining the beach get to see the real Black Pearl maneuvering, lanterns lit, the whole ship lit up against the darkening sky. (Addendum: That shot was later cut from At World's End, as of this writing.)
Me, I can walk through the crowds anonymously, even tell people I'm one of the film's screenwriters. Not much reaction from most, adults mostly, the kids tend to look surprised at the thought that these films even have writers. I did get asked to pose for a few photos and the occasional request for an autograph, so my hungry, shunted away in a dark corner starving ego gets to chomp down a few bites of fame.
Footage made the news of Orlando slipping away from set, crouched down in his vehicle. Same night, Johnny stays for an hour after wrap signing autographs. By comparison Orlando looks bad, which is really not fair; he had an appointment he had to keep, he's usually generous to his fans, he just couldn't do it that night, and didn't want his departure on camera.
Some fans line the production trailer area all day. I can't help but wonder, what do they get out of this? Maybe a glimpse of one of the stars, a wave; best-case scenario an autograph, a moment's interaction. There is value there, I've done it myself (I flew out to New Zealand while Lord of the Rings was filming just to see the sets) but putting a description to the value remains elusive.
I'll always remember this. Late in the evening, in the director's trailer. Watching dailies. Inside the trailer, it all gets lit up by flashes of lighting coming from outside -- a sudden thunderstorm? We crowd to the window, look out to see: Johnny has stepped out of his trailer to sign autographs, and the bright flashes are from the legions of camera flash bulbs going off. Blinding!
Funny how actors like Kevin, Mackenzie, Lee don't get much response from the fans, especially the kids, who only respond to 'Jack Sparrow.' One of the stunt guys plays with the crowd by sticking one of Johnny's dreadlock wigs around a corner -- and that high pitched Beatles arrive in America female squeal rises up.
That squeal is interesting; I've been listening to it a lot. What's odd is that no matter the crowd, morning afternoon or night, or the people in the crowd, who are always different, that squeal is always the same. Same rising pitch, same speed to the same volume, it's like some kind of genetic memory, primal, female DNA calling out to mate... or something.
Correction: It's not just Johnny, Marty also gets the squeal, as does Jack-the-Monkey.
*****
I don't know how the cast and crew do it. Some days the seas are rough, but relatively few have to bow our due to seasickness on the Black Pearl. Not me. One day, I didn't even make it onto the ship... just the ride out was enough for me to give in, I took one look at the Pearl, bouncing around like a cork the waves, the ship transfer dock thrashed, the landing rising up and down thirty feet with each swell, and I said, no way, take me back to land! During the short break between filming, we took a rewrite job on a project called THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. A fantasy story based on kids children's book series. We had to restructure, revise characters and character relationships, take meetings, and rewrite an entire screenplay over about a month's time. Hard! But word comes now that THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES has gone into production. That's the goal of any screenwriter, you've done your job on a project if you can help nudge it toward production... Sam, who works upstairs at Disney, is a huge PIRATES fan, so when we were asked to put a name to the tiny sandy island where Jack and Elizabeth are marooned, we called it 'Black Sam's Spit.' Sam was delighted, and then a year or so later, she sent Susan this sweet e-mail: "Will you thank you guys for me? You have all made me something of an unknown immortal. In the new Monopoly game, there is a card about the marooning titled "Black Sam's Spit". I may just swoon." Time is such a valuable commodity. Along with the movie, we're trying to help with the various video game platforms. I spend evenings going over the scripts for the X-Box and PlayStation games, trying to punch up the dialogue, give it more of the a flavor of the movie. All the more annoying that Disney pays no royalties on that whole sector. Thankfully DEJA VU returns to shooting down in New Orleans, so it's easier to get from set to set. Funny how we end up on the same sound stages for different movies... first a pirate ship, then a historic oval office, next a time travel machine, all on stage 42 at Universal... And then add that Bruckheimer is coming to us for help on the sequel to NATIONAL TREASURE. It's a bit of a sore point in that after doing the production rewrite on the first film, the WGA did not allow us credit. But they're in need of an approach and so we read and give our notes...
*****
Shooting moves to Guadalupe Dunes, and we feel a bit of the power of the production, as the County agrees to shut down the entire beach -- for us! Spectacular.
Exiting the beach I pass by a van full of what are obviously PIRATES fans. I pull over and pause to talk with them -- but they go speeding by, searching for another path to the beach. Oh, well.
The way the schedule is worked out, we realize that the beach scene at Guadeloupe dunes is special -- with Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti all in the scene, likely never again will we have those same actors together in one place in the world.
So the production moves to an aircraft assembly hanger in Palmdale, California. And words cannot describe the feeling upon stepping into that facility. I can only give details: five full-sized ships. Two built high upon three story gimbals. Lighting that spans a quarter square mile. Rain machines big enough to provide water for a small town. Blue screens as tall and wide as a Montana sky.
I stand next to Gore, gazing at it all. He says, simply, "We will never work on something this scale, ever again."
Interesting set fact #1: When there is an injury, and production calls for the medic over the walkie talkie, they never say who they are calling for, who might or might not be injured, to avoid rumors and speculation... they say, "We have a customer for the medic!"
Interesting set fact #2: Talking to Rick Heinricks regarding the Hai Peng, he mentions they figured out to create it with a rubber floor. Meaning what look like wooden planks are fashioned out of a kind of rubber. "Better for the stunt men to land on, better for the legs of the camera crew and actors who have to stand on it all day."
John Knoll looks particularly beleaguered today. He's the visual effects wizard leading the team from ILM, always on set, available to consult, one of the liaisons between the set and the guys up in San Francisco on the computers. John is frustrated looking at the ragged, wrinkled, shadowy blue screen behind the ship. As the production has continued on, efforts to keep the blue screen smooth have fallen off. That makes it more difficult in post. "We bid on doing blue screen... but not blue screen that looks like that."
For the Davy Jones crewmembers, especially characters in the background, it's far more cost effective for them to be created via make-up and costumes than in the computer, but getting them prepped can take more time. But saving time on set by using the CGI guys is just deferring the costs to post, and they'll be expected to do more with less, which is one reason why postproduction houses never make a profit.
In between takes, Gore reflects on the long journey... I remind him how this sequence started as a pen sketch on a napkin in his office... Gore reminisces about how much he liked the late nights with the wine, playing the dice game Perudo (which made its way into the film) when all was possible and we were trying to figure out the story...
Random bits overheard on the walkie-talkie: "I want to ride on the big boat." "Should I have makeup on the monkey for Gore?" "Wind and rain!" "I hear a generator, or air conditioner, or something. Shut it down." "I'm on it." "Just shut everything down!" "First shot, two o'clock, two hours after lunch." "No CGI pirates in this shot." "They're British, what do you expect?" "Make-up for Geoffrey, one of his nails popped off." "All right, take Keira to the warming tent." "Charlotte, go to two!"
People on the walkie talkie are constantly leaving the main channel for private conversations by saying, "Go to two..." I teased Charlotte, our stunt coordinator assistant, "So, what reeeeally happens on channel two?" She smiles enigmatically, "Ooh, all the most interesting conversations are on channel two and wouldn't you like to know."
We leave Palmdale briefly for shooting at Disney. That night we wrapped Jack Davenport... there is champagne and a cake... Gore says to Jack, "It's like you've escaped, gone over to the other side." Amazingly, the process of ending these films has begun.
At Disney, I get a call that Gore needs me on set. I grab my badge and head down to soundstage two. Approaching the set, I see there are barricades put up around the soundstage. Lucky for me I have my Disney employee badge with me. I flash it to the guard and he tells me to stop. Do I have my crew badge with me? Only if you have your crew badge can you get onto the set. This presents me with a dilemma... but first some context. Several times I've had run-ins with security. At times I have arrived to the lot and sometimes I can park next to the set, sometimes I get shuttled out to the parking garage, which adds an extra 15 minutes to the commute, sometimes I need a badge with me, sometimes I need a pass, my complaint was that it was always changing, and with no notice.
So now it's happening again. Suddenly there is a new policy, and I'm imagining Gore waiting, the whole production waiting with some problem, or some new line is needed, whatever. I explain it to the Guard, that I'm needed on set. The guard sees I don't have my Crew badge with me. I tell him I can come back after I visit the set. The Guard tells me, gestures for me to follow him to the security office. No way am I doing that. So I take my Disney ID off, toss it in his general direction, and tell him I'm going to set. I dive into the sound stage and wind my way to find Gore. Takes about five minutes to solve the problem, and I immediately go back to the Guard, and say, okay, now what do we need to do here?
He's having none of it. Says I'm in big trouble. There are now Burbank police officers there, and they're talking to the producers. Whatever, I head back to my office. Later I get called back to the Guards and we get into an argument, a shouting match. I point out that Gore doesn't have a badge, that Bruckheimer doesn't wear a crew badge, that at this point, the guards should have some idea about who needs to get to set without delay, and besides, I had my Disney badge with a photo ID, what more do they need? I remember the days when it was a Hollywood tradition for security guards to go to the trouble to learn everyone's names and faces!
So I leave the lot to go get my badge. Irony: That was the day I was supposed to meet with Motion Picture Group President Dick Cook to get the Studio appreciation gift and bonus check for our work on DEAD MAN'S CHEST.
The guards of course were just doing their jobs. Talking with them later, it turns out they had become worried, there were several stalkers who were pursing some of the stars, hence the requirement for crew badges. Eventually security created a page of photographs of key crewmembers. Next time I arrived at the gate they waved me through without even checking my ID...
Outside the trailers in Palmdale, Marty shows off his cool, long lean custom Black Pearl motorcycle. Really more of a 'chopper' as they would say in the sixties. He is the envy of all, and the main topic of conversation quickly becomes whether or not he will arrive at the premiere riding it, or even ride it down the red carpet on it... c'mon Marty, do it!
Hanging out on set, there's a reporter present, working for the New York Times, writing a profile on Jerry Bruckheimer. We start chatting, comparing the qualities of various powerful industry professionals we've both met, guys like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Eisner, Walter Parkes, Jerry Bruckheimer, etc. Later I read her piece and see I managed to land a quote in her article, about Bruckheimer, on what he once told me about power, that power doesn't come from conflict with people, bullying them, instead from aligning with people who want the same thing that you do.
Speaking of which, filming on DEJA VU is into its last few weeks. I'm very unhappy with the job Tony Scott is doing, the missed opportunities, the inept revisions, his general inability to understand basic ideas. We do a podcast on PIRATES and someone in the crowd asks how DEJA VU is going, I'm honest and say, "Not good. It's not a film I plan to go see." Which is true enough. Word gets back to Disney on this and they're angry, and my reps point out that it's not very politic to say something like that, especially when we're hoping to set up additional deals there. I'm not really apologetic because they can't have it both ways -- if they let poor choices get made, if they let someone put bad product out, they should take responsibility, either put a stop to it or own up to the mistake, not try to hush it up.
So I finally after all this time figured out the distinction between practical effects, special effects, and visual effects. I knew practical effects were done live, on the stage, in front of the camera (hence the word 'practical'). Stuff like explosions, forced perspective shots, snow falling, etc. But I was using special effects and visual effects rather interchangeably. John Knoll set me straight: what he and his group from ILM do are specifically 'visual effects.' It is not a 'special effect' to do a blue screen shot, or any postproduction CGI; all of the 'digital effects' are 'visual effects.' A 'special effect' is effectively synonymous with 'practical effects' and is handled by a different department. Sometimes they do merge, but basically, in DEAD MAN'S CHEST, when the ship smashed in half it was a 'special effect'; seeing the Kraken do the deed was a 'visual effect.'
Seconds after the final 'check the gate!' call for Kevin McNally, his final shot of the trilogy, Kevin takes out his custom made 'pirate' false teeth, drops them to the ground and stomps on them. "Take me to the hair trailer and give me a shave!" he shouts, and ten minutes later the muttonchops are gone... perhaps forever?
Picture wrap for Geoffrey Rush was on the same day as Kevin... Geoffrey slashed through the good-bye cake with his sword.
*****
Thing about working in the movie business is, you're always out of a job. Losing one's job is one of the most psychologically challenging events one can face... and for people on a film set, it's a way of life, you're never more than a few months away from another job search. The gypsy life. It affects everyone, grips and production assistants, producers and camera crew. Even actors. Even top actors. And writers. Orlando asks what we're planning to do next, and I tell him we'd like to try our hand at a western. He starts to pitch a book he loves, with a role he'd like to play, an English gunslinger who comes to the old west. The end of PIRATES is still months away, but we're already planning the next gig. On the day of Orlando's picture wrap, he gives me a hug, walks away -- turns and shouts, "English gunslinger!"
Our assistant, Susan, says to Kevin as he leaves the set for the last time, "You're our Scarecrow, we're going to miss you most of all!"
Карибские сказки (2005). Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 1.
Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season (2005). Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 2.
Прогулка по доске - 2005. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 3.
Прогулка по доске - 2005. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 4.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 1.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 2.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 3.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 4.
сценариста фильмов «Пираты Карибского моря». Часть 5.
MySpace Blog Entry
by Terry Rossio
Перевод: Девять восьмёрок - 2006. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 5.
The release date of DEAD MAN'S CHEST nears, so we do the traditional press junket, which for us amounts to a day of interviews, both traditional media (newspaper, magazines, radio and television) and new media (internet sites). For the group interviews the actors, Gore, Bruckheimer and Ted and I rotate from room to room filled with reporters who have attended press screenings of the film. I can tell from the near-hostile questioning that the screenings did not go well. "Why is the film so much darker?" "Why is the film so much more comedic?" "Why is there so much plot?" "Why is there so little plot?" Etc.
One thing becomes clear, many critics seem angry to be given a film that is not, by their estimation, a complete story. Although it's well known that the third film is already in production, they feel duped to be given only a 'middle' section of a trilogy. Ted's response is to say that the second film is in fact complete, it's just that it's a tragedy. The reporters do not looked convinced.
The reporters also seem very concerned with running time -- why is the film so long? Perhaps that is the essential difference between critics and fans, fans are happy to have more story to watch, and excited to know that a third film is on the way, but critics have appointments to keep.
One reporter wants to know why the film is "overly complex." This allows me to climb my favorite soapbox and rant on the topic of complexity -- which I believe is an asset to any film. "Audiences love complexity," I tell them. "You wouldn't say a film is too funny or too dramatic, and so it's nonsense to say a film is too complex -- as long as it makes sense and is logical." You would think that critics, who must suffer through many films that are boring because they are far too simple, would appreciate this point, but again they do not look convinced.
Day of the big Disneyland premiere arrives! My girlfriend Jocelyn has decided to make use of her unused Burning Man outfit -- platform boots, short skirt, leather vest, and colorful cape crafted by our friend and assistant Oceana. She looks stunning but what can I wear to match? That morning we search Hollywood second hand stores and I end up with black leather pants (!) and a puffy armed shirt. Homemade red sashes and headbands complete the effect (not saying what the effect was, just that it was complete!)
On the limo ride is my brother, his girlfriend, my daughter Janay and her boyfriend. We wonder if Disney will let us take in our large bags of swag onto the red carpet. A long line of cars outside the park, finally we exit and meet our own personal guide... Ted and I take a picture with Aladdin, shake Dick Cook's hand, and we're in -- swag and all!
On the red carpet, we're hit by a WALL OF SCREAMS. Much bigger and crazier than the Academy Awards, even. There is no way to prepare for this -- fans are lined up behind the ropes twenty rows deep. Last premiere it was about three or four rows deep. Fans in costumes, fans holding out stuff to sign, kids up on shoulders, and everyone happy to grab for the flying swag. Once we start throwing out our eyepatches and headbands and beads, the SCREAMING goes up a notch, people surge, riot-like, and plead and beg -- not that the stuff is valuable, but it represents some small reward for their hours of effort and waiting. We've got several huge bags stuffed but we could easily hand out everything in the first twenty feet, and that doesn't even get us partway around the first turn, on the way toward the looooong stretch that is Main Street, which is just as crowded. Wow!
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Мировая премьера фильма в Диснейленде.
Посмотреть все фото:
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Фотографии с премьеры, Диснейленд. Часть 1.
«Пираты Карибского моря: Сундук мертвеца». Фотографии с премьеры, Диснейленд. Часть 2.
As we move along, even guests on the red carpet are asking for our beads. I pick out people who look deserving (fans who have dressed up, kids who look overwhelmed, etc.) I start to have fun with throwing stuff, I pick out people way in the back, and see how far I can manage an effective toss. Later, I get a MySpace message from someone who was there, she said, "I was the girl up on my boyfriend's shoulders, way in the back, I caught one of your bandanas!"
Moment of Humility: All along Main Street we hear chants of 'TER-ry! TER-ry! TER-ry!' and I'm feeling pretty good and then some. But then a glance to my side reveals: legendary wide-receiver Jerry Rice is pacing our group. All the shouts are for him! Poor guy, cutting a swath through that frightening jungle of notoriety while I follow in a serene wake of anonymity.
We leave the media and fan crush of the red carpet and enter Adventureland. I can't wait to go onto the newly refurbished Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Back in the Bahamas, Johnny had called us into his trailer to discuss the proposed changes he'd been sent. We agreed that the Jack Sparrow vignettes felt uninspired, and made suggestions on how they could be improved. The original Marc Davis sketches were all about the suspended moment, a particular situation that indicated a larger story (think of the dog with the keys). So we were really curious to go on the ride and check out the results.
So we hop onto our boat, and some of it is impressive and some is disappointing. The Davy Jones character is effective and the Jack Sparrow appearances are uncanny. You stare at him and you can convince yourself that they must have hired a life actor/Depp imitator to stand there and look back at you. But the vignette poses were still bland; to end the whole affair with Jack Sparrow sitting on a bunch of treasure, that's about as straightforward as you can get (Ted and I call it 'first draft theater.') It's not that captured moment style that Marc Davis did so well. Later we heard that the imagineers wanted to do something more creative, but ran into budget restrictions.
Midway through the ride, I note with some amusement that Barbossa is on a ship which could have been the Black Pearl, but the sails are not black. Reason is, Disney does not want to pay any small tiny percentage of gate fees to the writers, so they can't use in the ride any physical items or props that were described in specific detail in any of the screenplays. Same thing with some of the toys, that's why you see Black Pearl toy sets for sale where the Black Pearl has grey sails. For the record, as of this writing, Disney has not been willing to pay a single dollar in royalties to the writers (that's us!) for any book, video game, toy, amusement park installment, poster, jewelry item, t-shirt, lunchbox or any other product associated with the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films, even when specifically called for in our contract. Which is kind of sad, really.
Night falls. The crowd gathers in the bleachers facing Tom Sawyer Island. Happily, I find out I am not 'on the boat' so to speak. The way it works is they put a big screen over on Tom Sawyer Island, and they present key cast and crewmembers to the giant crowd by sailing them out on the Rivers of America aboard the Columbia. It's one of Gore's least favorite things to do, be in the spotlight like that, kind of cool yes but kind of goofy. I find out from our personal guide that Ted and I are not invited onto the Columbia, which is fine by me. So we sit in the stands, there is a long long wait -- some issue with Depp being late, it turns out later he was doing a charity gig, I think it was for Make-a-Wish. Our seats are right next to screen legend John Landau, so that's very cool. Jocelyn and I know that he owns the house above ours, in the Hollywood Hills, but he's never there so we've never met. Finally the ship appears, introductions are made, and that BOOMING VOICE of the Disney announcer guy says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest!"
Right away there is a Good Omen. I'm pretty excited to see the new Disney logo trailer -- it's done a bit in the style of the old Columbia trailer, three dimensional, and features Tinkerbell over the castle, etc. And, and, and, just as the trailer starts, just before Tinkerbell appears (and others at the event have confirmed this so I know it's true) a FALLING STAR sparkles across the night sky, a real star in the real sky behind the screen, out over the trees, out beyond Disneyland. A bit of Disney magic, there, right on cue!
Okay, so in some ways it's not the best of viewing conditions. The sound is not clear and there is a delay because the screen is so far away, and the screen is not a bright as you might want, it's cold, the benches are hard, and we got a late start. Parts of the film are great but expectations are so high. Afterwards I give the film a solid C+, to the utter shock and horror of Chad Oman, one of the exec producers. He thinks the film is an A and assures me a second viewing is needed, that the film plays far stronger the second time you see it.
This is confirmed two days later where, at the cast and crew screening at the El Capitan, I have an entirely different experience. The sound is better, you can hear all the dialogue, I watch the film... and it works. Jokes play, the tension is held, themes emerge, Bill Nighy's performance is thrilling, setups pay off and payoffs are set up, the ending is gangbusters, and overall it's that collective shared experience you hope to get from a trip to the movies. Outside, I raise my rating to B+ or A-, and Chad just grins at me. We bask for a moment in the satisfaction of finishing the massive thing, well actually the fact that Gore finished the massive thing, and knowing that the film is likely to be a phenomenon.
Watching the film, though, I really feel some of the edits and cuts. The original concept was to open the film with Gibbs singing, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest..." and so match the opening of the first film, with the singing on the 'Pirates Life for Me' song. And then we'd have another song for the third film, so they would all match. Gore and the editors said they tried it that way, but it didn't work; it was too difficult to cut from Jack's story to the wedding, Jack's story was so compelling it made it difficult for the audience to buy into the wedding, to care about the wedding. They might be right, but part of me is doubtful, I would have liked to have at least seen it once the original way.
And there were lines of dialogue that didn't make it: "I was nothing more than an almost innocent bystander." "I make no promises." "Keeps my aim sharp." "Never mind let's go!" "I love marriage, it's like a wager to see who will fall out of love first." "You just want Elizabeth for yourself." "Pot. Kettle. Black." Fans expect there to be quotable lines in the film, and we can't afford to lose any of them. Would 90 seconds more running time to include some of the better lines really have been a problem?
My girlfriend Jocelyn figured out the 'falling into the grave' issue. In the trailer, there is a shot from the front, of Jack striding forward and flopping into the grave. It was a fabulous pratfall performed by one of Jack's stunt doubles. We noticed in the film that Gore and the editors used an alternate shot, Jack striding forward and falling, shown from the side, and then you see the grave. It wasn't as funny, and I asked Gore why it was changed. Their theory was that the audience could 'register' the fall better from the side view, and then it was funny to reveal the grave. There was no time to test the film for audiences, so it was left that way. As it turned out, no one laughed at the 'see the fall from the side' version. Jocelyn hit on the reason why, she figured out that foreshortening is the key. When you see Jack from the front, he starts to fall, but what's funny is (because you are viewing from the front) you don't register the fall for just a half-second -- and then suddenly he's gone! That's the joke. So yes, you do 'register' the fall better from the side, but in this case, it was not registering the fall, and then getting the surprise, that was effective, that's what created the joke. I think she's right.
For the record, there are six instances in the film of foreshadowing Jack's death at the end. 1.) Jack's entrance, where he pops out of a coffin. 2.) His first line to the corpse, "Mind if we take a little side trip? Didn't think so." (A side trip implying that he will eventually rejoin the corpse to their main destination.) 3.) Bootstrap Bill tells Jack: "Then it's the Locker for you!" 4.) The first sailor Will talks to when searching for him, "Jack Sparrow? I heard he was dead." 5.) Gibbs lines in the cage, 'Release him from his fleshy prison... Jack Sparrow will die... when the drums stop." 6.) Jack falls headfirst into the grave.
*****
So the release date is upon us. We have a couple of traditions. One is that I make an opening weekend bet with Spencer, Gore's agent. For the first movie I had 65 million and under. He won a hundred bucks. For this film, I upped it to 103 million and under. The other tradition is we all get in a big van (Jerry, Gore, Ted and I, other key production personnel, wives and girlfriends...) and we go from theater to theater in and around LA, to check on the crowds, see what the reactions are, see if theaters are sold out, etc., and end with a late dinner and wait for the numbers to roll in.
In one theater, Gore notices that the sound in the left front speaker is out and tracks down the manager to have it fixed. In another theater, he notices that the framing is slightly off. Man that guy is good.
Driving in between theaters, Gore mentions the early reviews, "They're tearing us apart, man. Vicious." We try to figure out what the deal is. We made a smart, ambitious film that was not formula. We used literary techniques such as foreshadowing, thematic unity, dramatic irony, etc. We made a payoff line of 'the dichotomy of good and evil.' Our film is visually spectacular and funny. We invented distinctive characters, Davy Jones, Tia Dalma, Bootstrap Bill, and Lord Cutler Beckett, adding them to our pirates universe. This is all stuff the critics would usually love. And they're mauling us. We wonder, is there an anti-Jerry Bruckheimer bias?
At dinner Jerry gets the phone call, and the early estimate is near 130 million for the weekend, a number no one dared dream of, a new record. Spencer wins the bet, again. Later we hear from Johnny, who was in France at the time. "Scary numbers" he called them. "We ordered a bottle of wine, drank it, and the numbers kept rolling in, the estimates kept going up, and we just kept drinking more wine."
Reactions from the fans are mixed... but weirdly, the 'it's really good on second viewing' phenomenon appears to be true. The Rotten Tomato rating drops below 60%; too bad, because now all future descriptions of the film will be along the lines of, 'the critically disappointing DEAD MAN'S CHEST...' or 'dismissed by critics, DEAD MAN'S CHEST...' etc.
No rest for the weary, there's still another film to shoot -- on location at Redondo Beach. After a few days shooting we realize, this is the first time we are 'on location' in a public place in the United States, and not at the studio on a secured site. So for the first time we get a glimpse our fan base, who begin to ring the production site. Word of the production makes the news, and the crowds swell, many people spending all day behind the barricades. Unfortunately the shooting is all out at sea, so the only time for the fans to see any of the actors is early in the morning when they set out, or after sunset when they return.
One evening, fate hands the waiting fans a real treat. One shot was done just beyond the harbor. End of the day, sunset and into twilight, fans lining the beach get to see the real Black Pearl maneuvering, lanterns lit, the whole ship lit up against the darkening sky. (Addendum: That shot was later cut from At World's End, as of this writing.)
Me, I can walk through the crowds anonymously, even tell people I'm one of the film's screenwriters. Not much reaction from most, adults mostly, the kids tend to look surprised at the thought that these films even have writers. I did get asked to pose for a few photos and the occasional request for an autograph, so my hungry, shunted away in a dark corner starving ego gets to chomp down a few bites of fame.
Footage made the news of Orlando slipping away from set, crouched down in his vehicle. Same night, Johnny stays for an hour after wrap signing autographs. By comparison Orlando looks bad, which is really not fair; he had an appointment he had to keep, he's usually generous to his fans, he just couldn't do it that night, and didn't want his departure on camera.
Some fans line the production trailer area all day. I can't help but wonder, what do they get out of this? Maybe a glimpse of one of the stars, a wave; best-case scenario an autograph, a moment's interaction. There is value there, I've done it myself (I flew out to New Zealand while Lord of the Rings was filming just to see the sets) but putting a description to the value remains elusive.
I'll always remember this. Late in the evening, in the director's trailer. Watching dailies. Inside the trailer, it all gets lit up by flashes of lighting coming from outside -- a sudden thunderstorm? We crowd to the window, look out to see: Johnny has stepped out of his trailer to sign autographs, and the bright flashes are from the legions of camera flash bulbs going off. Blinding!
Funny how actors like Kevin, Mackenzie, Lee don't get much response from the fans, especially the kids, who only respond to 'Jack Sparrow.' One of the stunt guys plays with the crowd by sticking one of Johnny's dreadlock wigs around a corner -- and that high pitched Beatles arrive in America female squeal rises up.
That squeal is interesting; I've been listening to it a lot. What's odd is that no matter the crowd, morning afternoon or night, or the people in the crowd, who are always different, that squeal is always the same. Same rising pitch, same speed to the same volume, it's like some kind of genetic memory, primal, female DNA calling out to mate... or something.
Correction: It's not just Johnny, Marty also gets the squeal, as does Jack-the-Monkey.
*****
I don't know how the cast and crew do it. Some days the seas are rough, but relatively few have to bow our due to seasickness on the Black Pearl. Not me. One day, I didn't even make it onto the ship... just the ride out was enough for me to give in, I took one look at the Pearl, bouncing around like a cork the waves, the ship transfer dock thrashed, the landing rising up and down thirty feet with each swell, and I said, no way, take me back to land! During the short break between filming, we took a rewrite job on a project called THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. A fantasy story based on kids children's book series. We had to restructure, revise characters and character relationships, take meetings, and rewrite an entire screenplay over about a month's time. Hard! But word comes now that THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES has gone into production. That's the goal of any screenwriter, you've done your job on a project if you can help nudge it toward production... Sam, who works upstairs at Disney, is a huge PIRATES fan, so when we were asked to put a name to the tiny sandy island where Jack and Elizabeth are marooned, we called it 'Black Sam's Spit.' Sam was delighted, and then a year or so later, she sent Susan this sweet e-mail: "Will you thank you guys for me? You have all made me something of an unknown immortal. In the new Monopoly game, there is a card about the marooning titled "Black Sam's Spit". I may just swoon." Time is such a valuable commodity. Along with the movie, we're trying to help with the various video game platforms. I spend evenings going over the scripts for the X-Box and PlayStation games, trying to punch up the dialogue, give it more of the a flavor of the movie. All the more annoying that Disney pays no royalties on that whole sector. Thankfully DEJA VU returns to shooting down in New Orleans, so it's easier to get from set to set. Funny how we end up on the same sound stages for different movies... first a pirate ship, then a historic oval office, next a time travel machine, all on stage 42 at Universal... And then add that Bruckheimer is coming to us for help on the sequel to NATIONAL TREASURE. It's a bit of a sore point in that after doing the production rewrite on the first film, the WGA did not allow us credit. But they're in need of an approach and so we read and give our notes...
*****
Shooting moves to Guadalupe Dunes, and we feel a bit of the power of the production, as the County agrees to shut down the entire beach -- for us! Spectacular.
Exiting the beach I pass by a van full of what are obviously PIRATES fans. I pull over and pause to talk with them -- but they go speeding by, searching for another path to the beach. Oh, well.
The way the schedule is worked out, we realize that the beach scene at Guadeloupe dunes is special -- with Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, Tia Dalma, Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti all in the scene, likely never again will we have those same actors together in one place in the world.
So the production moves to an aircraft assembly hanger in Palmdale, California. And words cannot describe the feeling upon stepping into that facility. I can only give details: five full-sized ships. Two built high upon three story gimbals. Lighting that spans a quarter square mile. Rain machines big enough to provide water for a small town. Blue screens as tall and wide as a Montana sky.
I stand next to Gore, gazing at it all. He says, simply, "We will never work on something this scale, ever again."
Interesting set fact #1: When there is an injury, and production calls for the medic over the walkie talkie, they never say who they are calling for, who might or might not be injured, to avoid rumors and speculation... they say, "We have a customer for the medic!"
Interesting set fact #2: Talking to Rick Heinricks regarding the Hai Peng, he mentions they figured out to create it with a rubber floor. Meaning what look like wooden planks are fashioned out of a kind of rubber. "Better for the stunt men to land on, better for the legs of the camera crew and actors who have to stand on it all day."
John Knoll looks particularly beleaguered today. He's the visual effects wizard leading the team from ILM, always on set, available to consult, one of the liaisons between the set and the guys up in San Francisco on the computers. John is frustrated looking at the ragged, wrinkled, shadowy blue screen behind the ship. As the production has continued on, efforts to keep the blue screen smooth have fallen off. That makes it more difficult in post. "We bid on doing blue screen... but not blue screen that looks like that."
For the Davy Jones crewmembers, especially characters in the background, it's far more cost effective for them to be created via make-up and costumes than in the computer, but getting them prepped can take more time. But saving time on set by using the CGI guys is just deferring the costs to post, and they'll be expected to do more with less, which is one reason why postproduction houses never make a profit.
In between takes, Gore reflects on the long journey... I remind him how this sequence started as a pen sketch on a napkin in his office... Gore reminisces about how much he liked the late nights with the wine, playing the dice game Perudo (which made its way into the film) when all was possible and we were trying to figure out the story...
Random bits overheard on the walkie-talkie: "I want to ride on the big boat." "Should I have makeup on the monkey for Gore?" "Wind and rain!" "I hear a generator, or air conditioner, or something. Shut it down." "I'm on it." "Just shut everything down!" "First shot, two o'clock, two hours after lunch." "No CGI pirates in this shot." "They're British, what do you expect?" "Make-up for Geoffrey, one of his nails popped off." "All right, take Keira to the warming tent." "Charlotte, go to two!"
People on the walkie talkie are constantly leaving the main channel for private conversations by saying, "Go to two..." I teased Charlotte, our stunt coordinator assistant, "So, what reeeeally happens on channel two?" She smiles enigmatically, "Ooh, all the most interesting conversations are on channel two and wouldn't you like to know."
We leave Palmdale briefly for shooting at Disney. That night we wrapped Jack Davenport... there is champagne and a cake... Gore says to Jack, "It's like you've escaped, gone over to the other side." Amazingly, the process of ending these films has begun.
At Disney, I get a call that Gore needs me on set. I grab my badge and head down to soundstage two. Approaching the set, I see there are barricades put up around the soundstage. Lucky for me I have my Disney employee badge with me. I flash it to the guard and he tells me to stop. Do I have my crew badge with me? Only if you have your crew badge can you get onto the set. This presents me with a dilemma... but first some context. Several times I've had run-ins with security. At times I have arrived to the lot and sometimes I can park next to the set, sometimes I get shuttled out to the parking garage, which adds an extra 15 minutes to the commute, sometimes I need a badge with me, sometimes I need a pass, my complaint was that it was always changing, and with no notice.
So now it's happening again. Suddenly there is a new policy, and I'm imagining Gore waiting, the whole production waiting with some problem, or some new line is needed, whatever. I explain it to the Guard, that I'm needed on set. The guard sees I don't have my Crew badge with me. I tell him I can come back after I visit the set. The Guard tells me, gestures for me to follow him to the security office. No way am I doing that. So I take my Disney ID off, toss it in his general direction, and tell him I'm going to set. I dive into the sound stage and wind my way to find Gore. Takes about five minutes to solve the problem, and I immediately go back to the Guard, and say, okay, now what do we need to do here?
He's having none of it. Says I'm in big trouble. There are now Burbank police officers there, and they're talking to the producers. Whatever, I head back to my office. Later I get called back to the Guards and we get into an argument, a shouting match. I point out that Gore doesn't have a badge, that Bruckheimer doesn't wear a crew badge, that at this point, the guards should have some idea about who needs to get to set without delay, and besides, I had my Disney badge with a photo ID, what more do they need? I remember the days when it was a Hollywood tradition for security guards to go to the trouble to learn everyone's names and faces!
So I leave the lot to go get my badge. Irony: That was the day I was supposed to meet with Motion Picture Group President Dick Cook to get the Studio appreciation gift and bonus check for our work on DEAD MAN'S CHEST.
The guards of course were just doing their jobs. Talking with them later, it turns out they had become worried, there were several stalkers who were pursing some of the stars, hence the requirement for crew badges. Eventually security created a page of photographs of key crewmembers. Next time I arrived at the gate they waved me through without even checking my ID...
Outside the trailers in Palmdale, Marty shows off his cool, long lean custom Black Pearl motorcycle. Really more of a 'chopper' as they would say in the sixties. He is the envy of all, and the main topic of conversation quickly becomes whether or not he will arrive at the premiere riding it, or even ride it down the red carpet on it... c'mon Marty, do it!
Hanging out on set, there's a reporter present, working for the New York Times, writing a profile on Jerry Bruckheimer. We start chatting, comparing the qualities of various powerful industry professionals we've both met, guys like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Eisner, Walter Parkes, Jerry Bruckheimer, etc. Later I read her piece and see I managed to land a quote in her article, about Bruckheimer, on what he once told me about power, that power doesn't come from conflict with people, bullying them, instead from aligning with people who want the same thing that you do.
Speaking of which, filming on DEJA VU is into its last few weeks. I'm very unhappy with the job Tony Scott is doing, the missed opportunities, the inept revisions, his general inability to understand basic ideas. We do a podcast on PIRATES and someone in the crowd asks how DEJA VU is going, I'm honest and say, "Not good. It's not a film I plan to go see." Which is true enough. Word gets back to Disney on this and they're angry, and my reps point out that it's not very politic to say something like that, especially when we're hoping to set up additional deals there. I'm not really apologetic because they can't have it both ways -- if they let poor choices get made, if they let someone put bad product out, they should take responsibility, either put a stop to it or own up to the mistake, not try to hush it up.
So I finally after all this time figured out the distinction between practical effects, special effects, and visual effects. I knew practical effects were done live, on the stage, in front of the camera (hence the word 'practical'). Stuff like explosions, forced perspective shots, snow falling, etc. But I was using special effects and visual effects rather interchangeably. John Knoll set me straight: what he and his group from ILM do are specifically 'visual effects.' It is not a 'special effect' to do a blue screen shot, or any postproduction CGI; all of the 'digital effects' are 'visual effects.' A 'special effect' is effectively synonymous with 'practical effects' and is handled by a different department. Sometimes they do merge, but basically, in DEAD MAN'S CHEST, when the ship smashed in half it was a 'special effect'; seeing the Kraken do the deed was a 'visual effect.'
Seconds after the final 'check the gate!' call for Kevin McNally, his final shot of the trilogy, Kevin takes out his custom made 'pirate' false teeth, drops them to the ground and stomps on them. "Take me to the hair trailer and give me a shave!" he shouts, and ten minutes later the muttonchops are gone... perhaps forever?
Picture wrap for Geoffrey Rush was on the same day as Kevin... Geoffrey slashed through the good-bye cake with his sword.
*****
Thing about working in the movie business is, you're always out of a job. Losing one's job is one of the most psychologically challenging events one can face... and for people on a film set, it's a way of life, you're never more than a few months away from another job search. The gypsy life. It affects everyone, grips and production assistants, producers and camera crew. Even actors. Even top actors. And writers. Orlando asks what we're planning to do next, and I tell him we'd like to try our hand at a western. He starts to pitch a book he loves, with a role he'd like to play, an English gunslinger who comes to the old west. The end of PIRATES is still months away, but we're already planning the next gig. On the day of Orlando's picture wrap, he gives me a hug, walks away -- turns and shouts, "English gunslinger!"
Our assistant, Susan, says to Kevin as he leaves the set for the last time, "You're our Scarecrow, we're going to miss you most of all!"
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Прогулка по доске - 2005. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 3.
Прогулка по доске - 2005. Из дневников Терри Россио. Часть 4.
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Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 2.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 3.
Из дневников Терри Россио. О съемках фильма «Пираты Карибского моря: На странных берегах». Часть 4.