Hey folks, Harry here with a spy named Raggedy Man - and R.M. is da man in Vancouver apparently slipping and sliding into every set around. His report on I, ROBOT is a bit scary - all the vehicles and sets I've seen thus far seem to remind me of DEMOLITION MAN... but I refuse to believe that Alex Proyas could ever mess up a film as badly as that one! CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK has me by the short hairs... I love PITCH BLACK - & just about everything that David Twohy has done so far - and here... well he's allegedly being given everything he needs to make an epic! Can Not Friggin' Wait! The rest sounds vaguely interesting - give it a look and see...
Hey Harry...
I'm a long time lurker of AICN, and lately I've been
getting alot of work on the many sets in Vancouver.
So I thought I'd repay the favor of "givin the scoop"
with some snippits from up here in Hollywood North.
- I, Robot -
It seems most of the money currently in circulation in the western hemisphere is being dumped directly into this movie. A single picture car cost 1.2 million to make. Whether or not the quality will warrant the garantuan budget remains to be seen.
Expect to see a complete bastardization of Isaac Asimov's classic. Will Smith is the lead, and he has marketing written all over him. Funky shades with blue lights built into the rims, brown leather jacket, a quadruple exhaust motorbike....
Recently they shut down one of the tunnels in vancouver for part of Smiths big motorcycle chase scene...
Odd. I don't remember any motorbike chases in the book.
Expect I, Robot action figures, video games, clothing
lines, and of course lunchboxes...
- Final Cut -
Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino and Angelica Houston. They spend REALLY arduously long days filming. Most shots are on average 20 to 30 takes. Not because of flubbed lines or booms dropping into shot... but because the young director just seems to love doing each scene over and over until the entire crew groans collectively. The joke on the set of Final Cut, is that there never seems to be a final... CUT!
Anyhow, it's got a very Philip K Dick feel to it. In an ambiguous futuristic setting, Robin Williams has the ability to capture a persons lifelong memories at the moment of their death. He then edits these memories together to play at their funerals, so that friends and family can see the life that their loved one had lived.
And Williams is AMAZING on set. Between takes he is a
nonstop cavalcade of jokes and one liners. And he is
a truly REAL human being. Going so far as to shake
the hand of every single extra at the end of the day.
- The Chronicles of Riddick -
Vin Deisel ventures back into the character of Riddick in whats looking to be truly epic scale sci-fi. Chronicles are two movies being filmed simultaneously. In it we see the life of Riddick before the movie "Pitch Black". Only a couple of weeks into production, they've been filming the scenes that take place in "the Slam". A futuristic prison full of the lowest lifeforms in the galaxy.
A short chat with one of the costume designers
revealed the epic nature. Apparently they've created
hundreds of "Necromage" costumes. Each is incredibly
heavy and huge... similar to the large shambling
Garthim that served the Skeksis in the Dark Crystal.
They're to be used in a massive action sequence to be
filmed in the next month or two. I'll fill you in as
more details arrive.
- Dead Like Me -
Television Series. Working on set revealed very
little, aside from the fact that they've got some hot
new young actress, who dies. And in death is offered
the job of the grim reaper. Each day of shooting
involves some elaborate stunt in which somebody dies a
horribly elaborate death. Expect the death toll to be
very high in each episode.
- Miracle -
Purely massive Disney flick. About the American Olympic Hockey team in the early 80's. Kurt Russel is decked out in what seems to be Don Cherry's wardrobe as he portrays the Coach of the team. Alot of gum chewing and tantrum throwing appear to be the order of the day.
They're filming the games very accurately, right down
to full-on choreography of the Olympic games that
occurred. And on average there's 1000 to 3000 extras
in the stands cheering on the actors. It's likely
that after a few months of screaming at the top of
their lungs for several months, Vancouver will see a
Laryngitis epidemic.
- Battlestar Galactica -
The cult series makes a return. The Galactica hasn't been seen in years and humanity has continued to colonize the universe. The Cylons, long thought defeated have simply evolved. While there are still some old "By Your Command" Cylons with the pacing red eye, the Cylons have taken on a few Terminator tactics.
They look human now (Possibly to lower the overall
budget) and they infiltrate human society with secret
Cylon Assassins. On one of the days I worked, our
Assassin was a 6'1" blond, dressed in leather. Her
mission, to kill some unsuspecting baby in the middle
of a retro-bazaar. I wasn't close enough to hear her
lines... but I wouldn't be suprised if she had
whispered, "Are you Sarah Connor?"
- Tru Calling -
This JUST started filming up here. Its the new Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy) TV series. All I know at this point is that the one of locations scouts described it as, "Sixth Sense with tits."
More to come. Catwoman starts shooting here soon also, So I'll see what I can dig up for ya.
Regards,
Raggedy Man
