SET VISIT: Jack the Giant Slayer with Ewan McGregor and Nicholas Hoult
From Movie Web:
We travel to London to speak with Ewan McGregor, Nicholas Hoult, director Bryan Singer, and more on the set of Jack the Giant Slayer
There's just something very special about arriving on a location and
seeing a massive castle set right before your very eyes. Actors are
riding into a courtyard on horseback, in full medieval armor, that
unmistakable sound of horses galloping on soft earth permeating the
atmosphere around us. These are the first images and sounds I took in on
the set of Jack the Giant Slayer
back in August, 2011. I had traveled from the urban jungle of Los
Angeles across the pond to Longcross Studios in Surrey, U.K., just an
hour or so outside of London, but it felt like much more than an hour
outside of London. It felt like centuries outside of the city, and it
would get even better once we went inside this enormous castle set.
The scenes we first saw being shot takes place towards the end of the
movie, when the warriors of Albian are gathering in Cloister Castle to
prepare for their epic battle with the giants. This isn't an everyday
occurrence for these fine citizens. The giants were thought to be
creatures of myth for years, when, one day, Jack (Nicholas Hoult)
unwittingly unlocks the gateway between the land of giants and our
world. Naturally, a battle ensues, with the 25-foot-tall giants, who
want to reclaim the land they lost centuries ago. During a break in the
production, Nicholas Hoult spoke about how his character isn't quite your typical hero, with several obstacles he has yet to overcome.
"He's
a dreamer. He's a young farmer. He hasn't had an easy upbringing and
then he's kind of catapulted onto this epic mission and falls in love
with a princess. He's an average hero - well, average guy who becomes a
hero. He's a good guy, which is nice, playing a good guy for once, but
he's fairly laid back. He has to overcome quite a few of his fears of
heights and thunder and all these sorts of things along the way. But,
yeah, he's just an average guy."
Since Jack isn't our typical hero, the princess he falls for (and tries to save from the giants), Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson),
is not your garden-variety symbol of royalty. The actress explained how
Isabelle isn't a conventional princess, how she was born into this life
she didn't exactly want.
"She's
definitely not typical. That's kind of what I love about her. She has
this side to her, which is really fiery. She didn't want to be a
princess. She was just born into this life. As amazing as it is, it's
not necessarily what she wants. She feels a bit trapped, I think. Her
relationship with her father, after her mother died, is coming under a
lot of pressure, because he's the king and he doesn't understand her.
She just wants to be a normal girl. She wants to fall in love for love,
not for the kingdom. She's got that temper, that spark about her, which
is different from other fairy tales, I think."
Nicholas Hoult as Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer
After watching several takes of the riders coming into the castle, we
were taken inside this enormous exterior set, which may have been the
most immense set I've ever been on in my five years of visiting movie
sets. We walked past these big vats of molten lava, that the archers use
for flaming arrows. We also saw another set extension past the castle
set, that shows us some of the giant's homeland. Naturally, everything
was bigger, including a huge net that Jack gets captured in.
We also got to see a more humorous scene with Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson
that pokes a bit of fun at the dynamic between the humans and the
giants. Both Jack and Isabelle are seen coming out of two fake kings
robes inside the castle. While it may just be a simple shot, it's fun to
see little bits of humor sprinkled throughout such an epic adventure.
Our assembled press corps also got to speak with is Ewan McGregor,
who plays Elmont, the leader of the elite soldiers known as the
Guardians. Dressed in an elaborate costume with spiky hair (I'm not sure
what they used for hair gel in these days...) and an intricately
maintained mustache, Ewan McGregor
seemed to exude the pomp and circumstance that comes with such a regal
character. Given Jack's peasant nature, Elmont doesn't quite know what
to make of young Jack when they first meet. The actor described Elmont's
first encounter with Jack, during a scene where the townsfolk are
enjoying a pantomime based on the giant's legend.
Ewan McGregor as Elmot in Jack the Giant Slayer
"He's
a bit dubious about Jack to begin with, I think. My character's main
job is to look after the princess, during peacetime, that's my main
lookout. It strikes me, and I've never discussed it with anyone, but the
Guardians are the kind of royal soldiers, the top knights. But during
the peacetime at the beginning of the film they're in charge of the
security and safety of the royal family. So, myself and Eddie Marsan's
character, it seems that we are in charge of looking after Isabelle,
the princess. She's a very reluctant princess and she's always trying to
slip off into the kingdom and have a life. She wants her freedom, in a
way. She's a bit of a reluctant princess, so she's quite difficult to
look after. And so my first encounter with Jack is when she's given us
the slip. We find her at the beginning of the film, there's a pantomime
going on about this fable of the giants who live in the sky. It was
really nicely put together by Warwick (Davis)
who has an agency of small and very big people, so he used all his
actors and he directed this pantomime that we shot in this lovely, old
circus tent. We find Isabelle there, she's watching the show. At that
point, when we come into the tent, everyone bows down because we
represent the king, except for Jack, who doesn't bow down because he's
taken by surprise. So my first introduction to him is that he's somebody
who's not very respectful to us and I'm a bit dubious about what he's
after with the princess as well. But as the story unfolds and, once the
beanstalk has appeared and the princess has disappeared, he comes along
with us, with the Guardians, the kind of search party for her. Slowly,
he keeps proving himself over and over."
Ah yes, the
beanstalk. Part of me was hoping to see a massive, 100-foot tall
beanstalk on the set, but, alas, it was not there. Nicholas Hoult described shooting the sequence where Jack's uncle's house shot up into the sky after the beanstalk sprouted.
"That
sequence is really cool. They built Jack's uncle's house in the studios
and then had it on a rig where the whole house would shake and the
floorboards would explode. There was like a ram in the floor. I would be
running to try to get to Ellie and it hit me in the stomach, lift me up
and then I get thrown out through the roof. It was a lot of fun to do
all that and there's a bit of dialogue in that scene as well. So that
was that sequence and then the princess is trapped inside the house with
the beanstalk growing and lifting up into the sky, so Jack's trying to
get in to save her and help her. I'm giving away quite a lot of the
story."
Nicholas Hoult as Jack and Eleanor Tomlinson as Princess Isabelle in Jack the Giant Slayer
Nicholas Hoult also spoke about working with Ewan McGregor and Eddie Marsan, and how Jack has always looked up to their Guardian characters.
"I
kind of become, not part of them, but on the mission with them and
obviously this is an exciting thing for Jack because they're the lead
soldiers that he looks up to and wanted to be at a young age. It's a lot
of fun doing those things with those guys. Eddie's like one of the
funniest people, and Ewan as well. They're very relaxed on set and easy
to get along with. We have fun. There's some funny scenes. Yeah, so it's
lots of fun those days, we're all climbing the beanstalk."
Ewan McGregor also shared an intriguing scene where a giant attempts to cook Elmont into a form of pastry.
"There's
another moment where a giant rolls me in pastry to put me in the oven.
The actual rolling in pastry was a technical challenge for the special
effects team. They made a body mold of me and then made the back mold
that I could lie in and then the front mold clamped over me, Velcroed
over me, so I was held in place on an arm. Then, that was lowered onto
the pastry. As the giant rolls me over like this, the rig rolled over
and then the pastry wrapped around me."
Perhaps my favorite part of the entire visit was getting to spend a considerable amount of time with director Bryan Singer, who I've been a fan of since his critically-acclaimed 1995 drama The Usual Suspects.
First off, there are several set visits I've been on where we don't
even get to see or talk with the director at all. Not only did we get to
speak with the filmmaker at length, but he showed us a lot of very cool
bits of footage, including a few items that will likely make its way
onto the Blu-ray and DVD special features.
Director Bryan Singer holding court on the set of Jack the Giant Killer
While the director was rather eager to show us footage, the method in
which this footage materialized was, initially, somewhat bizarre. He
would just start talking to no one in particular ("Can I have the
pre-vis? Back it up to right there. Play the sound.") and, seconds
later, his wish would be presented on the monitors in front of his. It
took me a minute (probably more) to realize that he had a PA speaker
nearby, and everything he was saying was going to someone else, who
would play the footage he requested on our monitors. After showing us
some pre-vis (a.k.a. pre-visualization) footage of a giant, the
filmmaker explained how he is using Simul-Cam technology on the set.
"We
pre-cap, or performance capture all the giant's action earlier and then
we have all that information of what the actors did and put it in the
computer and then we actually project the actor's performances on the
set, which is called Simul-Cam. James Cameron used a little in Avatar
in some of the scenes that involve humans and those other characters
together. We use a lot more of it because we more humans interacting."
Eleanor Tomlinson
also spoke about how using the Simul-Cam technology, which allows the
actors to see the CGI giants they are acting against on the set, is a a
very helpful tool.
"It's
hard work. It's really hard work, but it's really interesting. We have
this camera, I think it's called a Simul-Cam, and when you play it back,
you can see the giant in the scene you just shot. It's incredible.
You're reacting to a tennis ball that's way up there, then when you
watch it, it's this huge giant's face on it. Wow. That's cool. I just
can't wait to see it when it's all edited together and the special
effects are all crystal clear. It's going to be, hopefully, amazing."
Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor, and Ian McShane
prepare to battle the giants in Jack the Giant Slayer
Bryan Singer
explained how Simul-Cam helps him frame these huge CGI shots the right
way, by seeing these virtual creations through his monitors on the set,
instead of months later in post-production.
"I
think it's helpful. In the old days they were just putting the camera
there and having actors act to tennis balls and hope that they're
framing up. What's helpful is I know what to do with the camera because I
see the giant in the camera, I'm operating it live on the set. The
actor's can't, they see tennis balls, but I can through the lens, I know
to tilt up like that if I want to capture that. When I'm shooting it,
I'm seeing a giant chasing them, yeah I pan up to the giant, I know my
plates will be usable, because then I have the giant."
While the filmmaker is quite accomplished, Jack the Giant Slayer represents a lot of firsts for Bryan Singer, which he candidly revealed, along with his disdain for a certain pet.
"First
3D, first fairy tale, first movie with fully rendered CG characters,
creature characters, first movie that takes place in a time before there
was electricity, first movie with horses, third movie with cats.
They're very difficult to direct. They look everywhere but where you
want them to look."
Bryan Singer shared the difficulties of shooting his first 3D movie, how he has to control the camera motion, and much more.
"In 3D, it changes the way you shoot, in a way, I mean if, especially when you're shooting live action 3D elements. I mean for James Cameron, he's in the virtual world with a movie like Avatar,
so you have a lot you can, you can adjust those things. But when you're
dealing with shooting a lot of live action, in 3D, you're committed to
your, your interaxial. How much 3D you're giving the audience and also,
if the camera's moving around too much it strobes. If you get people too
much into the side of the frame here, they look like a blob that's sort
of there and it's kind of aggravating. It's compositional. I can't just
pop two cameras in. I have to be more committed to the shots."
One of the slain giants in Jack the Giant Slayer
Despite the changes that need to be made behind the camera when shooting for 3D, Ewan McGregor didn't have any problems with the 3D setup.
"I
don't think it's as slow as people think. This film has been very slow,
but I couldn't blame the 3D for it. Early on maybe there was more
problems with it. Though sometimes there are problems because each
camera is, in fact, two cameras and sometimes the 3D, like one eye will
go out. I don't pretend to understand it all completely, but each camera
represents our eyes so it's a slightly different angle on the scene.
They have to play with the perspective of that, so there's the focus but
also the convergence, I think it's called. Occasionally, one of the
eyes will go out, but really not that much. I haven't found it to be
that slow. In actual fact, that seems to be the nature of it. Again,
I've never discussed this with anyone, but it seems to me that we do
less coverage on a scene. The 3D has more of a sense of everybody in the
scene, so if there's a shot with 4 or 5 people in it, you're already
sort of in your own shot because of the 3D feel. It seems to me that
we've had less close-ups and less coverage. So if this 3D is slower,
which I don't think it is really, then we save time with the lack of
coverage."
Read more at MovieWeb
Ewan McGregor to narrate new series 'Wild Scotland'
Ewan McGregor is to join Sir David Attenborough for a series of programmes about the wilderness and wildlife of Scotland.
The show
Wild Scotland will feature programmes on the Hebrides and the Scottish midsummer.
Executive producer Neil McDonald said the programmes celebrate "the
televisual gift of the Scottish scenery and wildlife for viewers and for
the people, behind the camera, that it inspires".
The BBC Scotland programme will feature basking sharks and
white-tailed eagles, as well as red deer stags battling to win their
mates and seals struggling to protect their newborn pups.
In a recent tweet, McGregor wrote: "2 days narrating #BBCHebrides. It's one of the most beautiful films I've seen.
“Should be seen in Scotland in May. What a treat!"
Another series called
Wild Cameramen At Work reveals how the Scottish landscape has inspired a generation of world-class cameramen.
Narrated by Sir David, each week looks at a different theme, ice,
land, sky or sea, to illustrate the challenges faced by those behind the
camera.
"Scottish viewers will just not have seen Scottish scenery and
wildlife reflected in such cinematic majesty before as we have in
Hebrides - Islands On The Edge.
"This is the flagship for a season of programmes, which celebrates
the televisual gift of the Scottish scenery and wildlife for viewers and
for the people, behind the camera, that it inspires.
"Across the season, we are also delighted to have such star names as
Ewan McGregor and Sir David Attenborough involved as well as some of the
top names behind the camera alongside the main attraction: the
landscape and wildlife."
Source:
STV
