Tomb Raider Tomb Raider
Lara Croft's Most Dangerous Venture of All
|
||
 Having years of experience working as a cinematographer on such films as "Lethal Weapon 3," "Basic Instinct" and "Die Hard," director Jan Dc Bont came to "The Cradle of Life" with acutely developed camera-handling skills as well as directorial talents. It was his goal to make the film as visually stunning as he could, and to do so, De Bont played an integral part in assembling a topnotch crew to achieve the jaw-dropping action sequences audiences will love.One of De Bont's biggest coups was securing the editing talents of triple Oscar® winner Michael Kahn, a man well-versed in action adventures who has collaborated with Steven Spielberg on "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." In addition, many of the people who helped make the first "Tomb Raider" memorable returned to work more magic, including production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli ("The Patriot," "The Last Castle").
"The tombs in this film vary from the classical version of an ornate subterranean museum, like the Luna Temple, to a modern underground glass office, such as Dr. Reiss' laboratory," says Petruccel Ii. "In addition, Lara also encounters a cave of Terracotta Soldiers, in which one false move can mean permanent entombment, as well as the tomb of Shadow Warriors, whose vile creatures can trigger your darkest fears and entomb your mind. The last tomb, which plays with your viewpoint of reality, is the Inner Quadrant that leads to Pandora's Box, and that's Lara's most dangerous venture of all."
Once the vision of the various tombs was conceived, Petruccelli, along with his gifted art department and a construction team, proceeded to create and build 102 sets on three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe.
"The biggest construction, in terms of sheer scope, scale and mechanics, was the Luna Temple on Pinewood's 007 stage," recalls Petruccelli. "Since it opens the film, we focused a lot of energy on making it magnificent."
Dominated by a 15-foot bronze statue of Alexander the Great, the Luna Temple set features Doric columns, around which four 7-foot, 6-inch urns stand. These urns, sculpted in clay, were then spun in plaster and cast in fiberglass. Large bronze horses pulling a pair of chariots complete the picture of the extravagant temple, which wasn't very easy to build. Since it's supposed to be viewed after an earthquake, the temple is partly submerged underwater, and the floor of the set rests at a 45-degree angle, making it an intensely difficult set on which to work.
On the back lot at Pinewood Studios, the construction crew created one of the most intriguing sets of all: the Flower Pagoda Square, ostensibly in Shanghai. Built for a complicated stunt sequence, the set was authentic down to the last detail. In fact, set decorator Sonja Klaus sent her assistant to Hong Kong to purchase authentic items - as unique as dried lizards and thousand-year-old eggs for the lantern stall, the paint shop, the tea shop (offering 20 different kinds of tea!) and the bicycle repair store, all of which surrounded the square. Even the paper that lined the drawers in the dry goods store featured in this sequence came from mainland China.
In addition, because the sequence was filmed at night, there were hundreds of neon signs lighting up the darkened sky. Also, because authenticity was key, a calligrapher from Hong Kong was brought in to write signs in perfect Mandarin, all of which are translatable.
"Angelina could get serious employment as a stunt performer," says second unit director and stunt coordinator Simon Crane ("The World Is Not Enough," "Saving Private Ryan," "Vertical Limit," "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"), who returns from the original crew to work closely with Jolie in bringing about her many physical challenges. "She's extremely fit, and because she wanted to do just about everything, sometimes we had to rein her back."
Recalling how Jolie was a quick learner, Crane admits that they threw some real curves at the actress. "For example, while she has ridden a horse before, we asked her to do it sidesaddle this time," says Crane. "And while she rode along, we had her firing a fairly heavy gun, spinning the weapon around, reloading, then firing again!"
Besides the tricky moves Jolie learned for the stick fighting scene and the impressive jet skiing she mastered, the most harrowing stunt the actress did, along with her co-star Gerard Butler, was a headfirst drop from a wench approximately 150 feet over a cliff.
Part of an intricate stunt sequence in which Lara Croft and Terry Sheridan escape from Dr. Reiss' laboratory, the scene was a combination of Jolie and Butler's base jump from the cliff and the work of stunt doubles, who made twenty jumps from helicopters and another eight off the top of Hong Kong's unfinished International Financial Center (IFC) Tower, the third tallest structure in the world. Made possible with the help of the film's Chinese line producer, Philip Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), who after many refusals obtained permission to film from the tower, the jump was made from the structure's 84th floor, approximately 1000 feet above the ground.
"What was most difficult was having two people, wearing special `wing' suits, jump or `fly' together from about 1000 feet up, then open their parachutes just 200 feet from the ground," recalls Crane. "We also needed a third person to fly with them to do the filming, and after a lot of searching, I came across this wonderful Swedish team who could perform in extremely close formation. It was an amazing sight to see and your heart was in your mouth watching them," exclaims Crane, of the magnificent sequence in which the pair effortlessly glides downward against the Hong Kong skyline, then lands on the deck of a freighter in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor.
"That's what makes `The Cradle of Life' so spectacular," concludes Crane. "It exceeds the high standards set by the first film. It pushes the boundaries, takes things further, and everything is done with a different intensity."
|
||
