The three musketeers-Paul Anderson

Transcripts – Three Musketeers “The Three Musketeers” is the most expensive project for both the company Constantin Film and the director Paul W. S. Anderson, and its $100 million budget makes it the biggest European movie of the year. Coming off of the record success of their previous collaboration, the most recent chapter in their long running “resident Evil” franchise, the new film aims at targeting a wider market by tackling one of the most famous adventure stories of European literature. Anderson who is known for his dystopian sci-fi aesthetic, sees this as a logical next step, building on his well-known action cred to expand from his core audience with a lush period adventure. Team: What is your take about the movie? Anderson: I was very aware that we were making “Three Musketeers” in a post – ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ world, where ‘Pirates’ had really kind of upped the ante and created a slightly different kind of genre. Team: Is it like a traditional pirate film? Anderson: Not a traditional pirate film, rather a kind of fantasy action adventure, which mad eit biggest franchises in the world. (Instead of magic, Anderson added a retro sci-fi component, utilizing a sort of steampunk aesthetic in gadgets, weaponry and attitude that references James Bond or “Mission : Impossible”, while still grounded in the period and faithful to the original story.) Team: What prompted you to create this movie? What is the actual urge behind it? Anderson: It’s a story I’ve loved since I was a child. I read the book in school and I loved Richard Lester’s version. I think one of the reasons why it can be done over and over again is that each generation gets its own version. Essentially the same story but reflecting its own time. Team: Tell us something about the production. Now that we get to see all 3D movies including your latest production “Resident Evil”, what is the difference between the production of a 2D and a 3D movie? Anderson: (With the success of the last “Resident Evil” in 3D, Anderson has made it clear that it’s all 3D from now on. But with a tight 11 week schedule for “Musketeers”, both on location all over Bavaria and later in Studio Babelsberg, one could expect to hear a litany of complaints about the sizable 3D rig. But Anderson claims that a lot of the horror stories of long set-up times are exaggerated.) He said, “I shot my latest three movies on very tight schedules, and my schedule between a 3D and a 2D movie has not changed. However I certainly believe that the secret of a good 3D is to approach it in a really holistic way. You think about 3D in every aspect of the movie. You design it with 3D in mind right from the script process. The more you think about it, the better the end result. Team: What was new was having to consider the relation of the 3D camera to the set to avoid overpowering the foreground? Anderson: We had unbelievable antique furnishing brought in that had all this relief, so that when you had close ups of somebody sitting at a desk you could read that texture and the depth because eof the 3D. And Pierre-Yves Gayraud, the costume designer, found all these materials and the textures of the brocade, or the weight of the fabric in the folds of the costumes and drapery, all these all had their own kind of dimensional effect. The costumes had another significant effect as Milla Jovovich was determined to do her action scenes properly costumed in corset and full skirt. Usually in period movies where women have action scenes, they end up dressing like men. Because (the period) costumes are hard enough to walk in or even breathe in, never mind do a fight scene in. Team: So is that meant that while choreographing the fight, Jovovich had to wear especially constructed training gear made to re-create the weight and fit of the eventual costume? Anderson: There were certain moves that she just couldn’t do but some things looked so much more spectacular because she was wearing the skirt and I thought we have to see that skirt twirling in the air. I’d say we changed about 60 percent of what we had planned once she started rehearsing with the actual costume. Team: If you could please elaborate on your experience while shooting the fight scene in the third dimension? Anderson: It’s been a great experience, especially the sword fights that have been benefitted from 3D. While the added dimension doesn’t support traditional stunt fights where blows don’t actually connect, sword fighting can look great because it depends upon the real impact of the blades. I wanted the sword fights as real as possible, because 3D scenes aren’t cut as fast as 2D, which means one can’t rely on stunt doubles due to these sustained takes. Sword master Nick Powell was charged with coming up with some impressive defensing scenes that the actress could actually perform without wire work, tricks, or CGI –the upshort being that they all would up becoming proficient sword fighters. When the blades hit there are these fantastic sparks, and I know people are going to assume they were added in post production, but they are all real because those are titanium blades and when they clash, sparks fly. Team: What kind of potential you see in the movie? Anderson: I always have that in the back of my mind, but I think quite often you see these properties develop, and the entire top is about the multi picture franchise instead of how do we make a really great movie, straight out of the gate. And it doesn’t matter that there are many sequels to the golden compass, if you don’t knock the first movie out of the ball park, you’re never going to have a franchise. Robert Kulzer was able to go from script reader in Germany to executive in Los Angeles to highly successful producer, all without ever leaving the company that gave him his very first job in the film business. For two decades Kulzer has been the US presence for Germany based Constantin Film as Head of its Los Angeles office anfd he is deeply involved in the company’s “Resident Evel” franchise and the upcoming “three Musketeers”. It’s a very unique story of my career at Constantin. I read hundreds and hundreds of scripts then started working as an assistant for general manager Bernd Eichinger. Then they offered me a job to run development and acquisition in Los Angeles. It was with just a couple of people, and we started to develop material. Kulzer has been producer or Executive on the company’s four “Resident Evil” and will soon be traveling to Toronto where the next installment begins production in October. He is also a producer on “Musketeers”, set for release in October. We definitely want to make more international movies. Hope you will use this information. SYNOPSIS Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel comes a big-screen action adventure update of the Three Musketeers, conceived and shot in state-of-the-art 3D. They are known as Porthos, Athos, and Aramis—three elite warriors who serve the King of France as his best Musketeers. After discovering an evil conspiracy to overthrow the King, the Musketeers come across a young, aspiring hero — D’Artagnan — and take him under their wing. Together, the four embark on a dangerous mission to foil the plot that not only threatens the Crown, but the future of Europe itself. The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew MacFayden, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Mads Mikkelson, Gabriella Wilde, James Corden, Juno Temple, Freddie Fox with Orlando Bloom and Christoph Waltz. Releasing Date: October 14’ 2011 Stars: · LOGAN LERMAN (PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF, 3:10 TO YUMA) · MILLA JOVOVICH (RESIDENT EVIL film franchise) · MATTHEW MACFADYEN (FROST/NIXON, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) · RAY STEVENSON (THOR, THE BOOK OF ELI), LUKE EVANS (IMMORTALS) · MADS MIKKELSEN (CLASH OF THE TITANS) · GABRIELLA WILDE (ST TRINIAN’S II: THE LEGEND OF FRITTON’S GOLD), · JAMES CORDEN (GULLIVER’S TRAVELS) · JUNO TEMPLE (GREENBERG, ATONEMENT), · FREDDIE FOX (ST TRINIAN’S II: THE LEGEND OF FRITTON’S GOLD) · ORLANDO BLOOM (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise) · CHRISTOPH WALTZ (WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) Director: PAUL W.S. ANDERSON (RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE, RESIDENT EVIL, AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR) Producer: JEREMY BOLT, PAUL W.S. ANDERSON, ROBERT KULZER (RESIDENT EVIL film franchise) Executive Producer: MARTIN MOSZKOWICZ Screenplay by: ALEX LITVAK (PREDATORS) and Emmy Award® Winner ANDREW DAVIES (BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY) Production House: A CONSTANTIN FILM/IMPACT PICTURES Production Based on the Novel “LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES” by ALEXANDRE DUMAS