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11 Things We Learned on the Set of ‘Rampage’

In less than a month, “Rampage” will smash into theaters.

In the Summer of 2017, Moviefone got to visit the set of the monster movie (based on the 80s arcade game) and talked to stars Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris, director Brad Peyton, and producers John Rickard and Hirame Garcia. Johnson plays Davis, an ex-military type who has a skyscraper-sized, genetically-engineered albino ape for a best friend. Naturally.

Things get real complicated when super-sized monsters — in the form of a wolf and alligator — join the city-smashing melee and Johnson and his furry pal get caught in the middle. Here’s everything we learned!

1. They aren’t too worried about being lumped in with other video game movies.

“It’s a great opportunity because the game is so old that, at the time, it was just ‘you drink a potion and become big,’” producer Hirame Garcia said. “So it gave us a lot of opportunity to really root it in science and something that’s really happening, and get to the rampaging monsters in the most realistic and authentic way.”

2. The action is intense. And we mean intense.

We’ll let Naomie Harris explain: “I mean, from, like, being in a helicopter — you know, they actually created a helicopter on a rig so that when we were crashing, it actually feels like you’re crashing — to creating this huge government plane inside, where we’re on harnesses and pretending that the back of the plane is blown out, and we’re being strung up from the ceiling.”

3. They used WETA for the special effects.

When asked why they decided to use the effects house that also worked on films like “Lord of the Rings,” Dwayne Johnson said: “Find those filmmakers who really did it right, those department heads and those companies who did it right, see if they responded to the script, which they did.”

4. The plot of “Rampage” could actually happen! Well… kind of.

“So, everything that’s happening in this movie is actually real,” producer John Rickard revealed. “There’s one piece of it that is science fiction, that may become real in the next five to ten years, that they’re working on now. So, Crispr is real. It’s the ability to take attributes — like, it’s really unzipping DNA, pulling out bad attributes, putting the good ones in. And also, if you wanted to, you could take attributes from other animals and plug those into them.”5. Dwayne Johnson really cares about delivering for his fans.

When asked what would surprise people about her co-star, Harris answered: “He has such a level of passion and an understanding of what his fans love and what they need, and he’s really careful about that. So many stages in the movie, he’ll say, ‘Okay, I don’t think the audience will really like this, or they’re not gonna be moved by this, or they’re gonna love this particular moment.’ He’s really in-tune with what his audience wants. I’ve never seen anybody as in-tune as that.”

6. They got a lot of weird pitches.

“Let’s just say I said no to ‘Rock-zilla,’” Brad Peyton said with a laugh. “It was presented in a room much like [the one we’re in], and I was like, ‘That’s a hard pass from me.’ That sounds really not grounded at all. It’s like a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit a little bit.”

7. They decided to change George’s color from the video games to set him apart from other famous primates.

“We’re very aware of the landscape. You have ‘King Kong,’ you have ‘Planet of the Apes,’ but the fact is, in a story like this, George does have the greatest capacity, the mental capacity, of any of those creatures,” Garcia revealed. “One of the things we wanted to do is, even being aware of the dynamics out there, [with] a story like this, is to try and separate it from the others as rooted in a real heart connection between Davis and George. They’re essentially best friends.”

“In that attempt of how do we make this feel fresh from what’s happening in ‘Apes,’ and what’s happening in ‘Kong,’ what about an albino gorilla? On paper, it’s kind of daunting at first. You’re like, ‘Oh, is he going to look fluffy?’ But when we started to get mock ups, and you see how badass he looks and get in it, you’re like, ‘Wow, this is striking, I’ve never seen this.’ We felt like it was a great opportunity.”

8. Jason Liles, who wears a motion capture suit to play George, is the real deal.

“When he comes on set, he comes on as George — with his emotions and with his facial expressions, and with his grunts — and there are modulating grunts that gorillas have for different meanings,” Johnson told us.

“His sign language, when he’s in pain, especially when the serum is taking effect, and he knows that something’s wrong with him. I was really blown away, and really captivated, by his performance — which really reminded me of how remarkable motion-capture acting is. And now, after being on set with Jason, someone’s who’s committed to the role, months and months of studying gorillas and being on these apparatuses where he’s a silverback for weeks and weeks and weeks, running up and down the Santa Monica stairs. It’s really just spectacular.”

9. Brad Peyton really, really wanted Naomie Harris in the movie.

“Look, I just wanted her in the biggest way,” Peyton said. “You get pressure from all different places to look at different actors and different things, and my goal is to make the best movie with the best acting possible. And she is a fantastic actor and really wanted to do it, and I was not gonna get off the phone until thought I heard a ‘yes.’”

The director went on to say: “I just thought this is really like a… she’s really intelligent as a person. She’s really intelligent, she’s really sweet, she’s really passionate, and that’s exactly what the characters need to be. I thought this is the way to go. I haven’t seen an actress like this do this character, in this type of movie, ever. And she’s so honest and hardworking, and I was like: ‘That’s the type of person I want on my set. That’s the type of person I want to work with.’ That’s the kind of person I am, so I really related to just talking to her. That’s when it becomes fun and easier, and I knew she was right, and, so, I kind of pushed everything aside and was like, ‘I gotta get her on the phone! I gotta talk to her!’ And yes, it was a long call on her way to, like, a “Moonlight” Q&A, so I could hear the cabbie in the background — in London — talking to her the whole time. Yeah, I just really, really wanted to work with her, so I held her hostage on the phone.”

10. You might end up rooting for the monsters.

“Davis [Johnson’s character] was the head of an anti-poaching unit for a military unit in Rwanda, so he’s coming from a place where he’s an animal lover,” Garcia told us. “He’s actually not a big fan of humans. He has a hard time trusting them, because he’s seen what they can do. Part of his arc is really learning through Kate that he can start to trust people again. But George is his family and his best friend. We wanted to make sure that we’re sensitive to the fact that all the animals are victims in this.”

11. Unlike most monster movies, this one isn’t all about “taking out the monster.”

The Rock went on to say: “One of the things that we like about our [movie’s] dynamic is, even though they’re trying to stop these creatures, our heroes, it’s always about killing the monster, stopping the monster. Here, we’re actually trying to save the monster. Our story is essentially about a man trying to save his best friend. That’s our journey and, ultimately, Davis is doing everything he can while everyone’s freaking out and, unfortunately, these creatures are being triggered to rampage out of their control. To that end, Davis is trying to save them. And he’s still trying to save the world, but, ultimately, he just wants to save his friend and bring his friend back — because his friend never asked for this.”

“Rampage” hits theaters everywhere April 13.

March 19, 2018
10 Things We Learned on the Set of ‘Alien: Covenant’

Oh, “Alien” franchise, what a wild trip the last four decades have been. You’ve taken us from mining ships to penal colonies to research vessels, never missing an opportunity to jump-scare us with a Xenomorph or two … or three. And now it looks like we’re in for a long overdue blast from the franchise’s bloody, horrific past.

Yes, the “Alien” franchise has spanned nearly 40 years and five movies (hey, “Prometheus” counts), so when Moviefone was invited to the Australian set of “Alien: Covenant,” the sixth entry in the canon, we jumped at the chance to spend a day geeking out with a small group of like-minded reporters chomping at the bit to catch a glimpse of director Ridley Scott‘s return to the world that put him on the sci-fi map. We got to chat with the man himself (he couldn’t have been kinder or calmer), a few of the special effects masters behind the camera, and the some of the movie’s stars, including Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, and Demián Bichir, to name a few.

Before we get started, it’s important that you know what “Alien: Covenant” is about, since we’ll be referencing some plot and story points throughout. So here’s the synopsis of the movie, directly from studio 20th Century Fox:

Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world, whose sole inhabitant is the synthetic David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

All set? On with the show. Here are 10 things we learned while geeking out on the set of “Alien: Covenant.”

1. Paradise gets lost real quick.One big thing, time-wise, that producer Mark Huffam revealed to us (that the synopsis fails to mention) is that the action in “Alien: Covenant” takes place 10 years after the events of “Prometheus.” (Kind of a major point, actually.) Huffam also dropped the detail that the crew of the Covenant discovers a “rogue signal” of “human form,” and that distress call is what leads them to a paradise-like planet, one that looks better than where they were originally headed. The crew then lands, as Huffam put it, “on what appears to be a very beautiful, unspoiled paradise of a planet, but from there on, it just all goes downhill for them.” Well said.

2. There will be blood. So much blood.If you were unimpressed with the body count and splatter of “Prometheus,” we have news for you: “Alien: Covenant” features a ton of blood, and not just any blood. Special blood. As special visual effects supervisor Neil Corbould explained, the production went to great lengths to get the blood just right, shipping in “a few thousands of dollars”-worth of prop blood, but ultimately using the gooey stuff they invented instead.

What’s more? Not all the blood they manufactured was human. “… We’ve made some alien blood as well. We’ve made some black blood, and then we’ve got the android white fluid, or whatever that is. Uh yeah, so we’ve made quite a few different types, different consistencies, different colors. The red blood, we’ve probably made like a thousand liters of red blood, so… You can imagine what the film’s going to be like.” Yeah, we can imagine.

3. Michael Fassbender is twinning.Being in a room with Michael Fassbender is like visiting pandas at a zoo. It’s an exciting experience, but you want to stay perfectly still as to not disturb the majesty of the moment. In this case, we interacted with him, which, if he were on the endangered species list, would have landed us all in jail. (There is only one Michael Fassbender, so he should really be on the list.) Fassbender’s synthetic character, David (easily the best part of “Prometheus”), is back for Round 2 in “Alien: Covenant,” along with a new iteration, Walter. Both are played by Fassbender, who, as it turns out, doesn’t really find playing two characters in the same movie all that challenging.

“It’s pretty straightforward in the fact that Walter is very much a synthetic minus any of the human traits,” he told us. You see, Walter is the result of David’s more human qualities taking root in the David 8 model, which really freaked out the robot-buying public. Walter is all business, all the time — no hair dye or Peter O’Toole movies for him.

“It’s been 10 years since we last saw [David], without any maintenance,” Fassbender continued. “So those human qualities have sort of gathered momentum a little bit, I suppose. They’re as much a part of him now as his synthetic qualities. But Walter’s just really there to serve the ship and its crew.”

So, will the next movie have Fassbender playing three parts? We can only dream.

4. The Covenant is full of couples.The Covenant, as you read in the synopsis above, is a colony ship, one seeking out a habitable planet. It is also a terraforming ship, meaning that it’s full of plants and such. It’s also full of people, and those people, much like the animals on Noah’s ark, come in pairs — presumably, to repopulate whatever planet they settle. And from what we gathered on the set (and in the prologue above), things can get very high school. Things also get very college, as we were told that some of the crew members don’t stay loyal to their significant others. Drama!

5. A same-sex couple is front and center and it’s no big deal.Demián Bichir and Nathaniel Dean play a married couple, because, in the future, gay couples are still a thing. Shocker! The movie won’t focus on their relationship and the characters as distinctly gay — in other words, they won’t be walking around the movie wearing flashing neon signs that read “We’re the gay ones.” What makes their relationship distinct, however, is that Bichir’s Sgt. Lope, the head of the ship’s security team, is Dean’s superior officer. When we asked Bichir about the inclusive nature of the characters, he was proud of what the movie is bringing to the table.

“We are all couples on this ship, all kinds of couples, even men and men,” Bichir explained. “For me, that’s a beautiful side of the story, when you can have these two almost iconic macho types being together and loving each other and being a part of keeping everyone alive.” Awww.

6. Daniels is not the new Ripley (sort of).As yet another sign that the “Alien” franchise is going back to its roots, we have the return of a central heroine, this time played by Katherine Waterston, who, by the look of this photo, is channeling Ellen Ripley’s big-gun-and-a-tank-top look. (And pulling it off quite nicely.) Waterston plays Daniels, the ship’s chief terraformist on the Covenant’s colonization mission — not exactly the blue collar gig Ripley had on the Nostromo, but, as Waterston points out, not too far removed. “I think, because she doesn’t think of herself with the captain [played by James Franco], she’s one of [the crew]. Like Ripley in the first ‘Alien,’ she’s technically third in ranking and that changes as the film progresses.” Yeah, we’re pretty sure that “change” comes by way of dying crew members.

When asked directly about her character’s similarities to Ripley, Waterston acknowledged the comparison, but asserted that Daniels is very different from both the Sigourney Weaver character and Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw in “Prometheus.” “I’ve probably been taking cues from [Sigourney Weaver’s] performance on and off screen my whole life,” she said. “It’s just, to me, a very relatable, excellent depiction of a woman. But, at the same time, I loved what Noomi did. It was very different to what Sigourney did. I don’t think she felt any responsibility to be like Sigourney, and I don’t feel any responsibility to be like that.”

There was one concession to the Ripley comparison, however, that Waterston was happy to make: “I’ll say that, in this, she has really good instincts, like Ripley did.”

7. “Alien: Covenant” will truly be an R-rated horror movie.Everyone we spoke to about the movie’s R rating emphasized the fact that “Alien: Covenant” will be a hard R. In fact, rating it anything other than R was never an option. From the amount of blood used to the franchise’s return to gory horror, it’s clear that this movie won’t be for the PG-13 crowd. Just watch the red band trailer above and decide for yourself.

When we spoke to Ridley Scott, he explained returning to the franchise’s horror roots as somewhat inaccurate, because, to him, “Alien” was never really a horror movie. “‘Alien’ was kind of a posh horror film,” he explained. “I never think of it as a horror film, it just scared the sh*t out of people. I think it had too much class to be classified as a horror film. Nothing wrong with horror, but I think horror is: What is real tension? What is real fear? It’s very hard to scare people. In the bloody films you see, which, ironically, are not even frightening, they’re just like, ‘yikes!’ So I thought I’d try to come back and do one.”

It wasn’t just the “return to horror” aspect of it that got Scott’s blood pumping. He had some questions about the origin of the Xenomorph. “… We’ve come back with a very simple idea, which is Who made them? No one ever asked that question,” he said. “[‘Alien’] was just about there it is, it exists, and this is what it is. So it became seven guys and gals in a steel hull, frankly the very old idea of ‘The Old Dark House.’ Who’s gonna die next? The fundamental basis of ‘Alien’ was a pretty, you know, B-movie, but because of the cast and talent involved it came out an A+ movie. So we’ve reinvented the idea of ‘Alien,’ I think, which is that ‘Covenant’ gets us a step closer to Why was this thing designed, and who did it?”

8. You wanted more aliens? You got ’em … and then some.One question shouted from the rooftops by “Alien” fans after the release of “Prometheus” was an incendiary, all-caps “WHERE ARE ALL THE ALIENS?!!!” Well, Ridley Scott heard you and he’s ready to make amends.

When asked about fan reaction to “Prometheus,” effects supervisor Corbould served up the most succinct response: “When the gloves are off and it’s 18 or R-rated, then you can make the movie exactly what you want, with more aliens. [Scott] listened to the audience, that they want more aliens — they’re gonna get a lot more aliens. More than they probably anticipated.”

The movie’s high volume of aliens was confirmed by creature and make-up effects designer supervisor Conor O’Sullivan and creature effects supervisor Adam Johansen, who told us there would be an “enormous amount of creatures” on display in the movie. (Also, we got to play with a facehugger rig, so you’re definitely in for some old-school Xenomorph action.)

9. “Alien: Covenant” is a little less “Prometheus,” a little more H.R. Giger.“Alien” fans longing for the franchise’s return to the surrealist, organic aesthetic that artist H.R. Giger brought to the first (and subsequent) movies — but disappeared in “Prometheus — are in for a treat. Production designer Chris Segers told us that “Alien: Covenant” is “edging in” to the Giger look and feel. Ooh, cryptic.

Check out the newest iteration of the Xenomorph in the trailer released just last night.

10. The sets are make-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-stand-up fantastic.Now, admittedly, this photo has nothing to do with the sets. Just imagine the expression on an “Alien” fan’s face looking somewhat similar to that of Daniels’s when he or she walks onto a soundstage housing one of the most iconic visuals in the franchise’s history. Yes, we stood aboard a Juggernaut, and it was fantastically detailed, dirty, and just as cold as it looks onscreen. We also walked through what can best be described as an Engineer temple, with giant, sculpted Engineer heads lining the rocky temple walls. It was damned impressive.

So why spend time talking about something we can’t actually show you? To point out that these were NOT digital sets — they were practical sets built with the purpose of better informing the actors’ performances and creating an onscreen experience that feels (and looks) grounded and tangible. It speaks to Ridley Scott’s determination to make “Alien: Covenant” a terrifying, visceral addition to the franchise, one that will (hopefully!) serve as a satisfying first entry in a new “Alien” trilogy.

“Alien: Covenant” opens everywhere May 19th.

March 1, 2017
11 Things We Learned From the Set of ‘The Legend of Tarzan’

Two years ago we were invited to the set of “The Legend of Tarzan” (then shooting under the far pulpier title of “Tarzan the Untamed”) and it was really, really cool. The massive production, helmed by “Harry Potter” director David Yates and starring Alexander Skarsgård (as Tarzan), Margot Robbie (as Jane), Christoph Waltz (as real-life historical baddie Léon Rom, a man who supposedly kept the severed heads of black Africans in his flower bed), and Samuel L. Jackson (as a much more benevolent real-life character, George Washington Williams), stretched across several massive sound stages at Warner Bros.’ Leavesden studio.

We walked through everything from a recreated Victorian street to a large cave where a dramatic showdown between Tarzan, native African warriors, and giant apes occurs (you can see this in one of the many striking trailers for the film). It was hugely impressive, and on the day we were there, got to see part of a fight sequence that seemingly took place on a runaway train.

Everything about the movie is huge–Yates shot some of it on 70mm film and it will be distributed in IMAX, and the attention to detail in every part of the production is staggering.

Below are 11 more things that we learned from the set of “The Legend of Tarzan” (opening on July 1^st).

1. It’s Not an Origin Story
Hollywood is origin-story crazy at the moment (under the logic that it’s more exciting if you know where they came from) and while some of the early marketing materials from “The Legend of Tarzan” would suggest that it’s a straight origin story, that simply isn’t the case. The film actually begins with the titular wild man living the life of a refined gentlemen in polite England (John Clayton III or Lord Greystoke), who is then pulled back into the muscular savagery of the jungle. “That was one of the things that attracted me to the project — it’s a classic, epic tale that’s been told many, many times. But it’s almost always the origin story. And in this one, while there are some flashbacks to him as a child, the emotional journey isn’t the man from the jungle trying to adapt to Victorian London. It’s quite the opposite,” Skarsgård explained on the set. “When we first meet him, he’s very civilized in British law and he goes back to his emotional home and it’s that kind of dichotomy between man and beast. He’s got an amazing wife, a fantastic manor, a really good life on the surface–but he’s not happy. He’s not himself. I thought that was really interesting.” We think it’s interesting too.

2. Skarsgård Made Animal Noises to Get Himself Pumped Up
Since we were hanging around set, like a bunch of creepy, sweaty weirdos, before actually getting to talk to Skarsgård, we got to watch the actor both prepare to shoot the sequence and then got to see him actually, you know, act. While the acting was very good and fine and handsome, what was really interesting was the preparation: after consuming what we can only assume is an amount of protein that would make Chad from “The Bachelorette” jealous, Skarsgård could be seen whipping himself into a frenzy. He would do this by making loud, guttural sounds that really were animalistic. But, apparently, he does this on all of his movies and this wasn’t specific to “Tarzan” (which makes this 100% more incredible). “When you shoot a scene like this, you’re thrown right into the middle of a big fight sequence,” Skarsgård explained handsomely. “So that’s what I do to pump myself up and get ready for it so I don’t start the scene with a yawn.”

3. It Turns Out Skarsgård Is a Fan of the Classics
Considering “The Legend of Tarzan” is the latest in an endless array of films based on the iconic Edgar Rice Burroughs character that was created back in 1912, we had to ask Skarsgård who his favorite Tarzan was. While we were secretly hoping he’d say the animated Disney version and then start singing one of the Phil Collins songs, he instead chose a classic dramatization: “Johnny Weissmuller, of course.”

4. This Tarzan Is Both ‘Scary’ and ‘Sad’
While the emotional and visceral arc of the character seems to follow Tarzan as he goes from civilization back to the more primordial instincts, Skarsgård said that you can see the animal in the man from early on. “Fortunately, we had a lot of time prepping it and figuring that journey out. It’s so rich, with this character, to layer it in a way that goes from the really buttoned up proper British gentleman, to at the end of the film, where he’s a beast basically,” Skarsgård explained. “And to have little moments that show that. Because you want to see that there’s something underneath that is quite scary and sad.” Underneath the abs lies a bleeding heart.

5. Skarsgård Felt No Pressure
Again: this is an iconic role, and one that, according to the production, a ton of people auditioned for. Still, it didn’t get to Skarsgård, who seemed bowled over by the professionalism, imagination, and technique that overflowed from the movie. “I feel nothing but peace,” Skarsgård said. “It is such a dream project.”

6. The Perpetually Prepared Skarsgård Was Ready for the Role Long Before Shooting Began
Anyone who followed this project knows that it had a fairly tumultuous production history, including several directors signing on and dropping off (among them: Gothic Romance revivalist Guillermo del Toro and “The Mummy” filmmaker Stephen Sommers) and a pair of screenwriters who were tasked with coming up with scripts independently. (Those scripts were later merged into a single storyline.) Also, throughout the day, as we said, the filmmakers kept talking about how hard it was to find the right actor to play Tarzan. All of this led to Skarsgård, who was ultimately cast, being ready long before the rest of the movie was. “I didn’t audition first. I met with David a couple of times two years ago. We were supposed to go last year but it’s a big beast of a production. I was already training for it about a year and a half ago to shoot last summer. When a project gets pushed like that, as an actor, you never know what will happen. It was really devastating and you never know. It was a bit of a waiting game,” Skarsgård said.

“Then I went on this expedition to the South Pole. Then the day I got back to this Russian station on the coast of Antarctica. They had really slow dial-up. After 45 minutes of sitting there, an email popped up from David who said we’re doing it next summer.” That’s right, folks: he won the role of a major studio franchise film while adventuring at the South Pole. This guy!

7. When All Is Said and Done You Won’t Know It Was Shot in England
We got to speak to David Barron, the producer who came in after the script had been finalized and the film had been cast, to make sure it was running smoothly and efficiently. (He was coming off a pair of Kenneth Branagh movies.) One of the ways to streamline the production was not actually shooting in Africa. “It’s a lot easier to shoot here. There’s no infrastructure in the rain forest. Once you get there, it’s hard to move about. It’s not a nice place to work. It’s a fun place to go but not a great place to spend several months shooting,” Barron said. But given the truly immersive sets designed by “Harry Potter” principle Stuart Craig and the digital effects wizardry that will come after the fact, it’ll be pretty seamless and real (especially when combined with the plate shots of the jungle filmed by a second unit crew). “No one will ever know this isn’t Africa. It’s completely convincing,” Barron assured. Given how elaborate the production was, we believe him.

8. The Film Takes Place Over Seven Days
Given the emotional and spiritual arc that Tarzan seems to go on in the film, you’d assume that it probably takes place over a fairly lengthy amount of time. But no. “It takes place over a week, really,” Barron said.

9. Also: It’s a ‘Chase Movie’
More tantalizingly, Barron described the movie as a “chase movie,” instigated by Waltz kidnapping Jane. (Not the best idea, especially since people in England know of Tarzan’s reputation. In a meta-twist he’s the subject of pulpy stories consumed, en masse, by a public hungry for adventure.) It’s this chase mechanic that seems to be the engine for the film. “He hits the ground running and actually rediscovers the primal Tarzan in the course of this mad dash to rescue Jane,” Barron explained.10. Jane Is Just as Much of an Outcast as Tarzan
While Robbie wasn’t on set the day that we were visiting, there was obviously a lot of mystique around the character (particularly since it was so soon after she had made a splash in Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece “Wolf of Wall Street”). According to Barron, in some ways, Jane is just as much an outcast as Tarzan. Tarzan rescues Jane from an ape attack when she is very young (her father was a scientist studying nearby) and when we meet back up with her in the film, she’s living in London. “She’s trying to fit in. Not only has she come from the jungle but she is an American out of place in a very stuffy English aristocratic home,” Barron said. “She misses Africa and she wants to go back. She’s a fish out of water like Tarzan in some respects, since she’s an American in a very fussy environment.” This is a great addition to the story and seems to set her apart from your typical damsel in distress. Considering “Hustle & Flow” filmmaker Craig Brewer worked on the script, you can rest assured this Jane is going to be very sassy indeed.

11. It’s Going to Look Very Different Than ‘Greystoke’
Here’s a super cool connection to “The Legend of Tarzan”: production designer Craig worked the same job on “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” a 1984 feature released (like “The Legend of Tarzan”) by Warner Bros. and featuring French thespian Christopher Lambert in the title role. (Famously Andie McDowell, who played Jane, was dubbed by Glenn Close in the final film. Years later, Close would voice Tarzan’s ape mother in Disney’s animated version.) When we asked Craig what kind of research he did for this film, he shot back: “I knew it from the research I did 30-odd years ago.” He went on: “‘Greystoke’ is, in a way, the prequel to this. That covers the years from his birth to Africa. With this movie, it’s his return to Africa. So they’re pretty full-on in narrative terms. I remember ‘Greystoke’ but nobody else does. But it’s an interesting connection.”

Considering us lonely film writers largely populated the set visit, we insisted that we did remember the film (Robert Towne did un-credited rewrites, the cinematography by John Alcott was lush and misty) and wanted to know what the differences between the two productions were. “The major difference is that back then it was pre-computer compositing and pre-computer generated images,” Craig explained. “Back then it was men in monkey suits. That was very difficult and it compromised the set because they had to leap from one branch to the other. So what we built was a gymnasium, thinly veiled as a jungle.”

You heard it here first: “The Legend of Tarzan” was completely gymnasium-free.

“The Legend of Tarzan” hits theaters swings into theaters July 1st.

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June 14, 2016