| Stalking Lycans & Death Dealers with Filmmaker Len Wiseman |
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| Friday, 20 January 2006 | |
 Reported by Joseph
B. MauceriFilmmaker Len Wisemanís began his career through his work in the art department on the blockbuster hits like ìGodzilla,î ìMen In Blackî and ìIndependence Day.î His design talents soon got him behind the camera directing commercials for PlayStation, Time Warner, Oracle, Intel and Activision, and quickly lead to work in music videos. Len received numerous award nominations, including Best Art Direction at the 2002 MTV Awards for Quarashiís ìStick ëEm Upî and Best Director at the 2002 MVPA Awards for the Rufus Wainwright video ìAcross the Universe.î In addition, Wiseman directed music videos for Megadeath, En Vogue, Static X, Paul Oakenfold and Brooke Allison. Len came to the attention of Skip Williamson, President of Lakeshore Records. After seeing his work on the set of the Rufus Wainwright video, Williamson made the push for Lakeshore to take a look at ìUnderworld.î Len and writer Danny McBride met through their agent, Nick Reed at ICM. The two hit it off through their common love and fanís knowledge of genre films. In 2003 Len and Dannyís ìUnderworldî was released and went on to become a box office hit. Itís 2006, and armed with a bit more money and a few new faces to the story, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION is poised to ravage your local theaters. FEARS: How does a fan become a director? Len Wiseman: What got me started was a movie that I rented by mistake. I thought Iíd rented ìRaiders of the Lost Arc.î I was so excited and couldnít believe that it was already out on video. My friend Joel and I popped it in and it was ìThe Making of Raiders of the Lost Arc.î I had never seen a making of a movie before and I remember being really struck by it. Not till that time did I actually think, ìWow, somebody actually makes that and itís somebodyís job!î I wanted that job. I was 11 or 12 at the time, and I though that it looked really easy. Immediately I thought, yeah I can do that. As the years went by I found out that itís not all that easy. Thatís the day that started the process.  I made some movies and student through high school and college. My first job in the industry was as a storyboard artist. I got in through just being an artist. A lot of my production artwork got me in and somehow I worked that into doing props. I ended up doing props on many of the Roland Emmerich movies, and ìStargateî was my first official movie that Iím not embarrassed about. Before that it was a list of straight to video stuff that I canít even remember. From there I went onto ìWild, Wild Westî and ìMen in Black.î During that process, a music producer who was starting up a new band approached me. He had produced En Vogue. Heíd seen a lot of my artwork and a few of my student films through a friend of mine. Based largely off of my portfolio and artwork he thought that if this guy can draw like this and think like this, chances are he can direct like this. So he gave me a shot at doing a music video. So while I was doing props during the daytime Iíd have a meeting over at Capitol Records about a music video. So Iíd make some excuse why Iíd have to leave set, take off the tool belt, put on a suit, and run over to Capitol and pretend to be a director for a bit. Iím sitting in a meeting and my pager is going off and they want to know where I was. Then Iíd jump out of the meeting, change my clothes, and heíd back to set. I did that for a long time and it finally got to a point where I knew I had to make a decision. I had to stop being a prop guy and just say I was a director. The switch over is a big pay cut. I was making so much more as a union prop guy then I was as a music video director. That was a hard thing to let go. I think thatís why a lot of people donít. Their dream is to be a writer, or they want to direct, but they get locked into a fairly good job and itís hard to let it go. The pay is good and the pay for starting up a new career, like directing, is nothing. They know youíre very hungry and eager to do it. FEARS: Did the studio give you more money, time, and space to do EVOLUTION? Len Wiseman: There was more of everything this time around, and a much different experience. The first time it was my first film as well. For Lakeshore, it was their first genre film. There was a lot of tension around what it was going to be and they really were behind me on this one. FEARS: When you talked about the ìUnderworldî DVD you mentioned there were some flaws, like the werewolves, you wished could have looked better. It looks like you pulled it all off with UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION. How focused were you of those things when you were making this film? Len Wiseman: Yeah! We had a bit more money and time just to refine the action sequences and suits. A lot of ìUnderworldî was about how to make an ambitious 60 million-dollar script into a 20 million-dollar movie. Much of that came down to action sequences where you cut away and hear the battle going on through sound design, but you actually canít see it. With the werewolves, it was trial-&-error on the first film. We were able to get in there and fine tune things and tweak the suits. FEARS: Was it a conscious decision to make EVOLUTION gorier? Len Wiseman: It wasnít a conscious decision to make it not gory the first time. Itís funny because there were a lot of reviews I read that felt the first film wasnít gory enough for a vampire vs. werewolf movie. It was no moral decision on my part whatsoever. It all comes down to time. Things like blood rigs, squib shots, and all that Monty Python shit takes a lot of time to setup. When youíre running on a schedule where you have to do ìxî amount of shots in a day, and youíre just screaming all the way through just to get your day, a lot of those gore effects just get dumped in the trash. Theyíre always the last on the list because they can take up to 45 minutes just to set up one rig. You just have to get rid of it.  FEARS: Did you ever think about doing some of the stunts digitally? Len Wiseman: Iím not a huge fan of digital effects. FEARS: In that scene, how much of the werewolf content is digital? Len Wiseman: In the whole opening battle I think there are four shots that are digital, and the rest are in suits. Most of the stuff I just canít pull of practically, like jumping from a roof onto a horse or riding on the side of a horse to take it down, there was no way to do practically. Believe me, I tried! I can show the videotape footage and itís embarrassing. Outside of those big stunt moments, most of the film is practical. FEARS: There are just so many more intense action scenes in EVOLUTION. Because of the time required to shoot those setups are you any less involved with them then you were with ìUnderworld?î Len Wiseman: Coming from a storyboard background, I draw every frame of the film. I work with amazing artists who take my drawings and flush them out because I just donít have the time now to make it look pretty and nice. I still rough sketch every single frame and pass it off to my storyboard artist. Whether itís the second unit director thatís shooting it, or Iím shooting it, itís coming from a planned place. Iím heavily involved in all that stuff! Like the truck sequence Brad Martin Shot and a bulk of the crane stuff with Marcus. It just depends on what sequence it is. I find that delegating work on of the most difficult things to do as a director. I am a control freak, but Iím not an asshole, and thatís what I tell my crew. Iím a fairly calm director as director go. I love to collaborate and get different ideas, but I do like to have my input and design on everything that is happening. I do love action movies. When youíre growing up as a kid and you love a certain kind of genre, like action movies, when you get to direct these movies you find itís a whole other experience. God, if I did a Bond filmÖ the way the Bond films are setup you donít direct any of the action. The second unit director is already working before you even get on board. They have all the action mapped out and you come in and do all the close-ups. I couldnít handle that. FEARS: When youíre shooting, can you get the film out of youíre head long enough to have a life? Len Wiseman: Iím sorry, a life? Iím confused! (Laughs) I have to say, itís difficult. Especially when the movie is a family affair as well. You come home and Kate is going over her lines and doing her training, Iím preparing for the next day. I want to try some new stuff and Kate is right there. Itís just this process that keeps going. As a director, you really get no time off. Iím actually still trying to figure out that if you are to do everything that is required of a director in his day itís about 27 hours a day, all said and done. After a days work you still have to go home and do your shot list for the next day, do your storyboards, and watch your dailies. There really is no time. FEARS: Would you say itís harder because you created this universe as opposed to if a studio handed you a script to direct? Len Wiseman: Sure, because thereís a lot more responsibility. Youíre the guy that needs to figure out all the problems. I think there is a bit more pressure because you are involved more in every aspect. Itís a big weight to carry. FEARS: Who takes the responsibility for the Shakespearian overtones in the plot? Len Wiseman: The Shakespearian overtones come from Kevin Grevioux, he was the first person to speak the words. We were sitting together and he suggested that we could put this ìRomeo & Julietî spin on the story. We ran with that in many different forms on the first one. FEARS: Whereís Kevin now? Len Wiseman: Heís not a part of the writing team on this one. He also originally played the character Raze, and Raze died, obviously. A lot of folks were asking, ìWhereís Raze and whereís Lucian?î These guys did die. FEARS: How bad is that for a writer to kill his own character in the first movie? Len Wiseman: Yeah! And another thing, Kevin came to the project when I was about halfway through the concept. It originated with a meeting at Dimension where they came to me and asked if I would be interested in developing a werewolf movie. It just sort of spiraled into Underworld. Kevin should have written a scene at the end where we see him crawling away. It would have been the smart thing to do.  FEARS: The opening scene, set in 1202 A.D., looks like it would be a lot of fun, which might not be the right word, to direct. Len Wiseman: Fun is definitely not the right word, but itís a version of fun. I was completely excited to do it. It was a pain in the ass to do because Iíd never worked with horses before. We had guys in real armor because itís cheaper then rubber armor. It was a difficult shoot. Then we had the snowstorms that came in and would just wipe us out. So the weather conditions were awful, the horses just donít respond the way you want them to and they donít hit their cues like actors do. What I also didnít realize, that was a big problem, is that when horses do a stunt you have to clear a big radius for them. I wanted this big congestive battle sequence amongst all of these stunts. I didnít find out until the day we were shooting that the horses needed a 16-foot radius around their stunt. That cleared out my entire battle. So I have a really cool horse fall, but thereís nobody around. That added on even more time that I had to add on to do these horses stunts. FEARS: Do you find it strange that Screen Gems decided not to screen EVOLUTION for critics? Len Wiseman: I did realize it until I literally called them up from the hotel this morning to tell them I was waiting for the reviews. I wasnít brought into it at all. I had just done two massive press days a week ago where they had seen the movie. I did like 30 camera interviews and all the roundtables. I assumed that was what that was. Itís amazing how much a director doesnít know. FEARS: Thereís definitely a growth in your directing between the two films and, although there were some negative reviews for the first film, you would think they would want to show off EVOLUTION? Len Wiseman: I agree with you completely. I know that there was a bit of backlash with the first one. It became so much about my relationship with Kate and it put a weird spin on it. But, I have to say that I think we did a better job and so Iíd like to see what the response is. It kind of shocked me actually. FEARS: If the audience comes out for EVOLUTION, will there be a third film prequel? Len Wiseman: There is a definite on the part of the studio and from Lakeshore. I want to see how people respond to the second one. If there is an interest to see more, thereís more material there. When we developed the first film there was so much content there that it could easily span three movies. There is still a lot of the origin story that I wasnít able to put into this one. I think that stuff is very interesting and there are a lot of details about the creation of the war that I still wasnít able to pack into this movie. FEARS: Would a third film be even more of a prequel and do you think Lakeshore would let you make a film without Kate in it? Len Wiseman: I donít know if I would let myself make a film without the lead as well. Thereís a way of doing a prequel that involves the creation of Seleneís character as well. It would jump through a timeline. Itís funny because when we were writing the first one, and youíre just in your living room and Selene is just a character on the page just like every other character, once that character becomes Kate, and she becomes the lead of the franchise, it twists everything. I honestly couldnít even foresee that. FEARS: Kate mentioned briefly her input into the character. How much was she involved in the characterís development? Len Wiseman: She was a huge part of the creation of Selene. She was there during the creation of the screenplay for this film, and my prepping to shoot it. She was heavily involved. We would write together some of the scenes, or I would give her what I had written to see if it sounded right to her. She would change things up. The opening battle sequence was a lot of her input and how we opened it up to the brothers and the fear of what William would do if he were released. There were many scenes she was heavily involved in. It was great because we were together in the process of making the film. That helps me to know what the actressís reaction. It was also a big help to have her input on how the character was developing more then a week before we are scheduled to shoot. FEARS: Did you plan on using your daughter to play the young Selene? Len Wiseman: No, not at all. We got to a point where Danny McBride and I needed a five to seven year-old Selene and we were talking about it. Lilly jumped up and said, ìNo one is playing Mommy but me!î That was a funny thing because she had never been in a movie before. So I go to shoot the scene and I go up to her and say, ìLilly, can you look this way.î And she says, ìUm Daddy, can you come here.î So I walk over to her and she quietly says, ìCould you call me Selene.î Or I had, from the first time child actor, on the second take and she says, ìDaddy, I already did that.î Those were the long days. FEARS: How was it directing your wife in a sex scene? Len Wiseman: The prep for it, the thought of going into it was horrifying. I put it off as long as I possibly could for ay excuse in the schedule. If Kate got a scratch on her leg from a stunt I would tell them that the scratch wouldnít work for the nude scene and we had to push it further back, maybe into when we do the reshoots. When it came down to it, it was a wired tense feeling. Everyone was quiet around me, of course. All of my crew all of a sudden was quiet and proper. It ended up being a bit more tortures on Speedman than anybody else. He was like, ìOkay Wiseman, how do you want to direct me today? What exactly do you want to tell me? Am I making love to your wife the right way? Are you happy with what Iím doing?î Honestly, the hardest thing about that day ended up being to get the two of them to stop laughing.  FEARS: You have to laugh
when you consider the choreography of that scene in contrast to the
vampire orgy with Steven Mackintosh? Len Wiseman: Oh yeah. Scott and Kate Iím directing a love scene. With Steve and his vamps itís a sex scene. Thereís a difference, even in terms of what Stevenís character represents. Iím glad that comes across that way. FEARS: After spending such a big chunk of time on this franchise are you ready to jump into another project? Len Wiseman: There is so much that I would like to do. Right now Iím writing a sci-fi screenplay that is just a whole different world for me, with different elements. Iím ready to do a movie without guys in rubber suits that you have hook up on wires. Iíd like to do something without creatures. As a director, you kind of get those things out of your system. In the first film I wanted this dark urban rainy city and comic book feel. I dig that, but then you want to create something else. This was almost my dark period film for this one. Itís a modern day tale, but a lot of the settings and atmosphere I want to try and create with a bit more of a period vibe to it. Now I just want to create other worlds with different elements to them. FEARS: Have they offered you any remakes? Len Wiseman: Oh, ìClash of the Titians,î and quit a few others. I canít even remember them all because there are a lot of remakes coming across the table. They even sent me ìI am Legend.î Itís a really decent script. I was taken by it, but I was handed it when ì28 Days Laterî was out there in the publicís eye. I liked ì28 Days Later.î At the end of the day, ìI am Legendî just seemed like a bigger budget version of an already really cool movie that was out there. Iím sure someone is going to do it soon. FEARS: When youíre a director who makes a profitable movie for about 20-something million dollars how do you respond when you hear something like the new ìSupermanî movie is over budget and now up to $300,000,000? Len Wiseman: Itís kind of amazing and frustrating at the same time. I can understand were the money goes because I know how expensive things are. However, I think if you planÖ I donít think movies need to be that expensive. Itís a strange thing for me. Iím trying to make a movie that I know is promoted and presented as big as some of those other movies. We all know about budgets, but the average audience member doesnít real pat attention to that. Iíd love to have a picture of me on screen before they show UNDERWORLD saying, ìThis movie is actually $48,000,000, which, just so you know, thatís the chase sequence in ëMatrix 2.íThatís are budget for this entire film. Thank you and I hope you enjoy it.î Itís a weird place to be when itís presented as big as those movies. think weíre reaching a point where itís getting insane. Itís going to be so hard for the studios to make their money back. I guess they do, because theyíd only risk putting it out there they were getting it back. LINK THIS ARTICLE             |
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