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Stop The Evolution
My weekend was stuck in the middle of two different movie nights. Saw the incredible Moulin Rouge on Friday night. Do yourself a favor and see this film next weekend. I hadn't been amazed like that at the movies in quite a while. I had the unfortunate chance of catching Evolution on Monday night. My review is posted below along with a detailed set report from someone who visited the K-19:The Widowmaker production last week.
Visiting K-19
A scooper from Toronto sent me with his story from visiting the set of Kathryn Bigelow's latest film K-19:The Widowmaker. I emailed him back and asked him a few more questions and here are his detailed answers on his wonderful visit:
How did you get invited on the set?
I work for one of Ontario's largest theatre company. We had a new show opening up here in Toronto....so I offered a contact of mine - at K-19 Productions - some tickets for the cast and crew of the film. Over all I gave them about 40 tickets for free. In return, they offered to give me a tour of the set, and maybe a chance to meet Harrison Ford if it was possible.
When I arrived, I was shown the offices of the producers and director, and editing department, as well as the other small departments. Then I was shown the set area. We took a tour of the submarine and looked around the bunker area where the set was enclosed in.
What did you think of Kathryn Bigelow ?
When I met her, she was very nice. She treated me very highly. I was very surprised. They (herself and the other producers - Edward, Joni, and Mark - from Intermedia) allowed me to sit in the producers 'hollywood' style chairs, and eat with them. As we talked about up coming movies, and the pending actors strike, we watched the shooting of the scene with Harrison.
How's Harrison Ford in real life?
I met Harrison after the shooting of the scene near his trailer out side of the bunker. He was very nice, he took the time to talk with the extras (from what I saw), take a couple of pictures with them, and when I met him - it was almost like a dream....like it didn't happen. He was very nice to me, shook my hand when I was introduced to him, we talked about the tickets I gave everyone (he unfortunately could not attend), and that was about it. Before leaving, he once again, patted my shoulder and shook my hand. I was amazed at how he looked and how nice he really was.
Can you describe in details the submarine set?
The set in the bunker was in sections. There were 10 sections of the set. Each section was a different part of the submarine. The submarine was VERY real looking. It was very small, very crowded, and I found it hard that they could really film in such a small place. There was no possible way two people could stand beside each other in some of the areas in the submarine. You had the captains area (all nicely made with fine wood), then you had the bunker area for the crew which was very small and crowded. They had bunk beds which where put together 2 beds high and 2 beds beside each other on each side of the room. Then you had the area where the nuclear war head was. The floor of the submarine (in some sections) was metal graphing...with lights coming out of it. The ship was very Russian like. There were no english words (except the captains log). All of the signs or buttons or anything that had to be labeled was in Russian - which added to the realness of the submarine.
While I watched the shooting of this certain scene....it took a lot of time to get ready. Some people (you could hear on the ear phones) were getting upset that it was taking a bit too long to start the filming. During this scene, Harrison was in a bunker area, with 'dying' crew members. 5 extras (crew members of the ship), had to jump down a man hole onto this bunker area, and go into a different section of the submarine. As they were jumping down, Harrison was near a 'dying' guy telling him it would be OK. As one of the extra jumped down, the first time he landed on Harrison's foot. They continued with the scene. But then they did it over. As they started the shooting of the second time, the problem happened again....but this time (the same extra) bumped into Harrison's back, causing Harrison to jolt forward. After shooting the 'take' they stopped. They talked to the extra and told him to try to stay closer to the ladder when jumping down....so that he wouldn't bump into Harrison (Harrison could have bumped his head on the bunk beds he was standing beside)....and remembering that there is very LITTLE room in this area. The 4th time they shot the scene, they got it right. Most of the extras (Crew) were from Russia. They tired to make the film look as real as possible.
(Report sent in by Jeff.)
My Review of Evolution
Last night, I tried remembering the last Ivan Reitman movie I saw. I gave up after a while and looked up his filmography on IMDB. His last directed film was the awful 6 Days, 7 Nights. Another bad film, that I had the displeasure of seeing in theatres. No need to read further, I didn't like Evolution.
A meteor falls in the desert near Glen Canyon, Arizona. An idiotic wannabe fireman Wayne Green (Seann William Scott) discovers it after it lands on his car. Two local community college professors Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and Harry Block (Orlando Jones) start investigating the landing site. They make the amazing discovery of alien life. There's only one small problem, the organisms are multiplying at a uncanny speed. The evolution of the aliens are threatening the security of Glen Canyon. The Army gets involved and kick our lovable heroes out of the site. The trio gets help from CDC hottie Dr. Allison Reed (Julianne Moore) to help figure out how to stop the evolution. Meanwhile the Army gets the greenlight from the Arizona Governor (Dan Aykroyd) to napalm the aliens which could have deadly consequences.
Once again, Ivan Reitman directs a comedic disaster. I'm asking where did all his talent disappear? This movie feels like Mars Attacks meets Nutty Professor 2. I expected a little more sophistication in the humor but all I got was some ass and fart jokes. His direction is okay but shows no lack of greatness or innovation. The script which originated by Dan Jakoby was strongly re-written by David Diamond and David Weissman. I love those guys, their Family Man script was wonderful. Seems like lightning struck only once, because the script for Evolution is a disaster. It's funny since I had the shooting script in my possession for a longtime. Two months ago, I read half of it without finishing it. Thank God, I didn't finish it. The second half is terrible, it becomes even more ridiculous. Two scenes I read were cut out of the film's first half. One involving the break-up between Dr Kane and the woman we see in the diner. The other involved the twins breaking a wall. I don't think it would have changed anything but the narrative direction could have been tighten up a little.
Have you ever seen David Duchovny host Saturday Night Live? Well watching Evolution is pretty close to the same thing. He's a good comedian but trying to sustain that level of comedy for too long is impossible. He has almost become a parody of himself. Orlando Jones is better than usual. A little more sophisticated but still doing toilet humor. Don't get me started on Seann William Scott. Hopefully, he'll play something else one day. Julianne Moore is totally wasted in this movie. It reminded me of her performance in The Lost World. Kudos to Dan Aykroyd, he was surprisingly funny. Finally, two thumbs up to Phil Tippett Studios for creating the aliens. An amazing job that will no doubt be remembered for some technical awards down the road.
This movie, like the aliens of the story, evolves rapidly into stupidity and believe me, that is the end of the cinematic world.
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
