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Timur Bekmambetov Directs Wanted
By Fred Topel | Images property of Universal Pictures
Wanted
Timur Bekmambetov on Wanted
"We used pre-visualization, when you’re making CG characters and a CG environment and creating the movie as an animation before the real shooting," said Bekmambetov. "Usually filmmakers use pre-viz animatics to prep the production process to know how to shoot and where to put the cameras, but we used animatics as a tool to develop the script. We created action scenes as animatics first and then we described on pages. In this, I think it was a way to make the action scenes much more entertaining. I mean much more exciting."
As wild as the action sequences are in Wanted, Bekmambetov did not think mere words would convince the studio to let him film them. "I cannot imagine how a writer will imagine and write a lot of these crazy scenes on a page and a studio will read and say, 'Oh, it’s good. Let’s shoot it.' No, you cannot do this. You can only create a movie. It was maybe 20, 30 minutes of the movie we made in animatics before we greenlit the project. In Moscow I have a CG studio and we made 20, 30 minutes of the movie in animatics and it helped the studio to make a decision about the scale of the movie, about the genre of the movie, and then the writers just use this as a source and integrate it into the script. It’s unique. I think more and more people will use this tool."
Even when sequences were inspired by the graphic novel, Bekmambetov did not use the comics as storyboards. "It has the same vibe, the same ideas but it’s different because you can’t repeat. The comic book is different. It has static pictures and you have time to think but the movie has to run."
When it comes time for the actors to shoot the scenes, then they can't get away with using CGI counterparts. "It was a problem for me, because James was too enthusiastic about it. He was trying to do everything himself, and it was impossible to stop him. Of course it takes more time because a stunt double can do it in a second, but he wanted to do it himself, and he was great. He was trained, he spent three months to rehearse all the actions scenes, to build his body and to think about it, and the actions scenes are a part of the drama. I kind of agree with him, only an actor can do it probably, because otherwise it will be too much. Also what’s important is that he was an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances and it was even good or cool even if he’s not perfect sometimes. It feels like a real person, it’s not a machine, it’s not CG model flying."
Wanted opens to theaters on June 27th.
For the trailers, clips, stills, posters and more movie info, go to the Wanted Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Images property of Universal Pictures
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