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Matrix Reloaded Filming Wants to Shut Sydney Down
ro_len writes "News.com.au is reporting the producers of the Matrix Realoaded are looking to shut down Sydney for the filming of the final scene which involves flying a helicopter across the city at less than 600 feet above ground. It is supposed to be the most complicated sequence ever filmed." Just plain nuts. Here is a
previous story about the trailer, and another one announcing the film.
What if it doesn't reboot? :O
----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
What? You mean we're not in the Matrix? And that red pill I took was only Nyquil?
A cartoon draw-over would be original. Those matrix style movements are overused.
Who decided that? The movie company that is making it?
Sounds a lot like some PR mumbo jumbo to me.
I always thought this was the kind of stuff that CG effects were supposed to replace.
Personally, I like it, as I (and I'm sure many of not most people) can tell the difference between CG and real stuff.
Plus, the adrenaline factor should be fairly high, because you KNOW that it was done in the "real world" (tm), and not on come computer screen somewhere.
I can't wait to see it!
How much money in the form of opportunity cost do you think the city might lose?
Surely computer graphics these days are advanced enough to eradicate the need for real filming? Maybe this is all just a giant publicity stunt?
Score:-1, Funny
There is no helicopter
- Consult the dictionary frequently to avoid mispelling
From the bottem of the article
Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000
Sorry to have missed it...
isn't that what special effects, green screens and CGIs are for? i would be so pissed if the closed down philladelphia for two days, so some hollywood producer can make some money.
With the CGI ability that we have, they should just create the whole thing in a computer and film the action on a blue screen stage.
Much safer, and you can do some impossible camera angles too.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
How about making the film makers pay all the taxes for those two weekends? Since citizens won't have full use of the city why should they pay taxes?
They must just be talking about the flight path and some margin around it.....
gee, I hope they talk to God and get a good weather day...
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
From the bottom of the article :
Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000
Not only are they filming the most complicated sequence ever, but they will be the first movie company to premiere a movie in the _past_. How they plan to manage the space/time disruption is apparently a closely guarded studio secret
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Isn't that what movie sets are for? Can't they rebuild a replica of the city they want on some backlot?
I have been pwned because my
All they need to do is wait for a big sports event and place a huge tv screen just out of town and supply a lot of beer.
Supply enough beer and you've got all the time in the world. They won't be finding their way back in a hurry.
-- That which does not kill us has made its last mistake.
It's common practice for parts of Los Angeles to be closed for movie making, even if the sequence is not that dangerous. When I lived there, there were several times I was unable to get to work or park once I arrived. At least once that I can remember, they shut down all of downtown. It is extremely annoying to have your life interupted for the sake of entertainment. I might have been more forgiving, though, had they been working on the Matrix!
Can I bum a sig?
I just hope the W brothers don't kill themselves in the process of trying to "out do" the original matrix. The two of them have already spent quite a few years to this effort. It's always tough when a director makes a really successful movie, because the expectation are set unrealitically high. If they manage to pull it off, they may become hollywood heavy weights. If they flop, it's going to be a costly blunder.
Other "my whacky final scene is whackier than yours" ideas:
- Close down New York to make a film about 9-11, idea: actually fly airplanes into stuff, randomly. Pilots and crew: CIA, FBI and American Government officials.
- Close down Jerusalem to make the final scene of a movie about the Israeli+Palestinian conflict. Idea: a huge crane pounds Arafat and Sharon repeatedly against various religious monuments.
- Close down Paris to make the final scene of a film about the world cup. Idea: a giant soccer ball rolling around the streets with "losers" painted on, squishing right-wing partidaries.
- Close down a strip of territory in Kashmere to make the final scene of a film about the alleged India-Pakistan conflict. Idea: Nuclear warheads detonated on top of CNN reporters who claimed a nuclear war was about to happen, as if it was a light subject you can kid around with.
Apologies: I apologize for this post if you don't like it. It will avoid me getting into discussions later. Thank you.
Moita
MoitaCarrasco "Everyday I beat my own previous record for the number of consecutive days I've stayed alive." - CARLIN
Guys... it's two too three streets being shut down, for a peroid no longer than two days. Buildings along George and Sussex streets are being evacuted for public safety reasons. Other than that, its business as usual in our fair city.
I repeat. They are *not* shutting down all of sydney.
Janie took my gun...
Just the area around the helicopter's flight path will be shut down. Still, that's quite a good chunk of the city. :) But it's nowhere near close to everything.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Is it just me, but does the article give no reason at all why it has to be `shutdown'?
But it will probably go something like this:
Filmmaker: "We need all the people out of the city for two days."
Mayor: "That's not possible. We can ban jetskies from the harbour if you like."
Filmmaker: "No, we need the city, not the harbour. We are going to do some stunts there."
Mayor: "Sounds impressive, but what if all the people start riding their jetskies in the harbour instead of going to the city? I don't like that, and I've made it illegal already."
Filmmaker: "Please have a look at this script, it's specially printed for you on green paper with some transparent parts for the so called `special effects'".
Mayor: "It's a deal, I'll just make being in the city on these days illegal, except for people with jetskies. After all, they might go ride them in the harbour if they're not allowed to put them in the city."
People from Sydney should get the subtleties...
bash$
I regularly fly around at 200 feet during the course of my job. 600ft is pretty high really, and certainly high enough for an above-average helecopter pilot to maintain control while flying down a wide city street.
Be careful what you wish for. Tom Cruise is stupid enough to fall for Scientology.
Actually, you are the stupid f*$#. He was talking about Angelina Jolie. There were rumors flying around a year or two ago that she might have a... less than appropriate relationship with her brother, after she kissed him (not a peck) at an awards show, and based on some stuff she said at an interview.
Of course, it could also be a bug in the Matrix that was not caught by an agent.... not deja-vous, but something else entirely... unless someone did see the 3rd edition in 12/2000.... oh, man, I need some coffee now....
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
The Vanilla Sky shoot was actually done around 4 in the morning (or something pretty damn early) and Times Square WAS shut down and cleared of people for the shoot.
In the beginning of the film Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, he runs around an empty Times Square. Word has it that Hollywood paid $3 million to shut down the most active city in the world for a few early morning hours.
That's not going to happen. I'd remember it. :-)
Justin Dubs
The scene in The Devil's Advocate was done on an early Sunday morning when that particular street isn't typically very busy anyway. Several streets were blocked off, though the distant scenery was added in (I'm not sure if it was digital or matted).
It's mentioned in the director's commentary on the DVD (I've got a first-run, I've got a first-run!)
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
But at the end of the day, I reckon them filming it is just a publicity stunt - that way they'll at least the entire population of sydney to watch the movie ("see, honey - that's where I work"), buy the DVD, get the action figure doll. Sure, it'd prolly b cheaper to do it all on the computer, but u can't buy people's sentimentality.
"I think it would be a good idea" Gandhi, on Western Civilisation
... unless sufficient amounts of cash are provided? Principles aside though, I simply can't see how paying a realistic amount to compensate each and every business and individual displaced by this activity could work out as less than doing a kick ass CGI version of it.
Unless of course Sydney is working on the "First one is free" principle (or second one in this case), to make themselves look like a great (i.e. cheap, compliant) location for foreign film companies. Fair enough, but I'm kind of picturing how we might respond if (e.g.) a Bollywood company thought it could just breeze in and pay to have most of Detroit forcibly evacuated. "Get lost," springs to mind, along with stronger objections and possible a slew of litigation against the City.
As I said, it's up to Sydney if they want to turn themselves into a giant movie location, but I'd be surprised if it does their reputation as a business location any good.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Personally, I'd prefer that a pilot would be mounted in the pilot's seat, considering how difficult the stunt is and all...
This is the matrix remember?
You know the movie that knocked Hollywood on it's ass with bitching CGI, not lame CGI like phantom menace.
Why where the FX better in the Matrix then in Phantom Menace?
Answerer, the filmmakers of the matrix realize that not every thing can be done with computers. Some shoots just look better when filmed with real sets not CGI blue/green screen sets.
Ok, I am a fan of CGI,computers, cyberspave, hell it is what I do and a great love of my life. But shut down a city for Keaanu Reeves. Come all this from the guy that did Pointbreak. And a 50 other bad flicks.
Oh come on now, don't be so harsh on the fellow. It's not his fault he got a bad rap. When you actually go back and watch Point Break you'll notice it's actually quite intellectual. Are the surfer bank robbers really the bad guys or is it the corporate world who hordes all the money from the ordinary people? The bourgeoisie came to America and have crippled it with their new-aristocracy based on wealth instead of nobility. In the end we can only look to the true heroes of that film.. Patrick Swayze and his crazy bunch of presidential bank robbers.
As far as Bill and Ted, don't even get me started on the wealth of historical information that movie conveys to the viewer. Freud was my favorite character. Who would have known he was such a prude? And Khan! What a badass. If the Matrix Reloaded is half as good as Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey we will be in for quite a treat.
Hollywood does some strange things for movies. The movie Field of Dreams was filmed in my hometown of Dubuque Iowa, and the field is but 26 miles away.For teh final scene fo the movie they wanted to have a line of cars, at night with lights on, stretching as far as possible. So, for a few hours, they had shutdown a rural road (not a big deal), half of one highway and half of another highway.
All for a snaking line of cars at dusk with headlights on.
Tell me computers couldn't have done that:)
For most of the last couple of years I worked on Clarence St right across from "Matrix Alley" as it has come to be called, just down the hill towards Darling Harbour from the QVB.
They shut down this part of the city regularly during the filming of the first one and this latest one, and it caused few if any problems, although one bicycle in the immediate area did go under during that time it had nothing whatsoever to do with the filming.
Of course it did wonders for productivity as we'ed crowd to the windows whenever some kind of limo/minivan would pull up to try and catch a glimpse of someone famous, all the while trying to be cool and say how we "weren't really that interested" and stuff. Heh.
Now that the "Eastern Distributor" is finished it's actually pretty easy to divert traffic out of the center of the city, so I really think the byline of "Shut Down Sydney" is going a bit far.
Sounds like a publicity machine in overdrive to me.
Why not just shoot the thing at 5 in the morning and digitially chop out any people that may be hanging around the streets?
Because Cameron Crowe got to shut down Times Square for a few minutes while making Vanilla Sky. The Wachowskis pissing match does not impress me.
--
Isn't that what computers are for?
Did the Star Wars crew not create entire cities?
mark
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
Try hanging out somewhere other than in crack houses.
Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
This is definetly a publicity stunt. The entire city of New york was CG'ed for Spiderman.
This
It's all about costs. They *could* make a CGI or model version, but they probably thought a little palm grease would save them time and money.
If they get blown off for being too wacky/arrogant, then they'll look at whether to do models, CGI or a mixture of both.
Even with all the cash the Matrix made, they still need to avoid blowing the budget with this movie. I don't blame them for investegating this angle.
They sure are taking this time phasing thing to a new level. Maybe Lucas could use this to finish Star Wars parts 7-9.
There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
Does Miss Parker and the Centre know about this?
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
For a project I was working on I wanted to do some shooting over Toronto at a height that would have worked out to around 400ft. They wouldn't let me.
The problem, as I discovered, is not an issue of whether it is safe to pilot at that altitude, but should some malfunction or other problem cause an emergency (or crash) landing. Legally (in Toronto anyway) the pilot must fly at a minimum of 1000ft in order to have enough altitude that (s)he can move the helicopter away from densely populated areas in the case of an emergency - rather than arbitrarily falling on top of whatever is directly below.
Now, in the case of a Sea King (the helicopter of "choice" for the Canadian Navy) I wouldn't want one flying at *any* altitude over a populated region. Something about 30,000 parts flying in formation that makes me nervous.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
I repeat, RTFA
Just put a huge supply of beer outside the city. The people will leave voluntarily and get too drunk to find their way back for several hours.
-- Will program for bandwidth
All they need to do is put on a kegger at the beach. The city will empty itself!
You're using her as bait, Master!
I remember when they were filming Godzilla here in NYC. I was trying to get to work, and they had closed off 23rd street to shoot one of those "tons-O-fish falling from the sky" scenes. There were a bunch of us standing there for several minutes on rush hour, trying to get to work or school, and the one security guy holding us back. Then one guy decided to just keep going, and the whole crowd just marched ahead while the security guy kept trying to hold people back.
I wonder how many security guards they're gonna need to hold back a city's entire population.
Damn! I missed it!
But look how quickly they'll be getting part III out:
From the article: "Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000"
Talk about fast. They can get part III released so fast that we'll see it before it was filmed!
Ummm, duh - they just change reality. Didn't you see the first one? Next time you get deja vu, run to the theaters so you can see the third part!
SIG: HUP
I'd rather be Tom Cruise - he gets all the chicks.
Be careful dude: there are lots of rumours that although women really like Tom Cruise, he isn't all that interested in women... He might *actually* prefer CowboyNeal!
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
...the producers of The Matrix will funnel cash through a front corporation to fund the re-emergence of Films88.com in Sydney, then tip off the MPAA. The MPAA will then shut Sydney down, and the camera crews will spring into action. :-)
If that doesn't work, Plan B is to have the BSA tell Sydney to 'prepare to have your software licenses audited'-- as we all know, that can basically cripple whatever entity it's aimed at for a while.
~Philly
Yeah, hell if it were that easy to do all CG we'd see more movies like Final Fantasy. It looks NICE but still not as good as the real thing. I prefer CG like you see in Shrek, where it's definetly a fantasy world; or to create scenes that don't exist, like in some sci-fi movie. But you don't need CG to recreate my living room if you can film there already.
What?
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
They shut down Tokyo to shoot the Times Square sceene?
> You know, I am going to have seen this already, and it is willian on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!
Use of the transitive par-past-prefect in the first clause:
I am going to have seen this already
necessitates the usage of an entrance stative par-past-profect (note: profect!) when describing the status of the predicate, as in:
and it is willian on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!
should be changed to:
and it is willain on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!
I know it's subtle. And, it could have been a typo, but sometimes it makes all the difference in the world for intelligibility.
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
It is pretty funny. For The Matrix 2 they built a life-sized replica of a secion of freeway, including a bridge on a unused runway at an airport to get a realistic, precisely timed car chase scene.
:)
CGI still looks fake after all these years and it's tiring to look at. It's still in it's infancy both in terms of realistic lighing and in terms of directors not knowing what to do with it or how to use it right.
Maybe by The Matrix XXV we'll have a movie about virtual space actually made in it and have it look REAL.
Contrary to popular belief, coding is not all free blow-jobs and beer. Those things cost MONEY!
Anonymous Coward wrote:
>
> I really doubt you were there in the least. In
> fact, the one time someone notably pushed the line,
> they were arrested and held overnight for psych
> evaluation at my request since our staff cordially
> tried to stop their incursion first.
Nope. Sorry, but I was there. A bunch of us crossed the line on 23rd and Park Ave. There was only one guy there, and no physical barrier other than him. We all walked right by, just across the street from the tarmac full of fish. That block is the only entrance to the 23rd street Lexington avenue subway stop, it was rush hour, and in NYC for crying out loud! How do you expect to stop the flood of people? A handful of plain clothes officers won't cut it. Besides, you can't arrest people for walking on the sidewalk when there is no *official* police barricade. And "your staff" was far from cordial. If I remember correctly, the guy was being plain rude to everyone, and that's why we decided to ignore him and walk on. I got to work late that day because of that, and so did a lot of other people. Good folks might have lost their job that day because of a silly shot in a mediocre movie.
For teh final scene fo the movie they wanted to have a line of cars, at night with lights on, stretching as far as possible. So, for a few hours, they had shutdown a rural road (not a big deal), half of one highway and half of another highway.
All for a snaking line of cars at dusk with headlights on. Tell me computers couldn't have done that:)
Well I seriously doubt computer CGI effects done back when that movie was filmed would have been able to match up to the rest of the look of the film. It wasn't Star Wars, you know...
But speaking of that scene, if you listen to the commentary on the DVD, the director tells how the cars weren't actually driving down the road. Because they couldn't coordinate that effectively, they just used the local radio station to tell everyone to start turning their lights on and off repeatedly. When viewed from far away, it had the effect of looking like the cars were slowly driving down the road.
Also the "Field of Dreams" in the movie was actually mostly dead grass. While filming, they had to repeatedly spray paint it green...
"And like that
Kinda like Space balls?
-- Jason...
The Matrix Reloaded producers want to fly a helicopter at a death defying 600 feet off the ground! in Sydney and someone said "You'd have to shut down the whole city to do that.
They did a lot more cooler stuff with a bus and a helicopter in Swordfish, in LA. Without shutting the city down.
The Matrix Reloaded will be released next May
Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000
Wasn't the year 2000 like a few years ago?
It isn't a lie if you belive it.
not kung fu movies!
We can make allowances for "chick" "kung fu" movies.
Mod both those up. Obscure Douglas Adams references always win.
(Profect or Prefect?)
Kevin Fox
Um... well...
It's taken Lucas about a year less to come out with Ep. 2, and we're probably not going to see 3 for at least another 2 years.
We're getting Matrix 2 next summer, and then Matrix 3 next winter.
Seriously, though... keep complaining if you want pay no attention to the fact that both the sequels were being made at the same time, and as such it takes a bit longer to make them...
Why? Because the Watchowski brothers don't want to do the same thing that Lucas did that pissed off so many people: Release a cliffhanger and then not conclude it for another two years....
Karma: Non-Heinous
Final Fantasy would have been much better....
If it actually was Final Fantasy and not Aliens/Starship Troopers.
Chocobos ? Black Mages ? Summons ? Ultima ?
The only thing that made it "Final Fantasy" was that there was a character called Sid in it.
graspee
What is the world coming to when people think tripe like Mathew Broderick vs. the size-changing CGI script is even a "mediocre" movie.
Well, if you read the article you'll find...
"Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000"
Damnit! They haven't even released the second one and I already missed the third!
Anyway, look at how long we all waited for Star Wars Episode 1... A year or two extra for the Matrix sequels is nothin'.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
This is of course to avoid it coming out on the internet before it comes to theaters.
There's around 4 million people in greater Sydney. If it was in the States, it would be approximately the tenth biggest city. Not even the MPAA or the Wachowski brothers can shut down a city that size just for the hell of it :)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Hear, hear.
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If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.