Behind-the-scenes Production of the Mummy's Three Dragon Emperor's Tomb

Mummy 3 was first filmed in Canada, and then the crew moved to China to complete the scenes of Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum. How this first Hollywood blockbuster about Terracotta Warriors will be filmed in Xi 'an naturally aroused everyone's curiosity. On August 19, the reporter learned that the original shooting plan in An had been changed, and the scene of the underground palace of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was moved to Hengdian film and television Qin king Palace, and Jet Li's "deformed mummy" had to be completed by computer. Therefore, a large part of Xi 'an's scene in this film has become the open field of Terracotta Warriors.

It is said that Rob Cohen always wanted to make a film set in China, so when he got the script of Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, he almost accepted the opportunity to be a director without hesitation. He couldn't wait to take the audience to spy on the horrors caused by the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Qin Dynasty and the immortal kings in ancient China.

In fact, strictly speaking, Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is not a real "Mummy" movie, because it is completely different from the first two movies. It lost the tradition of exploring in Egypt and turned its attention to ancient China. Director rob cohen said: "In fact, many cultures around the world attach great importance to this myth of" coming back from the dead "or" living forever ",which is derived from this myth. Without exception, there are people who yearn for eternal life-this film is based on this creation, which is an imaginative shock wave inspired by the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Army in Xi 'an, China, and its leader, the Dragon Emperor, is played by the kung fu superstar Jet Li ... The Dragon Emperor used to be a king, but later he was cursed because he was too cruel, and his body was wrapped in mud and roasted to death, which was a punishment for all his evil deeds. "

In the third episode of the Mummy series, the Egyptian culture that has been followed has been completely eliminated, and China, which is more mysterious and attractive, has been chosen. Rob cohen continued: "Although the story told in the script has been confirmed before I officially became the director of this film, I can still feel the root cause of this change-if we continue to explore the theme related to Egypt, there will be no new elements for reference. Anyway, when I got the script, I was really attracted by China's profound knowledge. Although I never make a sequel to my own work, others don't care ... In fact, in my mind, I have been thinking about making a movie about China almost since I finished filming Bruce Lee and the TV series Legend of Brothers, and this idea has been maintained for many years. In addition, I am a devout Buddhist with 20 years' teaching experience. I bought a house in Bali and often went to Asia and Indonesia for a period of time, so the world has a very deep emotional resonance for me. That's why when I first saw the script of the movie, I was so absorbed that I couldn't extricate myself. When I decided to be a film director, I naturally had the right to modify the script and make corresponding adjustments to make the whole story more accurate in culture and archaeology. "

Although Rob Cohen is now traveling alone in Hollywood, in fact, he once had the opportunity to become a "scholar". Cohen said, "My degree at Harvard is anthropology, and these fields of knowledge have always been that kind of intellectual interest to me ... I will often study the history of China, so I am familiar with this part. After I decided to direct Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, I completely focused on a special period in China-the Qin Dynasty. "

American Rob Cohen chose the legendary Qin Dynasty in the history of China because of his understanding of China culture. He said: "Although we don't strictly require that the image source of the' Dragon Emperor' is Qin Shihuang, it is an indisputable fact that many times it is tacit, because throughout history, it seems that no one is more ambitious than him, and he is completely pursuing territorial reunification in a barbaric way. For us, this period in China is the historical atmosphere that I am most interested in at present. "

Carefully study "archaeology"

Of course, Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor also symbolizes Rob Cohen's first close contact with "archaeology" in the film industry. He said with a smile: "I have never made a similar film before, but in many previous works, I have added some anthropological knowledge to reflect American subculture groups." But it is really the first time to study the archaeological content of past materialized clues. "

Although two action movies, The Fast and the Furious and Extreme Agent, have been started one after another before, for Rob Cohen, the Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, both of which are action movies, has a very essential difference: "This movie pays more attention to cultural demands, no matter chariots, walls, beds, a pair of armor or graves, we should not be careless, because they are all left over from history and have realistic basis. They all come from distant ancient times. These cultures are more organized and grand. The existence of these things has certain reasons and characteristics of the times. For a certain point in the whole history and culture, they occupy a dominant position and it is absolutely impossible to exist in the western world. "

To this end, Rob Cohen made a special trip to visit the Terracotta Warriors Museum and personally felt the unique cultural atmosphere. He said, "I was accompanied by some archaeologists from China. We not only talked with these archaeologists, but also went to their private restaurant, where the best food was prepared. I tell you, being an archaeologist in China is a very good choice. You know, there are 25 choices for lunch alone. We were surprised and asked,' Is it specially prepared for us?' They replied,' no, we are the same every day.' There are many beautiful girls in uniform in the museum to explain to us, which can really be described as pleasing to the eye. "

This trip also made Rob Cohen discover many amazing phenomena. He said, "If you go into the part of the tomb that ordinary people are not allowed to enter, you will see how thoroughly the tomb has been destroyed. When the Qin Dynasty was completely disintegrated, angry people transferred their anger to the place where the king was buried and set fire to it ... Now the huge wooden ceiling in the tomb has completely fallen off, but archaeologists are still persistently using digging tools and brushes to slowly make one after another. Now there are almost 800 to 900 terracotta warriors and horses, which is a collective feat of archaeologists. These terracotta warriors and horses are about 6 feet high and weigh about 300 pounds, each of which is made up of countless pieces. Later, we were allowed to visit some terracotta warriors and horses that have been discovered or discovered but have not been cleaned up. It was not until that moment that I realized how difficult and arduous the work that archaeologists were doing. "

In order to make the film more influential and realistic, Rob Cohen also reconstructed some scenes of the mausoleum on the set. He said: "We read all the materials we can find and talked to all the people who have worked in the cemetery. Art director Nigel phelps and scenery designer Anne kurki and I are completely immersed in the ancient artistic atmosphere of Xi 'an. I need a series of information until people can really imagine a similar picture: an army is waiting for their king to wake up again. So we built 500 terracotta warriors and horses, which can be copied from the real thing in all aspects. In addition, we have made many' luxuries' that you have never seen before, including crossbows, halberds, guns and swords, and we have also copied chariots and horses ... These things help some scenes in the film to be very realistic, mainly focusing on the beginning of the story. What I am most proud of is that we have really made these things, and we hope to show the audience what we really see without the help of digital special effects. "

However, the emperor's mausoleum itself has many secrets and legends. Rob Cohen continued: "We also made ceilings and mercury for astrology ... but I must declare that this is a movie, not a discovery channel, so there must be some outdated content or mistakes." When I learned that China invented the seismograph, we recreated a very accurate bronze seismograph and used it to trigger several traps in the mausoleum. I also used many organs of the mausoleum to prevent tomb robbery, so 90% is to restore history, but 10% is to entertain the audience. "

Mummy 3 has more elements of China.

The officially released Mummy 3 tells the story of Qin Shihuang in ancient China, played by Jet Li, cursed by a witch played by Yang Ziqiong, and became an immortal "mummy" for thousands of years, sealed in the underground palace of the Terracotta Warriors. Archaeological adventurer O 'Connor came to China with his son Alex to pursue the mysterious fable buried underground. While opening the underground palace, he also released this "mummy" who knows China Kung Fu and can change his appearance at will. Then they fought fiercely all the way to the Himalayas.

The destination of the archaeological adventurer in the film is Xi 'an. Filmmakers were attracted by this mysterious land when they went to China, and decided to add more China elements. Therefore, when the archaeological adventurer in the film arrives in Xi 'an, there will also be scenes where he passes through Beijing and other cities.

Xi 'an lens restored the "scene replacement" of Hengdian Qin king Palace to the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum.

From the China part of the film, "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" and "Underground Palace of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum" will be the key words related to Xi 'an. Because the shooting process of Hollywood commercial blockbusters has been kept secret, I hope to keep it fresh. How "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" and "Qin Mausoleum Underground Palace" are displayed on the screen has also aroused many people's curiosity. The reporter understands that because the relevant departments have issued policies, there are many restrictions for the crew to shoot in cultural relics protection units or scenic spots, and shooting Terracotta Warriors on the spot is greatly restricted. Therefore, Mummy 3 will adopt this method this time, instead of going into the pit of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, only taking empty shots of the mighty Terracotta Warriors and Horses Square. Therefore, the transformation of Jet Li, enclosed in the Terracotta Warriors underground palace, into a "mummy" will be completed by computer. Jet Li's assistant also told reporters that he was not familiar with the filming process, but Jet Li would not necessarily go to Xi 'an with Mummy 3, because Jet Li's terracotta warriors and horses in Mummy 3 might only take some empty shots at most.

In Myth, the terracotta warriors and horses falling from the sky became a highlight of the film, which is a real scene. However, the "Qin Mausoleum" and its "entrance" blocked by waterfalls in the film are about Mount Li, but they are actually just the "body double" of Mount Li, that is to say, the scenes in these films also have "scene replacement", and many scenes are completed by computers. For the "underground palace" in Mummy 3, it is actually the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum that has not yet been excavated. After the filmmaker visited Hengdian Studios Qin king Palace, he decided to set the main scene in Qin king Palace to replace the underground palace of the Qin Mausoleum. This can also avoid many unnecessary troubles such as resetting the scenery.

Michelleyeoh.info, a fan website in Yang Ziqiong, has released some latest stills of Mummy 3. At the same time, director rob cohen also updated his blog, in which he said that the play of Jet Li and Yang Ziqiong has been completed.

In Mummy 3, Jet Li plays an ancient emperor in China in 50 BC. He wanted to marry Zi Yuan, played by Yang Ziqiong, but was rejected, so he wanted to kill her, but he was turned into a terracotta warrior by his own magic.

The story then goes to 1946. Rick O 'Connor (brendan fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) have retired and live in Oxfordshire, England. During World War II, they acted as spies for the British government. The quiet life is a bit boring, so they happily accepted the "last task" provided by an overseas office-to be responsible for returning a precious cultural relic stolen from the Shanghai Museum in China to its original owner.

At that time, the society in China was in turmoil, but Evelyn's brother Jonathan (played by John Hannah) opened an Egyptian-themed bar in Shanghai with the name "IMHOTEP' S" (the name of the mummy in the first 1 episode and the second). Alex O 'Connor (luke ford), the son of Rick and Evelyn, has grown up at this time, and his son has become an archaeologist without the knowledge of his parents. Soon he made an important discovery: he found the tomb of the "Dragon Emperor" buried for thousands of years. Just then, a beautiful female assassin (Liang Luoshi) tried to kill him to prevent the location of the tomb of the "Dragon Emperor" from being known, but Alex didn't let her succeed. Just as the monument of the "Dragon Emperor" was transported to Shanghai, Huang Qiusheng, a military madman, tried to awaken the "Dragon Emperor" with the help of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses to rule the whole of China. Thus, the great adventure of the O 'Connor family began again.

In his blog, rob cohen also mentioned that his 20-year-old son, Kyle, is studying Chinese at Fudan University in Shanghai, and this trip to Shanghai to shoot Mummy 3 happened to reunite his father and son.

The mainland printing of Mummy 3 was postponed.

The Mummy 3, which was originally scheduled to be released at the end of July, suddenly heard the news that the introduction was blocked. Imdb.com's website doesn't show the release date of the film in China, but Hongkong will be the first to release it on July 25th. According to insiders, Sina Entertainment learned that Mummy 3 was "coldly treated" by censors because some contents in the film did not meet the censorship requirements.

The review encountered "cold treatment"

The film was originally scheduled to be released in China on July 29th, but so far, domestic producers and distributors have not disclosed any official information to the media. At the same time, there is "gossip" that the film has been shelved by the relevant departments. According to Sina Entertainment, the director of the authorities has not yet reviewed the film. The reason why it was "cold-treated" was because Mummy 3 was the only blockbuster before the opening of the Olympic Games, and some of the contents in the film did not meet the censorship requirements. To be on the safe side, the authorities gave the film a "cold treatment" and shelved the review. A person familiar with the matter told reporters that Mummy 3 will be released as a co-production, and the box office will eventually be included in the annual box office of domestic films. Although there are some problems at present, it should be no problem if it passes the audit.

The earliest "Dragon Tomb" in Hong Kong

Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the most oriental trilogy in this series. The film was jointly produced by Universal Pictures and Shanghai Film Group, and a group of China actors such as Jet Li, Yang Ziqiong, Liang Luoshi (listening to songs) and Huang Qiusheng (listening to songs) played important roles in the film. More than 80% of the scenes in the film were shot in China. A few days ago, Mummy 3 released an official theatrical trailer. In the trailer, Jet Li plays the role of the Dragon Emperor, and Yang Ziqiong and Liang Luoshi also perform well in the film, and the special effects scene of the "resurrection" of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses is even more amazing. The film will premiere in Hong Kong on July 25th and be released in North America on August 1.