CHUCK RUSSELL:
"I have fun developing talent. Prior to this film, the most fun I've had
making a movie was directing The Mask when Jim Carrey was still unknown
and Cameron Diaz hadn't acted at all in her career. When I first saw The Rock,
I thought, 'This is a fascinating guy. He's funny, he's great looking and he's
got a dangerous edge.'"
THE ROCK:
"I don't feel this Scorpion King has anything to do with the role in
The Mummy Returns. That was a very small part of that movie - it was all
action, all fighting. I was in the first five minutes and the last five
minutes, when it wasn't even me. (In this movie) the character has a myriad of
emotions, and he goes on this great journey of discovery of love and
betrayal."
CHUCK RUSSELL:
"We're less about creatures than the previous Mummy films. This
movie is an adventure/comedy/romance - it's a classic genre movie. We have
tried to make a film that's exciting in its action, but is family friendly, and
that's an honorable goal. I wanted to stress the adventure, the excitement
right down to the blocking of the action scenes, without it becoming grotesque
and nightmarishly violent."
THE ROCK:
"In wrestling you just get one take. In movies you get the luxury of take
after take, but when it's five in the morning and you're on your 15th take with
flaming swords, it gets difficult getting into the moment again!"
CHUCK RUSSELL on directing so many
fight scenes:
"I'm part of all the choreography of every scene, and I used people who
were the best in the world in staging fight scenes. The biggest challenge was
safety. These principals had to do all their own stunts - you can't double
these guys. The only incident we had was Michael Clarke Duncan got knocked out
for a moment. The fights are like a dance and if you lean forward when you are
supposed to lean back, there's a price to pay. Michael caught The Rock's elbow.
You actually do see the shot in the film, but it wasn't played that he was
knocked unconscious, we had the fight continue."
THE ROCK:
"I was really worried about Michael. I caught him with my elbow
[not the patented 'People's Elbow'? - Web. Ed.]
and he went down. When you are in front of someone who gets knocked out,
it's scary because I've known people who have been knocked down, hit their head
and died. But he was a trooper. He got up and wanted to continue to
shoot."
MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN:
"I was not knocked out. Chuck was so worried he ran up to me and said,
'What movie is this?' I said (feigning confusion), 'The Green Mile?'
Chuck looked horrified, so I said, 'I'm playing with you.' The Rock came over
and was really apologetic. He almost cried. He's a little softy."
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THE CONCEPT:
