Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
If you look at the Tomatometer scores for Paul W.S.
Andersons work, youd think that this guy makes disaster after disaster.
His films are filled with tight visual storytelling and excellent, intricate locationwork.
Theyre unpredictable and kind of ruthless in their willingness to kill off characters, often quite brutally.
This time around, I asked him about how to handle several other classic action scenarios.
I was totally unaware of this, and so was the actor who improvised the line.
But then it became a big thing.
Hopefully we just move on.
Ive always approached it first and foremost as a fan.
I playedMortal Kombatin arcades in London before I got involved in the movie.
So first and foremost, I am approaching it as a fanboy.
InMonster Hunter, I was led by the experience of playing the game.
I was like Sam Neill inJurassic Parkthe first time they see a dinosaur, that slack-jawed sense of wonder.
I wanted to re-create that both for the game players and people who didnt know anything about the game.
So, Millas character is the avatar for the audience.
You see the world through her eyes.
Some would be literally hundreds of miles away from the nearest place of habitation.
But once you find an amazing location, it can dictate the action to you.
For example, we started in this place in Namibia called Spitzkoppe, which is German forspiky head.
When we got there, there was this magnificent rock archway.
Obviously, Id never conceived of something like that.
I was blown away by it when I saw the location.
All your work is very strong on environments.
InEvent Horizon, the ship is really kind of the central character.
So its more of a challenge, but its perfectly possible to build character through action.
Jude Law [inShopping], right at the very start, has an iconic look.
Theres no denying that.
And Milla is another icon.
Laurence Fishburne [inEvent Horizon], just such a fascinating face to look at.
These are people who hold the screen visually.
Shoppingwas Jude Laws first big role.
What drew you to him?It was his first time in front of a film camera.
I think hed done one very small television role.
We looked at a lot of young British actors.
And so we couldnt have gone wrong with either one.
Jude, he just had this air about him he filmedgreat.
And it was true.
Can you believe that?
Some critic wrote that.
But, I will say, those vicious reviews were among the reasons why I ended up doingMortal Kombat.
BecauseShoppingopened in the U.K. when I was showing it at the Sundance Film Festival.
That persuaded me to try my hand in Hollywood, which led toMortal Kombat.
Well, save yourself five bucks.
And I probably told you my favorite forShopping: Shoppingis nothing more than a relentless orgy of destruction.
Thats another thing about location.
We were makingShoppingon the same budget as a kitchen-sink drama.
For the same budget, we were trying to do car chases and rock and roll and helicopters.
Those locations inShoppingwere magnificent, and they had existed for ages but just didnt get used.
We shot a lot in the East End of London, where there are all these fantastic dockside locations.
I said, Jonathan, are you okay?
And he said, Yes, Paul.
I think this is the doorway I came out of inBrazil.
Event Horizonwas the anti-Shopping,in that we had to build everything in the studio.
I used it for abject horror, and now its used for a baking show.
I said to Milla, Oh, youve got to come with me.
So we go into the gardens and, lo and behold, theres the bigGreat British Bake Offtent.
Then they cut, and someone comes running over to us.
They wanted to drag us into the horror!
What were your impressions of theBlack Widowset?Listen, I love being on other peoples sets.
I enjoy watching another directors stress.
The crane didnt turn up or Were losing the light!
Normally, its me in that position.
But it was fun because I was back in the studio where Id shotEvent Horizon.
It was the same first AD who was running the set that Id used onResident Evil 5andThree Musketeers.
On the other side of the road, my second AD fromThree Musketeerswas shooting the new Bond movie.
It was funny because Daniel Craigs wife, Rachel, was inBlack Widow.
And then youd hear over the radios, Is James Bond over there with you?
Can we have him back, like?
And guess whos playing Captain Hook?
So its come in a weird circle.
You know how important space is to me; I had originally designed it as an exterior shoot.
It was going to be all these amazing landscapes.
Epic winds, huge rains.
I couldnt shoot outside.
The sets were collapsing.
It was never intended to be a studio movie, but thats what it became.
I dont know if I ever told you this story about Clint Eastwood visiting the set ofSoldier.
Its the first week of shooting, and were on a soundstage.
It was a big deal.
He was acting with a big movie star, Kurt Russell.
And it was his first big line of dialogue, big speech with Kurt.
And he was intimidated.
I could see that.
It was a lot of pressure.
This amazing movie star, Oscar-winning director, and a friend of Kurt Russells.
And hes very tall as well.
Hes quite a presence.
Sean, as nervous as he was before, now his nerves double.
Oh my God, theres Clint Eastwood.
I didnt know it, but I was using the crew that Clint uses.
So Clint says hello to everybody.
And he says hi to Kurt.
And then, of course, he says hello to Sean.
And this takes about half an hour.
But also times ticking, its going into overtime.
And Sean … he just drowned.
His mouth opened, and no sound came out.
He didnt even get the dialogue wrong.He just couldnt even speak.
I dont blame him.
Then we go for take two, and hes like, Uuuuugh.
And then, after take two, Clint goes, I think I better leave.
So shooting on a studio lot like that, you are in a fishbowl a little bit.
That was the last time I shot on a studio soundstage.
I was a fan of fight movies, but I didnt really know how to put them together.
You experience the space, and it gives your fight scenes a different feel; it gives them geography.
And, back then, there was no face replacement or anything like that.
So you had to have actors that could deliver the action.
Thats a luxury Ive had pretty much with all of my movies.
All the way up toMonster Hunter.
With Milla and Tony, these are actors who are willing and capable of executing their own fight scenes.
Ive been a huge fan of Tonys fromOng-Bakonward.
Tony reinvented this kind of fight choreography by saying, Look, I dont need wires.
Im just going to do it all for real.
I could ask him all these questions as a fan that Id been waiting to ask him for years.
Like, How did you do the fight scene when your trousers are on fire inOng-Bak?
And he said, Paul, it was fairly simple.
First, I poured gasoline on my trousers.
Second, I set them on fire.
He totally burned off his eyebrows during that fight.
He said they havent quite grown back since then.
I would start with these epic wide shots.
But to do that, you had to initiate the fight five times.
Youve made me do it ten times already.
And now youre in my close-up, and I can barely stand up!
I also got a crash course in visual effects on that movie.
Thats a shame, because Ive always seen my job as a director to be a motivator of people.
I guess the secret of a good gunfight is in the lead-up, the preparation for it.
Thats what Sergio Leone used to say: Once they start going Bang, bang, its over.
Shes alone, and shes got a sawed-off shotgun and a couple of machine guns.
The setup for me is important, rather than the meat of the action.
He just wanted to be untouchable.
And the more untouchable he became, the less interesting he was.
How would you go about shooting a good car chase?I like shooting cars for real.
We built camera rigs that would have two half-inflated shipping buoys on the front with a camera in between.
And then the camera was on a kind of skid plate.
We got amazing shots using that.
