“Man versus Meg isn’t a fight.  It’s a slaughter.”

The depths of the ocean.  Unexplored.  Unknown.  Unconquered.

“The Meg” is an exhilarating adventure that director Jon Turteltaub says “takes you into a world you have imagined but have never seen.  And that is exactly what’s fun and exciting about movies.”

Global action star Jason Statham, who leads an international cast in the sci-fi thriller, adds, “I think this is the ultimate popcorn film.  It gives you what people go to the cinema for: entertainment, suspense, action, and even a few laughs—all of the things audiences want from a big moviegoing experience.”

“The Meg” is short for Megalodon, an enormous shark believed to have been extinct for more than two million years.  “We love the prehistoric world and the mysteries it holds,” Turteltaub remarks.  “But what if we discovered that this ancient animal was alive today?  If this gigantic beast was suddenly unleashed and roaming the oceans, nothing would be safe in the water—not whales, not sharks, not humans.  And how much would our entire ecosystem be thrown off balance?”

“I have always had a fascination with the underwater world and have been scuba diving for almost 20 years,” says Statham.  “The oceans are so vast, and, rationally, I think most people have a fear of what’s down there and automatically assume the worst, especially about sharks.  Sharks are one thing that take no prisoners.  A great white would put the fear of God into any swimmer, so you can only imagine what something three or four times that size would do to you.  You wouldn’t want that chasing you down.”

In the film, Statham plays Jonas Taylor, an undersea rescue diver who was the best of the best before a terrifying brush with a massive creature powerful enough to crush the hull of a nuclear submarine.  The traumatic attack took the lives of two friends and put Jonas into voluntary drydock: for five years, he has given up diving for drinking…until fate forces his hand.  The emergence of a Megalodon at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is threatening the lives of a crew from Mana One, an oceanic research institute off the coast of China.  Jonas could be their last and only hope.

Turteltaub offers, “Jonas is the only one with the experience and expertise to rescue them, but he’s given up on life.  They bring him back in, very reluctantly, but they find out they are facing more than they bargained for.”

“The Meg” is based on the best-selling novel MEG by Steve Alten, which first caught the attention of producer Belle Avery.

Avery recalls, “I read the book and immediately saw the potential for an action-filled adventure with global appeal because sharks are such a popular thing in our culture.  This story deals with a creature we’ve never seen before, but, then again, so much of our oceans remains to be discovered.  Can you absolutely say with certainty that Megalodons don’t exist?  I don’t know if you can,” she smiles.

The global nature of the story also presented Avery with an opportunity to expand on her work in the flourishing Chinese film industry.  “I had already been consulting for years in China,” she explains, “but my biggest priority was making sure we had the right partner for this project.  When I met Jiang Wei at Gravity Pictures and showed him the seven-inch Meg tooth, he immediately got it.  He knew we could make this an organic, synergistic coproduction, which is the only thing I was interested in doing, and the only thing Gravity was interested in doing.

“Setting the research center in the Pacific and bringing in the characters of Dr. Zhang and his daughter, Suyin, to head it, was a hugely important element,” Avery continues.  “And one of the largest dive centers in the world is in Tianjin, so it made perfect sense narratively.”

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura adds, “Our partners at Gravity Pictures were fantastic collaborators.  That was invaluable since we were not only working with them on the production side but would also be shooting a portion of ‘The Meg’ in China.  It was a true joint effort.”

One of China’s most popular leading ladies, Li Bingbing, who stars as Suyin, states, “Film is one of the best ways to breach the gap of two different cultures.  There is great value in Eastern and Western audiences having a better understanding of each other, so this kind of cooperation is a win-win for everyone.”

Screenwriters Dean Georgaris and brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber teamed up to adapt Alten’s book for the screen.  Jon Hoeber details, “We’d previously been working on our own drafts of the script, but then Lorenzo suggested we write together, combining the best aspects of each, which is exactly what we did.”

Georgaris, who had originally received the novel from Avery, says, “As a writer, any time you are dealing with a primal fear or fascination, including sharks, monsters, or, as in this case, both, you get the chance to do two things in combination: you get to create some jolts and thrills, and you also get to infuse some moments of comic relief.  One of the things Jon, Erich and I wanted to do was to take the thrills seriously, but also let our characters—and hopefully the audience—have a little fun, too.  After all, it’s a 75-foot Megalodon; you want to see it destroy as many things as possible.”

“We all know the giant shark is going to eat a bunch of people,” adds Erich Hoeber.  “We’re waiting for it.  But even though the stakes are life and death, we definitely tried to give the audience a little wink here and there along the way on this wild ride.”

Producer Colin Wilson says, “Dean, Jon and Erich took the original source material that Steve Alten created, which was rich with ideas, and wrote a screenplay that captured just the right balance of suspense, action, humor and diverse characters.  And in Jon Turteltaub’s hands, it was like lightning in a bottle.  He was the perfect director for this film.”

When Turteltaub was sent the script, he says a major draw for him was the fact that “it was new territory for me.  I had never done a big monster movie—certainly not a giant shark movie—so I thought, ‘Okay, this is going to be a challenge…so let’s do it!’”

In tackling the project, Turteltaub notes, “We were aware that Steve Alten’s book—actually the whole book series—has a big following, and while there are always changes that have to be made in adapting a book into a film, we wanted to make sure those fans, and movie fans, got what they wanted.”

Avery says, “Jon was able to juggle all the demands of filming on and in the water and dealing with a lot of complex visual effects, while still giving every actor the individual attention they needed.  That’s something he does brilliantly.  It was amazing watching him work with the cast, especially given that there was a bit of a language barrier for a few of them.”

Bingbing attests, “One thing Jon would do that I appreciated: just before he said ‘Action,’ he would throw me a new line.  He never worried that English is not my first language.  He’d say, ‘You can do it, Bingbing, no problem.’  Jon trusted me, and I trusted him.  He is very creative and smart and so nice; he treated everyone on the set with respect.  He is an amazing director and I loved working with him so much.”

Fellow cast member Rainn Wilson comments, “Jon’s knowledge of how to direct an action movie goes without saying, but he also has a tremendous sense of humor, which kept things really light on the set and fostered a more creative environment.”

Joining Statham, Li and Wilson in the ensemble cast are Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jessica McNamee and Masi Oka.

“We had a terrific cast,” says Turteltaub.  “They all brought so much added dimension to their roles.  And that was vital because you’ve got to be invested in the characters.  If you don’t care about the characters, you won’t care who gets eaten by the Meg,” he grins.

Of course, one central character was never actually on set.  The Meg and all of the other aquatic life seen in the film were brought to life via state-of-the-art CGI, overseen by visual effects supervisor Adrian De Wet.

Turteltaub’s behind-the-scenes creative team also included cinematographer Tom Stern, production designer Grant Major, editors Steven Kemper and Kelly Matsumoto, costume designer Amanda Neale and composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

Filming on “The Meg” was accomplished entirely on location in New Zealand and China and in the waters off the coasts of both countries.