\u201cI have always had a fascination with the underwater world and have been scuba diving for almost 20 years,\u201d says Statham.\u00a0 \u201cThe oceans are so vast, and, rationally, I think most people have a fear of what\u2019s down there and automatically assume the worst, especially about sharks.\u00a0 Sharks are one thing that take no prisoners.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t want that chasing you down.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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\u2026until fate forces his hand.\u00a0 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. \u00a0Jonas could be their last and only hope.<\/p>\n
Turteltaub offers, \u201cJonas is the only one with the experience and expertise to rescue them, but he\u2019s given up on life.\u00a0 They bring him back in, very reluctantly, but they find out they are facing more than they bargained for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Meg\u201d is based on the best-selling novel MEG<\/em> by Steve Alten, which first caught the attention of producer Belle Avery.<\/p>\n Avery recalls, \u201cI 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.\u00a0 This story deals with a creature we\u2019ve never seen before, but, then again, so much of our oceans remains to be discovered.\u00a0 Can you absolutely say with certainty that Megalodons don\u2019t exist?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you can,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n The global nature of the story also presented Avery with an opportunity to expand on her work in the flourishing Chinese film industry.\u00a0 \u201cI had already been consulting for years in China,\u201d she explains, \u201cbut my biggest priority was making sure we had the right partner for this project. \u00a0When I met Jiang Wei at Gravity Pictures and showed him the seven-inch Meg tooth, he immediately got it.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSetting 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,\u201d Avery continues. \u00a0\u201cAnd one of the largest dive centers in the world is in Tianjin, so it made perfect sense narratively.\u201d<\/p>\n Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura adds, \u201cOur partners at Gravity Pictures were fantastic collaborators.\u00a0 That was invaluable since we were not only working with them on the production side but would also be shooting a portion of \u2018The Meg\u2019 in China.\u00a0 It was a true joint effort.\u201d<\/p>\n One of China\u2019s most popular leading ladies, Li Bingbing, who stars as Suyin, states, \u201cFilm is one of the best ways to breach the gap of two different cultures.\u00a0 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Screenwriters Dean Georgaris and brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber teamed up to adapt Alten\u2019s book for the screen.\u00a0 Jon Hoeber details, \u201cWe\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgaris, who had originally received the novel from Avery, says, \u201cAs a writer, any time you are dealing with a primal fear or fascination, including sharks, monsters, or, as in this case, both<\/em>, 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.\u00a0 One of the things Jon, Erich and I wanted to do was to take the thrills seriously, but also let our characters\u2014and hopefully the audience\u2014have a little fun, too.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s a 75-foot Megalodon; you want to see it destroy as many things as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know the giant shark is going to eat a bunch of people,\u201d adds Erich Hoeber.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re waiting for it.\u00a0 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Producer Colin Wilson says, \u201cDean, 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.\u00a0 And in Jon Turteltaub\u2019s hands, it was like lightning in a bottle.\u00a0 He was the perfect director for this film.\u201d<\/p>\n When Turteltaub was sent the script, he says a major draw for him was the fact that \u201cit was new territory for me.\u00a0 I had never done a big monster movie\u2014certainly not a giant shark movie\u2014so I thought, \u2018Okay, this is going to be a challenge\u2026so let\u2019s do it!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In tackling the project, Turteltaub notes, \u201cWe were aware that Steve Alten\u2019s book\u2014actually the whole book series\u2014has 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Avery says, \u201cJon 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.\u00a0 That\u2019s something he does brilliantly.\u00a0 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Bingbing attests, \u201cOne thing Jon would do that I appreciated: just before he said \u2018Action,\u2019 he would throw me a new line.\u00a0 He never worried that English is not my first language.\u00a0 He\u2019d say, \u2018You can do it, Bingbing, no problem.\u2019\u00a0 Jon trusted me, and I trusted him.\u00a0 He is very creative and smart and so nice; he treated everyone on the set with respect.\u00a0 He is an amazing director and I loved working with him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow cast member Rainn Wilson comments, \u201cJon\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Joining Statham, Li and Wilson in the ensemble cast are Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Sophia Cai, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, \u00d3lafur Darri \u00d3lafsson, Jessica McNamee and Masi Oka.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a terrific cast,\u201d says Turteltaub.\u00a0 \u201cThey all brought so much added dimension to their roles.\u00a0 And that was vital because you\u2019ve got to be invested in the characters.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t care about the characters, you won\u2019t care who gets eaten by the Meg,\u201d he grins.<\/p>\n Of course, one central character was never actually on set.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Turteltaub\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Filming on \u201cThe Meg\u201d was accomplished entirely on location in New Zealand and China and in the waters off the coasts of both countries.<\/p>\n The depths of the ocean.\u00a0 Unexplored.\u00a0 Unknown.\u00a0 Unconquered. \u201cThe Meg\u201d is an exhilarating adventure that director Jon Turteltaub says \u201ctakes you into a world you have imagined but have never seen. \u00a0And that is exactly what\u2019s fun and exciting about movies.\u201d Global action star Jason Statham, who leads an international cast in the sci-fi thriller, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12911"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12916,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions\/12916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/c532ce2514609a810f3d4790963e7f18bf2a990651f5bab0492046bb174b2ec5.jpg\")
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