American Cinematographer - August 2002 - 59
After he bests
several other
when he decided to follow up
The Fast and the Furious with
Director Rob Cohen recal s that
XXX,
a
James
criminals in a
series of hair-
Bond-style,
raising tests
(opposite page),
extreme-sports action flick, he
wanted his new film "to go beyond
street-smart
daredevil and
convicted felon
Xander Cage
The Road Warrior, Mad Max Beyond
Thunderdome and Waterworld in
terms
(Vin Diesel, this
of action, and to have the
page,
artful, big-screen photography of
Dances With
WolvesFortunately,
one of XXX's executive
producers,
Arne Schmidt, had just completed
of
matographer who had shot all of
of Soldiers (see AC Feb. '02).
The premise of XXX is
photography
Dean
week
bSRHJPWK5ethuvocpoodireala9iyugnyslfent..hs,
courftesy
Phot s
two
or
isn't bad.' The
that the
Security Administration
has decided to recruit an unusually
gifted criminal for espionage work.
thing I knew, I
Several candidates
week in Tahiti. But I
ues
winner is the street-smart Xander
Diesel
Cage (Vin Diesel), who had initially
caught the NS As eye after he stole
and flamboyantly destroyed a U.S.
senators classic car. Cage is offered a
choice: go to prison or become a spy.
Once he opts for the latter, he finds
himself in Prague, where he must
infiltrate a group of Russian anar¬
chists suspected of terrorist acts.
Schmidt sent the XXX script
to Semler on a Friday, and the
Bond."
cameraman
called Cohen
days later. "I thought it was a
different story and a good piece of
action," Semler recalls, "and when I
with Rob he drew
picture that
really made the action explode off
the page. But I wasn't too sure about
going to Europe for a long time, and
I didn't want to leave my crew. Then
met
a
Joe Roth, with whom I'd worked
the
on
Young Guns movies and The
Three Musketeers, rang up and said,
two
'Come back
to
the fold.' And when
Arne first rang me,
he'd said the
show would be shot in Tahiti and
by.
board!
Prague in the miserable cold and a
thought the
smart
two
was on
Cohen stands
next
"As it turned out," he contin¬
with a laugh, "it was 12 weeks in
they are put through a series of
death-defying tests. The consistent
Australian
up a shot as
director Rob
so I began thinking, 'Hmm,
Tahiti for nine weeks and Prague for
Prague,
a
selected, and
Semler,
ASC, ACS, lines
National
are
prison. This
page, below:
Director of
those films: Dean Sender, ASC, ACS.
Now all Cohen had to do was
incredibly rigorous film on the heels
for
government in
order to stay out
We Were Soldiers with the cine¬
convince Semler to tackle another
top)
agrees to spy
the U.S.
story
of
an
unlikely
spy was a very
idea, and you can't beat Vin
as
a
down-and-dirty James
has the
So Semler and Cohen set off
to
revolutionize action
filmmaking,
began
only done two
which is how Semler's
-
if you analyze Road Warrior you'll see
that some of it is overcast, some of it
sort
of. "I'd
career
features
prior to The Road Warrior,
and neither had any action," Semler
sun on one
side and
the other. But that doesn't
that
sort
of action
-
some on
matter in
just take a look
Jawsl On Road Warrior, the
camera was either handheld or, if it
was mounted,
George and I were
at
general, you can't get too
hung up about things that in the end
don't matter. [Director] George
constantly shaking it. I'd feel a gigan¬
halfway through a shot I
was
operating, and it would be
George kicking the legs of the tripod
from underneath! That gave the
shots a raw, wild, fantastic energy."
Creating a similar level of
energy for XXX required the same
kind of imagination, but different
tools. "Rob had just used a lot of digi¬
tal tricks for speed and vibration on
The Fast and the Furious, things we'd
Miller's words
never
notes.
"But I'd done
a
lot of docu¬
mentaries, and I think that experi¬
really helped me with Road
Normally, feature films and
especially commercials have a pris¬
tine quality; there can't be an inch of
the frame with any flaws. But in the
ence
Warrior.
Mad Max movies and in action
movies in
didn't
were
'Just be bold.' He
much
about matching light or getting rid
of a paper cup a mile away that
might be in the shot. George liked to
take risks. Mind you, we weren't
being careless or near-enough-isgood-enough. It had to be right, but
want me to
worry too
tic shake
had
says. "So
we
on
Road Warrior," Semler
I listened to Rob's ideas, and
combined them with
some
of my
give XXX super-high energy."
Cohen says he wants "to
expand and reinterpret the [action]
genre in my own way. The Fast and
the Furious was a first step, and XXX
own to
American
Cinematographer 55
American Cinematographer - August 2002
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