Richard Crouse

Richard sat down with “Gemini Man” director Ang Lee for CTV NewsChannel. The pair discuss the technological challenges in making the film, including creating a “clone” of Will Smith.

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RC: What you have here in this film, and this doesn’t give anything awa,y but there is Will Smith at his current age, 50, or 51, that’s the joke in the film, fighting against his 23 year old self. You’ve created a computer generated image. So that means I guess you had to shoot everything twice,

Ang Lee: There were endless measurements to put everything together and a lot of efforts in the post. 500 artists, working for a year.

RC: There are technical challenges in this film that, it occurs to me, just made it a harder film to make. Let’s talk about the frame rate, a little bit, this sounds kind of technical but really what it is, instead of shooting at 24 frames a second, you’re shooting 60 which makes everything look really realistic. But there’s no place to hide. Right. Is it a more complicated process for you as a director?

AL: Of course, because that’s something new to us. The equipment is doesn’t quite accommodate it. It’s not as not handy. It is very clumsy in operation. To raise the frame raise is just raise it to normal for 3D. I think 3d, because your perceptions is sharper, it is more like real life. It’s less tolerable to the strobe, which we actually learn to like in the past. So this is something else is uncomfortable zone but but it is exciting because it’s a new experience.

RC: There’s not so much CG in Brokeback Mountain, but you do use CGI in your other films. Do you just see it as another tool in your toolbox as a filmmaker?

AL: Yeah, ironically, I’m a really low tech I am like really down when it comes to that. Ask the experts. I ask the smart guys to figure out for me how I can  see certain things and pursue images that do things to you.

RC: I would think at some point it becomes less about the storytelling. At a certain point and then more about what we have to make sure that the eyeline is right and we have to make sure that when you’re dealing with such technology, how do you as a director as a storyteller as someone who says you’re, you’re not so technologically minded. Keep your enthusiasm up for a project like that,

AL: If it doesn’t look right get scared. You’re making a mess and people are spending a lot of money on it. Also you just want to see that image, how it plays. So naturally, is painstaking, and hopefully we’ll go through there so the audience don’t go through the same thing. They’re just enjoy the picture, and don’t think about that. The visual effects people will tell you that. Ironically, it’s the best compliment they can get is that people don’t know is they had a hard time.