Video:Mike Newell Interview - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
with Rebecca MurrayWalt Disney Pictures brought director Mike Newell (and the film's star, Jake Gyllenhaal) to the 2010 WonderCon to talk about working on one of the summer of 2010's most anticipated releases: 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.'
Transcript:Mike Newell Interview - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2010 WonderCon in San Francisco.
Director Mike Newell – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Not all video games work, in fact most of them don't work when it comes to making them into movies, so what makes you think this one will work?Mike Newell: "Because of the people, because of the characters. There's only one thing that will save it and that is that an audience will find itself interested in Jake [Gyllenhaal], in Gemma [Arterton], in all of the other actors who are in it and how… People will become interested in them as characters. That's the only thing that will work. It's the only thing that makes a movie work anyway. And so, you know, we have to have all this other stuff and simply shimmy it together."
How tough is it to make a movie where the fans of the video games are going to love it, but the people who have no idea about the video games are still going to understand who these people are?
Mike Newell: "Well, of course, and so what I have to do is as well as to make a movie for people who do know the game, beyond everything else – much more important than them – is the audience that doesn't know about it. And so they have to have the same human dramas that will take them to a movie or take them to a soap opera on television or whatever it might be, the rules don't change. They've got to have characters and situations about which they care. Forget the running on walls."
Speaking of running on walls, this is a very difficult action film. How do you handle all those different action set pieces – you have so many of them?
Mike Newell: "Well, the way that it works is that you have in effect three units. You have the main unit, which is me. And you have the second unit who do all of the really, really difficult physical stunts, a lot of which is done with stunt men. But in this film, Jake did an enormous number of his own stunts which is terrific. So they go off and they do stunts sliding down sand and this and that and the other. And then of course there is all the computer graphic stuff which you've been working on right the way through the whole time. And then finally, what you do is you put all of those three things together and there you are. But, there's too much for just one man and one camera to do. It's like being managing director of the Ford Motor Company, you know? People come to you and say, 'Do you like this?' and you'll say, 'No, not much,' and they'll say, 'Okay, we'll go and do it again.' And that's how it works. I suppose the main director is responsible for about four-fifths of the film, but there is that key one-fifth which all has to do with stunts and action and whatnot where he can't, he doesn't have time to do it. He has to have help."
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