Roland Emmerich Interview - 10,000 BC Movie at Wonder Con
Writer/director Roland Emmerich ('The Day After Tomorrow', Independence Day') goes back in time with another epic adventure, '10,000 BC'. At the 2008 Wonder Con, Emmerich discussed what he calls his most difficult film yet.
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Transcript: Roland Emmerich Interview - 10,000 BC Movie at Wonder Con
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2008 San Francisco Wonder Con.
Writer/Director Roland Emmerich (10,000 BC)
Why did you decide to go back in time and do one?
Roland Emmerich: "Because it just interests me. I'm also on a search for new worlds, you know, because otherwise it would be boring. There's so many movies about the future, there's so many movies about our present day, why not kind of do a historical movie about a time before history. It's just a nice change of pace."
The creatures in this, specifically the tigers, have a basis in fact. How close are they to the skulls that we've seen?
Roland Emmerich: "The animals are totally accurate. I mean, there's really a lot of research went into that. Also, all the sets and how these people live and their clothes and everything - very, very well-researched. Story, naturally is slightly fantastic because it is a concept movie which is based on the Lost Civilization theory that actually the pyramids were not built by the Egyptians, but some long lost civilization."
When I first saw the trailer I thought, "There's no talking in this movie," but they actually do talk. Why did you release that first trailer with no human voices in it?
Roland Emmerich: "You know what? It's like actually it started actually as a concept where there was not much talking but then we realized that dialogue is necessary to get people into the characters. Then we actually added constantly dialogue.
So it was kind of an afterthought? You had the story…
Roland Emmerich: "Not really an afterthought. We had like a story first which had no dialogue in it. And then we slowly added more and more dialogue."
You said this was your most challenging film, but you've done these huge, blockbuster epics. Why was this one so difficult?
Roland Emmerich: "But not outdoors! I mean, this was just a stupid thing to do. I was really regretting it, trust me. And it's just a…just terrible. I always had luck with the weather but not this one. It was just awful, awful, awful."
Because of the locations that you chose?
Roland Emmerich: "Yeah, well like it was my own fault. We kind of just got bad weather but we dealt with it. And you know what? It really added to the movie and I constantly knew it will add to the movie. I mean, there's a couple scenes where you see patches of snow. That naturally looks more like the Ice Age and it is at the end of the Ice Age so it made sense. But the snow came, went, came, went, total cover and then all gone. I mean, it was just one of those things where then you had to digital technology or paper snow..."
So you won't put yourself through that again?
Roland Emmerich: "Not only the snow. It was fog and then came down the rain. It was just ongoing."
But it was worth it for the movie?
Roland Emmerich: "I think it was worth it, yeah."
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