Die 2 Ersten Bilder vom Set hier für euch.
MFG
Kumpel j.
PRODUCTION BLOG OF TUNNELRATS #1
I (Uwe Boll) was able to join forces with Chris Roland of CFQ Films of South Africa to produce a Vietnam War movie called Tunnel Rats. CFQ provided the perfect jungle locations only 1 ½ hours driving from Durban. The first scenes were shot in KwaZulu-Natal, so it was very important that all L.A. actors were trained in the real military boot camp atmosphere. We hired a couple of war mercenaries that had been fighting in South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania to make sure that this was as real as possible.
“Smiley“, a giant of approximately 150 kgs and a reputation for killing more than 100 people in combat, trains the boys (actors) to be fit and authentic in sneaking up, loading guns, shooting, etc.
Originally we had the plan to have all actors sleeping in tents in the jungle to enable them to absorb as much as possible of the totally different climate, sounds, circumstances etc. but one of the wardens found a Black Mamba. Unfortunately it seems we have quite a lot of them on our locations here.
The Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is the largest venomous snake in Africa and the second largest venomous snake in the world (behind the King Cobra). It has an average length of 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) and a maximum length of 4.5 meters (14 ft).The Black Mamba receives its name from the black coloration inside of its mouth, rather than their skin color which is a gray to olive tone. The Black Mamba is the fastest moving snake in the world, capable of moving up to 20 km/h (12.5 mph). It uses this speed to evade danger, rather than catch prey.
Bites from Black Mambas to humans are rare, but they are very deadly! The Black Mamba is also the second most deadly snake in the world. A single bite may inject enough venom to kill from 20-40 grown men, easily killing one unless the appropriate anti-venom is administered in time. When cornered, it will readily attack. Such a bite of the Black Mamba kills within 45 minutes if one is not able to give an antidote. Of course, such antidotes are stored in hospitals only. But the next hospital is more than 45 driving minutes away from our film set. Without having the chance to store the antidote on our set, we all have to be very careful and watch every step we take.
In fact, many snake experts from all over the world have cited the Black Mamba as the world's most aggressive snake, noting tendency to actively attack without provocation. To make things even more exciting for us, Black Mambas love to rest on trees or hide in bushes, so Mathias Neumann, my camera man and I check all bushes and trees around us constantly.
Every morning I run. One morning I get together with a herd of antelopes grazing in the meadow on my jogging path. I slowed down and approached them, but none of the animals was afraid of me, so I ran right through. The antelopes did not even stop to graze. This is Africa!
The first day of shooting passed faster than lightning. We all agreed that the boot camp training worked miracles. All actors are perfectly training now; know exactly what to do. We start with a camp scene to catch as much of the real atmosphere as possible. On one of the next days we relocate at a crook of a river and started to shoot quite complex scenes with man to man combat: Two Americans have to fight in the water against the VC [Viet Cong]. Lucky us, that day our stunt co-coordinator Dan returned from hospital where he had to spend the night on an IV drip because he was bitten by a tick. The ticks are also a big problem. I use anti-insects spray at least four times a day. The ticks are everywhere. In one of the next scenes, two soldiers stop behind a rock were we placed a snake to attack them. We have hired an animal trainer with some trained snakes. Both snakes are as gentle as lambs.
Our weekly shooting schedule here in South Africa is different to others, we have six working days instead of five, and so only the Sunday is off.
Uwe Boll Talks Tunnel Rats Part 2
Got a new update from the set of Tunnel Rats for you PRODUCTION BLOG OF TUNNEL RATS – Part Two
Day three and four of our production were quite extreme for everyone as we had to
shoot many action sequences – all with excellent results. Olaf Ittenbach creates
miracles with his so called ''blood effects“, not as excessive as in my vampire
movie BLOODRAYNE, but more realistic, much closer to real war wounds.
As the Vietnam War is famous for the massive use of four man-to-man combat weapons,
namely grenades, machine guns, jagged edged jungle knives and flame throwers. We
have a very authentically Vietnam look to the movie, we are forced to use a lot of
grenades and flame throwers for the combat scenes. On the set many of our stuntmen
and background performers suffered some minor injuries due to flying wood splinters
and fire sparks.
The way I am doing this movie will add one more component why the Americans were
doomed to lose the Vietnam War. The war underneath: A war in tunnels below the
surface of the endless jungles. In Cu-Chi for example the Viet Cong had dug a tunnel
system of approximately 260 kilometers in total to have a supply line.
Strategically these tunnels were the most clever thing the Viet Cong did, they were
almost invisible especially from the air and unknown for a long time. This advantage
enabled the VC to maintain supply for the partisan fighters in this guerilla war.
During the sixteen years (1959-1975) of the Vietnam War approximately 300.000
American soldiers had died. Many, many more were wounded, not only physically but
also emotionally. Officially about 3 million Vietnamese died. The largest number of
them were civilians who suffered tremendously from both sides in this war.
Even the massive use of herbicides by the US Air Force, most famous of them was
Agent Orange, a nickname given by the soldiers and other chemical defoliants, did
not change the situation, as the substances made the trees lose their leaves. They
did not reveal the huge tunnel system. But the Viet Cong tunnels were a very
effective and totally underestimated war tool that demoralized the American troops
in Vietnam. After years of fighting the US troops had to give up and withdraw from
Vietnam. For comparison in the ongoing war in Iraq ( March 20, 2003 to present) so
far 3,201 US soldiers have died.
It is very important for me to show that every single soldier who is participating
actively in a war is guilty by being an active supporter of the war due to his
profession as a soldier. In most war movies the single, individual soldier is
presented as a poor devil. I am a bit fed up with these stereotype movies. If, for
example 1000 soldiers would quit fighting in Iraq simultaneously, that war would be
over. Others would follow them because every soldier that has been serving over
there for more than a year already knows that this a lost war. And after, let’s be
honest US superiors can not afford to start disciplinary proceedings and hearings
against 1000 US soldiers at the same time. The media publicity in the US would rebel
against the pentagon for doing so.
On the day we are shooting the camp arrival of the soldiers by helicopters, I got
stung by a giant wasp, directly on my neck. Fortunately our on-set paramedics were
prepared for such an accident and stopped the swelling. Two weeks before when we
started our production, exactly the same thing had happened to our line producer,
Chris Roland of CFQ Films and his face ballooned within a couple of minutes.
The shooting of the complex helicopter scenes went well. The team was very
professional. The landscape here in South Africa is unique, a beautiful paradise.
Co-indecently it seems that we shot at the very same places and locations that were
used for the production of BLOOD DIAMOND with Leonardo DiCaprio. Most of our crew
members had worked through the whole production of Edward Zwick production too.
The special effect team as well as the stunt teams did a very good job. In the last
days we detonated more than 120 explosions to give a real raw war effects for the
movie. All our actors are extremely motivated and well prepared, especially the
youngsters from L.A. Some of them have fathers that had been fighting in Vietnam,
so it is like they want to follow their father's footsteps. Luckily with them, this
is only a movie and not a real jungle war! We have blood, sweat and tears as well.
But still it is no real war, nobody gets killed. Although we have new injuries and
bruises each day, no complains so far.
On day seven it started to rain heavily. The access road for our camp and set was
completely muddy and one of the buses with the background performers toppled over
and went off road. Fortunately towards the mountain side and not down the valley.
Lucky us, nobody was injured!
Teil 3 folgt dan noch.
MFG
Kumpel j.
he he
