Every now and then I get to do something wacky which makes this job all the worth while and this was one of those events. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Van Nuys, California I found myself, a dozen scientists from the Weather Channel, assorted press, camera crews and spunky young actor Jake Gyllenhaal closed up inside the sub-zero degrees celsius deep freeze room of an ice factory to watch of all things - a trailer.
Yep the Roland Emmerich-directed "The Day After Tomorrow" environmental disaster action movie which opens on Memorial Day has a new trailer which appeared online a few hours ago, but had its world premiere on a 10ft tall block of ice in the deep freeze to an excited audience sitting on rubber mats atop giant seat blocks of ice. Afterwards Jake gave interviews to us various press whilst bits of ice frosted to the ceiling began to fall.
He's been offered various other action blockbusters in the past, but the reason he chose this one was that by the end of this "unlike any other action film I've seen there's not some guy shooting down an enemy or shooting a laser to stop a meteor, its much more complicated than that. I think the idea of a single person being their own antagonist or their own saviour is a really great idea - its not about simplistic good vs. evil".
The most difficult scene to film was "running away from wolves that didn't exist", whilst another was the shooting of the New York library steps as a tidal wave rushes toward them. That sequence was shot over two weeks in a tank with 700 extras and "by the end of week one, people weren't getting out of the tank to go to the bathroom so that was in its own special way the most difficult scene".
Roland as a director he considers a "sweet wonderful man" and one who takes time with his work. All of the shooting took place on sound stages in Montreal during the dead of winter with the odd exception of two or three locations.
Roland himself attended a presentation in London the other day and video from that of the director and Producer Mark Gordon speaking about the film is already online, click below to check out both that and the brand spanking new trailer which should hit cinemas today with "Starsky & Hutch":
Emmerich & Gordon Discuss "The Day After Tomorrow"
"The Day After Tomorrow" Full Trailer
Thanks to 'CC'.
