Original subtitles

It's all gonna be fine.

I don't know if every director's this way,

but for me, I just wanna read a script that I haven't read before.

I certainly had never been sent a big monster movie,

certainly not a big, giant shark movie. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

And it was new for me,

and I said, "Okay, this is a challenge.

"This is gonna be hard, so let's do it."

TURTELTAUB: Big is fun.

Being under the ocean is fun.

Watching somebody else be scared is fun.

Going deep, deep under the sea in submarines and stuff like that.

But you know what's really fun?

Watching Jason Statham.

(SUYIN GRUNTS)

Hell, yeah!

LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA: We really wanted Jason for this movie,

because he had never done a movie like this.

We thought it was an opportunity

both to show him in a different light,

and also give us the opportunity

of using his talent in a different way than had been used before.

He's not a fighter in this movie, it's not about that.

We wanted a man who's gone through real trauma,

and there's nothing better than a tough guy who's gone through trauma,

because to see him impacted by it means it really has a weight,

and what does this character have to overcome as a result of that?

MAC: Hey, brother.

We're good to go.

AUTOMATED VOICE: System go for descent.

DI BONAVENTURA: This is where he is an adventure hero,

not an action hero, in a sense.

And that is a different quality.

But if you start sending people back down there,

don't call me to come save your asses.

Because in case what happened down there wasn't clear to you,

man vs. meg isn't a fight.

It's a slaughter.

There's nothing false about Jason Statham.

He is an honest, genuine guy who speaks the truth,

has a great sense of humor,

doesn't fake his physical appearance,

doesn't fake the stunts,

doesn't fake the fighting.

All that stuff, it's all legit.

A lot of the stuff we do with Jason...

We know his physicality, and know what he likes, and what he doesn't like,

so a lot of the things that he was doing,

he was physically holding on himself.

So, if anything happens, or he doesn't like it anymore,

instead of him relying on someone else to push a button to stop something,

he can basically release or let go of it.

Or we would put different apparatus into the rig

so he could actually release himself from it.

MAC: This tracker rifle only has a 100-foot range.

Hundred feet?

Get really close before you shoot.

POPPLETON: The meg-tagging sequence

was done out in Hauraki Gulf and then also in the tank.

We'd constructed a rig off the side of one of the boats

that basically dragged him through the water,

and it was controllable enough that we could have a crane

and camera team on it to film him.

And then we also did it in the tank behind me, on winches,

where he was pulled under the water

at different speeds, with different camera positions.

So, um, yeah, it was an exciting sequence.

Then also did a rig with him

where we was kicking the shark in the head

and we had one on a ratchet that was pulling him up out of the water.

TU RTELTAUB: Is it harder to make a movie

in the middle of the ocean than on a set?

Where, if it rains, it doesn't matter?

If there's noise, it doesn't matter?

It's always a nice temperature, everyone's happy?

It's not gonna suddenly get windy?

Yeah. Easier. Better? No.

Much better to be out in the middle of the ocean.

BARRIE M. OSBORNE: When you come out on a boat

and you're gonna do a sequence,

you have to really pare down the crew to the bare essentials

because there are limitations, like how many people this boat can carry.

I think we're down to about 85 people.

You're very much subject to wet weather,

both normal rain or not rain,

sunny or not sunny,

as well as wind and sea conditions.

So, it's a challenge to find that window of time

when you can actually come out on the water

and capture a great sequence.

TU RTELTAUB: If you take your boat out to where you wanna shoot,

boats go like this when they're standing still.

They don't just sit there still.

"Oh, you put two anchors."

"Oh, give me 45 minutes, we'll get those anchors out there."

"I'm sorry, what? Forty-five minutes to put the anchors out?"

"Uh-huh. But you know once we get them out there, we can't move the boat."

"Yeah, but the sun's gonna be over there later and..."

All that stuff is coming into play.

There you go!

Enough, that's it!

I don't wanna ruin the magic,

but you have this gigantic lake you build

so you can be on water,

without having to spend two hours to get there,

and being able to control it a little bit,

and take care of people and keep people safe.

MAN: Action!

So, we've shot on the water a number of different times in Meg

and it is exhausting.

Acting is kind of hard,

you've got to be concentrated,

working all day, remembering your lines,

really listening, relating,

bringing yourself, making sure you haven't forgotten anything.

When you're trying to do that in the water

while doing this all clay,

it's pretty grueling.

So, that was a new skill set. Water acting.

They all loved it. They got to go swimming.

They got paid to go swimming every day.

Before I even got this movie, I didn't know how to swim.

So, when I got here, I know how to swim now.

I'm from Detroit. We don't have pools around. (CHUCKLES)

So, swimming was not something that I did a lot as a kid, or as an adult.

And so, it didn't come naturally to me,

but coming here, and these guys, the stunt guys,

they were fantastic in getting me prepared and ready

and comfortable in the water since we had to spend so much time in it.

- So, that worked, right? - That looked great.

- KENNEDY: All right. - Good luck.

When the actors showed up on set,

they had a one-week water safety course

where the stunt team took them through swimming lessons,

and survival lessons and all that stuff.

You work with a child actor,

especially someone like Sophia,

and she is so ready.

She's just rehearsed and knows what she wants to do,

and has practiced her stuff and wants to please.

And then you come to the set,

and the director, as he's talking to her about what's gonna happen,

heaves her in the water. (CHUCKLES)

That's awesome. She was so mad at me.

But she got in.

She loved it. She couldn't get into that water fast enough.

Yeah, I just loved it and I was so excited.

And Page threw me into the ocean,

and then I was, like... (MIMICS SCREAMING)

That was so fun.

Before I met her, I was like, "Okay,

"this is going to be my little pal here."

And so, from the very first day I met her,

we gravitated to each other.

We danced together, we rapped together,

we have a good time, like, we 're friends.

And this has been for the entirety of the project.

Three months later, and we 're finally doing this scene,

I wanted to make sure we had that rapport beforehand

so that she trusts me,

and so that she'd know that she was safe.

And I think she did.

Page says that he is saving me like a joke.

And then (CHUCKLES) I said, "I'm saving you."

Actually, we're both kind of saving each other.

I think she felt safe with me.

And that platform was very small,

but it also made that adrenaline go,

'cause you wanna get it right.

And which helps in the situation that we're going through as actors.

Teamwork!

I am so tired. I'm exhausted!

I didn't think that I needed to do too much training in swimming.

I was wrong.

There was one day, it was, like, two days ago,

where Cliff was just hanging out,

and he's talking to me, we 're treading water,

and I could not have a conversation.

I could not keep up with his conversation,

and he's talking to me like we are now.

And I realized that he had a floating device underneath him,

and I didn't, and so I was starting to, like, get a bit faint.

And I was, like, "I can't... I'm feeling a bit, you know,

"a bit unfit here. "And he's, like, "Oh, you don't have one of these?"

I was, like, "No, I do not have one of those. Give me that."

I thought he was the most fit man on the planet.

This wasn't part of the job description.

None of this was part of the job description!

They failed to mention that part.

One day, I spent... I remember at the end of the day,

I just couldn't move when I was done.

I've never been so tired after a day of acting before.

- I'm really glad you're capturing this. -(MAN CHUCKLES)

I think one of the days was almost eight hours in the water,

solidly.

And between treading and sprinting for my life,

for that entire time, I got to the very end and I just...

My body couldn't do it anymore,

and I had to be lifted out of the water by Jason and Rainn

for one of the scenes, and they were, like,

"Oh, that's your last take. (CHUCKLES)

"You didn't even make it to the boat."

I was, like, "I don't remember the last four seconds of what just happened,

"so you must be right."

RAINN WILSON: Just a lot of new challenges,

but it's been a really cool adventure, too.

Ll BINGBING: I'm not really a good swimmer and diver.

And I had never seen a shark cage until I did this movie.

In the shark cage, by yourself,

and they close all of the door,

it seems claustrophobic.

But our crew is so professional, they're gonna make me very safe.

And I have to wear a lot of weights to help me keep down there,

and those things all make me feel exhausted,

a little bit terrifying,

and very excited.

My adrenaline just come up,

fighting with the sea, and it's so exciting.

- You're tired already? (LAUGHS) - Yeah.

Oh, my God. I'm scared.

-'Cause you're nervous. - I'm not scared of the water.

I'm scared... Why do I feel tired?

Because you don't breathe enough?

Water's just a dangerous place.

Every time you've ever seen a movie where someone's swimming,

there is somebody in a wet suit scuba diving beneath them.

Every movie you have ever seen.

And we are constantly editing around bubbles.

It was just a blast.

I didn't have to get in the actually cold water,

Jason Statham did, though.

Had a couple of stunts that he did himself.

Diving off the boat, being dragged behind the boat

in all kinds of various ways.

And I got to hand it to him, that's some tough stuff, and he just...

No pun intended, he dove right in. Boom.

I'm gonna make this thing bleed.

Suyin, what you said before, you were right.

It's not about the people you lose.

It's about the people you save.

- Signing off. - SUYIN: Jonas--

TU RTELTAUB: Making scary movies and scary things,

it's so fun for a director,

that's the challenge, right?

It's a complete manipulation, and we know it.

That's why we go to horror films.

But we also know we live in a world

of big, flashy, visual effects, holy Moses, big movies,

and you also have to deliver on the big.

(ALL SCREAMING)

DI BONAVENTURA: When you see the scale of this thing,

you just can't believe it.

You just can't believe that this thing lived and roamed the seas.

We're just trying to have fun, let the audience get scared at times,

laugh at times, cheer at times.

Who knows what else is down at the bottom of the South China Sea?

TU RTELTAUB: The notion of this mystery

and a prehistoric thing still being alive,

and how we confront science with a lot of disbelief at first,

then science has to convince us things are true.

These are ideas that certainly play out in the movie a little bit.

But really, the most important thing was,

"Oh, my God! A giant shark's gonna eat people!" (CHUCKLES)

That's one of the themes we really focused on.