Original subtitles

MAN : Two.

Backhand .

Ah , ah , last ball . Last dig . One.

MAN : Forehand .

[RACKET WHACKS BALL]

[PANTI NG]

WOMAN : Why are you doing this?

[PANTI NG]

Trying to keep up with Tom during production .

I'd heard about how hard Tom Cruise works.

And I work pretty hard . I mean , I was raised with a really great work ethic.

My father and mother taught me a really great work ethic, and it's with me every day.

But I hate to say it to my parents, but I learned an even stronger work ethic...

...from Tom Cruise, because he doesn't take it for granted .

I've worked with other movie stars, and there's a slight sense of entitlement.

And Tom understands that people go see his movies because they're good .

They're good because he works hard at them .

He said to me early on , "If you want me to shoot seven days a week...

...I'll shoot seven days a week." And I was like:

"Okay, let's do seven days a week."

[YELLl NG]

- On your feet, maggot! CRU ISE: Aah , ugh !

PAXTON : There's no retreat, only--

[YELLl NG]

Mimic! Mimic!

- And cut! MAN 1 : And bolt.

MAN 2: And bolt.

LI MAN : Yeah , it was great.

[BELL Rl NGS]

LI MAN : So Kimmel happens.

Now he's ru nning and it's. . . . Shit's happening all around him ...

...and , you know, hovercraft crashing .

Thank you so much .

If, for instance, he dove into, uh , a crater like this...

...and the drop ship comes up and over him ...

There's mayhem in the thing , with a mimic wreaking havoc, you know, if I'm Cage...

...I'm getting away from there, and Cage is, like, backing away.

Knocks Cage on his ass.

CRU ISE: Doug is someone I've always wanted to work with .

He has very unique sensibilities.

H is characters always have hu manity.

I like what he does with a genre. He'll take a genre like...

. . .Bourne or Mr. & Mrs. Smith...

...and invest you in the world of those characters.

And each film he's directed has been significantly d ifferent.

LI MAN : My experience making films prior to this...

...had been one very much of shooting on location , in real environments.

And suddenly I get to England , and we would scout real locations--

There's a big battle scene on a beach ...

...and we found this incredible beach called Saunton Sands...

...and sort of sat on it, and then my producers and Kim Winther...

...my first AD, said , "You know, it would be more efficient...

...if we built that beach on the backlot.

And you can get everything you can get on the real location ...

...and you'll save money and you'll make a better movie."

You know, maybe the first time we never got through the mimic coming up out of the sand .

The role of the second unit director is to come up with the action ...

...dream how it's gonna look and then hopefully go and shoot it.

I've worked with Doug three times before.

Once Mr. & Mrs. Smith, then Jumper, and we've done various commercials.

And we do have a shorthand .

I probably find him the most frustrating man I've ever met...

...just because he changes his mind quite easily.

Simon's got the more complicated work on the beach by far.

Like, it's not even close in terms of what Simon needs to accomplish ...

...and what I need to accomplish . So, like, I would design the weeks around Simon ...

...and factor me in ...

- Make sure you got that, heh-heh . - Well , it's obvious.

CRAN E : It's great that we throw ideas at each other and , you know, it gets bigger...

...or it gets smaller, but it gets better. It always gets better.

It's being able to come u p with a plan , shoot the plan ...

...and then we can mess with it and maybe change it slightly.

But it's always to go in with a plan .

LI MAN : The thing about this movie, is I didn't have a script.

What I had were these images...

...that my production designer, Oliver Scholl , had generated .

I had a room you could go into, I could take you ...

...from the beginning to the end pictorially...

...but I d id not have a script that matched that at all .

But it's not my first time not having a finished script.

It's always better if you can have a finished script.

I think it's certainly easier to direct a movie, if you have a chance...

...to have a finished script that you can ponder before you start shooting .

But Bourne identity did n't have a finished script and the movie came out.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith did n't have a finished script and the movie came out.

So I'm no stranger to it, and Tom Cruise is no stranger to it.

He used to say often during prep, you know:

"Nothing like a looming start date to force script development."

MAN : This is gonna change. This is just jerry-rigged at the moment.

Is this joint something I'm supposed to know exists or it gets--? It'll be hidden .

Yeah , this joint is gonna be u nderneath this part of the suit so you won't see any of this.

SCHOLL: Doug has a very unique way of approaching projects.

Part of that way is that everything goes through the Doug filter...

...of what he perceives as real and true and interesting and different.

BLU NT: I think Doug veers...

...pretty strongly away from things ever looking too perfected or glossy.

That's why I love his films...

...there's a sort of messiness and a humanity to them.

HAWLEY: He's got such a quirky sort of sensibility that I really love and responded to.

Doug said , "It's gotta be funny. I want it to be gritty and real ."

- So it was interesting . S I LVER: He has a very particular way...

...of looking at a movie. He's very honest, it's his word .

When you adapt as a producer to every different movie...

...you really wanna find out what makes a director tick...

...and for Doug , it was honesty.

LI MAN : It's ironic, because I don't necessarily have it in the rest of my life...

...but when it comes to my movies, I'm really committed to a hundred percent honesty...

...and I just don't know how to tell a story that is sort of comic book-y, or not real .

STOFF: One of the real challenges that we had ...

...was making a science-fiction movie...

...with a director who had no real interest in science fiction .

Doug really only had interest in science fact.

So anything that we ever did , as far as the suits went, as far as the weaponry went...

...as far as any of the technology that was earthbound ...

...it had to have a real basis in reality...

...and what was technologically possible.

So in most instances of movies that use these kinds of Exosuits...

...you usually just do them through CG , through computer-generated technology.

We were actually foolish enough to say, "No, we're gonna build these suits."

BOHAN NA: There was over 170 cast components to each su it.

CRU ISE: We had an army of people creating these suits.

The suit itself weighed 85, 90 pounds...

...and depending on the armament, anywhere from 120 to 125 pounds.

LI MAN : Three, two, one, action .

I showed up a couple of months early before we started principle photography...

...to R&D the suit, so I could know what the suit is...

...work with teams of people on how to get us in and out.

And then I had to develop, with Doug and the stunt team , what truly is possible...

...and I kind of worked with the stunt guys on what the training program ...

...would be for the actors.

Emily hadn't done action . Now, all of a sudden , she went right into the deep end with this movie.

BLU NT: I mean , you can train all you want and you can run a million miles, heh ...

...and , you know, you can lift some weights, and learn how to do a pull-u p...

...and all of that stuff, which I did all of it...

...but I don't think anything quite prepares you for the sheer weight of the suit.

LI MAN : They were wearing 70-pound suits every day, which I never wore...

...because I didn't really wanna know how much it hurt.

I didn't wanna empathize with them on that level .

We had the work we had to get done and whatever it took to get it done.

And for the most part, they performed tirelessly.

GU RRY: We arrived here I think on September the third ...

...for a month of boot camp.

Our initial sort of reaction when we got here was we were slightly overwhelmed ...

...at the enormity of what we were about to experience, and the training , the suits...

...the physical sort of pressure that was gonna be on us from these suits once we tried them on .

We all got a little bit nervous, but the thing that kept us going ...

...through that first week or two was the thought that...

...if we were this busy and if there was this much pressure on us...

...then imagine what it's like for Doug Liman .

And we didn't see him for the first two weeks and we were wondering there's no rehearsal ...

...he wasn't meeting with us to talk about the characters or the story.

There was no welcoming mat, and we started talking about that as well , saying :

"God , imagine how busy Doug Liman is.

He doesn't have a spare minute to come and talk to us.

He's in meetings, just nonstop. He is just-- I mean , he's probably not even sleeping ."

So then we went to one of the studios they cleared for us.

They said , "Listen , we've cleared a space in one of the studios...

...for you guys to train in the suits, to run around in ." We said , "Great."

So we went over there...

...and as we were coming into the studio, you could hear this:

[TEN N IS BALL REVERBERATl NG]

And when we got in there, there was Doug having a tennis lesson ...

...with his tennis trainer, who evidently had been training Doug ...

...for a good two to three hours every day.

And , uh , when we saw Doug , he was in full ...

...Roger Federer-style, um, tennis regalia and shoes, racket.

My memory is he had , um, a, heh-heh , headband ...

...but that might be just, uh , a sort of embellishment in the imagination .

But it was interesting to see that maybe there wasn't as much pressure on Doug ...

...as we thought. Or maybe there was, but he certainly wasn't, uh , letting it get to him ...

...in the way that we thought he might.

MAN : Good shot.

Tom in his Exosuit doing stunts has been amazing .

You see him do certain things, and you swear you're seeing the visual effects.

You see Tom running in the Exosuit...

WOMAN : Mm-hm . -. . . Is insane.

MAN : Three, two, one, action !

[CRU ISE GRU NTS]

LI MAN : Realize how screwed we'd be to do rehearsals if we had to travel four hours--?

What was I telling you?

I think you were the one who wanted to go to the beach . I can't remember, heh .

- Were you the one that said come here? Heh . - I was the one-- Heh-heh .

- Every time. - There was something . . . . Are you sure?

Maybe you wanted to go to the dunes.

I was the one that persuaded everyone to come here. And I said--

- That was a very good call , heh . - Thank you .

- We really would've been totally screwed . - Yeah .

LI MAN : How would we have done this? And how would we be prepping other stuff?

CRU ISE: Gotta let go of it sooner.

- That's right. That'll work. MAN : Yeah .

MAN : Sound off! GROU P: Three, four!

MAN : Sound off! GROU P: One, two, three, four!

ALL: One, two, three, four!

STOFF: We are one and a half working days away from starting to shoot...

...and I feel as prepared and underprepared as I am on every movie.

On every movie, you look at all of the ways in which you're underprepared ...

...but then if you were to put off two weeks, you'd be underprepared in other ways.

So movies essentially happen by compression and by setting a date...

...and if you're working with a really talented group of people...

...which , fortu nately, we are, you go:

"Okay, that's the date, and that's the date by which we will be ready."

Just come up with some military speak for like, you know, "Get those heels up!"

Drop and give me 50!

Come on , diddy bop!

Soon as the truck comes, go to Kimmel .

- Kimmel ! WAY: Sarge?

- What the **** do you call that? WAY: Push-ups, sarge.

Kiss the tarmac. Go on , kiss it, boy. Kiss it!

So how do I describe the film to people? Well , the movie has aliens attacking Earth ...

...but I try not to describe the movie as an alien-invasion film.

It's not really the way I approached making the film . I always loved going to war movies.

Any time I've ever been sent a script set in World War I I ...

...I pretty much always loved those stories and figured ...

...here was a chance for me to make kind of a World War I I-style war movie...

...but make it for a modern audience.

LI MAN : And action .

BLU NT: You don't talk to anyone about this but me.

LI MAN : One of the results of starting the film without a script meant that...

...I was casting the movie without a script.

And , you know, I had Tom Cruise. I was like, "Okay, we'll create a character for Tom ."

Part of my conversations with him when he was talking about doing the film , were like:

"What kind of character would we create for him?"

Then I cast Emily BIunt...

...and we had to create a character that would fit her because that wasn't in the script.

And then we knew that there was gonna be a drill sergeant, we knew there'd be the squad ...

...but I basically had this open casting process when it came to the squad ...

...where people would come in and aud ition ...

...and I didn't have lines of dialogue for them to read .

I just gave them lots of different things to read , and when I liked somebody as an actor...

...I basically said , "We're gonna create a character for you ...

...and here's what I'm thinking your character would do."

And we would workshop it with them and we'd try lines of dialogue...

...and we'd try d ifferent accents.

HAWLEY: When you meet an actor for the first time--

I mean , I might do drawings, and I have done...

...for all of them before I meet each actor, but then they come in ...

...and just the way they're wearing something , or the way proportions fall on them ...

...that's another step in the journey and that's when you take that journey with them...

...and you use their silhouette to play and work with or work against...

...to accentuate that and pick them out a bit, so you get a sense of characters very quickly.

WAY: There was a point where I came in for a fitting ...

...it was a month before we even started training ...

...where on the wall , there was everyone's pictures up...

...and it was Tom Cruise...

...Emily Blu nt and me up on the wall .

I quite liked that. I should have taken a picture of that picture.

ARMSTRONG : We came up with an idea that my character...

...was a sort of ex-football hooligan .

We're going for that sort of aggressiveness.

PAXTON : What are you? Sound off!

I can't hear you .

- What are you? Sound off! ALL: I'm a soldier!

- Are you a soldier or a warrior? ALL: I'm a warrior!

- What do warriors do? ALL: Kill !

CRU ISE: J Squad , they were chosen for not only their talent...

...but they had to have a physical ability...

...to be able to make it through wearing these suits.

WAY: When we're in those suits, you can get tired and they are heavy...

...and then you look over at Tom and you realize...

...he's been in them longer than we have...

...and he's fine, and he's sort of saying , "Come on , let's get going ."

It sort of makes you , "Yeah , all right, okay."

I don't wanna look bad in front of Tom , heh-heh , for a start.

RI LEY: Keeping the bar high is not even the right word ...

...keeping the bar catastrophic in the...

Somewhere out in the universe, is probably the better way of putting it.

DRAM EH : He's so efficient. He'd make sure...

...everything is running smoothly, on point, on time.

LI MAN : Our first day of shooting ...

...we were shooting on our Heathrow set, which was huge.

It was so insanely large that I did n't need to go to Heathrow and shoot.

We originally planned to bring Tom to Heathrow...

...and Oliver, my production designer...

...built such an enormous set of Heathrow, there's no reason not to do everything here.

And we're doing a jogging scene with Tom and the other actors from J Squad ...

...and about 40 extras had a jog from one end to the other.

And when they got to the far end , they had to reset back to where we were...

...at one end of the set, which was pretty far, a couple hundred yards.

It was far enough that you'd use a golf cart to get around the set.

And Tom turned to all the actors and said :

"I'm 50 years old , see if you can keep up with me"...

...and just took off running , and suddenly got 60 people to follow him ...

...racing him back to the first position .

So that instead of it taking five minutes to reset for the second shot...

...it took 30 seconds.

And that sort of set a tone for the day and for the rest of the shoot...

...where, like, everybody ran .

If I had to go to the bathroom , you ran from the set to the bathroom and back.

CRU ISE: Here's the thing , on a movie time is money...

...and time-- Even more than money, time is opportunity to get another take.

MAN : Just start to reset anyway, guys.

CRU ISE: You can't make this kind of film without a passion , a buoyancy and a sense of fun ...

...in every single department...

...because once you're shooting , you don't get that day again .

WAY: We made it!

LI MAN : She's gonna drive in , stop and the door will blow off.

They really have to add some gravel here and stuff.

You don't have to hit any particular hard mark...

-...other than try to stop somewhere here. - Okay. Yeah .

- The camera's gonna be charging in on you . - Okay.

We'll give you an eyeline back there.

BLU NT: Okay, so the camera's just gonna charge in?

LI MAN : Yeah . BLU NT: Okay.

- As if it's Tom? LI MAN : Not even-- No, no, just...

-...dynamic, cool shot of you . - Okay, awesome.

LI MAN : Is the car seriously stuck?

We can't. . .? Joey. I mean , can't a bunch of us push the car out?

MAN : We tried . We're gonna get a dumper in and tow it.

How many people have been trying to push?

- You're going backwards, right? BLU NT: Yeah , yeah , backwards.

LI MAN : Don't push that.

[CAR ENG I N E REVS]

MAN : There it is!

Okay, let's shoot it.

Doug is exhilarating to work with .

When I first met him, I did not know what to make of him .

I found him so fascinating , and we had a great talk...

...and we talked about the character, we talked about all kinds of stuff...

...and we'd go off on tangents.

But I walked away laughing because he's this fantastic, almost cartoon character...

...with massive curly hair, enormous blue eyes...

...and just runs around on set without a shred of inhibition , and I love that about Doug .

There's a sort of purity in how he approaches making a movie.

He's not one of these directors who's been influenced by watching too many movies.

Nothing he does is completely the same as something else you've seen .

So he's exciting in that way, because he sort of carves out new space for himself all the time.

And he strives every day for it to be the best that it can be.

And he constantly questions things.

And , actually, people could find that frustrating ...

...but I've never found it frustrating , I've always seen that...

...he's just striving to think outside the box at every turn .

BLU NT: Come on , let's go! Move, move, move! LI MAN : Cut.

And cut.

MAN : One more.

PAXTON : Rumor is a terrible thing .

Come nightfall , these men will all reach the same conclusion .

Squad !

This here is Private Cage.

Private Cage, F Squad .

LI MAN : We gotta trim a few lines. MAN : Yeah .

LI MAN : "Squad , this here is Private Cage." Then not "Private Cage, F Squad ," just:

-"Squad , this here is Private Cage." - Okay.

You know, uh ...

"See everyone's having a productive morning ," uh ...

Why, is the scene running too long?

Yeah , and it's also just missing a little bit of, uh-- It's missing energy.

LI MAN : I'm somebody who believes in fixing the movie as you go along .

I really take a blunt look at the work we did and if it's not good enough ...

...I'll say it right away.

PAXTON : These kind of movies, there's so many elements coming together at once...

...and they're still refining the characters and seeing what the actors could bring to them .

And that's what's been one of the great things of working with Doug Liman .

It's been challenging , but it's also been great for someone to be that collaborative.

This is not my first film where the script has been in flux while we're shooting the movie.

It's definitely more challenging . I mean , I'm over in that trench ...

...blocking and rehearsing a scene, but we don't have any dialogue.

And the writer is off working on the third act for us right now.

So it definitely creates a high-stress environment...

...but war is a high-stress environment, and this film is set in war...

...so I'm hoping that some of that energy, you know...

...that's happening behind the scenes will end up on-screen .

RI LEY: Shut your pie-hole! ARMSTRONG : We signed u p for.

Griff, get your shit together.

I say we go over now. Nance?

RI LEY: Hell , yeah ! GU RRY: We'll wait for sarge.

ARMSTRONG : Listen-- MAN : You led us into a slaughterhouse.

RI LEY: We wait for him, we're gonna die.

As sarge is coming back, "I got multiple targets incoming ."

RI LEY: Yeah , okay.

When we've all got together as a group...

...certain dynamics have often influenced the script...

...and where they want the script to move...

...and each actor has brought something different...

...so that what's quite beautiful about the process...

...it's been quite organic, and a lot of films aren't really like that.

S I LVER: Working with Doug , you just know that things are gonna be organic...

...it's not gonna be done from an engineer's blueprint...

...it's gonna be done from the blueprint of what works for him ...

...in terms of what's an honest emotion . It's part of what makes it real for Doug .

CRU ISE: I don't believe that Bill would be in the trench and then go and look for me.

But maybe he's not there, maybe he's not part of this before...

GU RRY: Doug and Tom are sort of like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen .

They bring very different things to a team . Tom , he's ready to roll ...

...as soon as he walks on , it's like bam . Doug has to see it.

Doug wants to see everything that's going on , which leads to some really funny things.

I've never done more guerilla theater than working on this movie...

...because when you go to Doug with an idea...

...and you say, "Doug , these mimics are coming , I kind of feel like this would happen ."

And he just looks at you and he says, "Oh , how would that look? Action ."

Eh , and he go-- Heh , and then he's like...

LI MAN : Action . PAXTON : Move your ass.

You're missing your moment.

Squad , get on line. You too, Cage.

Nance, take point!

Griff, Ford , cover the flank!

I'm waiting , Nance!

CRU ISE: Wait, wait.

- There's a mimic. RI LEY: Traces, 500 meters and--

Five hundred meters and--

[ALL YELLI NG]

MAN 1 : Cut it, cut. MAN 2: Cut!

LI MAN : I n the script, you yell , "I ncoming , get down , get down ."

Gonna try one with a. . . . Or just, "Get down ."

- Get down ! But I'm getting her down . LI MAN : Yeah .

- So try "incoming" again . CRU ISE: What do you like? "I ncoming !"

- Give me a "get down ." - Get down !

Sometimes, we would start editing a sequence and two weeks later, I'd look at it and say:

"I think this moment could be better." Whatever scene we were doing ...

...we'd say, " I n the middle of the day, let's break...

...and we'll go over to that other location , and let me redo this one line of dialogue."

MAN : Ready. And action ! - Get down !

You did two things, you did "incoming" and you did "get down ."

Yeah .

So, what's great is you saying "incoming ," but you yourself are staying low.

Yeah .

[CRU ISE LAUG HS]

- And she dies, that's why I wanted to. . . . - Yeah .

CRU ISE: You have an idea or wanna re-write a scene...

...or go pick something up.

All the way through the editing process...

...it's been something that we have had the luxury to be able to do to adjust the tone.

No, we gotta go!

Look, it took me 10 tries to get this far.

It's taken me 50 tries to get this far.

Just come on !

Come on , it's taken me 10 tries to get this far.

What are you doing?

It took me 10 tries to get this far.

What are you doing?

Look, what are you . . .?

What are you doing?

Doug said he just revised a couple of pieces.

- Yeah . Scene 77 and Scene 100. - Scene 77...

Oh , so they're d ifferent scenes that he's revised?

But we're not giving those out in the first green .

I don't think so.

You know, because I sent you the-- What they're planning to give out.

- Right. - Yeah , last night.

- I sent it to you and Will . - Yeah , that was accurate as of last night.

Exactly.

We basically follow what's actually shot...

...um , and then we adapt the script for the editors so that they have an accurate record ...

...of what is actually shot on the day.

U m , so we start with the script, the script is our bible...

...and then we change that bible as we shoot.

S I LVER: We had a script that evolved--

I mean , there must have been 80 drafts of the script by the end .

This is like the movie expla-- You know. The alien explanation .

We need some version of that.

And I . . . . I just think we're gonna end up-- Rather than argue it...

...we'll shoot three or four different versions of it.

B number seven , the squad makes a mad dash for the pyramid .

U h , it should be, you know, let's just say for now in this thing ...

...that they-- Tom drives a vehicle across the plaza.

There's two things, there's all the big structural writing ...

...we've been doing here just to get the third act and the action sequences.

Then there's the scenes we're getting ready to shoot...

...that just require the character moments to work in them .

Actual lines of dialogue said , to be honest.

And Tom and Emily both have really good character instincts.

BLU NT: I will say that when a film is still in development when it starts shooting ...

...can be challenging and frustrating at times.

But I think that I've never been on a set of this scale or film of this enormity.

And I've never been on a movie as collaborative as this.

- He's like, "Oh , I'm hit. I'm hit." BLU NT: "Oh , God , I'm hit."

LI MAN : "I've been hit."

It should be, "Really?" And then : "Oh ."

Yeah . And then he goes-- Yeah , and then he goes, "Oh , God ." Yeah .

I don't believe in just sort of ordering the actors around but I really like saying :

"Together we're gonna create a character."

BLU NT: I feel so valued in the process, and that's down to Doug and Tom ...

...and the producers. And I've been in every script meeting ...

...and have had a big say in how my character develops.

Collaborating with him has been extraordinary, because he's got no ego.

He's got no ego, but he's got little tact. Heh-heh .

And so actually, you lose all of the diplomacy...

...that can get in the way of making a decision and making a film .

LI MAN : My big fear when I first started making bigger movies like Bourne identity...

...was that they would become less personal ...

...decisions would get sort of more institutionalized ...

...or the system would start to sort of take over in some way...

...and they would become a little bit more generic.

And this process, more than any, I really felt like I was back making Swingers.

That ability to sort of workshop the movie while you're making it...

...when you're talking about a movie of this scale, it's pretty unprecedented .

LI MAN : Come on .

[LI MAN G RU NTI NG]

- Monday will be day 50 of 70. WOMAN : How long have you been in London?

Six months.

LI MAN : Although we shot most of the film on the backlot at Warner Bros...

...Leavesden in London there were a few days where we left the stud io to shoot on location ...

...things that we just couldn't do at the studio, and one of them was we had this idea...

...that Tom would arrive in the movie, landing in Trafalgar Square...

...in a huge military helicopter.

CRAN E : One of the highlights of the film for me...

...we landed this huge bloody helicopter in Trafalgar Square.

We brought London to a standstill for three hours just before Christmas.

We had 14 cameras, it was fantastic, one of my best days filming .

CRU ISE: Trafalgar Square, it's one of those extraordinary moments...

...to be able to land that helicopter...

...and stepping off, and we're shooting on film.

LI MAN : We were gonna have one shot to do the scene...

...we had three hours, 8 to 11 in the morning .

And that's it, you don't get five more minutes.

Whatever you get in those three hours, that's it, you're never coming back there.

And Doug got in the helicopter afterwards to shoot me live for the beginning .

It was. . . . Man , movies, great fun .

LI MAN : I ncredible thing about Tom was...

...there was a camera crew in the helicopter...

...and people were throwing up in the helicopter...

...and Tom was totally u nfazed .

He would step off that helicopter with the sunglasses and the hat perfectly poised .

I mean , so poised that we had no-- I had no idea what was happening ...

...meanwhile, he was actually stepping off like a vomitorium .

[I N D ISTI NCT CHATTER]

LI MAN : Morning .

- Good morning . How are you? LI MAN : How are you?

- Was yesterday just amazing? - Yeah , it was epic.

- Was it? - Really epic.

Oh , it sounded like it was just phenomenal .

All right.

Yes, sir. Another day in the Army.

- Tom , how was the helicopter ride? CRU ISE: Good , sir.

- How was Big Ben up close? CRU ISE: Big .

Big , ha-ha! Yes, sir.

[I N D ISTI NCT YELLI NG]

MAN : Come on , Ford !

LI MAN : We had the most incredible special effects supervisor, Dominic Tuohy...

...who actually took Oliver's design for a drop ship and actually built it.

The thing could shake and it could rotate 30 degrees in either direction ...

...and it was 25 feet in the air, the doors could open .

All of these things that...

...you would think would have to become just purely visual-effects shots are real ...

...and help me as a director, it helps the actors, it makes the film look cooler and more honest.

It doesn't-- The film just does not look like a CG movie...

...because these sets were all real ...

...and Dom figured out ways to move giant pieces of sets at very high speed .

CRAN E : I hated that set. I've gotta say, hated it.

The drop ship, it was a very small container...

...and then when you've got 20 or 30 people in it, it becomes even smaller.

You put them in Exosu its, it becomes even smaller.

They're all hanging in harnesses, it's very, very, very uncomfortable for all the actors.

PAXTON : I got a toe touching cotton . H urry it up.

LI MAN : They can only hang for so long ...

...before you have to let people out to go to the bathroom , so...

I mean , just envision , like, your worst experience ever on , like, an airplane...

...you know, in coach or something , with , you know...

With everybody's got way too much baggage.

So he just sort of tackles her in there, he's like, "Come on ," and he keeps moving ...

...and it's-- He comes around the corner and shoots this and then ...

Maybe we should just play with it, vary it at the weekend .

LI MAN : This is my third movie with Simon Crane. Simon's, uh , the second u nit director.

He's exactly what that means, he's a director.

And so he's directing the beach sequence...

...which allows me to act a little bit more like a producer...

...and have a little bit more objective view of it, rather than being in the trenches with him .

It's a very collaborative process between the two guys...

...and they have a trust, they have a bond , they have a kind of a language between them .

I did Saving Private Ryan, so we were trying to make it as gritty and real as that was.

You know, but unfortunately, 50 percent of our characters are not there, in the aliens...

...you know, can't get them from Central Casting .

It was a big challenge to come up with real scenarios and with the limitations of the suits.

LI MAN : Where were you thinking Rita was gonna come from when we look this way?

CRAN E : I was gonna do dog soldier come hurtling out, low.

Simon is certainly one of the, if not the most, accomplished people in his craft...

...period .

And when you look at the originality of action in movies like Saving Private Ryan...

...or Troy or Mr. & Mrs. Smith...

...Simon's work is just heads and shoulders above many, if not most.

I think honestly, part of why I was so frazzled last night...

...was, like, I felt like I'd been in a war zone all day.

Because not only shooting feels like a war zone, but then all those explosions.

- Heh-heh . - Something was really loud in the trench .

- It was the air mortars? - Yeah , they're very loud .

CRAN E : That's a good look. - Yeah , yeah .

- It's great. CRAN E : Okay.

MAN : And cut it.

MAN : Do you wanna steal--? Doug , you wanna see over these gates?

- Go on the gate there. - You got a TV? TV is good .

Just talk about where on the helicopter the alien is, is it on the far side?

So it'll come around-- If the helicopter spins, it'll reveal--

Should I show you on the helicopter where I think it is?

Yeah , but just looking at it here...

- It should be about there. -. . .we'd see it...

As the tail rotor's spinning at Tom and he's diving over the car...

...the mimic's jumping off of it. CRAN E : Yeah .

MAN : Action !

CRAN E : I'm looking to do unique action sequences.

I'm not interested in doing something we've all done before.

So say with this project, with aliens...

...and with the challenge of the suits and making it look real and gritty...

...that's what's exciting . As I'm sort of planning the shots...

...I have a big input on how it's gonna look. So that's rewarding .

LI MAN : This is really where Simon's, you know, genius comes in because it's...

We started with the helicopter...

...and Simon's like, "Well , why don't we fly it into the barn?

You know, we haven't seen that before."

You know, he's really good at thinking of...

...moments we haven't seen before, and then when you look at it...

...just on the video here, you're like, okay, that is...

...a different way to see the aliens and see the power of the aliens.

CRAN E : One of the problems filming these action sequences is that...

...our mimics or aliens don't really exist.

So you're forever saying to the camera operators:

"You gotta imagine that there's a huge alien there."

You use, you know, objects that they can frame u p on ...

...but you gotta have a big imagination so you can say:

"Oh , camera pans up with the tentacles, and then crashes down as it spears someone."

BLU NT: We were usually given a kind of moving eyeline to look at.

Sometimes it was Doug Liman ...

...would just start running around for us to follow him ...

...and screaming "mimic" to get our attention , heh .

It was like. . . . It was like organized chaos a lot of the time.

LI MAN : I need this route clear right here.

Clear this route right here.

Action !

[YELLl NG]

How was that?

MAN : Help there.

LI MAN : Let me see the last one, the very last look.

[ALL LAUG H I NG]

MAN : You really went out with them .

- I was like, "What the **** is coming at me?" MAN : We was looking for a lens, weren't we?

Here's just an artistic version of the three of them together.

- Five feet and then Tom. LI MAN : Okay.

Hard to imagine at the end of the film...

...isn't him against that. DAVIS : Yeah .

LI MAN : There's a connection between this movie and video games...

...because like in video games, you can get killed and you get an additional life...

...but the only sort of relevance I guess video games...

...ultimately played in terms of my making this film ...

...is like, "Hey, that video game is boring ...

...so I'm gonna make sure I don't do something like that with this film ."

I might take cautionary tales from certain video games.

I took just as many cautionary tales from movies that had alien invasions...

...and I was like, I didn't like that movie and I didn't like this alien .

I kind of approach my films, in general , with all the things they're not gonna be.

I mean , it's still a little too feline, like this one at least feels more muscular.

DAVIS : Mm-hm .

The grunts, we've sort of dealt with them as a sort of an omni-directional creature.

Their sort of default pose and position is a sort of quadruped four-legged creature...

...that has these tentacles that spray off it.

But it has the ability to change its body shape at incredible speed ...

...and move with speed and agility.

LI MAN : I've never tackled something ...

...where there were no limitations at all , you know, it's an alien .

It could be 50 feet tall , it could be two feet tall .

It could be covered in scales, it could be jelly-like, it could be rock hard ...

...it could be incredibly smart...

...it could just wanna kill you and not have intelligence.

You take for granted when you work with humans that, like...

...you tell the human to walk from here to there, the actor walks from here to there.

But when you're telling the alien to walk from here to there, how does it walk?

So N ick really has been my partner from day one in terms of designing the creatures.

MAN : And I'd walk away. . . . CRU ISE: Then , no, you stick them on anyway.

LI MAN : I n particular, this story, what I was much more interested in than the aliens...

...was the ability to re-live the day and make different choices and see what happens.

Maybe because that's kind of a fantasy of mine and many people.

What if you can just go back in time and change that decision you made?

Well , here's a character that gets to do that every single day.

MAN 1 : Okay. MAN 2: Jeff's coming up right now.

H I . H I .

[SPEAKI NG I N FRENCH]

MAN 3: Yes.

Should we, u h , jump in?

U h , I think we need Jeff.

LI MAN : I'm in the process of trying to lock down our third act.

So I'm being asked to, you know, make it fit within the budget.

We try to push too hard and go sort of beyond our means...

...we won't do as good a job as doing something within our means.

DAVIS : We're going to Paris for the third act, into a flooded post-nuclear exploded Paris...

...that's completely flooded and full of mimics.

We're gonna end up in a flooded Louvre.

Lots of pressure on visual effects to put it in the world ...

...the filmmakers see it taking place in .

So I'm gonna swim down , grab the grenades...

I don't want it to look like, I swim down , grab the grenades--

No, I mean , you're swimming towards the light anyhow. It's just...

I didn't want it to...

You're continuing swimming down , to me, is like on a trajectory like this.

You dive to the grenades like this, and then you're just like that or something .

CRU ISE: I n reality, what I would do is, is I'd swim down , look for it...

...grab the thing , you know, pull the pin as I'm trying to get as close as I can to it.

Yeah , that's what you should do.

What I've learned about producing movies more than anything ...

...is the most critical choice you ever make is your director...

...and that relationship becomes a very delicate thing .

You can never undermine his basic vision ...

...and what your job as a producer, I think, becomes more than anything ...

...is to keep him true to the vision ...

...that he expressed that made you hire him in the first place.

LI MAN : Action !

This was by far the most challenging movie of my career, so far, on so many levels.

It's time travel , it's got CG characters, it's set in the future...

...aliens had to be created , and I really had the best experience...

...I've ever had making a film , and it's because I've never been better supported .

I really had the most incredible cast.

They were so helpful and imaginative and talented ...

...in helping me create memorable characters for each and every one of them .

And they took such pride and passion in being my partners.

And I've never had better producers, led by Erwin Stoff...

...who developed the original screenplay...

...and who was with me in England every single day.

I mean , he had other movies going in other places...

...and just never left my side. And Greg Jacobs...

...who had worked with Steven Soderbergh on so many movies...

...and understood Steven and my sort of attitude towards making these sort of...

...independent films within the studio system .

And Greg Jacobs was an incredible ally as a producer.

And Jeff Silver, my line producer who--

Somehow miraculously, I got everything I needed .

And if I needed to reshoot something , the money was there for reshooting it...

...and just managed the process better than any line producer I've ever worked with .

And then the English crew was just awesome.

And even if they weren't English , like Dion Beebe, my DP, who's Australian ...

...his whole team was English under him ...

...and so there was so much laughter on the set.

Like, these people were so smart and funny and sharp.

Reset to one!

We were shooting seven days a week.

I mean , I don't think there's ever been an example of a movie like ours.

And the crew never lost their sense of humor.

They never lost their enthusiasm. They never lost their energy.

They never lost their passion .

Even on the last week, when I had them shooting in an outdoor tank in England ...

...in a foot of ice-cold water that had antifreeze in it--

People thought I was insane to be doing this outside.

--They never lost their enthusiasm for the film ...

...and I never lost my energy, not once.

And I've never worked harder in my life...

...and finished the shoot with more energy than I started .