Together, they are the unmatchable creative force behind six(!
)Resident Evilfeature films.
Theyve also teamed up to bring usMonster HunterandThe Three Musketeers.
Image via Vertical
Now they come together once again to bring the enormous and imaginative fantasy worlds ofGame of ThronescreatorGeorge R.R.
Martinto the big screen with the epic adventure,In The Lost Lands.
Milla was a huge fan of George’s.
Image via Vertical
It felt like the easiest story to adapt because, intrinsically, it’s a love story.
It’s a very simple story, but not at all simple.
MARTIN: It’s got its twists and turns.
That’s what really drew me to it.
MARTIN: In multiple worlds, I think they were.
CONSTANTIN WERNER: They all have star-crossed lovers.
Image via Vertical/Constantin Film
MARTIN: That’s right.
She goes between the worlds, searching for a lost lover who she doesnt find in that first story.
Be careful what you wish for."
Image via Vertical
Are these all the worlds that she went through to get here?
It was very inspiring.
She’s had a long life.
JOVOVICH: Well, she’s a mythical creature.
They must be pretty lonely.
It’s always very tragic.
Image via Vertical
The price of immortality, right?
Be careful what you wish for.
What was it like developing that character and getting into that aspect of her?
Image via Vertical
JOVOVICH: It was really interesting because, for me, there weresomany questions about Gray Alys.
Where did she come from?
What is the motive?
What is her motivation, really?
What is this curse?
When did it begin?
Image via Buena Vista Distribution
Did she have a childhood?
Does she remember her parents?
You don’t ever expect mythology to make sense.
Image via Rankin/Bass
There has to be some faith going into it.
Everything, in the end, worked to her benefit more than other people.
So, be careful what you wish for because Gray Alys might just take it!
She might just be like, Oh, this is going to helpme.
[Laughs]
What Exactly Is the Key To Adapting George R.R.
And what was it about Paul that made you say, I trust you with this?
JOVOVICH: Don’t make him cry.
MARTIN: It was actually Constantin who first contacted me and bought the three stories.
He wrote a screenplay with all three of them in it.
JOVOVICH: We tried to get it made for, like, a year.
A good year, we tried to get it made a couple of years later.
WERNER: Since probably 2017.
The writer, in some ways, is the hardest one to say about this.
They’re making a movie.
It’s a different thing.
Sometimes it’s good to do one, and sometimes it’s good to do the other.
And he answered, very famously, Hollywood hasn’t done anything to my books.
They’re right there.
Theyre on the shelf.
Not a words been changed.
[Laughs] That is the answer that you give sometimes.
Dave Bautista brings George R. R. Martins short story to life on the silver screen.
JOVOVICH: I can relate to that so much because I have children of my own.
[Laughs] If Paul didn’t give you pride, I’ll get him for you.
MARTIN: Yes, but of course, everything in this world has upsides and downsides.
They’ve done something.
There are many cases.
I know writers who have gone to the premiere of their movie and got up and walked out.
They just can’t take it because there’s such a strong personal relationship there.
His Viserys is so much better than my Viserys.
It made me want to go back and rewrite the book, but I didn’t.
[Laughs] But that can happen, too.
So, this is really a profession for gamblers, wouldnt you say?
You never know how it’s going to turn out.
It sounds like a roll of the dice.
Paul W.S.
Because the school bus, as you said, is hanging in the air.
It was a very complicated scene.
Where did we just come from, and where are we going?
Because it’s been a few weeks since we shot this scene, and I can’t remember.
It’s so important.
You fought here, and now the cable car has gone down.
Now youve just caught it with your sides.
That’s what we’re shooting.
I’m like, Oh yeah!
There’s a lot of sequences to remember.
JOVOVICH: It’s very scientific in that sense.
It’s obviously a product of passion and expression and art, but then the logistics are really overwhelming.
ANDERSON: It’s not something you do on the spur of the moment.
There was a lot of planning.
How is it formulating that relationship together on screen and building that rapport?
JOVOVICH: We felt so lucky to get Dave after seeing him inBlade Runner 2049.
We were like, We want Dave!
He’s just perfect for this.
I’ve interviewed Dave a couple of times before, and he’s such a delight to see.
I can’t imagine being on set with him, having all that time.
ANDERSON: He’s wonderful to work with.
Some of it, unfortunately, has to be about the logistics of turning things upside down.
There wasn’t enough dolly track in Poland for us to go all the way around the school bus.
They really made it easy.
JOVOVICH: We’re like, Whatever.
That’s good to hear.
It doesn’t go like that all the time.
ANDERSON: I’m not getting on that school bus!
I noticed you included a map in the film and there are a lot of new elements.
What was it like extending those elements, and did you work with George?
Did you talk with Constantin?
What was that process like?
Then, Milla was very involved.
But it’s about those two characters.
You’ve kind of lost sight of the characters andtheirstory.
JOVOVICH: Why are we followingthesepeople?
The storys about Boyce and Alys.
MARTIN: Beautiful stuff.
We want to really expand the George R.R.
Martins universe in a very distinct way.
JOVOVICH: I wish there were dragons.
Thats the one thing we didnt have, is dragons.
ANDERSON: Well, maybe a dragon walks into your shop!
JOVOVICH: I always wanted to bond with a dragon.
MARTIN: Ah, you want to ride a dragon, do you?
JOVOVICH: I want to feel one with the dragon.
MARTIN: And burn your enemies.
That’s good, too.
JOVOVICH: That helps.
I don’t have many enemies, by the way.
I’m a pretty chill person.
I might have a couple of people, though.
They don’t need to be burned by dragon fire.
Not yet, anyway.
Applying George R.R.
Martins Valuable Knowledge of the Original Material.
It’s nice when they do involve you.
MARTIN: The process as described is the process for many, many films.
As the original author, my position, in regard to this, is not always involved.
I’m a science fiction fan.
I love some of these stories.
There weren’t many science fiction films that were adaptations being made back in the 50s and the 60s.
There were films, but they were original films about giant spiders and other things that someone invented.
I was just in England.
I came back just yesterday.
I visited the Charles Dickens house.
Maybe I’m wrong.
JOVOVICH: The BBC has a lot of free content out there.
MARTIN: And, boy, they’re different.
Some of them are great.
The Alistair SimChristmas Carol, I think, is the greatest.
The George C. ScottChristmas Carolis good.
The Bill MurrayScroogedis crazily different but oddly faithful at the same time.
You’ve been a showrunner.
It works in your home when you’re reading it by yourself.
JOVOVICH:Everybody dies.
MARTIN: Wait, thats how I always end it.
[Laughs]
Even diehard George R.R.
Martin fans won’t be impressed.
She’s finally found how to outwit her curse.
And maybe for some people, they actually do get what they wish for.
They have to pay a terrible price for it, of course it’s George R.R.
Because George had read the earlier drafts, he hadn’t seen that ending.
I got really, really nervous.
I have to say, it’s the most nervous I’ve ever been in a movie theater.
JOVOVICH: He didn’t tell me this.
I would’ve been like, Youwhat?
This is George R.R.
ANDERSON: I should have told him.
I don’t know.
JOVOVICH: I thought I could trust you!
The cold sweats came in.
I’m not sure Americans share that taste for it.
I love a tragedy.
JOVOVICH: Well, they’ve always been hopeful.
It’s a young nation.
They don’t have the experience of the Russians.
ANDERSON: Where everything will eventually go wrong.
Even if it goes good for a while, it’s going to go wrong.
George R.R.
I bought it and reopened it.
We weren’t getting any big movies, the big Hollywood movies.
Their parents will have to pay.
We’ll get money that way.
The kids will get in free, and we’ll show them these old movies.
JOVOVICH: Traumatize them for life.
MARTIN: Everybody thought that was a great idea, so I did that.
Then, unfortunately, I began with one of my own favorite little boyhood films,Old Yeller.
JOVOVICH: [Laughs] That’s a good one!
Let’s just go kill ourselves straight after.
[Laughs]
JOVOVICH: And thenThe Neverending Story,The Dark Crystal, all classics.
That ticket money went to future therapy sessions.
JOVOVICH: Yes, that destroyed my life.The Last Unicorn.
MARTIN: Thats a good experience for the kids.
Sooner or later, they have to shoot the dog.
In all life, sooner or later, you have to shoot the dog, right?
JOVOVICH: Listen, I showedThe Last Unicornto my kids.
It’s a thing in our family.
I’m like, We have to watchThe Last Unicorn.
MARTIN: Peter Beagle.
Have you met him?
JOVOVICH: No, I haven’t.
I would love to.
MARTIN: Yeah, he’s a wonderful guy.
JOVOVICH: That is literally my kind of movie, inner soundtrack.
That was me for ages.
ANDERSON: You did a screening with Peter here, right?
MARTIN: Several, yeah.
He toured withThe Last Unicorn.
JOVOVICH: “I can feel the bodies dying all around me!”
MARTIN: Another great one, I was just down in London, and we went to Cecil Court.
Its a street thats entirely bookshops and classic books.
It’s a money sink, that area.
MARTIN: Yeah, I found a copy ofWatership Downautographed by the author another of my favorite books.
That’s a great fantasy, too.
JOVOVICH: Its likeGame of Throneswith rabbits.
MARTIN: Kind of!
[Laughs] But the end is sort of a happy ending.
They establish Watership Down.
The big guy gets defeated.
But at the end, the hero dies because he’s old and he’s a rabbit.
In The Lost Landsis now playing in theaters.
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