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| ‘Treasure’ Hunt: Director Jon Turteltaub on the DVD of ‘National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets’ |
Justin Bartha and Jon Turteltaub seek out another monument with hidden clues in 'National Treasure 2.' |
by Dan Lybarger
The National Treasure movies are unique in that they offer an unusual blend of genuine American history, speculation and adventure as well as the heroic fortune hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), who manages to save the day without exercising his Second Amendment rights.
When the first film was released in 2004, I panned it because I thought it fell short of its potential. Then I had the misfortune of catching the sleep-inducing The Da Vinci Code and realized that at least the National Treasure films move at a much more agreeable pace and do succeed in their quest to make history exciting and mysterious.
In both films, Gates has to use clues from this nation’s precious documents (The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution) to find hidden riches. In the second film, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, he and his father Patrick (Jon Voight) are not only looking for treasure, they’re looking for clues that will exonerate one of their ancestors for the Lincoln assassination.
The two are aided by their friends from the first movie, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and technical guru Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), and they also receive help from an unexpected source Gates’ estranged mother Emily (Dame Helen Mirren).
The journey to find the missing clues takes the protagonists and viewers from Washington DC to Mt. Vernon, Paris, London and Mt. Rushmore. Unlike most Hollywood movies where Vancouver seems to pass for any other city in the world, the filmmakers actually bothered to visit and shoot in the real locations.
All this traveling sounds like a logistical nightmare, but fortunately Jon Turteltaub, who directed both films, seems genuinely eager to recall how he managed to conquer dozens of obstacles toward completing the film. On May 6, he sat down for over an hour typing answers to questions that came to him from 25 locations around the world during an electronic roundtable. It’s a bit like entering an on-line chat room, only the answers can take a minute or more to appear.
The wait for an interviewer’s question and the answer that accompanied it felt pretty long, but two of the extras from the new deluxe DVD and Blu-ray editions of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets were playing in the background as we typed our questions and Turteltaub wrote back.
It also didn’t hurt that Turteltaub has a unique background and can type out witty comebacks at will. He’s probably inherited his verbal capacity from his father Saul Turteltaub, who wrote or produced episodes of shows as diverse as Kate & Allie and Sanford and Son.
When a questioner asked Turteltaub if he could explain what is contained on page 47 of the film’s titular Book of Secrets, Turteltaub replied, “Call me later and I'll tell you privately. or email me at ItsASecret@I'mNotTellingYou.com.”
Before he teamed with uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the National Treasure movies, Turteltaub was known primarily for light comedies like Cool Runnings and While You Were Sleeping. He also produced the short-lived cult TV series Jericho.
As we waited for responses to our queries, journalists were simply listed on the screen as “Q.” Just in case you’re curious, in this excerpt of the conversation, I’ve decided to identify the questions I asked by putting my initials before them. Some of the other folks who logged in, whom I’ll identify as “RT” for roundtable had really good questions, and I’d be a heel to take credit for their work.
RT: When you are off and want to relax, what things do you do? Do you watch films? Do you read a lot? Play sports?
Jon Turteltaub: I have the best activity to do the moment I'm not at work...a new baby! Who knew a little guy like that could be so endlessly entertaining?? It's the most fun I've ever had without having to "win" anything. And whatever time I have left over, after my wife is asleep at 9:00, and after the phone stops ringing, I do what everybody else does.... download internet porn!! (Kidding!) (No I'm not) (YES! I AM!!!)
RT: Will you stick to the adventure genre or are you planning to do some other movies in the near future?
JT: I don't think any director chooses movies by genre. It's always about story and characters. If the subject matter is compelling, if the story works, and if the characters are real, then there's a movie worth making. That could be a cool James Bond film... or a quiet little drama. Of course, if they want to pay me lots and lots and lots of money, I'm happy to read whatever you've got. (Just kidding.) (No I'm not).
Dan Lybarger: Have any teachers reacted to the National Treasure films?
JT: We have had an amazing response from teachers across the world. Many use the films in their classes. I'm not sure I should be so proud of this, but my movies are shown in more history classes than film classes. Oh well.
The other great response we've gotten is from the historical sites themselves. Attendance is WAY up at the places we featured in the movies. That means that the public is becoming more interested in history... and we're proud of that.
RT: The real history might look like fiction in your movie (especially bizarre details), and fictional elements might seem real. Did you have problem with this mixture, knowing that a large part of the public are young people, still at school..?
JT: I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!! I can't tell you how many times we have been criticized or attacked for making things up that were actually true! We even had reviewers condemn us for "making a mockery of history by creating stories for our own benefit" that were actually completely true stories. Truth IS stranger than fiction sometimes.
DL: Because you are dealing with a fictional story that involves real events and locations, how much of an obligation do you feel you have to pay to the truth?
JT: This is really a big issue when making any movie... but particularly difficult when doing the National Treasure movies. Personally, staying true to the history is everything for me.
That's the puzzle. How do we take these historical truths and wrap a modern-day fiction around them? What we found is that whenever we made up historical facts it made the scenes feel fake, but when we stuck to the real history, things worked more believably. I also think that these movies are trying to honor history and encourage people to embrace learning about all of these things. If we make facts up, it feels to me like cheating.
RT: Can you talk about National Treasure 2's digital information, how many production houses were involved, and how was digital work coordinated, etc.?
JT: 90% of the Visual FX work was done by one company—Asylum. They're a pretty remarkable house who had been told we would need about 300 fx shots and were given about 700 to do. Due to the overload, a few shots were farmed out to ILM [Editor’s note: Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas’ company]. (Not a bad 2nd choice.)
RT: Are filmmakers in Hollywood excited about Blu-ray, given its potential to showcase films at home better than ever before (less compromise of picture and sound, plus no more pan-and-scan horrorshows)? But is that a double-edged sword, because more people might wait to see movies at home instead of in theatres?
JT: The sword has so many edges these days that no one knows what to do. TV, broadcast, internet, theatrical, downloads, iPhones... it's a mess.
Most likely, some of these technologies will succeed and others will disappear. But there's no way to know right now so everyone is tossing out a big net hoping to catch as many opportunities as possible. Blu-ray was the best format and we're all pretty happy that it won out... that's not always how it works.
DL: You've had some interesting comments about how you view violence and the anticipation of violence in adventure films. Can you explain?
JT: I like this question... because I do have some strong feelings on this subject. I remember driving down the Sunset Strip one day about ten years ago and I passed about seven giant movie billboards. And in every one there was a character holding a gun. It hit me that Hollywood does too good a job glorifying gun use.
Now, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be guns in movies... I think bans of that sort are silly. But it did make me want to make a movie where the action hero didn't use a gun. I thought that if I could come up with a character who was just as brave and just as athletic as any other action hero, but used his head instead of a gun to get out of trouble, then we'd be making a more interesting film and maybe we'd be doing a good thing by not encouraging kids to solve problems with guns.
RT: After very diverse movies like Phenomenon, While You Were Sleeping, Cool Runnings and National Treasure 1 and 2, what kind of film would you really like to make? What genre holds a challenge for you?
JT: Every director is labeled. I've tried very hard to avoid being considered just one type of director. But it's impossible. Everyone looks at whatever movie you successfully did last and then they want you to do the same thing. The thing I've noticed, however, is that when you make successful action films, they pay you more money!
I don't know about all of you, but getting paid more money for doing the same job seems like good incentive to do action movies. That said, I'd like to get back into character stories and comedies. And I have my heart set on making a movie in Africa.
DL: Mount Rushmore was prominently used in North by Northwest. Was it tough to find a new way to use it for an adventure?
JT: I'm surprised at how rarely anyone asks this question. I went back and watched North by Northwest several times and realized that the sequence on Mt. Rushmore was so remarkable and so well-known that we had to just avoid sending the characters onto the sculpted heads completely. But in doing so, we discovered the lakes nearby and the caves that exist in the area... which led us to the sequences we created for the movie.
DL: I'm writing to you from Kansas. Do you wish that Jericho could continue? It's a shame you didn't get to shoot it here.
JT: Not only did I want to go to Kansas, but we all really wanted to go to Greensburg (who had a real "Jericho" experience). The cast and crew gathered donations a year ago and sent it off because we felt so connected to the people in that town for some reason. We would love to see Jericho continue, mostly because we've all gotten so close to one another and none of us want to move on to different jobs... but that's not going to happen. It's done.
DL: Were you into history as a kid?
JT: I was a lot more into history than I was into history classes. I don't think any of us like sitting in a classroom when there are other options available. But I did enjoy history a lot. I've always thought that if I had a time machine that could go either forward in time or back in time, I'd want to go back.
I'm always fascinated by what REALLY happened. I'm always interested in understanding how we all got to this point in our lives. What were the mistakes of the past and what were the great decisions? History holds the answers to all our current problems... we just need to learn from it.
RT: What's the hardest part of putting together a movie today? Obviously sequels are harder-- but what challenges are you facing that weren't there say 10 years ago?
JT: Sequels are actually much easier! If you look at the slate of films coming out of most of the studios, they're all filled with sequels. The marketplace is such that you need to have a big opening weekend, and the best way to do that is to have a movie that audiences already have shown an interest in.
The problem is that sequels cost more. That's the biggest issue in the movie business today. Cost. It's stupid how expensive it is. On the other hand, the revolution in digital technology has been a big plus for movies. We can do so much more than ever before to make movies more fun, more entertaining, and more believable.
RT: Would you be interested to direct Captain America or any other superhero movie?
JT: Why? Do you own the rights?
RT: Do you think that National Treasure 2 was more successful than the first film?
JT: This is actually a very interesting question for me. Not so easy to answer. Certainly, it was more successful financially for the studio. On a personal level, it was more successful for me in that I vowed to get through the movie without getting overly stressed out.
The first movie was a nightmare to make... and I wanted to see if I could make a film without making myself crazy... which I did. But in spite of what 90% of what people tell me, and I know I'm probably not supposed to say this to the press, but I thought the first movie was better.
RT: Considering 9-11, is it really possible to kidnap the President so easily like in the National Treasure 2?
JT: Are you asking for personal reasons? Let me know how it goes.
RT: Is there really a Book of Secrets hidden somewhere in the Library of Congress?
JT: Is there really a secret compartment in the desk of the President? Or it's pure fiction?
Well... Let me put it this way. Our rule was that we wouldn't put anything into the movie that we knew was not true. If we knew there wasn't a Book of Secrets or a secret compartment, we wouldn't have put it in. But I certainly can't prove to you that either exists. Certainly, there have been rumors and stories of this book... sometimes it's believed to be kept by the CIA, sometimes by the FBI.
And if you ever go on a tour of the White House, try to sneak into the Oval Office and get a look at the desk. I'm dying to hear what you find.
RT: What's the international response to these movies since they have such a decidedly American perspective?
JT: The response is great. And I don't understand why that surprises so many people. I don't know anyone who is currently an ancient Roman, but we all loved Gladiator.
RT: Given that we are here to talk about DVD, as well as the films themselves, what commitment does a director now have to make to create a DVD that can enhance the movie experience? What do you want to see in DVDs from other directors?
JT: It has always been the director's job to oversee the technical transfer of the sound and picture from film to video. But now that the DVD is getting so full and complicated, directors are getting involved in much more. All of the featurettes are submitted to Jerry and I for our notes and approval.
We are asked to "host" certain segments. We are very involved in re-editing sequences for promotional scenes or deleted scenes. So there's a lot now for a director to do.
The commentary section is always tricky. As a director, I like getting away from the gossipy, fluffy commentaries and use the DVD as a way of talking about filmmaking. But most buyers don't want to hear a director blab on and on about lighting, lenses and film history. They want to know who was kissing whom in the trailers.
DL: You and Nicolas Cage were high school classmates. What is it like to work with him having already had some history together?
JT: Working with friends is always a little weird. I think we're all much nicer to strangers than we are to friends. Nick and I were friends in high school, but then we went twenty years without seeing each other. I went off to college and he went off to become an Oscar winning, world-famous actor.
But no matter where you go in life, your friends from childhood always see you as the person you were as a child. So, even though we have huge amounts of respect for one another, we also know that deep down we're really just a couple kids who did plays together in high school.
RT: Nicolas Cage is known to be a great action star, but also a huge dramatic actor. How much does it come to play in the writing process and how fun is it to work with him?
JT: Nick is as unique as they come. He approaches his roles the way he approaches his life... with lust, courage, freedom and mischief.
But as unpredictable as he is as an actor, he is always fully committed to making things work. In some ways, playing Ben Gates (who is buttoned-up, straight, serious, and nerdy) is more of a stretch for him than playing some of his more outgoing characters.
The thing that is so impressive about Nick is that he is always a gentleman. He's a very responsible and polite man. He is never late to the set, always learns his lines, and always treats people with respect.
RT: How long did it take for you and the production crew to get the permission to access all the historical sites shown on the movie?
JT: This movie was much easier than the first... because on this movie they had already seen the first National Treasure and they knew that we were legitimate and we were celebrating these historical sites, not mocking them.
But every location has surprises for a production crew. For instance, the biggest fear the governments had wasn't that we would damage the landmarks... it was that we would interfere with the tourists who had the right to be there as well.
RT: Benjamin Gates is often compared to Indiana Jones. What would you say are the main differences between the two characters ?
JT: The comparison is a fair one and doesn't bother me... both characters are passionate about history and judge the value of their treasures on the object's historical and cultural value, not its financial value. But I think Indy and Ben Gates are both characters derived from old-fashioned movies of the 30's and 40's. Also, Indiana Jones has one big advantage over Ben Gates... Indy is directed by Spielberg. That's a plus.
RT: What's it like to work with Jerry Bruckheimer?
JT: More than any well-known person I've ever met, Jerry Bruckheimer is the most different than what my expectations were. As a huge movie producer, he is assumed to be a loud, angry monster. But Jerry is actually a very quiet, calm and patient man.
He is also extremely supportive of his directors. I've never heard him say a bad word about anyone he's worked with and he always gives credit to others. When it comes to having differences of opinion, Jerry's track record and passion gives a lot of weight to his opinions. I usually say to myself, "What are the odds that I'm right and what are the odds that Jerry's right?" When I look at the big picture, it makes a lot of sense to do what Jerry thinks is best.
RT: Nicolas Cage investigates Mount Rushmore, the White House and the Library of Congress. Have you received money from the Federal Government for this "advertisement of national touristic sights"?
JT: Last time I checked, the government spends its energy TAKING money. What government GIVES money? In fact, not only didn't they give us money... they charged us a lot to shoot at some of these locations. Someone has to pay the park rangers, the security staff, and the police to work overtime and it's certainly not going to be the taxpayers. However, while there can be a lot of problems... once they realized that we were not out to condemn our country's history but to romanticize it...they were much more supportive.
RT: What do you think about the comparison made between your movies and The Da Vinci Code?
JT: How do I answer this without getting in trouble?
Ummm.... Hmmm... Okay...
In many ways, I can see the comparisons. I never read the book, but I did go see the film on opening weekend. Clearly, the overlapping stories of hidden codes and mysteries being kept in famous places is very similar.
But what has always made me crazy is the fact that we were first. Our script was written before the book... and yet we get accused of "stealing" their idea. It's very upsetting because too many of us did some amazingly creative work...and made a really good movie...all by ourselves.
So, I have to admit that I get a bit cranky when we get compared to Da Vinci Code.
RT: What's your favorite adventure movie?
JT: Is Jaws an adventure movie? Maybe that's really a "monster movie".
What about The Man Who Would Be King? That's a treasure hunt adventure. I guess I'd have to say, though, that Raiders of the Lost Ark is the ultimate adventure movie. I can't see anything wrong with it. It's pretty perfect.
RT: On the DVD, I am curious about the choice of Jon Voight as your partner on the commentary? What inspired that? And what could he, as a wily old codger, bring to the discussion?
JT: I'm not sure if they picked Voight to be my partner, or if they picked me to be his partner. Either way, we had a great time doing it. Jon is actually a very goofy, silly and fun guy. He's often thought of as being very serious, but he's really a sweet and jolly man. He's very smart and has an unbelievable amount of experience and knowledge of the movie business. I loved doing the DVD with him... I'm not sure [the commentary is] any good... but we had fun doing it.
RT: What's next for you?
JT: I just produced and directed a pilot for CBS for a new series. I'll know in a week whether it's going to get on the air. It's a really unique show that I think people will love. It's a murder-mystery/horror show where each story lasts one season. Then next year, after the cast is dead, we'll do a new horror tale with a new cast and a new location.
But the big thing on my plate is another movie with Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicolas Cage, and Disney. We're doing a modern day re-telling of the story The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was inspired by the Mickey Mouse classic from Fanatasia.
link directly to this feature at http://www.efilmcritic.com/feature.php?feature=2480
originally posted: 05/14/08 14:08:33
last updated: 05/14/08 14:41:33
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