Matrix Reloaded Filming Wants to Shut Sydney Down

ro_len writes "News.com.au is reporting the producers of the Matrix Realoaded are looking to shut down Sydney for the filming of the final scene which involves flying a helicopter across the city at less than 600 feet above ground. It is supposed to be the most complicated sequence ever filmed." Just plain nuts. Here is a previous story about the trailer, and another one announcing the film.

Shutdown !

[ZaneMcAuley]

What if it doesn't reboot? :O

Citizenry react

[Jonboy X]

Sydney dude #1: What the..?
Sydney dude #2: Ack! The Matrix has us!

Why?

[Throatwarbler Mangro]

Why bother emptying out the city? Surely if there's a horrible accident, they can simply reload Sydney from the backups...

What? You mean we're not in the Matrix? And that red pill I took was only Nyquil?

Realize the truth

[Out4Blood]

There is no helicopter

Hmm..

[Diabolical]

From the bottem of the article

Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000

Sorry to have missed it...

Wow, Hollywood technology has really advanced.....

[xtermz]

From the bottom of the article :

Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000


Not only are they filming the most complicated sequence ever, but they will be the first movie company to premiere a movie in the _past_. How they plan to manage the space/time disruption is apparently a closely guarded studio secret

Re:Why?

[blankmange]

The red ones are DayQuil, but I suppose you could mix them with the green ones.....

This is Australia.

[Lerc]

All they need to do is wait for a big sports event and place a huge tv screen just out of town and supply a lot of beer.

Supply enough beer and you've got all the time in the world. They won't be finding their way back in a hurry.

Other ideas

[Moita Carrasco]

Other "my whacky final scene is whackier than yours" ideas:

- Close down New York to make a film about 9-11, idea: actually fly airplanes into stuff, randomly. Pilots and crew: CIA, FBI and American Government officials.

- Close down Jerusalem to make the final scene of a movie about the Israeli+Palestinian conflict. Idea: a huge crane pounds Arafat and Sharon repeatedly against various religious monuments.

- Close down Paris to make the final scene of a film about the world cup. Idea: a giant soccer ball rolling around the streets with "losers" painted on, squishing right-wing partidaries.

- Close down a strip of territory in Kashmere to make the final scene of a film about the alleged India-Pakistan conflict. Idea: Nuclear warheads detonated on top of CNN reporters who claimed a nuclear war was about to happen, as if it was a light subject you can kid around with.

Apologies: I apologize for this post if you don't like it. It will avoid me getting into discussions later. Thank you.

Moita

And the reason for it is?

[MavEtJu]

Is it just me, but does the article give no reason at all why it has to be `shutdown'?

But it will probably go something like this:
Filmmaker: "We need all the people out of the city for two days."
Mayor: "That's not possible. We can ban jetskies from the harbour if you like."
Filmmaker: "No, we need the city, not the harbour. We are going to do some stunts there."
Mayor: "Sounds impressive, but what if all the people start riding their jetskies in the harbour instead of going to the city? I don't like that, and I've made it illegal already."
Filmmaker: "Please have a look at this script, it's specially printed for you on green paper with some transparent parts for the so called `special effects'".
Mayor: "It's a deal, I'll just make being in the city on these days illegal, except for people with jetskies. After all, they might go ride them in the harbour if they're not allowed to put them in the city."

People from Sydney should get the subtleties...

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[jcoy42]

Abeit, I like a good action flick as good as the next guy. But shutting down a whole city?

I couldn't agree more- I mean where does it end? What if MIB2 decideds they want to fly a mothership 600' over the planet?

Something missing?

[CraigoFL]

The Daily Telegraph has learned the helicopter will include a camera mounted in the pilot's seat, giving the moviegoer a bird's-eye-view as the aircraft whizzes across the city.

Personally, I'd prefer that a pilot would be mounted in the pilot's seat, considering how difficult the stunt is and all...

Re:Matrix Reloaded

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, I am a fan of CGI,computers, cyberspave, hell it is what I do and a great love of my life. But shut down a city for Keaanu Reeves. Come all this from the guy that did Pointbreak. And a 50 other bad flicks.

Oh come on now, don't be so harsh on the fellow. It's not his fault he got a bad rap. When you actually go back and watch Point Break you'll notice it's actually quite intellectual. Are the surfer bank robbers really the bad guys or is it the corporate world who hordes all the money from the ordinary people? The bourgeoisie came to America and have crippled it with their new-aristocracy based on wealth instead of nobility. In the end we can only look to the true heroes of that film.. Patrick Swayze and his crazy bunch of presidential bank robbers.

As far as Bill and Ted, don't even get me started on the wealth of historical information that movie conveys to the viewer. Freud was my favorite character. Who would have known he was such a prude? And Khan! What a badass. If the Matrix Reloaded is half as good as Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey we will be in for quite a treat.

Re:Most complicated stunt ever?

[Anonymous Coward]

But what did you really think of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones

Worst. Prequels. Ever. Rest assured that I was on the Internet within minutes sharing my disgust with the world.

The Matrix is everywhere

[bsdparasite]

It is all around us. You can see it when you look through your window. You can feel it when you do your laundry. When you pay your taxes. When you read slashdot. When you are driving down in Sydney and the city shuts down for a black helicopter.

Re:This vsCGI

[triaxcaribdis]

CGI eh? Are they going to film it in PERL or C I wonder ;-)

Re:Not a low as it sounds

[WeedMonkey]

I regularly fly around at 200 feet during the course of my job

Oh, it's not fair, I want to be an LSD tester as well :-(

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[Arcturax]

'm assuming that 600' means 600' from the ground. I don't know Sydney that well...but I'm making a broad assumption that there are plenty of buildings over 6' in height (roughly 6 stories).

Only 6' in height and 6 stories? Is this the building out of "Being John Malcovich" on crack?

Re:Directoral pissing contest

[hyoo]

Why not just shoot the thing at 5 in the morning and digitially chop out any people that may be hanging around the streets?

What happens if there is an accident (these things do happen). Then they would have to digitally chop out the chopped up people. It's a matter of safety.

Re:Shutdown !

[thomasj]

What if it doesn't reboot? :O

2002-06-11 13.30.05: [notice] Shutting down Sidney.australia.matrix
2002-06-11 15.46.17: [notice] Rebooting Sidney.australia.matrix
2002-06-11 15.46.32: [error] Sidney.australia.matrix bootstrapping failed
2002-06-11 15.46.33: [panic] scp [e-mail]:/home/{neo,morpheus,t rinity}/.profile .
2002-06-11 15.46.36: [restore] Sidney.australia.matrix reloaded
2002-06-11 15.46.37: [warning] Older version overwrite (Agent Smith 2.0 -> 1.0)

Re:Most complicated stunt ever?

[AndroidCat]

they deliberately screwed up all the traffic signals (without the authorities telling anyone), brought Turin to a halt, and then had to find a way of filming dramatic car-chase shots in the middle of a lot of annoyed Italians.

My question is: How could they tell it from a normal traffic day in Turin?

OF COURSE I'M A TROLL, YOU DUMBASS. READ MY NAME!

[Subject Line Troll]

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[Brento]

Yeah. It's not unheard of, though. I remember hearing that the main eccentric guy in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" got severely pissed about some network filming a civil war miniseries down south had all of the roads covered with dirt and other stuff... apparently, he took pains to piss movie people off.

When the crew filmed downtown, he hung Nazi flags from his balcony, ensuring that they wouldn't film his house. That one was priceless.

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[haa...jesus christ]

Abeit, I like a good action flick as good as the next guy. But shutting down a whole city? A pretty major one at that!

There are major cities in Australia? Here we call them 'prisons'.

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[gvonk]

surely they could use one of those light-weight robotic camaeras on a radio-controlled helicopter to film the scene.

Not to be pedantic, but the quality from the setup you described would be orders of magnitude too low for even an independent film.

Hell, just let them take Polaroids and make them into a flipbook if that's the quality you're going for!

most active city

[Anonymous Coward]

Word has it that Hollywood paid $3 million to shut down the most active city in the world for a few early morning hours.

They shut down Tokyo to shoot the Times Square sceene?

Re:Wow, Hollywood technology has really advanced..

[Buck2]

> You know, I am going to have seen this already, and it is willian on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!

Use of the transitive par-past-prefect in the first clause:

I am going to have seen this already

necessitates the usage of an entrance stative par-past-profect (note: profect!) when describing the status of the predicate, as in:

and it is willian on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!

should be changed to:

and it is willain on-coming to have been AWESOME!!!

I know it's subtle. And, it could have been a typo, but sometimes it makes all the difference in the world for intelligibility.

Re:What is the Matrix?

[NewOrder]

Kinda like Space balls?

Re:Most complicated stunt ever?

[Anonymous Coward]

To see no people and no traffic in the middle of Manhattan during broad daylight is just plain freaky to me. Anyone know how they pulled that one off?

Osama used a dirty bomb.

Re:Most complicated stunt ever?

[Anonymous Coward]

Auckland is NOT the capital of New Zealand.. learn some geography! As everyone knows, the capital of New Zealand is Hobart.

Props to all dead homies in #vortex!

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[megauni]

I come from the land down under, where the men are tall and the women thunder..