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.

They're not shutting down the *city*

[Zeddicus_Z]

Guys... it's two too three streets being shut down, for a peroid no longer than two days. Buildings along George and Sussex streets are being evacuted for public safety reasons. Other than that, its business as usual in our fair city.

I repeat. They are *not* shutting down all of sydney.

Re:I wonder.

[linderdm]

The Vanilla Sky shoot was actually done around 4 in the morning (or something pretty damn early) and Times Square WAS shut down and cleared of people for the shoot.

On The Beach

[Anonymous Coward]

But shutting down a whole city? A pretty major one at that!

There is precedent for it in Australia. The film "On The Beach" managed to shut down Melbourne for a day so they could film deserted streets. That was in the 50's though, I think Greater Sydney is 4 million people now and has a thriving CBD ( Central Business District ). It would be hard to shut down Sydney.

mocom--

Re:Film Industry is Nuts!!!

[Croaker]

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. Something I'd be all for.

I remember when they were filming some movie about the Brinks robbery in Boston, they forced people to take down TV antennas from their houses, so it would look more authentically 1930's (this was back in the 70's, before cable). Apparently strong-arm tatcics were used.

Finally, I was watching a TV show about a famous local chef, who was contacted by movie people, who wanted to use his restuaunt as a setting in a movie. Great, he thought. The people came in, and completely changed over his place, making it look nothing like the original. He asked "uh, so why did you want to film here if you wanted to change everything about the place?" "Oh, because the *light* was just *perfect*."

One wonders why they need to actually fly an helicopter over an actual city, resulting in the shutting down of said city. Even if computer graphics can't give them what they want as far as flying over the city, surely they could use one of those light-weight robotic camaeras on a radio-controlled helicopter to film the scene. That would be a lot less dangerous to the general populace, meaning it would be a lot less disruptive.

Geez. It's all just freakin' entertainment. I'll be glad when it all goes virtual, and we won't have to deal with these people who think movies are more important than real life.

Re:Philadelphia

[lucifuge31337]

Try hanging out somewhere other than in crack houses.

Re:Not a low as it sounds

[gorilla]

Helicopters, and to a lesser effect wing effect, find it easy to fly very near the ground. The airflow is disrupted by the ground, and this reduces the drag and increases the lift. This page [142.26.194.131] and this page [cybercom.net] explain it well. This means that flying 5' off the ground is actually very easy, and as long as there is adequate room above the craft, it should be possible.

Re:Most complicated stunt ever?

[Huge Pi Removal]

Indeed. I'd have thought that the (20? 25 minute?) Mini car-chase sequence in The Italian Job might have rivalled that. Not because it was complicated as such, but because 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.

Certainly one of the most entertaining sequences ever. And Turin didn't even get the payback they wanted: since the city was basically a Fiat factory (is that right? I get muddled when it comes to cars), they wanted the film to use Fiats, but Minis were just, well, cooler :)

RTFA

[Ian_Bailey]

The article says that they are only going to shut down one long street (and area) on a Saturday morning. They are not shutting down the entire city, and the mayor (or whoever the guy was that was responsible) said that any local businesses would not be compromised and be forced to shut down.

I repeat, RTFA

Re:And the reason for it is?

[foobar104]

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'".

Okay, while Sydneysiders do seem to make up a disproportionate fraction of Slashdot readers, I'll go ahead and spell this one out for the rest of the planet.

Aussie money is printed on plastic-coated paper in various colors. Each bank note has a little transparent plastic "window" in it as a counterfeit-countermeasure. (Heh.)

So green pieces of paper with little transparent bits are Aussie $100 notes. So the joke is that the mayor is being bribed by the W brothers.

Get it? Huh? Get it? Hah!

(More info about Aussie money can be found here [aussie-info.com].

Re:What is the Matrix?

[eam]

But look how quickly they'll be getting part III out:

From the article: "Part three The Matrix Revolutions is also in production and will be released in December 2000"

Talk about fast. They can get part III released so fast that we'll see it before it was filmed!

Re:Not the first time

[RazzleFrog]

What is even more interesting is that Time Square is hardly all of New York City and you'd be suprised how quiet things are on an early Sunday morning in the summer. Very few people live in Times Square (unless they occupy a box). Either way, most residents are in the Hamptons, the Jersey Shore, or Connecticut and tourists are easily shepherded out of the way.

They actually do a ton of filming in the city. There is a city agency dedicated to it - Mayor's office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting [nyc.gov].

Re:It's not a control issue

[Kombat]

Legally (in Toronto anyway) the pilot must fly
at a minimum of 1000ft

That's not entirely correct. First of all, it's a Canadian law, not a Toronto one. Second of all, it applies to all aircraft, not just helicopters. And finally, you must fly a minimum of 1000' above the highest object, not just AGL or ASL (ground/sea level). In Toronto, obviously, that's the CN tower. So you'd have to be pretty high up.