Frank Marshall spills secrets from 'Back to the Future,' Raiders of the Lost Ark,' others
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Back to the Future," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Goonies" and "The Sixth Sense" ... Frank Marshall has produced some of the biggest movies of all time.
The five-time Oscar nominee, who founded Amblin Entertainment with his wife Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg, most recently worked on Jason Bourne.
Speaking to news.com.au to promote the film’s release on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download, Marshall was more than happy to share some behind the scenes secrets not only from the Matt Damon blockbuster but also from some of his other hit movies.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JASON BOURNE
“We did actually change a couple of things,” Marshall said when asked for a fun fact about the 2016 film.
“The character that Riz Ahmed plays [Aaron Kalloor — CEO and founder of Deep Dream], in the original story when we originally shot it he was assassinated. But when we put the movie together his character was so interesting and was such a strong voice that we decided he should live.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Will there be another Bourne movie starring Matt Damon?
“I certainly hope so,” Marshall said.
“We’re trying to find the story, that’s why it took so long this time, Matt’s very much about quality and he wants the story to be good. He doesn’t want to just rehash the old movies so we’re in the process of starting to talk about that.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
“It’s not a fun fact but we originally went to scout New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina,” Marshall said.
“And then when the Hurricane hit [in 2005] the studio wanted us to move and shoot somewhere else because the entire infrastructure of the city was pretty much destroyed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“David Fincher and Kathy and I, we really felt that it would be something positive for the city and we should try and make it work and we did.
“We went back and it was much harder shooting there than a city that’s fully functioning but I think the charm and the setting of being in New Orleans really added to the tone of the movie.”
HOOK
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They built some huge props for the 1991 movie starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan, but one of them in particular was a little too big.
“We built the [pirate] ship on the stage and when we went to film the ship Steven [Spielberg] wanted the entire ship to be in the frame,” Marshall said.
“But there had been a small error made in looking at the perspective so we had to open the door of the stage and put the camera outside to get all of the ship inside the frame.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE SIXTH SENSE
“I think the thing that really stands out to me is the casting,” Marshall said about the 1999 movie.
“When you’re looking for a young child actor you don’t know what they’re like because they’re just starting out. Haley [Joel Osment] came in and read the part and we were in a conference room and M. Night Shymalan just turned to us and said, ‘That’s our kid!’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It was just so obvious in the room that he was that kid, it was pretty amazing.”
BACK TO THE FUTURE
“That’s one of my favourite movies,” Marshall said about the 1985 classic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“If you were in a script writing class I would just give you that script and say this is a perfect script.”
Marshall is particularly proud of how quickly they made the movie after they decided to replace Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox in the lead role.
“We recast Marty McFly and that cut six weeks off our post-production schedule,” he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We finished the film in nine weeks which was like a world record in those days but we really wanted to keep to our release date so everyone put in a Herculean effort to deliver the movie. The traditional time in those days was 20 to 24 weeks and we did it in nine.”
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
“A little known fact is that one of the things I try to do at all the wrap parties as a present to the crew was to do a magic show,” Marshall revealed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The one in Tunisia [at the end of filming "Raiders of the Lost Ark"] was the best show I’ve ever done.”
Marshall performed under the stage name Dr Fantasy but sadly he’s since retired the character.
“Nowadays I’m DJ Master Frank,” he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}