REEL DEAL: MANILA'S LEGACY reBOURNE

After Major Hollywood features, such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Brokedown Palace in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, Manila will once again star in a Movie

After seeing him as the Hawk eye on the Blockbuster film the Avengers, Jeremy Renner is set to out an bang the big screen with his latest action- suspense movie THE BOURNE LEGACY.


BOURNE AGAIN?

The Bourne films are a series of action/thriller spy films based on the character Jason Bourne, a former CIA assassin suffering from extreme memory loss. Matt Damon, who played as Jason Bourne in the main Bourne trilogy, will not be reprising his role for this movie. The actor made it clear that he would not do the fourth film without director Paul Greengrass, who directed both Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum.

On the fourth installment, a new character is bourne; Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner.  The New Bourne movie will tell a story that deals with the consequences of the actions of Matt Damon's character Jason Bourne. The original Bourne trilogy gets rebooted as a new assassin (Renner) is recruited and trained for the shady purposes of the Treadstone Project.

FILMING, IT'S MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES!

Manila's rich cultural heritage and it's history as a shooting location won over the Production team. Several locations was also considered in making the movie -- Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in Vietnam and Jakarta in Indonesia bid for the said project; but Manila captured Director Tony Gilroy's vision for the movie.

The team sought the help of the President of the Philippine Film Studios; Lope V. Juban, Jr. --- who has a long history of assisting foreign film outfits while shooting in the Philippines.

According to Juban, “The Philippines has played almost any country—Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Panama... It is only now that we are filming Manila as Manila, which is great for us.”

Aside from shooting in Manila, El Nido in Palawan showcased its beauty in the Film.

In an Article posted on the Manila Bulletin's website, Gilroy explained:  “We started in South Korea, shot in and around New York and then moved to the mountains of North Calgary in Canada. We also went to Manila, in the Philippines, and the South China Sea. We even shot a sequence in Abu Dhabi,”

“I’ve never been able to write without going to the real places where the story took place, so that need to work on location was already there as a screenwriter,” he says of his work method.

... ACTION!

The “Legacy” filming began in the San Andres neighborhood, which the production team describes as a.. “ramshackle houses and dark alleyways typical of the city’s lower- and middle-class areas.” And, of course, based on news reports and endless announcements proudly made by whoever was authorized to reveal such information for the day, most of us also knew where the other filming locations as well: the Ninoy Aquino International Airport; the historic Intramuros district, known for its Spanish colonial architecture; the Manila Yacht Club; the Marikina covered market; the Metropoint MRT train station in Pasay City; and El Nido in Palawan.

But it’s not like we’ve made it too easy for the production team to work here. With parts of the chase scenes being filmed at the Navotas Fish Port—apparently known as the fishing capital of the Philippines, according to the same movie release—every morning during the shoot, the crew had to scrub, clean and dry the market.

The production design team of Kevin Thompson also reportedly removed hanging tarps, added skylights and supporting posts, and scrubbed the floor to lessen the overpowering fish smell. While this must have been quite a relief for the foreign cast and crew, the clean up did serve a practical purpose: making the location safe for the complex stunt work to be performed there.

Stunt-wise, Jeremy Renner (who plays Operation Outcome agent Aaron Cross/Kenneth Gibson) and Rachel Weisz (Marta Shearling) had played at being cornered by local authorities in the scenes filmed in San Andres, where the two make a daring escape by sliding three stories down a narrow opening between two buildings. Apparently because of “very specific requirements,” the set—a narrow three-story structure lovingly nicknamed by the filmmakers as “the chasm”—had to be built by Thompson’s team as well.

Producer Patrick Crowley also relates, “When we looked at the locations [in Manila during the pre-prod], he [Unit Director Dan Bradley] was with us, and then he said, ‘I’m going to stay behind for a week. We waited for Dan to just sit and meditate and come up with great ideas. He’s come up with some things that have never been done before.”

Bradley’s mind whipped up a motorcycle chase that would take place on Manila’s crowded streets; much of it would be filmed with Renner in the rider’s seat. “When you’re doing something in which there’s somebody on a motorcycle and they’re not wearing a helmet, you have to have the principal actor do that,” says Crowley. “So we had Jeremy very much involved, and Rachel as well.” This is partly what terrified Weisz with the stunts they filmed here.

Bradley’s team also retrofitted several jeepneys that figured prominently in a key chase sequence with Renner and Weisz, filmed on Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, the main route to the presidential palace. According to the figures released, approximately 90 cars and more than 300 extras were used for the sequence, which shot on a mile and a half stretch of Magsaysay Blvd. through three major intersections over several weekends.

“Manila’s a tough city to work in: There are traffic jams, and it’s hard to move around,” remarks Crowley. “But the people are so gracious and excited about films. They know more about the ‘Bourne’ movies than I know about the ‘Bourne’ movies.” And surely everyone here is excited to see this one.

“The Bourne Legacy” opens locally on August 8. Produced by Universal Pictures, and distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment.


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