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June 2010

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CARNAHAN: “Weta’s dealing with it all right now. It’s all the container ships and dock stuff at the end, which is just huge. Be- tween those shots and the tank drop, it’s a throw up for the hardest thing.The tank was very tricky because, what the hell does a tank look like falling from the sky? Who knows? But you’ll have a pretty good idea when you see the work the R&H boys did.” POST: How involved are you in pulling all the visual effects together? CARNAHAN: “Pretty involved. Jaimie Price and Ken Wallace are the two supervi- sors and I’ve been working the longest with Jaimie on all of this as he’s been with me since we began prepping. Jaimie’s very good at looping me into all of it and getting notes and feedback, so I’m more involved than with any other film I’ve done. I like being involved with all aspects of post. Look, at some point the whole back and forth of visual effects shots can become a bit tedious, but I always remember that great quote — ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s only forever!’ So when you think about it like that, you have no excuse.Whatever it takes, however much time it takes.You’ve got to do it right.” POST:Tell us about audio post and the mix. CARNAHAN: “That’s extremely impor- tant to me. I’m there for all the pre-dubs and the whole thing, although I try to stay out of the way when they’re mixing individ- ual reels. On Smokin’ Aces I was in there every day on the mix, and the problem is, you lose any objectivity with your ears and it ends up ruining the experience for you. So you need to be able to enjoy the experi- ence without needing to micro-manage every last detail. So I give my mixers pretty detailed notes, and then after they’ve done a pass,my editors go over there and give their notes, and then I give mine, and that seems to work really well, and it keeps you fresh and your judgment fresh.” POST: How important was the DI? CARNAHAN: “I think it’s crucial. [DP] Mauro Fiore has shot my stuff for years, and on this one we tried to steer clear of the more obvious things we’ve done on the other movies.We both have a tendency to pump contrast and go darker, but this time out we tried to avoid that so it’s not looking like ‘daytime noir.’ (laughs) We’ve got to have some highlights. I just don’t like ceding any one process to one person.What are they paying you for if you’re not having input and an opinion?” POST: Did the film turn out the way you hoped? CARNAHAN: “Better than I hoped! A lot better. You always have modest expectations going into a project like this. The A-Team? Who knows what that means? It could mean a dozen different things to a dozen different people. I feel it really delivers on what it needs to deliver on. It’s a big, fun, entertaining movie. I have no idea what sort of business it’ll do, but I do know that no one’s going to feel ripped off. And if you can do that today given the state of cin- ema, then you’re doing something right I believe.” Carnahan, with Liam Neeson on set in Vancouver. R&H supplied visual effects shots like this tank drop. POST: So what is the state of cinema today? CARNAHAN: “I think this tells you a lot. My brother Matt wrote The Kingdom, State of Play and Lions for Lambs, and now he’s writing a zombie movie for Brad Pitt! (laughs) So there’s an undeniable shift to things that have almost a sell-through, like The A-Team. It’s been 25 years in the zeitgeist and popular culture, and that’s like built-in advertising for a studio.You’d be foolish as a business not to exploit that. That’s what you’re supposed to do. But at the same time, it creates this paradigm shift that con- tinues, because they’re making fewer movies, and they cost a lot more.” POST: How do you feel about that, given your background in low-budget indie movies? CARNAHAN: “Listen, it’s a thousand times harder to make a film like this than it is to make a $10,000 film starring your uncle or friends, like my first film. I busted my ass on that film, and on Narc, but this is just a whole other ball game.” POST: You were all set to direct Mission Impossible 3 a while ago.What happened? CARNAHAN: “Tom and I ultimately just had a different approach, and that’s fine. I told him, it’s your name and face on the poster, and you’ve gotta do it the way you want it done.” POST: What’s next? CARNAHAN: “I hope to do White Jazz, which is the sequel to LA Confidential. I’ll probably get $12 to do it and that’s fine, that’s the trade-off, I guess. But it doesn’t mean I’m any less fond of The A-Team.I love it! It’s fun and it’s not supposed to be Narc or Smokin’ Aces or any of those kinds of films. Look, the guys I admire, the careers I admire, are the Soderberghs and Ang Lees, and those guys never do the same thing twice. I think that’s the greatest compliment that anyone can pay you as a filmmaker — that you don’t just repeat yourself. And I’m hop- ing I can stay that course as long as I can and people will have me.” www.postmagazine.com June 2010 • Post 13

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