Categories: Movie News

Set Visit: The Covenant

I’m 26 and lost my virginity Monday,
November 14th, 2005. I might as well admit that, not un-like
most first times, I came (or
is it arrived?) early. It also happened to be

Montreal

’s first snowfall of the year which was just beautiful;
mother-nature blew a big white load over the city…just for me! Of
course I’m talking about my first ever set-visit (yeah, I wasn’t
fooling anyone…) to THE
COVENANT, a teen-thriller with a super-hero twist.

Plus, it was a Renny Harlin movie-set, so it was quite orgasmic (sigh)!!
Sony’s Screen Gems unleashes the film all over the place on
September 8th, 2006, but myself and a lucky few got to run around
the secretive film set and interview the films director (Rennnnnny!!!!)
and cast of fresh-faced actors.

ARRIVAL
ON THE SET (10:45AM)

There I was, wide-eyed and full of yummy excitement walking through the
doors of a gutted warehouse in

Lachine

. Upon entering it’s just cool, cool, cool (both in temperature
and… well… coolness). The crew had been on the set since 8:00am.
About 12 feet from me is a faux-Barn, complete with hay and dirt,
which I later learned was where they would be shooting the big
climax scene of the film. Off in the distance a Blue screen the size
of a 3 story building with a Cliff façade erected in front of it.
Cameras, cranes, pulley systems (a new system, created by Cirque du
Soleil, being used for the first time for film production), and the
sounds of a hard at work production team is heard.

In minutes I was whisked away and led towards the action, and as you
should know by now, where there’s action, there’s Renny.
Sporting a fresh a haircut, unlike his IMDB
photo, he shakes my hand and asks what media source I’m from
(nice guy, I think). I respond and it’s on from there. He tells us
about the scene they are currently shooting, the 3rd of a 3-part
shot that will ultimately be glued together with CGI to make one
fluid take. Hello folks, it’s movie magic!!! More on that scene in a
bit.

MEETING
RENNY HARLING or…
How
I shook the hand of the director of Die Hard 2 without yelling
Yipeekayay-motherf*cker!

You have to understand, I loved CLIFFHANGER and DIE HARD 2 when I was
younger. I saw THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT twice in the span of its
first week of release. Of course this was before I knew who
directors were, before I became more demanding of what the film
medium had to offer, before I became a *dun dun dun*…film snob.
Having said that, the first 2 films I mentioned remain guilty
pleasures and you can add on to that list the more recent DEEP BLUE
SEA and MINDHUNTERS. The man who sold me my Toyota Echo says it
best, “Iiiiiiiiiit’s fun”! That’s what those movies are for
me, simply, fun.

As for THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, it goes one step further (not a giant
leap, but a solid kangaroo hop) and offers rounded characters and a
more intriguing plot. Fast forward to today, I love watching movies,
I respect the work that goes into one even if I have my gripes about
most finished products, and here I am shaking the hand of a man who
has entertained me more often then most. And you can see where that
energy in his films comes from just by watching him work.

He’s excited, he’s having fun, and he’s meticulously studying the
takes to make sure he’s got what he wants. Clearly it’s a
perfect fit for this new film in which he directs a completely
unknown cast of hot young flesh (re: They’re all in their 20’s
but are playing teens… maybe because they talk about wee-wees and
pee-pees? Hmmmmmm… Stay-tuned).

ABOUT
THE FILM

cov·e·nant
(k
v

-n
nt)
n.

1.
A binding agreement; a compact.

2. Law.
a. A formal sealed agreement or contract.
b. A suit to recover damages for violation of such a contract.

3. In the Bible, God’s promise to the human race.

Like I said, the cast is completely fresh-faced, and
like Renny puts it, “they’re hungry”. These guys (and a few
girls) will work for little pay, do overtime (which involves repeat
visits to the snack tables while shots are set-up), and pretty much
means they have to work as hard as they can to make sure they get
another job. I have to say, I could have very well been in the
presence of tomorrows Brad, Heath, Tom, or perhaps Jason Priestley
or Luke Perry (see how I had to include the last names there…
hmmmm)… only time will tell which side of the fence these boys end
up on.

They definitely have the look of stars though. The film
is based on a comic book of the same name, which as you will read
below, is quite intriguing. It’s best described
by one of my fellow reporters as The
Craft for boys. The descriptions we heard from the cast and crew
ranged from The Matrix meets Lost Boys to Harry
Potter-meets-Dead Poets Society. Wanna know more, read the
following synopsis.

In
1692, in the Ipswich Colony of

Massachusetts

, five families with untold power formed a covenant of silence.
One family, lusting for more, was banished – their bloodline
disappearing without a trace. Until
now.

Directed
by Renny Harlin and written by J.S. Cardone, THE COVENANT tells the
story of the Sons of Ipswich, four young students at the elite

Spenser

Academy

who are bound by their sacred ancestry.
As descendants of the original families who settled in
Ipswich
Colony in the 1600’s, the boys have all been born with special
powers. When the body of a
dead student is discovered after a party, secrets begin to unravel
which threaten to break the covenant of silence that has protected
their families for hundreds of years.

FAST
FUN FACTS ABOUT THE FILM

Here’s most of the cool info I absorbed that day, and now, I pass it
onto you. Look, I even put numbers next to each one so you can
discuss over MSN with friends (ie: “Hey Mat, check out point #2,
he says “faux”… LOL! What a ham!”). See… easy-peasy, japan-easy
(Shawshank anyone?)!!

"The Covenant" is the third film that Renny Harlin
has shot in

Montreal

. "Driven" with Sylvester Stallone was his first,
"Mindhunters" second.
The
faux-Cliff (approx. 20 feet high) will appear much higher once
effects are added (but you knew that already didn’t you. Keep
score and you might win something).
"The Covenant" has been shooting since the beginning
of October and will continue shooting until December 8th.
Shooting has taken place in and around
Montreal
, in

Sherbrooke

at Bishop’s University. Some scenes were also shot in Saint-Lazare,
and Saint–Jean–sur–Richelieu.
Renny
used the “voice of god” (A mic connected to big speakers) to
direct the actors and the scene.
The
director meticulously re-watched his favorite takes in slow
motion to make sure the scene was dressed the way he liked. Too
much smoke or not enough.
The
side of the faux-cliff was hosed down to make the rocks look
more realistic.
Detailed
storyboards for the “barn action sequence” were stapled up
against some press-wood for the production designer’s crew to
refer to. A lot of cool super-hero style action was depicted.
A
grunge/rock song was played during the shooting of the first
scene of the day to inspire the right kind of cool in the
actors’ expressions. The song was by THE FAINT.
Renny’s
description of the second shot was quite funny. He used 2 water
balls and one of the monitors to shows us how it would work. His
hand acted as the camera.
317
Special effect shots are in the movie.
A
mustang was parked on the set. We later discovered that this car
would be involved in that same barn action sequence in which it
will collide with a Semi truck.
They
have dedicated 2 weeks of shooting to Blue Screen. Shooting all
this back to back will trim time and money from the production.
The
only shots of the film that were pre-visualized were the more
complicated action scenes. 2 to be exact.
Mario
Rachiele (Visual Effects Supervisor) showed us examples he used
to come to a decision with Renny about the look of the power-ora
for the boys. It looks like a kind of
foggy/glassy/organic/geometric/CG effect.
Mario
described another effect, which would involve one of the girls
floating up high, suspended during the big “Barn action
sequence”. She will be photographed underwater and added in
post.
For
the set-up of the second shot, stunt-men thoroughly tested the
wiring and worked until the timing was right with the camera
movement and of course that everything was safe for the actors.
The actors themselves watched as they would do take after take
in order to get the feel for it.
Renny’s
direction for the actors involves lines like “Make it super
extra good”.
Cast
and crew kept talking about a film called “Volcano High” as
inspiration for the wire work.

Big
thanks to Sony /

Columbia

/ Screen Gems for the great day, and JoBlo.com for hooking it all
up. I loved it. I met a super-duper cool director, some wanna-may-be
stars that, God willing, I can someday get day to day info on their
personal lives in the pages of US and other seedy publications that
strive on the invasion of celebs privacy. But, most of all I look
forward to seeing what this film looks like and cross my fingers
I’ll enjoy it at a theater near me (‘cause saying a theater near
you would just sound creepy). Here’s hoping this generation gets
there own version of THE LOST BOYS. Toodles.

Interviews
with cast/director coming soon…