Parts of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ shot in public

Paul Greengrass gets major props for what he went through to do some scenes in The Bourne Ultimatum. According to Rotten Tomatoes, an already-talked-about Waterloo chase scene was shot without shutting down the station for the film crew, which would have been logistically impossible.

From the RT article:

“What you do is you design the sequence that is in many, many pieces so in fact you’re planning to shoot in many different parts of the station,” said Greengrass. “What you have to do is never be in the same place twice because what happens is that people get to know you’re there and a crowd starts to build up. It’s impossible to be like a true guerilla unit because it’s a huge, it’s a Bourne movie, but you’ve got to move from place to place and be unpredictable so people don’t know where you are and then move on fast.”

The sequence lasts several minutes and took many days to shoot, but Greengrass scheduled those days tactically. “You’ve got to schedule it so you’re not there for too long a period of time in any one time. So you might go for two or three days and then disappear and go off and do something else and then come back for two or three days a week or two later. If people get to know you’re going to be there, then the crowds are going to build up.”

That meant Matt Damon has to be ready whenever there was a brief window to shoot a corner of Waterloo. “It puts prodigious demands on the actors because they never know from one hour to the next which bit of the sequence [they're shooting]. Even I didn’t know. You’ve just got to seize your moment. It makes for opportunity.”

‘Cloverfield’ set pictures

A blogger at Campfire Media put up some pictures and a video clip from the set of J.J Abrams’ mysterious project Cloverfield:

“The secretive film Cloverfield, otherwise known as 01-18-08, or ‘Slusho,’ is shooting near our office today and have parked some military vehicles on the street. I knew it was the film since all the crew guys had badges labeled ‘Cheese’ which is the fake name for the film being used during it’s production. Since this film is a genius at marketing itself, I thought it worth posting some pics.”

[via YesButNoButYes]

Introducing the Apple iClip!

Alright, fine, it’s not really named that, but Apple sure does have a sense of humor. They sent this iPhone user a paper clip as his warranty service packet. Some are accusing Apple of wasting resources with packaging and shipping, but those people need to calm down and find something else to worry about (like, say, racist video games).

[via Digg]

iPhone makes man sterile

Okay, so maybe the iPhone didn’t make the man sterile so much as he got a vasectomy so his wife would let him have an iPhone. Either way, it’s a great story. Here’s an excerpt from the Gizmodo article:

“Mr. Johnson was on a roadtrip to Boise with his kids, wife left behind at home taking care of the baby. He arrived to the hotel at 10:50pm and, probably leaving his kids biting Sneakers bars and watching TV in his room, he recklessly drove to an AT&T store to check the Advent of the PhoneLord (ok, so maybe it wasn’t exactly reckless, but cut me some slack here, will you?) Lo and behold, he raised his holy hand cellphone upon high saying “o iPhone, Son of Steve Jobs, Defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of All California, thou shall be mine!” And there he went, with a new iPhone 4GB in his hands, purchased without Wife Clearance.

Yes, in some parts of the world this probably means getting your genitals completely severed. But not in the good ole U.S. of A. Or maybe not in the case of Mr. Johnson: he only had to return the iPhone to the store after the Commander in Chief told him that his behaviour was absolutely unacceptable. You may have gotten an MessiahPhone, but you are very naughty boy —return it at once! she probably said.

Two days later, she joined him in Denver. He was sad, non-talkative, down, depressed. You know, putting the Bambi Eyes and sighing at the sight of any Apple logo on display. The whole treatment. Noticing it, she broke the question:

— Honey, how badly you want the iPhone?
— Badly —he said, puppy eyes again, no doubt— very badly.

“Would you be willing to finally make that appointment for a vasectomy?” she replied.

Mr. Johnson absolutely loves his new 8GB iPhone.”

[via Neatorama]