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Desert evils bewitch "Extinction" shoot
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-09-21 09:58 LOS ANGELES - Sidewinders, scorpions and dehydration. There was never a dull moment on the set of "Resident Evil: Extinction," which hits theaters Friday.  The sci-fi zombie movie offers striking images of a postapocalyptic Las Vegas in which the town is reclaimed by the desert. While the first two "Evil" movies were shot in Germany and Toronto, this one was filmed largely in Mexico City. But for the Las Vegas desert scenes, the production ventured to areas outside of Mexicali, Calif., an area used by quad bikers, and turned it into a sunny backlot. Production designer Eugenio Caballero, who earned an Oscar for his work on "Pan's Labyrinth," oversaw construction of a sun- and wind-battered Las Vegas Strip, including bits of casino facades -- such as New York-New York Hotel & Casino's Statue of Liberty and the Paris' Eiffel Tower -- that were then enhanced with miniatures and visual effects. Every night the set was overrun by sidewinder rattlesnakes, whose slithering trails greeted the crew in the morning, necessitating the use of snake catchers at all hours. The scorpions were another story. But even the dangerous fauna knew to get out of the sun when the temperature hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius). "The main challenge was definitely the dehydration," producer Jeremy Bolt says. "You don't know how badly you're getting dehydrated, so we were constantly making sure that everybody was drinking, particularly Gatorade." The production had an army of soldiers who, with barrels of Gatorade on their backs and using pesticide sprayers, went around filling cups. "We drank gallons and gallons of that stuff," Bolt recalls. How many gallons were consumed? Enough that one actor had to be taken to a hospital because he developed kidney stones from drinking so much of the stuff. |
