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This series had its genesis when I began 麻豆传媒映画area location shoots in the summer of 2010 to get over a post-Olympics funk. Film and TV productions like Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Fringe, Supernatural and Once Upon a Time showcase our city in similar fashion and sometimes put a celebrity actor or two in the frame. |
The round-the-world spy thriller Mission Impossible -聽Ghost Protocol has聽more 麻豆传媒映画in it than the聽Mumbai running scene outside the 麻豆传媒映画Convention Centre which I wrote about in my inaugural and the Seattle聽post-mission team beer at a table on Granville Island which I covered in my聽 about the Tom Cruise franchise聽filming here. Director Brad Bird filmed the last shot of Josh Holloway's Budapest alley death scene in聽between the Dunsmuir and Georgia Viaducts; the Moscow scene where the team gets its Kremlin mission聽beneath the Burrard Bridge; the Kremlin explosion聽in a giant blue screen box at a gravel field near the Fraser River path; some of the Dubai 聽sandstorm scene聽at an Arab market set at that same gravel field; the Sun Network station in Mumbai聽at a Richmond office park and the Mumbai automated car park scene聽inside a vast 麻豆传媒映画Drydocks warehouse in North Vancouver.
Tom Cruise and his co-stars聽did go on location with Brad聽Bird and crew to Prague and Dubai before their final聽three months聽of shooting聽in 麻豆传媒映画in late 2010 and early 2011, with the second unit filming scenes without cast in Moscow for a聽week and in Mumbai for the BMW coupe racing-through-the-streets sequence.聽Prague doubled for Budapest and Moscow, with some exceptions. And the Dubai showpiece聽of聽Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt聽scaling and swinging from聽the tallest building in the world聽could not have be done anywhere聽but the actual Burj Khalifa.
Almost everything else happened here in studio at Canada Motion Picture Park or on location in the 麻豆传媒映画area. It's a credit to our聽crews and VFX expertise that the only things that give us away are聽glimpses of the 麻豆传媒映画Convention聽Centre and a lit-up southwest False Creek between the聽Burrard and Granville Bridges.
So far, I've seen Mission Impossible -Ghost Protocol twice in theatres. Once to simply enjoy聽Brad Bird's first聽big action movie with a non-animated cast and the second time to nail down as many of the 麻豆传媒映画locations as possible. Despite my best efforts I'm sure I missed several.
The fourth in聽the Mission Impossible movie franchise opens聽with Josh Holloway聽as IMF聽agent Trevor Hanaway in聽Prague-as-Budapest trying to intercept a courier of a threat codenamed COBALT at a train station. Then we're treated to聽Tom Cruise's聽Moscow prison escape to the tune of Dean Martin's Ain't That a Kick in the Head,聽likely filmed here given the numerous 麻豆传媒映画paparrazi shots of Cruise in his dirty white muscle shirt from prison. Post-escape Cruise meets his new team: Simon Pegg as newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn and聽Paula聽Patton as Hanaway's team leader Jane Carter while they drive around in a Russian van.聽Patton tells Crusie the story of Holloway's death, flashing back to her scene in a聽 Budapest train car filmed at Rocky Mountaineer station here on February 28th, as聽well as聽her exit from that train filmed near the tracks at the聽station聽against a backdrop of piled lumber dusted with snow.
She also recalls leaning over dying Josh Holloway whose character is聽killed by assassin Sabrine Moreau.聽The final shot in her memory is of an iPhone with Moreau's photo and the word Assassin imprinted across it lying on the ground beside Holloway, as the camera pans up to the underside of the Georgia Viaduct. 麻豆传媒映画crew recreated a small section of the Prague alley in the Viaduct lot聽for this pickup scene filmed in mid-March,聽complete with聽stacked tomato crates and a small section of a 聽white rippled steel fence.
After driving around Vancouver-as-Moscow in the van, the new team stops under the Burrard Bridge at a prop 聽which self-destructs -- with a little help -- after Cruise picks up their mission to retrieve the COBALT file from the Kremlin archives. I photographed the pay telephone as well as the top of Cruise's head聽outside the van as he chats with Simon Pegg in the driver's seat and Paula Patton in the back between scenes a year ago on January 3rd.
Some of the Kremlin archives scenes were filmed more than a year ago at聽the Delta Suites conference centre on Seymour and Hastings, with Simon Pegg and Swedish actor Michael Nyvqist of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fame聽spotted on location.聽Nyvqist is the Big Bad of the movie as聽the Swedish-born Russian nuclear scientist codenamed COBALT who's determined to kickstart a nuclear war to separate the strong from the weak. While filming here,聽Nyvqist, who's pals with Matts Sundin and other Scandinavian hockey players, actually met the Sedin twins at a 麻豆传媒映画Canucks game. Cruise and Pegg also took in a Canucks game to the delight of local paps.
In the Kremlin archives, Nyvqist's COBALT sets off a聽spectactular聽explosion designed to implicate Cruise's IMF team 聽which leads to a Ghost Protocol disavowal of the聽entire IMF. I can't be sure but believe that the Kremlin explosion -- one of the movie's 25 minutes of IMAX sequences --聽was filmed 聽in a giant blue screen box on the massive gravel field聽at Boundary and Kent near the Fraser River on March 18th . I have photographs of this blue screen box filming聽in my Flickr photoset, which is approaching 20,000 views.
Kent Hangar field is also where MI:4聽filmed some pickup scenes聽of Tom Cruise chasing Michael Nyvqist as COBALT聽through palm trees and then a聽market during a massive Dubai sandstorm. I聽 kept checking out the progress on this Arab set not sure what would be filmed there until聽 聽tweeted about getting a notice at work that Mission Impossible聽would be shooting a sandstorm scene there during daylight hours for three days in late January. I went out in a downpour聽to find the palm trees and sets covered in plastic until the rain eased, finally catching the end of聽some sandstorm filming聽close to sunset on January 27th -- you can聽see one of the Arab facades, as well as the palm trees and the wind machines.
Scenes of flipping cars聽narrowly missing Tom Cruise were also filmed at Kent Hangar field, with the crew conducting聽several test explosions聽ahead of time.
Next stop for the disavowed聽team in the movie聽is Mumbai where they need to thwart聽COBALT's plan to use a Sun Network satellite to transmit the order to a Russian submarine to fire聽a nuclear missile at the U.S. to provoke聽nuclear war.聽Three members of the team -- Jeremy Renner as the-intelligence-analyst-with-some-kickass-fighting-skills William Brandt, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg --聽fight to bring a聽Sun Network TV station back online, filmed at a Shellbridge office park on February 28th. Meanwhile their聽leader Tom Cruise chases Nyvqist as聽COBALT through Mumbai wedding procession traffic outside the 麻豆传媒映画Convention Centre, filmed almost two months earlier in early January 2011.
COBALT runs聽from the wedding procession into a Mumbai automated parking garage, which turned out to be one聽of the most elaborate sets constructed here, taking聽almost three months to assemble inside the 麻豆传媒映画Drydocks warehouse because there wasn't a sound stage big enough. Someone tipped me they'd seen lots and lots of cars inside聽but I didn't know what that meant聽 until I saw the climatic, escalating聽fight scene between Cruise and Nyvqist's characters over the Russian nuclear launch codes. It took nine industrial generators to power the filming of that fight with IMAX cameras on March 8th,聽 enough to power the city of North 麻豆传媒映画(I heard the 聽humming聽from Lonsdale). This is one of the sequences that director Brad Bird says he聽had聽to pre-visualize because they had to figure out just how much to build and how much could be left to visual effects.
Of course Cruise and Co. stop the missile attack, regrouping in Vancouver-as-Seattle weeks later for a post-mission beer, filmed over three long聽nights at聽the beginning March last year . I took most of my photographs of the Granville Market scenes聽from聽the Granville Bridge above聽since production assistants restricited public access聽so I didn't know聽exactly who was there other than Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner. After聽the surprise on-screen appearance聽of Ving Rhames as Luther from previous Mission Impossibles, I looked for聽him among my photographs, finding him聽in the one聽below. I also captured a visiting Suri Cruise in her fashionable pink bunny suit on set that night.
On the second night of filming at Granville Market dressed as Pier 47, Cruise's Ethan Hunt聽issues new assignments to his team. You can see Cruise, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton filming the table scene below (Jeremy Renner is partially obscured by a white pole).
On the third night of filming at Granville Market, one of the extras unknowingly聽tweeted a big spoiler, saying how nice Michelle Monoghan was to work with. So it didn't come as a complete聽surprise in the movie to see her supposedly-dead character Julia getting off a prop King County water taxi and walking into Granville Market.
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol ends with Tom Cruise disappearing in a patch of fog en route to his next mission.
We can be proud that 麻豆传媒映画contributed so much to聽what many consider to be the best of the Mission Impossible franchise, with worldwide box office at $465 million and counting.
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