EXCLUSIVE
BY TOM BETTS
Hollywood giant Pixar has called on a Cliftonville couple to help it shoot its next blockbuster.
Alasdair Bruce and his wife Kim, aka the Rock Doc team, have been advising the film crew working on John Carter of Mars, which is based on the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
They helped out at one of the sets, a quarry in Dorset.
Director Andrew Stanton, who made some of Pixar’s best-received films such as Toy Story, Wall-E and Finding Nemo, is behind the movie.
The film’s producers were keen to have the pair on set so Mr Stanton could call on their rocky knowledge and expertise in geology.
They helped make sure that no damage was done to the site or to those working on location.
Dr Bruce said: “We were asked back while they did the filming to make sure all was well because it’s quite a dangerous place.
“There are a lot of loose pieces of rock and our job was to make sure no one went where they shouldn’t have been.
“It was health and safety meets geology, really, but good fun.”
The couple were asked to put together a report for the film but later asked along on location because of the nature of the site, which is a visually stunning spot that has been used for such TV shows such as Doctor Who, Torchwood and Blake’s Seven.
“It was a very interesting experience,” said Dr Bruce. “The film has aliens called the Tharks and features Willem Defoe, among others, so perhaps we will meet some of the stars at some stage.
“It was tricky this time, though, as much of it is being done in CGI.
The crew were eager to re-create the rocky landscape of Mars, called Barsoom in the Rice Borroughs books, as best they could.
The film will mix live action and animation and is set to hit cinema screens in 2012.
POSTED: 25/01/2010 13:48:23
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