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| This week's article focuses on two of the behind-the-scenes stars of Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D. |
Disclaimer: We at Smileys News claim no ownership to Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D.
As many of you are
aware of, the movie Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie just
hit theaters on December 20, 2013 . . . Ok, so it didn't just hit
theaters, but we here at Animal Adventures Inc.
(AAI. for short) were
affected by the film's release until now in a positive way: two of
our residents, Gorgo the Gorgosaurus
and Andrew the
Triceratops
recently finished their Hollywood debut. Andrew helped the filmmakers
with advising them when it came time to film the dinosaurs in the
wild and Gorgo actually was one of the stars of the film . . . sort
of. After they got back to AAI.,
my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater, and I decided
to get an exclusive interview with these two awesome dinosaurs.
“Walking with Dinosaurs
is about this young Pachyrhinosaurus,
named Pachi, who
struggles to survive in a dangerous world,” Gorgo explains. “He
faces many difficulties as he matures and eventually becomes leader
of the herd. One of the difficulties he faces is deadly encounters
with a dangerous species of dinosaur called Gorgosaurus
– my species.” He went on to explain that Gorgosaurus
is a smaller version of the larger and more famous Tyrannosaurus.
It once made its home in the the northern part of the United States,
Canada and what would later become Alaska. Gorgosaurus
might have been smaller than T. rex, but it was way faster, reaching
speeds of 30 mph in short bursts. “The main threat in the film,”
Gorgo says, “is a ferocious Gorgosaurus
named Gorgon. He's a killer dude, let me tell you! Even I'd give him
a wide birth!” When asked what the WWD
team did to make the film, Gorgo is quoted for saying, “Well,
Andrew and I joined the WWD
film crew as we went back in time to film the life of Pachi.
Originally, the film was going to be a mere documentary, but a last
minute decision was to do voice-overs with famous actors/actresses .
. . [after] we finished the filming process, we went back to the
studio and did the voice-overs for dinosaurs the film focuses on. The
dinosaurs in the film are awesome! Many of the ones that appear –
including my species and Pachyrhinosaurus
– have never appeared
in a major film before, just a few documentaries in recent years.”
Then I asked him what role he played in the film. “One might say I
'stared' in the film,” Gorgo says, “so to speak. As with all
documentaries, we filmed the animals doing the things they do to
survive everyday with no acting, but there were shots the filmmakers
wanted that would have been too dangerous to get using wild animals.
Some of these scenes were close-ups of Gorgon. Let me tell you,
Gorgon is a bad dude! And that's coming from a guy who weighs around
three tons and has a mouth full of sharp teeth of his own! I think if
I were in a face-off with Gorgon, I'd loose for sure . . . So what
the filmmakers did for closeups of Gorgon was use me for a stand-in
instead. Since I'm a little different color from Gorgon, they used
special effects to alter my color to look like Gorgon's in
post-production. Amazing process isn't it?” The last question I
asked him was what creature in the movie was his favorite, besides
the Gorgosaurus.
He said, “Um . . . I think I like the Troodon
and the Quetzalcoatlus.
They were amazing to watch in action when we were filming. Now, for
my least
favorite creature in the film? Probably that pesky bird Alex the
Alexornis!
Every time I'd wake up from sleep with my mouth open, I'd find that
crazy bird in my mouth looking for food scraps between my teeth! How
annoying! All the other creatures though were great to watch.”
Next, Daniel and I went to another film assistant: Andrew the
Triceratops,
to learn his role in the movie. “Unlike Gorgo,” Andrew says, “I
didn't do any acting myself. Instead, I was more of a . . . I guess
you could call me a dinosaur behavior specialist. I mean, who better
to tell the filmmakers about dinosaurs than a dinosaur! The movie
stars one of my lesser known relatives, the Pachyrhinosaurus.
Instead of the horns the general public is familiar with on
ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, Pachyrhinosaurus
has a bony mass on its snout called a boss; it was perfect for
ramming some sense into the hide of any carnivore, including
Gorgosaurus.”
Andrew went on to say that a key part in the film-making process was
to insure that the cameras captured interesting moments. Andrew
pointed out that since he's an expert at the behavior of ceratopsians
such as himself, he could tell the cameramen where to point their
cameras in order to get a good shot. Andrew's quoted for saying, “For
instance, there once was a time we were filming the Pachyrhinosaurus
herd and two large males – Bruiser and a rival male – were up on
a hill nearby, just out of camera shot. Based on the noises and
gestures they were making to each other, I knew they were getting
ready to fight for dominance in the herd. 'The cameramen are going to
miss this potentially great shot if I don't warn them,' I had
thought. So I alerted the cameramen to start filming the two bulls
and sure enough, we got a great fight scene for the movie!” When
asked about his favorite creature in the film besides
Pachyrhinosaurus,
he was quoted for saying, “I really enjoyed the Edmontosaurus
and ankylosaur, but I loved all the animals, including Alex, who I
think Gorgo found very annoying. He's such a funny and fun-loving
guy, you know. I also think it's great that animals that haven't been
seen in cinema before get to make their Hollywood debut!” For those
of you who didn't get to see Walking
with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie
in theaters, it should be coming out on DVD this spring . . . and you
can be sure I'll get myself a copy!
Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P.
Smithwater
Edited by: Christian
Ryan, Joy Hammond
*Disclaimer*
We
here at Smiley's News don't claim any ownership to or wish to make a
profit from anything related to Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D
Movie in anyway.
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