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Tuesday, August 17, 2004

WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO: CONSTANTINE

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Before one of the biggest crowds for a Vertigo panel at a convention, Constantine director Francis Lawrence again showed an 18-minute montage of clips from the film on Sunday at Wizard World Chicago.

The director then answered questions from the crowd about the film, which stars Keanu Reeves as the character from Hellblazer. Following is an edited transcription.

Question: First, do you want to say a few things about you became involved?

Lawrence: I first received the script in the beginning of 2002 and went through a long process. My whole background is in music videos and commercials, and I went through a whole process of meeting with executives. I really connected with the story and I really connected with the character of Constantine. And slowly built up a large visual presentation that finally sold the studio on me and sold the producers on me and sold Keanu on me.

Then we started a little bit of a battle with the studio. I think in the beginning there was some different ideas of what this movie was supposed to be. And Keanu and I felt very strongly to stick to the heart of the comic, and to the heart of Constantine and the tone of the piece. And I think the studio wanted some lighter fare, and through some battling, I think we kind of won. And hopefully you can see from the footage a product that is something that is pretty true to the heart of Constantine.

Question: There was some concerns initally about Keanu Reeves because he isn't blonde and he doesn't have an accent.

Lawrence: There's definitely some superficial differences, things on the surface. But I think what's key is the heart of the story is there, the heart of the character is there. He's a con man, he's a magician, his attitude toward the world and his attitude toward how the world works, his sarcasm, his self-centeredness, how self-serving he is, how he endangers his friends ... that's all solid. That all stays. To us, the filmmakers, the producers and actors in this film, that's what is all key.

Question: This doesn't seem to be hyper-frenetic. It seems to have a sense of pace and isn't all crazy.

Lawrence: No, not at all. That's the last thing I wanted to do. And I think it's the last thing this story deserved. I think, when people see this... even the studio never really understood how the movie was going to feel. I think they thought it was going to be a movie you're thankful it's not. And it's not. And I think they didn't get that until they saw the movie and went, "Wow, this thing works. This thing feels kind of unique and different."

And it's paced. The scenes here are sort of condensed, too. Scenes go on, and they're not as short as they are here. And I think the pace you're talking about, the tone you're talking about, is all the way through.

Question: How much post-production work is left?

Lawrence: I haven't seen this 18 minutes in quite a while. The effects have progressed a thousandfold since this was actually created. The Hell sequences are much further along, the shootout at the end is much further along. I think there's about 450 or 500 effects shots in the movie, down to the simplest rig removal or wire removal and dirt clean-up all the way to complete CG environments and things like the Hell stuff. So there's a fair amount still to do. But we've got a good amount done, which is great because we don't have to rush for a super-quick summer release.

One of the things we really tried to do with this film, too, is really root it in reality. I wanted to make it kind of relatable. Constantine lives in a real world, just with messed-up things in it. So I really wanted to try and capture that, so we tried to have as many of the scenes take place in real environs as possible. And also, with the CG-created environments, we tried to build as much physically as we could.

Question: Do you have a music composer?

Lawrence: Yeah, we just hired a guy named Brian Tyler to score the film.

Question: Have you made any plans for a sequel?

Lawrence: Yeah, the sequel is something we're talking about. We've been throwing ideas around. I don't know if one's going to happen for sure and I don't know exactly what the story is, but the talk has sort of bubbled up. So, I think we'll see what happens.

Question: Were you 100 percent into it when you saw the script?

Lawrence: No, no, no. When I first read the script, the first thing that attracted me to it was the character Constantine. The script definitely had big problems. The writer and I, and one of the producers, along with Keanu, worked on the script for about a year before we started production, hammering it out and fixing stuff and really working on the storyline and Constantine's arc and all this kind of stuff.

But it was really his character that drew me into it immediately.

Question: How have the comics fans been treating you?

Lawrence: In general, I've been treated well. Of course, when I got involved with this, I started going on the Hellblazer sites and the Hellblazer fans on those sites, have not been that positive toward the film. They were a little bit rough on the film. They knew the lead was not English and was not blonde. And I think also with the casting of the younger Chaz.

But I think a lot it, and what we're trying to do here, is to show that we haven't sold this thing out. It's not Van Helsing, it's not whiz-bang demons and things exploding everywhere. We haven't done that kind of movie.

So there lack of positivity is from not really knowing what's going on. If they things are being held from them, it's really not the case. We just getting it rest to show, bring it to these kinds of places and showing you guys what kind of movie this really is. I think we stuck to the heart of the character and hopefully we'll win people over.

Question: Why did you think Keanu would be right for the part?

Lawrence: Honestly, because I think Keanu Reeves and Constantine are not that far apart in terms of who they are personally. He's a great guy, but he's a dark guy. He's haunted and he can sort of draw on that and make it work. It's fascinating how some of the themes and philosophies of this movie, it really attracted people. He definitely believes in the way this movie works and is sort of angry about some of the rules of the way the world works. And I think that is a key.

Question: Did you read the comics series prior to getting the script?

Lawrence: No. No. I did not know about the series at all until I read the script. And as soon as I started preparing, I fell in love with the character and I started reading the comics.

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