The Inside Story Director Rob Cohen says he had been comptemplating making a film about Navy Pilots for a few years now and all he needed was something new to bring his idea to the big screen. His fascination with a recent technological advance called Tergen proved to be the catalyst for bringing his idea to fuition. Developed by Digital Domain, the programme gave him the ability to create virtual backgrounds, something viewers will experience with his latest film "Stealth". Why was the developement of Tergen so groundbreaking? "If you want to fly over the mountains in Tajikistan, you dial up the real maps of those mountains," Cohen explained. "From there you can create the actual terrain and, once it’s virtual, match it to whatever you want. Prior to Tergen, when you wanted to make an aircraft change its position in space, the background had to change its position exactly as well. That was very difficult to do. But now we can match the terrain to any move a jet might make, no matter how extreme." When it comes to the rapid developement that computers have made Cohen asks the same question many of us have pondered over in recent years as computers take over our world, "What will be the consequences when computers become smarter, faster, more creative, self-generating and self-replicating?," he asks. "If they have control of our energy, they have control of our communication systems and of our military systems. What happens when they decide, in their evolution, to exercise free will?" That question is posed in "Stealth" when the USS Carl Vinson, base for a team of Stealth Fighter Pilots known as Talons gets a new addition "EDI' [eddy], an artificial intelligence-based Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. If the concept sounds a bit fanciful consider what Cohen discovered. "In the film, we examine technology and what happens to the nature of war when the technical equation shifts because America has the ability to create a capable air force of smart drones, like ‘EDI.’ This capability already exists in the present, so it’s not science fiction. It’s where we’re heading. The Navy told me they will no longer be ordering jets for human pilots." As for the aircraft featured in the film, Cohen reveals "These are swing-wing, hyper sonic fighter bombers with pulse detonation engines, which are on the naval drawing board but haven’t been totally executed yet." Cohen worked with North Aviation to come up with the prototype for the Talons featured in the film. The next phase of the Talons evolution involved Production Designer J Michael Riva ["The Hand" & "Bad Boys"] refining the plane into a something "more sexy". Cohen and Riva also created 'EDI". "I wanted the Talons to be sculpturally very beautiful, as well as powerful," Cohen says. "And I wanted ‘EDI’ to be both cool and terrifying." What was his reaction then to the finished products? "I was extremely pleased with the final results." The next stage of developement was to produce a special Gimble on which both the Talons and 'EDI' would fly. "In terms of our mechanical technology, we designed a gimbal the likes of which had not been seen before,"Cohen says. "It weighs about a 100 tons, has the ability to pull about five G’s and can work on a very wide range of motion. John is a master with the mechanical, in this case, hydraulic work. He and a group of his engineers designed and built the gimbal in the U.S. then shipped it to Australia in pieces and re-built it there." Many will be wondering what was the special significance of the Gimbal. "Normally gimbals just go up and down. This one has five different axes so it could execute the kind of turns that fighter jets really make. The design was further complicated by the fact that so many different departments had to be involved," designer John Frazier revealed. "We had Digital Domain who did all the background on the shots. Then the lighting department lit everything electronically so it was all in sync. We also coordinated with the cable cam, a camera on a cable that’s totally computer controlled. Each of them had to be in operation before the gimbal could be turned on. In all, it took about 17 computer screens to control the gimbal." And if you're wondering who flew the aircraft while they were attached to the Gimbal, I can reveal that they were real fighter pilots. "These guys know how to really fly. So we would talk to them about what altitude we were at, the terrain we were flying over, the different air currents, cloud patterns and the time of day and then they’d sit at the remote controls attached to the gimbal and fly," Cohen says. When it came to filming "Stealth", a big part of it took place in Australia. "We based ourselves at Fox Studios because we needed a lot of studio space, more than we could ever have found in Los Angeles," Cohen claims. "In addition, we also needed locations to double for Alaska, North Korea and Asia. And all of that was either in or very close to Australia. It’s a very film friendly community. The technicians and the entire infrastructure have grown enormously in sophistication over the years. Not only does it rival Hollywood, the crew I had on Stealth was the best crew I’ve worked with in any country." High praise for locals but where were the locations used in filming? "Stealth begins in Nevada for which we used Australia’s Flinders Ranges mountains," the director revealed. "Then the action moves to North Korea’s rugged mountainous terrain, which we found in Sydney’s Blue Mountains. Then we popped over to New Zealand and got some shots that looked like Alaska. We recreated Myanmar [formerly Burma] in an area called Zetlands in Sydney and brought in more than 100 Burmese as extras and also put together a platoon of Korean soldiers." On completion of filming in Australia, the production crew moved to Northern Thailand before moving to the USA where they spent a week filming aboard the active Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vinson off the coast of San Diego. To ensure authenticity Cohen "worked closely throughout production with active duty and retired U.S. Navy technical experts. Retired Navy Captain David Kennedy, a test pilot with F/A-18 carrier experience who had previously worked with Cohen on XXX, oversaw any scenes that focused on the way in which weapons systems would be employed, how a squadron would operate or the way the flight leader would work with his wingman." It was Kennedy who assembled the crack team of pilots for the filming including "U.S. Navy test pilots Chip Shanle and Wade Knudsen, as well as former Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 pilot and current Qantas pilot Paul Donazzan." Obviously they worked well together? "This was very much a team effort" said Kennedy, "and that was the way Rob wanted it." Cohen also called upon the services of naval liaison officer Lt Cmdr Christy Hagen so that the production crew worked within the guidelines the US Navy sets when working on films. Hagen admits to being very impressed with the script. Why? Because "it highlighted the high levels of missions the Navy is conducting today and showed a network-centric branch of the military that communicates in a high-tech environment, responding in real-time to any given crisis," she says. "It also depicted some great personalities working together as a team and that was very important to us." Finally, what did the cast have to say about filming. Josh Lucas [who did all his own stunts] says, "Filming inside the cockpit was very demanding. We were thrown around so violently that it was easy to get smashed around and to experience motion sickness. Every single day, I would crawl into this thing, strap myself in, put on my oxygen mask and start 14 hours of shooting! For all of us, it was about pushing ourselves beyond our normal limits." Jessica Biel who suffers from motion sickness says shooting did have one benefit. "The good thing is that I think I’m cured of motion sickness by now." And how about that segment when her character ejects from her plane. "I was hanging 35 feet in the air on a harness attached to a crane," she recalls. "Then I released. That first release knocked me horizontal in the air. With the second release I spun fast and unraveled, stopping suddenly four feet above the ground. And then I crashed to the ground. It was awesome. I still can’t believe I did it." Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx says he really enjoyed the Australian experience. "The dynamic on-set was really cool and off set we had a great time hanging out together. A lot of partying went down in Australia. A lot of energy went into working and a lot of energy went into hanging out and having some fun." And that folks is the secret to enjoying Stealth. Don't take it serious and you'll have a lot of fun. Crew Bytes "STEALTH" was .......
directed by Rob Cohen ["Dragonheart", "The Skulls", "The Fast and the Furious" and "XXX 2"]; screenplay by W.D. Richter ["Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Brubaker", "Big Trouble in Little China" and "Home For The Holidays"]; costume design by Academy Award winner Lizzy Gardiner ["The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", "Welcome To Woop Woop", "Eye of the Beholder" and "Mission: Impossible II"]; production design by Jonathan Lee ["Tomorrow Never Dies", "The Haunting", "Ali" and "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones"] and J Michael Riva ["Brubaker", "A Few Good Men", "Lethal Weapon 2", "Lethal Weapon 4" and "Charlie's Angels I & II"]; edited by Stephen Rivkin ["Nine Months", "Swordfish", "Ali" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"]; cinematography by Dean Semler ["Dances With Wolves", "The Bone Collector", "We Were Soldiers", "Bruce Almighty" and "The Longest Yard"]; original music by B.T. ["Go", "Zoolander", "Monster" and "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!"] the producers include Neal H Moritz ["I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Not Another Teen Movie", "Sweet Home Alabama", "S.W.A.T." and "XXX 2: The Next Level "] and Laura Ziskin ["Eyes of Laura Mars", "Pretty Woman", "As Good As It Gets" and "Spider-Man I & II"]. Casting About "STEALTH" stars .......
Josh Lucas ["You Can Count On Me", "The Deep End", "A Beautiful Mind", "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Wonderland"]; Jessica Biel ["The Rules Of Attraction", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Cellular", "Blade: Trinity" and "Elizabethtown"]; Jamie Foxx ["Any Given Sunday", "Ali", "Collateral" and "Ray"]; Sam Shepard ["The Pledge", "Swordfish", "Black Hawk Down" and "The Notebook"]; Richard Roxburgh ["Mission: Impossible II", "Moulin Rouge!", "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Van Helsing"]; Joe Morton ["The Astronaut's Wife", "Ali", "Paycheck" and "Back in the Day"]; Ian Bliss ["Passion", "Siam Sunset", "The Long Lunch" and "The Matrix Revolutions"]; Ebon Moss-Bachrach ["The Royal Tenenbaums", "American Splendor", "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Road"]; Michael Denkha ["Whipping Boy", "Risk", "Get Rich Quick" and "Son of the Mask"] and Wentworth Miller ["The Human Stain" and "Underworld"] as the voice of EDI. What It's All About Lieutenants Ben Gannon, Kara Wade and Henry Purcell are elite Navy Pilots flying highly classified Stealth aircraft knows as Talons. Based on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson the three have become a close knit team. That is all about to change with the arrival of another Stealth fighter plane and a new pilot. The trio are far from happy about having new team member and even less impressed when their commanding officer, Capt George Cummings reveals their new wingman is a computer. Not just any old computer but one nicknamed 'EDI'. Lt Gannon is not impressed and voices his concerns that warfare should not be treated as a computer game, that the 'human' element is essential to the teams success. On their first mission 'EDI'proves him wrong. With the mission declared a success the four head back to base. The flight takes the team through a violent storm during which 'EDI' suffers a lightning strike. Despite the extreme conditions all four make it safely on to the carrier's deck. As a precaution 'EDI' is given a thorough check over and it is discovered that his brain is expanding. Ignoring warnings about the dangers it may poze to the team Capt Cummings orders 'EDI' back into service and sends the team on it's next mission. A situation arises when Lt Gannon calls the mission off. 'EDI' disagrees with Ben's assessment of the missions status and goes rogue. The Verdict "It's a lot of mindless escapism fun that doesn't require audiences to do anything other than to switch their brain off and take it all in. There are enough special effects, big bangs and effective performances to keep you entertained even if it is a bit of a no-brainer. Worth having a look at if only to see the effect that relying on computers can bring or if you get your kicks out of films featuring pyrotechnic explosions and seeing the yanks go arse up. "Stealth" is not all bad, but then again it's not that good either." The Cast

Josh Lucas Jessica Biel Jamie Foxx Sam Shepard Richard Roxburgh Joe Morton Ian Bliss Ebon Moss-Bachrach Michael Denkha Rocky Helton Nicholas Hammond Jim Diamond Jaffar Hussain Gary Quay Jason Lee Alexandra Davies Caroline De Sounza Correa Vanessa Trezise Matthew Jorgensen Colby Sanders Diego Corral Jaypetch Toonchalong David Andrews Wentworth Miller CDR Keane CMC USN

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Lt Ben Gannon Lt Kara Wade Lt Henry Purcell Capt George Cummings Dr Keith Orbit Capt Dick Marshfield Lt Aaron Shaftsbury Josh Hudson Naval Controller Master at Arms Executive Officer Rangoon Terrorist Rangoon Terrorist Rangoon Terrorist Yune Ben's Date Henry's Date Newscaster Barricade Officer Aviation Plane Captain Ships Safety Officer Henry's Thai Girlfriend Ray the voice of EDI Aircraft Carrier Chaplain

The Crew Directed by Rob Cohen Written by W.D. Richter Produced by Mike Medavoy/Arnold Messer/ Neal Moritz/Laura Ziskin Original Music by BT Cinematography by Dean Semler Film Editing by Stephen Rivkin Casting by Sarah Halley Finn/Randi Hiller/Christine King Production Design by Jonathan Lee & J Michael Riva Art Direction by Richard Hobbs & Charlie Revai Set Decoration by Suza Maybury Costume Design by Lizzy Gardiner Unit Production Manager Catherine Bishop Run Time 121 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Twentieth Century Fox - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages - All Rights Reserved