Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Q&A: David Yates talks juggling "Tarzan," "Beasts"


The Legend of Tarzan - Official Teaser Trailer [HD]

After living in London, Tarzan returns to his jungle home to investigate the suspicious activities of a mining camp. VPC

Director David Yates attends the world premiere of "The Legend of Tarzan" in Los Angeles on June 27, 2016.(Photo: Valerie Macon, AFP/Getty Images)

David Yates is one heck of a Muggle. The director, who helmed the final four Harry Potter films, releases The Legend of TarzanFriday, a $180 million live-action film starring Alexander Skarsgrd as the storied jungle hero.

This fall, Yates will follow Tarzan with FantasticBeasts and Where to Find Them (in theaters Nov. 18), the highly anticipated Potter spinoff starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander. USA TODAYspoke with Yates on how he pulled off two massive filmsin one year.

Q: Youve dealt with suspension of disbelief with the "Harry Potter" films, but Tarzanspeaks to animals, fights gorillasand is a lord living in London when we meet him. What attracted you to this take onThe Legend of Tarzan?

A: There were so many projects I was reading. I was getting sent all these scripts from here, there and everywhere and they all felt very one-note. ... It had lots of good, fun elements that you would enjoy when you went into the movie theaterthere was a lotof action, great landscapes, amazing animals. I wasnt seeing those kinds of things in any of the other scripts. I just thought this is all great, we havent been to Africa,this big, beautiful, amazing country, in a movie in awhile. And I havent seen this sort of action/adventure/romance film for awhile.

Margot Robbie stars as Jane to Alexander Skarsgrd"s Tarzan in "The Legend of Tarzan."(Photo: Jonathan Olley, Warner Bros.)

Q: In a summer tentpole movie so full of CGI, what was the hardest thing to get right?

A: The challenge was really creating the world and making it feel romantic and big and heightenedbut believable. ... (In one scene),Margot (Robbie) ischained to the rail and the boats traveling up the river. Thats a pure drama scene, but actually its a visual effects sequence (with a real river shot in Gabon, Africa, added into the background).We can only do that now. We couldnt do that a few years ago, but weve gotten better and better at that kind of technology.

Q: How did you manage the overlapping production schedules of "Tarzan" and"Fantastic Beasts"?

A: I was still shooting Tarzan when I got sent a script for Beasts.So I went straight onto Beasts. ...My editor, bless him, Mark Day, would have one machine that had Tarzan on it and one machine that had Beasts, and I would flip-flop between the two all the time. ...All doable, all perfectly fine,but literally there wasnt a single day when I was working Beasts that I didnt at least peek at Tarzan in some shape or form.

Q: Did "Fantastic Beats" feel like a "Harry Potter" homecoming?

A: It feels the same but different.In the sense that its Jos (J.K. Rowlings) universe extended, but it feels different because its not Hogwarts, its not about kids. Its about grown-ups. Its dealing with very adult themes.

Katherine Waterston (as Tina) and Eddie Redmayne (as Newt Scamander) in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."(Photo: Jaap Buitendijk, Warner Bros.)

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/06/28/david-yates-tarzan-fantastic-beasts/86439866/

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