News

Exclusive Pictures from the San Diego Comic-Con Part 1

Monday, August 5 2002

As promised, here is more of the news from Saturday's Hulk preview at the San Diego Comic-Con. Moments after the T3 preview had ended (which wasn't all that great), they set up the stage for The Hulk. I guess they are using the logo as the teaser poster for the time being.

The announcer began with "I'd like to introduce three very special guests. Two of the best producers Hollywood as ever produced, Gale Anne Hurd and Larry J. Franco. And joining them is the man who saved Marvel and made these films possible, Avi Arad."

Avi spoke first, thanked the audience and began the preview by showing the Hulk teaser trailer. After the teaser was shown, Avi continued "Well with great pride, we are all happy to have with us here Ang Lee, the grand master."

Ang began with "Hello, this is my first time here, a lot of people I see. Well we'd been shooting until 5 o'clock in the morning and I took some sleep. I just woke up and flew over here, so I hope I am awake enough to answer some of your questions."

"Well the martial arts world, comic books, fiction, movies, they are my childhood fantasy" Ang said. He explained that after 6 films and some notoriety, he was able to go to China and film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." A lot of people asked me why I did that film," Ang said. "I made that movie because I could, I felt I could, nothing could stop me anymore."

Ang then recounted how the production of "Crouching Tiger.." was much smaller and anytime he ran into problems he would wonder what he could do, what he could really accomplish, if had all of Hollywood's vast resources at his disposal. Well with The Hulk, he has that now.

Ang said that he is having a blast, the working conditions are great, the producers are great, and there are virtually no monetary restrictions. He said that really, it feels like working on an independent film, except that this the biggest movie that he could possibly ever imagine.

Ang explained that the film is 10 months away from being released and there is much still to be done, especially in the effects arena. Next he explained why so little had been released from The Hulk so far.

"I think movies are magic" Ang said. "I would rather show you the magic first and then the ingredients, and not the other way around. However today we have prepared some slides, some production stills." To me at least, this is a reasonable explanation as to why the movie has been so secretive. Ang considers his work to be art, and as such does not want to show it to the world until it is ready.

This isn't really an uncommon thing to do. Recording artists never purposely release demos of their songs until after the completed song has already hit the airwaves. Everybody likes to put their best work forward first. I bet there will enough "Making of The Hulk" footage to fit into a score of DVD's later. Yes, as a fan I want more, but I can respect what Ang is trying to accomplish.

The transcription above represents the first 6 minutes of the Hulk preview. The rest of the preview consisted on Ang describing the 24 production stills and then the whole panel fielding some questions. In total, the preview lasted around 40 minutes.

The length of the preview and problems with my firewire cable have resulted in this review being broken up into parts. The next installment will appear this evening. I apologize for the delay, this has taken longer than I would have thought. But I will leave you with a picture which I think everyone will enjoy, and should stop some of the "naked Hulk" whining. The picture is grainy, but yes those purple shorts are shredded.

Wanna talk about this bit of news? Start a discussion over at the boards.

Check out the fan trailer here.

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