5 Fun Facts from Director Mark Lester on Poseidon Rex
Steve Barton
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With the release of the next Godzilla blockbuster less than a month away, it’s time to start whetting our appetites for giant monster movies. Aside from our well-worn DVDs of Pacific Rim, what’s out there? We’re glad you asked. How about a swim with Poseidon Rex?
We sat down with veteran director Mark Lester – best known for his 80s action flicks – to find five fun reasons to check out P-Rex.
1. Criminals Are People Too
Although the character Brian Krause plays in Poseidon Rex is a smuggler and a thief, he’s got a softer side. “I hired Brian to act in the film, having known him from his work on ‘Charmed’,” said Lester. “I thought he was perfect for a criminal with a nice side so he could be the hero of the film also.”
2. Godzilla Hates Thugs
It’s fun watching giant dinos munch on puny drug lords. “I took all the elements I love and put them in one movie—a Godzilla-like creature and some local thugs (we used the actual Belize people for this)—and mixed them with this drug plot,” the director explained. “I loved the classic dinosaur movie Beast of 20,0000 Fathoms when I was a little kid and always wanted to do something like that. I kind of combined the monster story with a treasure heist movie like Into the Blue..”
3. A Practical P-Rex Is Impossible
While we are sure Cecil the Sea Monster is somewhere fuming that all the action is portrayed by computerized pixels in Poseidon Rex, Lester explains why practical was impossible. “We never thought of the practical route. That’s too hard to do on the water and with giant monsters. I tried that in a movie I made in 2005, called Pterodactyl. I wanted to combine both and so I had a giant pterodactyl with puppeteers on the set, and very little of the footage was usable. It’s hard to combine CGI with practical and make it look good. Our monster was created by Scott Wheeler at Rouge State.”
4. Lester Can Relate to Spielberg
“I know now what Spielberg went through on Jaws! Filming on the water was extremely difficult, but it was definitely beautiful too, out there on those barrier reefs. Getting the creature in the same shot as the boats was not easy. But it was very exciting to work on the water and also do underwater photography. Jason Lester directed the second unit underwater and did great job in very tough conditions.”
5. And Speaking of Spielberg… Jurassic Park’s Dinos Are Still King
“Of all dinosaur movies, my favorites are the Jurassic Park films. Great dinosaurs, very suspenseful stories. The sequence at the end of the first one, with the raptors, is amazing!”
The film is directed by Mark L. Lester and stars Brian Krause, Anne Daniels, Steven Helmkamp, and Candice Nunes.
Synopsis
A small, secluded island off the coast of Belize suddenly finds itself terrorized by a deadly predator from the planet’s distant past when deep-sea divers accidentally awaken an ancient evil.
Jackson Slate and his team of underwater cave explorers unearth much more than long-lost Mayan treasure while plumbing the depths of a world famous blue hole. They disturb a creature that’s been hibernating for over 60,000 years – a rampaging behemoth of death and destruction not only at sea but also on land.
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