The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

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The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) Page 5

by Jeff Kinney

time off from work to be an extra in the movie. He’s

  pictured here with Rose Locke, who was in charge

  of casting all the extras for the film.

  One of the booths at Player Expo was for a

  fictional game called FriendsVille, and it was

  manned by the author of this book. The

  wardrobe department’s job was to make him look

  as dorky as possible, which clearly wasn’t that

  easy to do.

  124

  But the biggest celebrity at Player Expo was

  Greg’s idol, Mac Digby, who was played by Joshua

  Hoover. Mac is a video-game enthusiast with a

  gigantic YouTube following. It’s Greg’s dream to

  meet Mac — and get into one of his videos.

  Friendsville

  In the movie, Mac’s such a big star that he’s got

  not only his own stage in the convention center

  but a catchphrase to rival “Zoo-Wee Mama.”

  126

  DAT'S

  HOW

  DIGBY

  DO

  IT

  The other big set piece in “The Long Haul” was

  the country fair. And unlike Player Expo, this

  one was already part of the Wimpy Kid universe.

  But building a giant country fair from scratch,

  complete with rides, food booths, and livestock

  tents, would cost a fortune. The filmmaking team

  decided early on that the best bet would be to find

  a REAL country fair in the region and tag along.

  Luckily, there are a handful of annual fairs in the

  Atlanta area, and the one held in Griffin, Georgia,

  fit the bill.

  HOORAY!!!

  A FAIR SHARE

  127

  The filmmakers reached out to the fair organizers

  and asked if they could make the location a part

  of the movie. They agreed, under one condition:

  Filming had to wrap at dusk every day so the

  gates could open to the public in the evening.

  That meant the fairgrounds were a movie set during

  the day, and the real thing at night.

  128

  Most of the booths you see in the movie are part

  of the actual fair, but others were created just

  for the film.

  When Greg and Rodrick are enjoying deep-fried

  butter on a stick, it’s served at a stand that

  was created for the film. But believe it or not, in

  lots of places, deep-fried butter on a stick is a

  real thing.

  129

  In fact, there’s a lot of weird food that’s served

  up at your typical country fair.

  When Greg and Rodrick eat fried butter in the

  movie, it’s not a trick — it really IS fried butter.

  But the actors were total pros.

  SLORK

  SLURP

  CHEW

  CHEW

  PAT

  PAT

  DEEP-FRIED

  PB&J

  BUTTER

  ON

  A

  STICK

  The fried butter was served up by character actor

  Ricky Muse, who plays the butter vendor.

  A character actor is a performer who specializes

  in interesting or unusual roles. In the world of

  moviemaking, not everyone can be the star. But

  there are lots of talented, quirky actors who

  make a living by taking small roles that have a

  big impact.

  In fact, sometimes a character actor’s performance

  is so memorable that it becomes everyone’s favorite

  part of a movie.

  131

  The actors really enjoyed having the run of the

  fair during the day. They got to play carnival

  games and ride rides. Imagine having an

  amusement park all to yourself without having

  to wait in line!

  Their fun wasn’t limited to the daytime, either.

  The actors came back to enjoy the country fair at

  night, when it was packed with people.

  One of the great things about making a film like

  “The Long Haul” is that the set is very family

  friendly.

  132

  Some of the filmmakers brought their own kids

  to the set during the country fair shoot. And

  several of them made it into the film, either as

  background extras or as actors with spoken lines.

  They skipped a little school and got a taste of

  the movie star treatment, too.

  133

  A HAIRY SITUATION

  One of the families that makes an appearance at

  the country fair came straight out of the pages

  of the book: the Beardos.

  In the series, the Beardos have three sons. But

  for the movie, the filmmakers decided to swap out

  the oldest boy for a girl to mix things up a little.

  In the book, we don’t know the names of the

  Beardo kids. But in the movie, they’re Brandon,

  Brent, and Brandi.

  In “The Long Haul,” Mr. Beardo spends a lot of

  time chasing after Greg. Chris Coppola, the actor

  who plays Mr. Beardo, modeled his performance

  after Bluto from the Popeye comics.

  By a strange coincidence, this wasn’t the first

  time Chris had worked with Jason Drucker. In

  fact, Chris has worked as Jason’s acting coach on

  a few occasions.

  By now, you’re probably getting a sense that what

  you see on-screen isn’t always

  the real thing. So it might

  not come as a big surprise

  that Mr. Beardo’s beard was

  also a fake. During filming,

  Chris Coppola was actually

  clean-shaven.

  LET ME GET

  SOMETHING

  STRAIGHT: THIS IS

  A JOURNAL,

  NOT A DIARY!

  DIARY

  136

  The beard was mesh with individual hairs strung

  through it, and even up close it was very

  convincing.

  Chris wasn’t the only one who got to see what

  it was like to have a full beard without going

  through the trouble of growing it.

  Patrick Kinney (the original inspiration for the

  character Manny) had always wanted a beard, but

  wasn’t able to grow one. On the movie set, his

  dream finally came true.

  A ROUND TRIP

  The “Long Haul” film is full of action shots, but

  one of the most complex sequences takes place

  inside the Alien Abduction ride.

  If you’ve ever been to a carnival, you’ve probably

  ridden something like Alien Abduction. It’s a

  circular ride that spins faster and faster, and

  pins its passengers to the wall.

  It’s a lot of fun — as long as you didn’t just

  finish eating a couple of sticks of fried butter.

  Alien

  ABDUCTION

  138

  In the film, Greg and Rodrick board the ride,

  and are soon joined by an angry Mr. Beardo,

  who’s after Greg. The script called for Greg to

  flee Mr. Beardo by crawling over the heads of the

  other passengers. Eventually, Mr. Beardo rolls

  across Rodrick, who loses his lunch.

  The director put together rough storyboards

  to string all the action together. The drawings

  are simple, but
they did their job communicating

  exactly what was needed in each shot. On the

  following pages are the storyboards and the

  matching moments from the film.

  139

  ALION

  ENCOUNTER

  SEQUENCE

  CARNIE

  GREG + R

  ENTER.

  CAMERA

  PANS

  PAST

  CARNIE

  AS

  THEY

  SETTLE

  AGAINST

  WALL

  GREG

  LOOKS

  NERVOUS

  CARNIE :

  "STAY

  AGIN

  THE

  WALL"

  AND

  KEEP

  YER

  HANDS

  TO

  YERSELVES.

  140

  CARNIE’S

  FOOT

  ON

  BUTTON.

  HIGH

  ANGLE

  AA

  STARTS

  TO

  SPIN.

  ROD:

  FEELS

  SICK.

  G:

  NINTH!

  OS:

  YOU!

  MR

  B. FLOPS

  IN

  STOP

  THE

  RIDE...

  CARNIE

  HAS

  HEADPHONES

  ON

  142

  WATCHING

  DIAPER

  HAND

  GREG

  STARTS

  TO

  MOVE

  HIGH

  ANGLE

  SPINNING

  FASTER

  144

  GIRL’S

  PIGTAILS

  RICE

  GREG

  STRUGGLES

  TO

  MOVE

  MR

  B. ROLLS

  OVER

  A

  KID

  MR

  BEARDO

  GLARES.

  146

  GREG

  TERRIFIED

  TURNS

  TO

  SEE

  PEOPLE

  IN

  HIS

  WAY

  GREG

  STARTS

  TO

  CLIMB

  ROD

  WATCHES

  GREG

  CLIMBS

  ABOVE

  B:

  YOU

  NEED

  TO

  MOVE….

  R:

  PLEASE

  DON’T…

  148

  RAMP

  UP

  TO

  SLOW

  MOTION

  SLOW

  MOTION

  PUSH

  IN

  SLOW

  MOTION

  VOMIT

  OUT

  150

  FULL

  MOTION

  VOMIT

  HITS .

  CROWD

  HORROR

  GREG

  HORROR .

  In the film, the Alien Abduction ride looks like

  it’s in motion the whole time. But the scene took

  two days to film, and that’s too long to keep

  actors on a moving ride — no matter HOW much

  fun it is.

  So some tricks were used to make the ride LOOK

  like it was spinning, even when it wasn’t. Rotating

  lights positioned above the ride flashed across the

  walls to give the illusion of movement.

  Giant fans positioned inside the ride gently blew

  the actors’ hair.

  152

  When a girl’s pigtails slowly rise up and stick to

  the wall, the filmmakers used the most basic movie

  trick of all — fishing wire — which doesn’t show up

  on the screen.

  But when Rodrick gets sick on the ride, the

  effect for the half-digested fried butter was

  created on computers long after filming ended.

  And the actor playing Mr. Beardo was grateful

  for that.

  153

  PRIZE PIG

  After the scenes on the Alien Abduction ride, the

  filmmakers braced themselves for a different type

  of squirming — this time, of the pig variety.

  The script called for Manny to win the baby pig

  as the grand prize in a contest for guessing the

  weight of a giant hog.

  No one knew what to expect when the actor

  playing Manny was handed the pig. Would it

  squeal? Would it try to wriggle free? Would the

  actor playing Manny be too scared to hold a live

  animal?

  GUESS

  THE

  WEIGHT

  OF

  THE

  HOG

  The animatronic pig was on standby in case something

  went wrong. But when the actor playing the judge

  handed Manny the real live pig, the handoff went

  without a hitch.

  The pig stayed perfectly still as Dylan cradled it

  in his arms. The young actor seemed comfortable

  holding the pig, and everyone on set was proud of

  him. After all, he was only three.

  I’M

  OWNWY

  THWEE!

  IN STITCHES

  A good movie will draw you into the story, and

  you won’t give a thought to how it was made. But

  there’s a lot of work that goes into bringing it all

  together and creating a believable world on-screen.

  Take, for instance, a sequence near the end of

  the movie where the Heffley family makes their final

  push to Meemaw’s house. The scene starts at the

  top of a hill, where the family van has conked out.

  At the bottom of the hill is Meemaw’s house,

  where the party is winding down. The Heffleys

  decide to roll their van down the hill to make it to

  the party before it’s over.

  156

  It’s all part of one smooth scene, and everything

  takes place in one location. Or does it?

  157

  In reality, the scene was shot in three completely

  different locations. The hill was part of a giant

  duck preserve outside of Atlanta, and there weren’t

  any houses at the bottom of it — just a pond.

  The digital effects team created the houses on

  computers and inserted them into the shot after

  filming wrapped.

  Meemaw’s house was in a neighborhood in another

  part of Georgia altogether.

  The flying boat

  wasn’t really

  flying — it was

  lifted in the air

  by a giant crane,

  and the cable was

  digitally removed

  later on. And when Greg is airborne at the

  wheel of the boat,

  he’s actually on

  a soundstage in

  Atlanta, working

  against a green

  screen. Not only

  is the scene shot in different locations and at

  different times,

  but at certain

  moments even

  the actors are

  different.

  When the van rolls down the hill, there are

  moments when stunt doubles filled in for both

  Greg and Rodrick.

  Even the camera operators had substitutes for this

  scene. To capture footage of Meemaw’s pool from

  above, a camera-carrying drone was used.


  After filming was

  completed, the

  editor took all the

  pieces and strung

  them together into

  one seamless scene.

  Hopefully, you won’t

  notice the stitching that made it possible.

  160

  LET'S TAKE THIS INSIDE

  Once the outdoor filming wrapped, it was time to

  move things indoors for the rest of the movie shoot.

  There are two types of filming: on location and

  on a soundstage. When you’re filming on location,

  that means you’re filming in the “real world,”

  which can be tricky because there’s a lot you can’t

  control. Just about everything that can go wrong

  often does.

  But on a soundstage, the movie’s world is completely

  in the director’s control.

  KRACK

  161

  A typical soundstage is a giant building that’s

  big enough to hold a jumbo jet. Since it’s indoors,

  there’s no need to worry about the weather.

  In fact, if you want, you can make your OWN

  weather.

  Most of today’s movies with lots of big special

  effects are filmed on soundstages, because when

  you’re spending all that money, you can’t worry

  about things you can’t control. If you’ve ever seen

  a movie that’s about superheroes or one that’s set

  in a galaxy far, far away, chances are a lot of it

  was actually filmed indoors on a soundstage.

  FILMING

  162

  Since “The Long Haul” was about a road trip,

  there weren’t that many scenes that were shot on

  a soundstage. But there were a few exceptions.

  The motels you see in the film are real-life

  buildings, but their rooms were re-created on the

  soundstage, down to the last detail.

  Being on a soundstage can be a strange

  experience. Most of the space looks like a dark,

  empty warehouse. But the areas for filming look

  like little slices of the real world.

 

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