After 91 days of shooting and 2,021 shots, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR has wrapped. I finished shooting the "Imhotep's Nightclub" sequence with Isabella Leong slow dancing with Luke Ford and, across the dance floor, Brendan Fraser guiding Maria Bello through the steps in a very romantic ending quickly turning to comedy as upstairs in the lounge, John Hannah gets caught skipping out of town on his partner Liam Cunningham. It was with some considerable emotion I announced "shogung!" in Chinese and the set went up with applause and tears. People hugged, flash cameras flashed like strobes and the cast and crew shared the same sweet sense of achievement in many languages. Chinese grips and French Canadian grips, big, strong tough men, slapped each other's backs and whisked away a few budding drops from their eyes with calloused fingers. The most common words in the air were "I learned so much from you." "I will miss you."
There was an announcement from production that the wrap party was set immediately outside and that a "show" would start soon. We filed out of the soundstage at the back of the beautiful Shanghai Studio where tables had all been prepared with champagne and beer. Bruce Steinheimer, my special effects head, handed me a button attached to a long wire and said, "push it" which I did...
That set off a non-stop eight-minute long barrage of FIREWORKS the likes of which no one had ever seen, wave after wave, patterns and colors of light beyond imagining. A friend of mine videotaped some of it, and I will post it for you all to enjoy as soon as a copy gets in my possession.
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