Despite being a CGI-heavy movie, “Jungle Cruise” included a scene where traditional filmmaking techniques were used instead of digital effects.
The characters of the treasure-hunting film, which is based on the beloved Disney attraction and stars Emily Blunt as botanist Lily Hughton and Dwayne Johnson as riverboat skipper Frank Wolff, come across an underwater lever near the end of the film, which they have to pull down in order to continue on.
The entire scenario was shot in two weeks in an underwater set on an Atlanta studio lot, with the exception of the CGI piranhas. The majority of Blunt and Johnson’s underwater acting was done.
Ian Seabrook, the film’s underwater cinematographer, spoke with Insider about the difficulties in executing the scene and why he was surprised with Blunt’s performance considering that she had never shot a scene underwater.
The character Lily played by Emily Blunt in “Jungle Cruise” finds it difficult to pull down. Disney+Emily Blunt performed an underwater sequence without ever having experienced fear.When it comes to underwater photography, Hollywood only uses a select few DPs like Seabrook. Having worked on films ranging from Deadpool 2 to Christopher Nolan’s “Insomnia,” he has the experience to demonstrate that underwater filming is not for the timid.”On ‘Batman v Superman’ myself and Amy Adams both got ear infections from the rust from the underwater set because the crew didn’t use marine-grade materials,” Seabrook stated to Insider. “Having your ears vacuumed is not a pleasant way to spend your afternoon.”Seabrook was therefore entirely focused on his work when he was contracted to do the underwater scene for “Jungle Cruise.””We went over the sequence, went over the blueprints; I talked to the art department because they had begun building the rough blueprints for the set,” he stated.
Ian Seabrook, an underwater cameraman, is seen inside the water at the “Jungle Cruise” outdoor set. Peter LeeHowever, Seabrook stated that the most crucial thing to know was how comfortable the performers were in the water. Do they find the water frightening? Can they swim well? He knew The Rock was set to go because he had already worked with Johnson. What about Blunt, though?”If she was fearful she did not communicate it, she was game,” Seabrook stated.
In “Jungle Book,” Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt swim to the underwater structure. Disney+
“When Dwayne took his first breaststroke, the first take he did he ended up right on top of me,” Seabrook said. “I was able to obtain enough space to grab the photo when he dived down because I was able to rapidly lunge back underwater and balance on the tips of my fins after realising how powerful he is at swimming. I essentially needed to swim at the same speed as him.”
Ian Seabrook had to get familiar with Dwayne Johnson’s strong swimming. Disney+
The rest of the sequence took place in the tank.
Because the set has a ceiling structure, the obvious emergency exit for Blunt to take, swimming straight up to the surface, was taken away. So Seabrook said he devised with Blunt and her stunt double Lauren Shaw another emergency exit — they would swim to the right or left of his camera and then swim to the surface if anything went wrong.
Emily Blunt’s emergency exit wasn’t up but left or right of Seabrook’s camera. Disney+
The DP said knowing where to bail out is important as the actors are doing everything while holding their breath, and panic can set in if you feel you are losing breath and don’t know how to get to the surface.
Seabrook said both Johnson and Blunt held their breath for up to 30 seconds when doing takes for the sequence. And they did this over days of shoots for two weeks.
But that wasn’t the only waterwork. Seabrook and Blunt still had to team up to pull off the sequence’s finale.
Emily Blunt had to stay on the set as it was raised to the surface. Disney+
Seabrook said Blunt was ‘stone-cold with her calmness’ doing the thrilling finale of the sequence
In the thrilling finale of the underwater sequence, Lily finally gets the lever down before running out of air. Suddenly the structure rises to the surface and we see Lily unconscious laying on it.
To shoot that part of the scene — Lily floating unconscious underwater and then laying in the structure once on the surface — Seabrook and Blunt had to be on the set as it raised out of the water.
“Normally you would strap down the camera to the set with no one operating it, but when I saw where the camera needed to be I felt there was no way you could do that, so I proposed that I could hold onto the camera myself,” Seabrook said.
After a successful test, Seabrook and Blunt went into the water. For 15 seconds, as the large crane pulled the set out of the water, Blunt acted like she was unconscious while Seabrook held onto his 80-pound camera as the set emerged out of the water.
Ian Seabrook held onto his 80 pound camera as the entire set raised to the surface. All while holding his breath. Peter Lee
“The camera becomes heavier and heavier as you get closer to the surface,” Seabrook said. “We did it eight times and for each we had to hold our breath, probably for 15 seconds, but it felt longer than that.”
Seabrook said the highlight of working on “Jungle Cruise” was working with Blunt. He was impressed that despite being a novice in acting underwater she was completely all in.
“I really admire Emily’s work in this, I had no idea what her comfort level was in the water,” he said. “She was stone-cold with her calmness.”
“Jungle Cruise” is currently available in theaters and on Disney+.