BLADES FLY IN 'CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY' TRAILER WITH MICHELLE YEOH, DONNIE YEN! DRAGONS FLY IN 'MONKEY KING 2' EPIC TRAILER WITH AARON KWOK, GONG LI!

 FIRST TRAILER FOR

 CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY

And continuing our stay in Asia which we started yesterday, check out the stunning first trailer for the sequel of one of Asia's greatest epic Oscar winning movies ever CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: SWORD OF DESTINY! Starring Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen, it will premiere on Netflix next February telling an epic story of lost love, young love, a legendary sword. It also tells of one last opportunity at redemption, set against breathtaking action in an epic martial arts battle between good and evil. The fate of the Martial World will be decided in this action-packed sequel.

 'THE MONKEY KING 2'

TRAILER AND POSTERS

You can also check out an action packed teaser for the sequel to one of China's most lucrative movies ever THE MONKEY KING 2 (the second movie is also a costy affair with $20 million budget) which arrives to theatres also February with three biggest Asian stars Aaron Kwok as The Monkey King (a role he is taking over from above mentioned Donnie Yen, even though he played another character in the first film), Gong Li as the White Skeleton Demon, Kelly Chen as Goddess of Mercy, and Feng Shaofeng leading the cast of the enchanting epic fantasy with visual effects unseen ever before!

7TH CENTURY CHINA  
Told by an Old Sage, a Western monk who travelled from Europe to China in the 7th Century. He tells the tale to two children, one Chinese, the other from the West who come across the monk in a cave on a remote mountainside above the Eastern Ocean. The monk is the current keeper of a hundred painted scrolls, each describing an event in the Monkey King's life. Our dear Shaun Smith is creature and special makeup effects supervisor in this one as well!

STUNNING 'SHANNARA CHRONICLES' EPIC TV SERIES TRAILER! JENNIFER LAWRENCE TO GO ROMANTIC IN 'THE ROSIE PROJECT'! SCARY 'EXETER' TRAILER FROM MARCUS NISPEL & SHAUN SMITH MAKE UP EFFECTS SUPERVISOR.

  JENNIFER LAWRENCE

TO GO ROMANTIC IN 'THE ROSIE PROJECT' MOVIE ADAPTATION

It seems that gorgeous movie star Jennifer Lawrence is a bit sick of epic adventures so she is turning over to romantic movies. While she is currently shooting sf romance THE PASSENGERS (in which she is the only awaken traveller on a space ship together with Chris Pratt) she will take on the lead role in the big screen adaptation of Graeme Simsion's THE ROSIE EFFECT. The movie titled THE ROSIE PROJECT will revolve around a socially anxious, awkward professor who formulates a survey to find the perfect partner. His stringently tested plans are thrown off track when he meets Rosie Jarman (Jennifer Lawrence), whose personality goes against every requisite his survey demands.

 'SHANNARA' EPIC SERIES

MIND BLOWING FIRST TRAILER!

The first very long and unexpectedly stunning trailer for MTV's epic TV series THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES has been revealed and it seems our worries that MTV might do it wrong weren't justified, at least judging from the first scenes and mind blowing sets and visuals! Arriving to the small screens next January, the television adaptation of Terry Brooks popular epic fantasy novels will follow Elven princes and princesses trying to save the post apocalyptic world fighting with Humans against Demons. The ten episode first season has been shot over at New Zealand so the look is very reminiscent of LORD OF THE RINGS movies. Manu Bennett, Poppy Drayton, John Rhys Davies, Ivana Baquero, Daniel MacPherson lead the cast! 

  SPOOKY 'EXETER' TRAILER

IT'S A LOVELY DAY FOR EXORCISM

Now, you know we don't do horrors, but this is a new movie from our dear friend Shaun Smith who was special make up effects supervisor on EXETER (in UK THE ASYLUM) a new horror thriller out this August in cinemas! With the cast lead by Stephen Lang and directed by Marcus Nispel (PATHFINDER, CONAN THE BARBARIAN) the movie revolves around a group of young people who, after a party in an abandoned asylum, accidentally release an evil spirit that starts to possess them one by one.

MARCUS NISPEL ON SHAUN SMITH
Beside reading the interview we did with Shaun Smith earlier, check out what Marcus Nispel had to say on his cooperation with the ultra talented special make up effects supervisor: Shaun impressed me with the work that he did on 300 and we've worked together ever since CONAN. He does the most amazingly realistic masks and prosthetics and he designs creatures that would blow you away, but what makes me pilgrimage to him again and again is his conceptual understanding and methodology when it comes to something that we are both firm believers in: camera effects. Too many movies look like blown up video games these days. On the set actors, stunt men, puppeteers, people pulling wires, applying make up, prosthetics, smoke and mirrors all need to work in concert and when we are staging a “Big Kill” Shaun is King. He comes up with many production savvy ideas that make a impossible budget possible. It is Shaun’s infinite ingenuity and flexibility that brings it all together. I consult with him before I embark on a project and our relation is a relation of great trust and faith in each other.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SHAUN SMITH RENOWNED MAKE-UP & EFFECTS EXPERT FROM '300', 'CONAN THE BARBARIAN', 'CHRONICLES OF NARNIA', 'I AM LEGEND', 'THE MONKEY KING'

  EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH

SHAUN SMITH, MOVIE MAKE-UP & EFFECTS EXPERT

Today at HOLLYWOOD SPY we are joined by Shaun Smith, make-up and effects expert who worked on many visually stunning movies such as 300, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, I AM LEGEND, THE MONKEY KING and CHRONICLES OF NARNIA! Shaun Smith has over 20 years of experience working on make-up, special make-up effects, puppets and props for feature films, television and commercials and he was kind enough to sit down and have a chitchat with your Hollywood Spy.

  SHAUN, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT DOES THE WORK OF A MAKEUP SUPERVISOR CONSIST OF? WE KNOW IT INVOLVES MUCH LEARNING, INSPIRATION AND CREATIVITY. YOU ORGANIZE AND SUPERVISE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS....

Yeah, I love it, love the intensity of it. It’s like a big puzzle and its fun to figure it out. There is something about the collaboration process that keeps me excited. I basically work out the details and the look with the director and other people on the team. I then do a budget and schedule for the job, hire the team, coordinate the shop build, apply and oversee make-up applications and most importantly make sure we stay under budget and on time.

  WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH THE BIGGEST VISUAL GENIUS IN MODERN FILM - ZACK SNYDER - ON THE GROUNDBREAKING EPIC "300"? ANY CHANCE OF WORKING WITH HIM AGAIN?

I feel fortunate I worked with Zack on his first two films “Dawn of the Dead” and “300”. Both successful movies with a ton of make-up. Zack’s a lot of fun.  And like I said, we did two successful films together so you never know. I really like Zack so working with him again would be cool.

  YOU ALSO WORKED ON ANOTHER EPIC FILM "CONAN THE BARBARIAN" CREATING SOME TRULY MEMORABLE LOOKS. THAT GENRE IS PROBABLY A HEAVEN FOR MAKE UP ARTISTS.

I’m a huge fan of the Conan comics and the 1982 Milius film! So yeah, working on a Conan movie was unbelievable. I was totally engrossed in the process. We had a pretty small crew for a job that size. When I look back at all the makeup and hair work in that film…I am really proud of what we produced.

  CREATURE EFFECTS IN WILL SMITH'S POST APOCALYPTIC FILM "I AM LEGEND" WERE ALSO YOUR JOB?

We worked out the original make-up test with director Francis Lawrence. We imagined the Hemocytes covered in white ash because in the original script the city was going to be on fire and ash was everywhere like snow, hence the white caked make-up. The theory was that they smeared an ash concoction over their skin to protect it and give some relief to the raw and translucent skin underneath. Ultimately they decided to go digital for the infected humans (Hemocytes). I believe I ended up being credited as the Creature Effects Supervisor on the film.

 AND ALSO IN "CHRONICLES OF NARNIA" AND "FOUR BROTHERS"?

I supervised both “Chronicles” and “Four Brothers” for another company since I enjoy running shows for other people and I treat it with the same passion as if it were my own. For “Four Brothers” we built a mechanical Rottweiler that attacks Mark Walberg and Tyrese Gibson. For “Chronicles” we did eight Mechanical Deer, four white and four brown puppets. The build time was really short so I came up with the idea of building just four mechanical bodies where we could switch out the head and skin depending on which colour deer we needed for the shot.

  WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK ON UPCOMING ASIAN ADVENTURE "THE MONKEY KING". NEW TRAILER SHOWS SOME REALLY OUTSTANDING MASKS AND MAKE-UP!

Thanks! Yeah, lots of fun makeup on that film. It is rumored to have cost $100 million dollar and I believe it’s one of the biggest make-up effects shows ever done in China. It is probably the most mentally challenging film I’ve ever done. It was about a year and a half stretch of crazy travel and nonstop work. We had to build a shop from the ground up and probably had close to 100 people working on hair suits and makeup effects! We made 80 full haired monkey suits or as I like to call them, Mankey suits, all hand tied, one hair at a time on to Spandex suits... Each suit had two heads and multiple faces. Plus we built a ton of other characters. Desire Soto was my Right Hand on that project! The key to surviving these huge jobs is to surround yourself with good people and have awesome interpreters who understand both cultures.

  WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON CURRENTLY?

Currently I am in pre-production on a Breck Eisner film starring Vin Diesel ”The Last Witch Hunter”! Some really cool stuff on that and I’m super excited. Earlier this year, I worked on the new season of “Eagleheart”. I also completed work on Director Jesse Johnson’s latest fan film short “Lobo” with two time World Kickboxing Champion Jerry “Golden Boy” Trimble.

  ANY ADVICE FOR ASPIRING MAKE-UP ARTISTS?

The field is saturated with aspiring artists so make sure it’s what you really want to do before you drop $10,000 or more on make-up school! Be prepared to work your way up. Learn to live frugally because starting pay can be low. And please, always be respectful of the people who came before you and learn the history. At least know who Dick Smith is. Then… practice, practice, practice!