Hulk
Short description
Scientist Bruce Banner carries a painful past and works in genetic research. After he is exposed to a massive dose of gamma radiation in a laboratory accident, he finds that intense anger triggers a transformation into a huge green creature of enormous strength. The military, led by General Ross, hunts the monster, while Betty Ross, Banner's former partner and the general's daughter, remains close to him and is the one person who may be able to reach the man inside the creature. A rival researcher, Glenn Talbot, also pursues the Hulk for his own purposes.
Ang Lee directed this 2003 adaptation of the Marvel character, his eighth film in a directing career that by then included Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and would continue with Brokeback Mountain. The screenplay is credited to James Schamus, Michael France and John Turman, and the cast is led by Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross, Sam Elliott as General Ross, Josh Lucas as Talbot and Nick Nolte as Banner's father. It was a large production, made for about 137 million dollars, and it took roughly 245 million dollars worldwide.
The film belongs to the early 2000s cycle of Marvel screen adaptations. Audience responses were mixed: it holds a rating of 5.7 out of 10 on IMDb and 5.6 out of 10 on TMDB, while the critics' rating stands higher, at 6.4 out of 10.
What's left behind the scenes
- Industrial Lights and Magic (ILM) provided the digital effects for the film, a significant portion of which was created using CGI technology. To humanize Hulk, 12,996 structural drawings had to be created, 1,165 muscle movements drawn, and 69 artists, 41 animators, and 35 designers involved.
- Bruce’s first transformation into Hulk occurs only at the 42nd minute of the film.
- Stan Lee, head of "Marvel Group", recalls the story of Hulk's creation as follows: "When I was younger, I really liked the films "Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff in the role of the monster and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." And then one day I had an idea: what if we combined the characters from both films and created a hero who would transform from an ordinary person into a monster?" "The Incredible Hulk" first appeared in May 1962 in a series of six comics, leaving no trace in the souls of readers. Two years later, he reappeared in the "Tales to Astonish" anthology as an episodic character in a comic about Giant-Man. And his popularity began to rise, and "Tales to Astonish" was renamed "The Incredible Hulk" magazine. By 1968, Hulk's rating was higher than the company's most popular hero - Spider-Man. The series about "The Incredible Hulk" lasted until 1999, when the final, 474th issue was released. In 1977, CBS launched a fairly successful television series with Bill Bixby in the role of Banner and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno in the role of Hulk.
- Hulk was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962 and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1. The film is not based on a specific plot from the comics.
- The painting is based on comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
- Computer technology was used to create Hulk, the main character of the comic, which created significant problems for the live actors, who had to perform scenes with an empty space (where the artificial character would later appear). To make it easier for them to navigate, a cardboard substitute for the character was used on set. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jennifer Connelly complained that she had never felt so uncomfortable before: “I kept looking at pieces of sticky tape on the cut-out cardboard and realizing that it was nothing. It was terrible. I’ve never worked like this before.” Director Ang Lee confirmed that such difficulties did indeed exist, but after a week of “cardboard” training, Jennifer played with the empty space as if a living person were standing in front of her.
- Director Ang Lee took his place in this film after being rejected as the director of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003).
- Billy Crudup, Johnny Depp, David Duchovny, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and Steve Buscemi were all considered for the role of Hulk.
- The gamma sphere shown in the film from Bruce Banner's laboratory is a real (and quite complex) piece of equipment used for the ATLAS project at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. However, the device has nothing to do with gamma streams.
- Lou Ferrigno, who plays the head of security, played Hulk himself in the first films from 1977-1990.
- Talk of the upcoming filming of “Hulk” first began as early as February 2000. At that time, there was still hope that the film would be released in 2001. In mid-2000, one informed person from Marvel stated that the film should be released in two years. Six months later, when producers began negotiations with Ang Lee, the talk was already about 2003.
- The script was rewritten several times. Its original author was Michael Tolkin. His work was revised by David Hayter. This was followed by another revision, carried out by James Schamus (a longtime partner of Ang Lee, who had worked on most of his films) – this happened after Ang Lee, in a fit of passion, stated in one interview that he would throw all of Universal's scripts to hell and write everything he needed himself. It can be added that at the very start of the project, Michael Franks was somehow involved, but he was subsequently not mentioned as a screenwriter.
- If Hulk really existed, he would wear size 87 shoes, his skin would be 10 times stronger than Kevlar, and the pressure he would exert on the ground would be 14 tons per square inch!
- Michael Danna was initially supposed to be the composer for the film, but was later replaced by Danny Elfman.
- Filming of this picture took place in a variety of locations across the country: in Moab National Park in the state of Utah, in Arizona, and practically in every corner of California.
- One of the creators of Hulk, Stan Lee, appeared in an episodic role as a security guard.
- Filming of the picture began on March 18, 2002, in Arizona, and in early April moved to San Francisco. Filming was completed in August 2002.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
