Game Of Clones

SHOT AT 120 FRAMES PER SECOND IN NATIVE 3D AND FEATURING THE FIRST FULLY DIGITAL HUMAN CHARACTER THREATENING TO CONQUER THE UNCANNY VALLEY, GEMINI MAN IS THE DECADE’S MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY AMBITIOUS BLOCKBUSTER. TOTAL FILM VISITS THE SET OF ANG LEE’S LATEST GROUNDBREAKER TO SEE THE CHANGING FACE OF CINEMA.

- Jordan Farley

Glennville, Georgia, is a city known for three things: farming crickets, the 1,000-plus capacity Smith State Prison and – for one week only – it’s where Will Smith is spending his nights shooting future soldiers off rooftops. Everyone in town knows it.

It’s difficult not to when the deafening sound of bullet fire can be heard for miles around. But no one minds being kept awake ’til the witching hour to accommodate Gemini Man’s anti-social schedule. In fact, hundreds of the city’s 3,500 population are patiently waiting on the sidelines, hoping for a glimpse of a superstar or, if they’re lucky, a visit from the Fresh Prince himself.

“The town has fallen in love with Will,” says über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who sidles over to TF, camera in hand, to snap the sea of people who’ve been gathered for hours. At least they’re getting a good show. For the Savannah leg of Gemini Man’s globetrotting shoot (which will take in Cartagena, Budapest, and a performance-capture ‘volume’, before they’re done), the film’s production team has converted a long-abandoned high street into a, well, slightly less abandoned high street, constructing an off-licence, flower shop and hardware store and rigging them with enough explosives for the firefight to come that they can be leveled again in seconds.