{"id":300323,"date":"2025-11-22T20:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T20:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300323\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T20:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T20:30:12","slug":"family-plan-2-director-on-shooting-real-action-scenes-i-hate-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300323\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Family Plan 2’ Director on Shooting Real Action Scenes: I Hate AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSimon Cellan Jones<\/a> has had a long career directing both film and television, but he says he gets his biggest thrill when a tricky action setpiece comes together. In his newest movie, the Mark Wahlberg<\/a> action-filled family comedy \u201cThe Family Plan 2<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Apple TV, the globetrotting adventure has one knockout car chase all around the famous Montmartre district in Paris, and it pushed everyone on set to their limit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were literally driving down these steps outside this famous church,\u201d Cellan Jones says. \u201cWhen I saw that shot, we did that for real. We drove a little Trabant, an old East German car, and a Range Rover down these steps. And the stunt person came up to me and said, \u2018Simon, you got one more, because this is getting really scary, okay?\u2019 And I said, \u2018I need one more.\u2019 So we made a deal, and it was even more terrifying the last time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Apple<\/p>\n

\n\tCellan Jones and the stunt team nailed the shot, along with several other big-ticket on-location stunts that other productions might have filmed at the studio or by other means.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s getting permission from the bureaucracy, the mayor\u2019s office or whatever,\u201d Cellan Jones says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to fill out so many forms and be really specific about what you do. We had another sequence that took place in Piccadilly Circus and Westminster Bridge, iconic parts of London. We had to close them down by putting in a plan three months in advance. Then, when you get there, you can\u2019t change it. So you want to be spontaneous, but you have to have your ducks in a row three months in advance, and then you have to hope that you were right. On the day, hopefully it all works out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a world where Sora 2 videos are touted online as able to conjure action and adventure scenes from thin air in a few minutes, and filming hubs in Atlanta and Canada often stand in for locations all around the world, it\u2019s refreshing to hear a craftsman like Cellan Jones push for his work to feel real and tactile.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople always say, \u2018Well, listen, we could do this CG,’\u201d Cellan Jones says. \u201cThey always say that. But I work with Skydance. They\u2019re pretty cool. They really do like movies. So when I said to them, \u2018I want to do all these shots of parkour on the roof,\u2019 the first thing was, \u2018Look, it\u2019s very dangerous on a roof. You have to have hundreds of safety cables. It takes hours and hours\u2019 \u2014 which it does, by the way. And I said, \u2018Look, we could do it on a set, but honestly, it wouldn\u2019t look as good.\u2019 And they went, \u2018Okay, fine. If you can make it work for the money, do that.\u2019 So they were really supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Apple<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s no surprise that Cellan Jones likes to keep things real, growing up loving \u201970s and \u201980s movies, and worshipping stuntwork and car chases like those in 1971\u2019s \u201cThe French Connection\u201d and 1968\u2019s \u201cBullitt.\u201d He\u2019s currently in the midst of a creative partnership with Wahlberg, another action aficionado who starred in his last two films, 2023\u2019s \u201cThe Family Plan\u201d and 2024\u2019s \u201cArthur the King.\u201d Additionally, Cellan Jones\u2019 television work is filled with shows known for impressive stunt work and real locations, like \u201cGeneration Kill,\u201d \u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d and \u201cJessica Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite more industry championing for action to be processed through AI, Cellan Jones says it\u2019s impossible to fully duplicate the feel of great action with computer intelligence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOften I see a big scene, and even if it\u2019s very skillfully done, I know it\u2019s fake, it\u2019s crowd replication, it\u2019s AI, it\u2019s CG,\u201d he says. \u201cA little switch goes in me, and I think even in young kids who watch TikTok, where they go, \u2018Yeah, okay, but that doesn\u2019t quite feel real.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while effects sometimes creep into his projects for the safety of his crew or to get an impossible shot, Cellan Jones is happy to keep championing reality in even the most challenging action work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI obviously have to work with CG a little bit here and there, but I don\u2019t consider myself an expert,\u201d Cellan Jones says. \u201cAnd, honestly, I don\u2019t want to become an expert. My go-to is, first of all, let\u2019s do it for real with the actors. Then, sometimes either it\u2019s unfair to ask the actors, or you wouldn\u2019t get the insurance or whatever. But then, okay, let\u2019s do it for real with stuntmen or really good doubles. Everything that you can do for real is great. And I don\u2019t want to completely shit on AI because I don\u2019t want to be a Luddite who refuses to see the future, but I fucking hate AI at the moment. It\u2019s going to be relevant, but I think people can tell when you\u2019re using CG and AI, and they appreciate it when you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the \u201cFamily Plan 2\u201d trailer below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Simon Cellan Jones has had a long career directing both film and television, but he says he gets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,96308,337,134919,133380],"class_list":{"0":"post-300323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-mark-wahlberg","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-simon-cellan-jones","14":"tag-the-family-plan-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}