Paul Walker has one regret about his new movie: "I wish I could have done more in the fight scenes."
Timeline showcases fight scenes galore, since many of the scenes in the movie are based in Europe during the 14th century in the midst of the Hundred Years War. But don't think this movie is like Braveheart.
Timeline is about four archeology students who are working on an ancient medieval site in France. When their professor, Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly), goes missing, they find out that he has been transported back in time. The students, including Johnston's son Chris Hughes (Paul Walker), are summoned to New Mexico where an unknown company called the ITC tells them they have been chosen to embark on the time machine they have created, to save professor Johnston. Problems develop when they realize that if they don't meet the time limit, they could be stuck in the ancient times forever.
The other college students are played by Frances O'Conner, Ethan Embry and Gerard Butler. The cast is rounded out with Anna Friel playing Lady Claire and David Thewlis playing the insomniac president of the ITC company.
The movie is based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same title. "The novel is really complex and really scientific. Honestly, I don't like sci-fi, but the movie does a good job explaining the time travel aspects without complicating it," Walker says.
So, how true to the book is the movie? "Quite a bit in its core basis - but when you compress 500 pages to 220 pages, things aren't as clear. The people I spoke to understand the changes and so they make sense," Walker says. "Because of this, I was told not to read the book until after the filming was done."
Like many of the movies made within the last few years, the film boasts high-action scenes and impressive photography. The fight scenes were a change of pace though - they were performed in real-time and used very little computer imagery. "I loved that because even though I like the battle sequences from 'Lord of the Rings' and other movies, I think CTI has run its course," Walker says.
The lack of technology also forced the props and scenes, like the castles, to be built to scale; this was also a change in pace for Walker whose last movie, 2 Fast, 2 Furious, was built around technology and scenes that were added during post-production. To train for the intricate scenes, the cast did martial arts and learned how to ride horses - something Walker was already well-versed in.
The chemistry among the cast comes across clearly on the screen. Although the company plans on riding on Walker's name to entice viewers, the movie does not focus on his character (or any other character), giving the separate plots the same time to develop. Connolly's character does especially well in providing comic relief. According to Walker, "When Billy's on set, everything is just that much cooler." And Embry makes it easy to believe that his character is really from the 14th century - accent, sword fighting and all.
Walker claims that "acting is like sports to me" and says his favorite scenes in the movie were ones done with O'Conner and Friel. As for his fiery-haired love interest, he thinks "Anna is really cute." The Hollywood gossip mills might be grinding on this one, given that Friel is an up-and-coming star herself.
This might explain another one of Walker's would-be regrets: "I wanted to be Marek's - Gerard Butler's - character. He got all the good parts. I was so bummed out when they said 'You'll be Chris.' I thought Chris was such a flirt, but I like where my character went, and I like him a lot now."
The movie opens on Nov. 26, just in time for Thanksgiving. It will compete with Disney's The Haunted Mansion, starring Eddie Murphy, which will also be released during the year's most lucrative box office weeks. Although it will face heavy competition, the studio is confident that the movie can hold its own, and so is Walker: "I am really proud of the movie, because the movement is stimulating - people want to be blown away by visuals, and they'll get that in this movie."
Reach the reporter at rekha.muddaraj@asu.edu.
