Original subtitles

That's the classic Musketeer shot.

You know, I've always been attracted to The Three Musketeers.

I've always loved those kind of swashbuckling films,

and it's a kind of film that I've always wanted to make.

It's a real passion of mine and it has been for a long time.

And also, for me, it was exciting to kind of tell a story of The Three Musketeers

in a way that hadn't been told before.

I grew up watching the Richard Lester version of The Three Musketeers,

which I love, but D'Artagnan had to be in his mid-30s,

and in the book, he's 18 years old.

So, really, it was exciting for us to kind of make a movie where

D'Artagnan really was the correct age.

I think it's probably the first time

D'Artagnan's been played by a teenager, with Logan Lerman.

And I think young men are gonna be really excited

to see a young swashbuckling, brilliant, fabulous, kickass D'Artagnan.

It's probably the first time for a mainstream American movie, anyway,

to kind of portray the architecture and the feel of France as it really was.

So I think, in many ways, although we take some departures

from The Three Musketeers, we also tell a story

that, visually, is very, very true to Dumas' book.

It's like Shakespeare. if you've seen Shakespeare over and over again,

but you never see the same performance.

That's what's important about this film, is that, you know, it's a brilliant story,

it's lasted a very long time, and it deserves to be told again.

The movie has always fascinated generations of storytellers

because it's got just big themes, like big universal themes,

that everyone, wherever you're from, can identify with.

And this is such a fresh take on it, it's a very modernized version of it.

I think every generation deserves its own telling of this classical tale

of friendship and loyalty and honor and love

and betrayal and intrigue.

And we go get a B shot and see all the guys.

- And then he comes in... - Then he can come in the shot.

Okay.

Men get to be men and women get to be women,

and it's something that anyone, any age group,

can go and enjoy a movie like The Three Musketeers.

One of the producers, Jeremy Bolt, was saying

nowadays people are so involved in the cyber world,

in the virtual reality world of games and interactions and all that sort of stuff,

and that's where, essentially, they're having their adventures and where they learn,

but they're sat in their house,

and in some way, seeing a tale like this is saying, you know, the world is yours,

and there are still adventures to be had,

and to go and experience life and to live it.

All for one.

ALL: And one for all.

I get to be a caddish, rakish rogue.

Don't worry.

It isn't fatal.

Although I suspect a part of you wishes it was.

ANDERSON". When we were talking about doing The Three Musketeers, I said to Jeremy,

"We must have Orlando Bloom in this movie."

We went to go and have a cup of tea with Orlando in London,

and I talked to him about it and, of course, he loved it.

I think this is really the first proper, manly role that people will have seen him in

and it's really fantastic.

I get to be a baddy without being the obvious out-and-out baddy, the arch enemy.

That was what drew me to it.

I just knew that it was gonna be a lot of fun

and that it's gonna be great entertainment.

I like it. I like it.

Buckingham sort of comes in and has these moments

with all the key characters and stirs it up and then leaves.

BUCKINGHAM: Telling him you loved him right before you betrayed him.

I must say, that was cruel.

BLOOM: He was the wealthiest courtier of his king's reign,

so he's kind of like a big spoiled brat.

And he's kind of a bit of a rock star.

We shall have to be ready for him.

Won't we?

BLOOM: When we were talking, Paul was like "I want you to think of David Bowie.

"I want you to think of Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger,

"and those kind of cool rock stars."

As I recall, last I saw you, you were on your knees as well.

Most unfortunate habit.

BLOOM: We had a great rehearsal period

and I had already kind of done some work on the characters,

the voice and the movement.

And then I got into my costume

and found that that was doing most of it for me.

(CHUCKLING) So, it was like, "Just don't make a mess of it."

When you have costumes like I have,

the only thing you have to make sure you don't do, is ruin it.

Orlando is a fantastic man, but also he was very engaged with the movie.

He loved the role he was playing. He loved the costumes he was wearing.

The bad guys really get to have all the fun so I'm enjoying myself.

Yeah.

At last, the war machine.

I'm not a big fan of green screen.

I would rather build as much of a real set as possible.

Gives the actors more to interact with

and it also makes the finished visual effects more realistic.

My least favorite shot would always be

an actor just standing in front of a green screen

because then the only reality in the shot is the actor

and everything else is completely synthetic.

My favorite kind of visual effects shot is where the actor's real,

the floor he or she is standing on is real, the background is real,

the kind of distant background is real,

and then in the distant, distant background, there's a green screen.

So even after there's a visual effect incorporated into it,

you're still looking at an image that is 80% reality and just 20% synthetic.

Because, I think, if you do that, then that

20% synthetic is really easy to sell as real.

If you turned over your left shoulder...

Yeah, 'cause then it's a better eye-line to him,

and also he'll... He probably won't be able to hear you,

but he'll at least know.

And, I think, also, the first comment as well,

about, "Now, we have their attention," should be directed back to him as well.

Yeah. And that way we're keeping your good eye to camera.

So, they are undoubtedly my favorite set

that I've ever had built in all the movies I've made.

These fantastic three-story, huge ships were wonderful

and a lot of effort and time and money went into them.

And it would've been a lot easier just to have actors

standing against a green screen and then put the ships in digitally.

But I felt that would really lack the authenticity

of having these really big sets

that we could then do digital enhancement to.

So we went for it, and we built these giant ships

that were very difficult to film on,

because, you know, when your actors are standing on the ship,

at, like, 40 feet in the air and you have to get the camera up there

and you have to get the actors up there,

and then also, just to sell the reality that they're on a ship,

you have to have wind machines going all the time and movement all the time.

So they were tough sets to film on, but, I think, from the first day to the last day,

every actor loved being up there because they were just so damned exciting.

I hate air travel!

All right, here we go.

ANDERSON: Yes, The Three Musketeers is set in France,

but the interesting thing about Bavaria is that

a lot of the castles and palaces that were built there,

were built at a time when it was very fashionable

to kind of emulate French architecture

and also Italian architecture, and the opening of our version

of The Three Musketeers takes place in Venice

and then the action shifts to Paris.

So, in a way, Bavaria was perfect, because it had a fantastic mix

of Italian and French architecture.

For me, it was very exciting. And also, it was very exciting

because, really, in all the previous versions of The Three Musketeers,

no one had ever really presented France and Paris.

I know that may seem strange coming from a filmmaker who shot his movie in Germany,

but, you know, the architecture was true French architecture.

And also, what we've been able to do with visual effects

is really recreate whole chunks of Paris that have never been seen before.

Notre-Dame Cathedral, as it was at the time,

the Louvre, as it was at the time.

These fabulous bridges that arched across the Seine

that had houses built on them, houses and shops,

and, you know, these things have never really been seen in a movie

of The Three Musketeers before.

So it was very exciting to kind of immerse the audience

in this kind of fantastical environment.

What we chose to do is we took real locations

and then we adapted them to our use.

For example, we took an amazing white room in Oberschleissheim

and we put a map of Europe on the floor,

which fits seamlessly, but it kind of looks like it's inlaid into the marble floor,

and this became Richelieu's office and also his war room.

I would often say to my production designer, Paul Austerberry,

we'd kind of be in a big room in Herrenchiemsee or Oberschleissheim,

and I would say, "How much would it cost to build this, if we built it as a set?"

And he would look at it and he'll go, "You know what?

"Not only would you never, ever be able to afford to build this.

"Secondly, the level of detail and the craftsmanship that exists here

"doesn't exist in the world anymore.

"The way these things are carved and detailed, no one does that.

"That's kind of a lost art."

So, really, in a way, you know, these locations are providing

a kind of glimpse into the reality of an opulent past

that I think most people have not seen before.