Red Notice producer Hiram Garcia explains that the Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot dance sequence in the film was much harder to shoot than people realize. Upon hitting Netflix late last year, Red Notice quickly became a hit, surpassing Bird Box as the streamer's most-watched original film ever. Starring Johnson, Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds, the action-comedy follows an Interpol agent as he attempts to capture two of the most notorious (and competitive) art thieves in the world.
In addition to being Netflix's most-watched film ever, Red Notice is also one of the streamer's most expensive films to date with a reported production budget of over $200 million. While the film's three stars likely pocketed a hefty portion of the budget, production on the film was hampered by the pandemic, which likely ballooned costs even further. As has been seen demonstrated perhaps most notably with the production of Mission: Impossible 7 and Tom Cruise's now-infamous safety rant, a number of new COVID safety protocols have had to be introduced to ensure the well-being of everyone on a film set. These protocols have made filming more difficult and have changed the way productions have had to approach shooting scenes that previously would have been relatively straightforward.
In a new interview with Collider, Garcia explains that the dance sequence between Johnson and Gadot was made surprisingly difficult to shoot with the introduction of new COVID safety protocols. The new rules regulated how many people were allowed to be on set and meant that distancing measures had to be in place, making scenes featuring large groups of people particularly difficult to shoot. Check out Garcia's full comment below:
"Some of the simplest shots you might see in the movie, you'd never realize how complex they were, just in terms of how you were able to shoot some of these things given the logistics of distancing and who was allowed to be on set and not on set. So something like the tango scene between DJ and Gal was an extremely complex scene to shoot, especially with the amount of extras and background and all the stuff going on. The layers required to shoot that and put them on top of each other to make it feel like a room that was full but the truth was it was really complex."
While many have pointed out Red Notice's sub-par visual effects in many areas, the dance sequence is one that seems to have gone completely unnoticed. Instead of just having Johnson and Gadot dance in a room full of extras, as likely would have been done pre-pandemic, Garcia's comments suggest that the new safety measures in place meant that finishing the sequence involved shooting a number of separate elements and then layering them on top of each other in post-production to give the illusion of a full dance floor. What would have been a relatively straightforward sequence to shoot a few years ago was made much more complicated because of the pandemic.
Although it seems like Hollywood has largely gotten used to filming movies during the ongoing pandemic, Garcia's comments highlight the extent to which productions have had to change the way they approach certain scenes. It's not clear if measures like the ones taken on Red Notice will become the new normal or if, in the future, productions will be able to go back to shooting in crowded rooms with extras for that extra layer of authenticity. Considering how seamless the dance sequence came together in the final film, it seems likely that, if there ends up being a sequel to Red Notice, the production will use similar methods.
Source: Collider