NATIONAL TREASURE:
BOOK OF SECRETS
Production Information Page 2
Justin Bartha was most recently seen opposite Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker in “Failure to Launch” in addition to roles in such films as “Trust the Man” and Sidney Lumet’s HBO film “Thought Crimes” as well as the starring role in NBC’s comedy “Teachers.”
Bruce Greenwood starred as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in “Thirteen Days” and has also won plaudits for his roles in such films as Jerry Bruckheimer’s production of “Déjà Vu,” “Eight Below,” “Capote” and “The Sweet Hereafter.”
Jon Turteltaub has become a major force in both U.S. films and television with his versatility and attention to detail. In addition to “National Treasure,” Turteltaub has directed such diverse feature films as “Disney’s The Kid,” starring Bruce Willis, “Phenomenon,” starring John Travolta, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker, “Cool Runnings” and “While You Were Sleeping,” starring Sandra Bullock. For television, Turteltaub is the executive producer of the smash CBS drama “Jericho,” for which he directed the premiere episode. He also directed the seventh episode of HBO’s multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning series “From the Earth to the Moon.”
Jerry Bruckheimer holds an undisputed position as one of the most successful producers in both motion pictures and television. First in partnership with Don Simpson and then as the chief of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, he has produced an unprecedented string of worldwide smashes, hugely impacting not only the industry, but mass culture as well. Bruckheimer’s films have included (producing with Don Simpson) “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Beverly Hills Cop 2,” “American Gigolo,” “Flashdance,” “Bad Boys,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide,” “The Rock” and (producing solo) “Con Air,” “Armageddon,” “Enemy of the State,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Remember the Titans,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Bad Boys II,” “Veronica Guerin,” “King Arthur,” “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”
On television, Jerry Bruckheimer had an unprecedented 10 television series airing in the 2005-6 season, a record in the medium for an individual producer. JBTV’s series have included “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” and its spinoffs “C.S.I.: Miami,” “C.S.I.: NY” and “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case,” and “The Amazing Race.”
Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television have been honored with 39 Academy Award® nominations, six Oscars®, eight Grammy Award® nominations, five Grammy Awards®, 23 Golden Globe® nominations, four Golden Globes®, 69 Emmy® nominations, 16 Emmy®Awards, 16 People’s Choice nominations, 11 People’s Choice Awards, numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade for “Beverly Hills Cop,” and 20 Teen Choice Awards.
It’s always nice to know when hard work is appreciated, and audiences around the world were definitely sending a message to producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub when “National Treasure” grossed more than $347 million worldwide upon its release in 2004.
In fact, despite its fervent plunge into American history, the movie made almost exactly the same amount of money overseas as it did stateside. “I’m always surprised when an audience likes what we do,” readily admits Bruckheimer. “You know, we make these movies in a kind of vacuum, we have nobody telling us what’s right and wrong. It all comes from instinct and surrounding ourselves with talented people. It takes just as much hard work on a picture that doesn’t work for an audience as one that does, so you’re always pleasantly surprised when they’re excited by a movie.
“I like adventure films that take you to other places and where you can learn things on the way, and that’s what ‘National Treasure’ was,” continues the producer. “It was suspenseful, humorous, had engaging characters and, maybe best of all, used American history as a jumping-off point for a very entertaining film. Audiences love to be entertained, but they also love to learn something.
“I also love history and learning about it myself,” adds Bruckheimer. “But you know, just laying a bunch of historical facts on the screen is going to bore an audience half to death, including me. So what we had to do to make ‘National Treasure’ a real adventure was to find facts that audiences might not know much about, make it exciting to discover, and put the characters in jeopardy. And unfortunately for Ben, Abigail and Riley, they got into a lot of jeopardy! When the first film opened, some people said that it was a wonderful American movie but nobody outside of the U.S. would see it. As it turned out, our foreign box office was the same as our domestic box office, so it just goes to show that people all over the world responded to the same thing about ‘National Treasure.’ If you make a fun movie, they will all
come.”
Like Bruckheimer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy, “National Treasure” maintained an across-the-demographic-board appeal to a wide range of moviegoers, from kids to older adults, a rare and true “family film” in the sense that three generations could watch it together with an equal sense of fun and entertainment…as opposed to a film for kids, which parents and/or grandparents have to endure rather than truly enjoy.
Clearly, based upon the public’s enthusiastic response to the first film, audiences wanted more of the same. And Bruckheimer, as is his tradition, would give them not only more, but better. Once again, Bruckheimer partnered with director Jon Turteltaub, a filmmaker who brings a rare gift to contemporary filmmaking: a genuinely charming, unpretentious, light touch, in which he seamlessly weaves action and adventure with romance and humor in ways which deftly recall such early elegant ’60s entertainments as “Charade” and “Topkapi,” albeit laced with 21st-century technology and sensibilities. “What we want to stress in the ‘National Treasure’ movies is that it’s fun and, in ways that sneak up on you, educational as well,” notes Bruckheimer. “Jon is very smart about keeping action very suspenseful, yet having the humor undercut the suspense. He’s a
master of walking that line.”
The first “National Treasure” film was developed by Jon Turteltaub after hearing the story idea from Oren Aviv (now President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production) and Charles Segars, who shared story credit with writer Jim Kouf on the first film. Aviv and Segars served as Executive Producers of “National Treasure” and NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS. To develop and write the screenplay for NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS, the filmmakers turned to the same tag team of noted scribes which had worked their magic with the first film: The story was provided by Gregory Poirier, The Wibberleys and the team of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Shrek” and “Aladdin” fame and then written by Marianne and Cormac Wibberley. Throughout production, both teams would continue the give-and-take process, constantly seeking to improve upon what was already on paper, in an innovative, almost collective fashion which also included contributions from the cast in a true collaboration.
All of the filmmakers were also intrigued by the idea of widening the scope of the second film beyond the borders of the United States and into the world beyond. “There are two main reasons why we have international locations in BOOK OF SECRETS,” says Turteltaub. “The first is that it opens up the sequel to bigger and broader horizons. The second is that we wanted to see Ben Gates outside the United States and see how the histories of France and England connected with that of America.”
“We sat down with Ted and Terry and hashed the story out over a three-week period of really heavy story meetings,” recalls Cormac Wibberley, “and after Jerry, Jon and Oren approved the idea, Marianne and I just jumped into the script from there.” While the first film had centered on the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War period of American history, the nexus of NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS was to be one of the key events of the 19th century: the Civil War and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. “Jerry, Chad Oman and Mike Stenson sent us research on the missing pages of the Booth diary,” says Wibberley. “They wanted to do a story about families and conflict. The launching point was the idea that Ben and Abigail are at odds and so are Patrick and his ex-wife, Emily. But everyone has to eventually find a way to work together to
find the treasure.”
“As with all Bruckheimer films,” says Cormac, “you have to start with the solid facts, and we incorporated a lot of those into the script: the assassination of Lincoln, the missing pages of the Booth diary, the Resolute Desks, the historical searches for the so-called ‘Seven Cities of Gold,’ the creation of the Statue of Liberty, the cellars beneath Mount Vernon, the caves inside of Mount Rushmore.” Adds Marianne Wibberley, “The Book of Secrets in the title could refer to two things: the lost pages of the Booth diary or the President’s Book that Ben, Abigail and Riley are seeking. And although there’s no proof that the Book of Secrets actually exists, it’s one of those urban legends that refuses to die.”
“There’s a lot more based on historical fact in BOOK OF SECRETS than in the first film,” notes executive producer Chad Oman. “You can almost pick any subject from the movie, Google it, and you’ll find lots of information. There are a few things that we have fun with using artistic license. What we learned from the first film was that you can teach kids and grownups as well little bits of history that they didn’t know and spark an interest. And we wanted to take that further in the second movie.”
Jon Turteltaub was also excited by the possibilities of where they could take the second film. “The story begins with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We found out that when John Wilkes Booth was hunted down and killed, he had a diary on him which kept a log of everything that had happened…but it had several pages torn out that were never seen again. And we thought, well, that’s a good mystery. What was on those pages? What was missing?
What was someone trying to hide? That’s the jumping-off point for the movie.” What follows is a twisting, winding road filled with clues, ciphers, puzzles which need to be solved by Ben, Abigail, Riley, Patrick, and, ultimately, Emily. “What’s interesting about ‘National Treasure’ versus a lot of other big adventure films,” adds Turteltaub, “is that the plot needs to be complicated enough to be up to the level of the puzzle-solving wits of the lead characters. That’s the fun of it, that’s the journey. And the audience wants to go on that journey with you.
If it’s too simple, then there’s no fun in that.”
Adds Bruckheimer, “What’s exciting about the ‘National Treasure’ movies is that you have to think to stay with it and follow the clues. I think that aspect really added to the success of the first film, and with the terrific cast, wonderful director, fabulous writers and the rest of our phenomenal troops on the second, we can expect not only more of the same, but even better and bigger. Jon Turteltaub is a brilliant director who was known more for his comedies than for adventure films, so he really cut his teeth with the first film. He said, ‘Whoa, this is kind of fun…maybe we should up the ante on the second one,’ and he certainly did.
“What’s key in making a sequel is getting the same talent behind the camera as in front of the camera,” continues Bruckheimer. “We got Jon Turteltaub and the same writers back to attempt to make an even better film than the first. Then you’ve got to get the same actors in front of the camera, and that’s key as well. We did it on the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies, and we’ve done it again on ‘National Treasure,’ on which both Nicolas Cage and Jon Voight are in sequels for the first time in their careers. Then we’ve added some exciting new elements, including Helen Mirren and Ed Harris. Ted and Terry, the Wibberleys, and Greg did a brilliant job in creating this movie’s characters.”
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