SHOOTING THE SHOOTER: ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Filled wall-to-wall with car chases, foot chases, shoot-outs and high-wire outdoor action sequences, the production of "Shooter" was rife with the kinds of logistical challenges that director Antoine Fuqua relishes. With locations spanning from British Columbia, where the breathtaking, alpine environment provided an awe-inspiring backdrop, to the major U.S. cities of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore - and with intricate stunts and choreographed action required at every turn - the undertaking was massive. 
Throughout, Fuqua worked closely with a team of visual artists noted for their keen skills in creating visceral, electrifying action, including director of photography Peter Menzies, Jr. ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Die Hard With a Vengeance") and production designer Dennis Washington ("The Fugitive").
Some of the film's most visually stunning and exciting moments come at the climax atop a frozen glacier, where Swagger has a rendezvous, at long last, with the men who set up him up to take the fall.  This sequence was shot high atop Rainbow Glacier, near the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia - a gorgeously primal locale, but one not necessarily well-suited for filmmaking. 
Accessible only by helicopter, the first issue was simply getting the cast and crew to the glacier for the five-day shoot.   "Just getting there was incredibly complicated," explains di Bonaventura.  "The choppers can only take five or four people at a time and we had to have 70 to 80 people up there, plus a lot of heavy equipment, so there was constant ferrying around, and there are only a certain number of hours pilots can fly."
He continues:  "We had to factor in how much gear each person would require to survive for several days up on the side of this glacier.  We also had to figure out how to provide bathroom facilities in the middle of nowhere, and how to keep our cast from getting frozen up.  Of course, we knew the weather could quickly turn fierce and dangerous at any minute, so we kept our fingers crossed.   It was a really amazing adventure."
For Antoine Fuqua, the location had to work because it was just too perfect not to use to its fullest potential.  "I kept saying 'I've gotta shoot on this glacier, I've gotta shoot on this glacier,'" Fuqua recalls.  "It's just so spectacular. When you're there, above the clouds and on top of nothing but ice, it's like being in another world.  Visually, for me, I just couldn't see doing it anywhere else."
Still, the director put in a lot of extra effort to assure the cast and crew's safety, even in such unpredictable conditions.  "You have to realize that, once you're helicoptered up, you're literally stuck on this glacier which is filled with serious dangers," he explains.  "Storms can come in at any time and you have to watch out for all the crevasses.  But safety was our biggest focus.  People were always tethered and we took our time.  Every shot moved 50 to 75 percent slower than normal." 
The camerawork itself was quite daring on the glacier.  "I actually had to get on a helicopter and use the helicopter as a dolly quite a bit to literally move around," Fuqua continues.  "It was very challenging to get the helicopter balanced on the ground without hitting the ice.  Also, because of the glacier, your perspective can be completely thrown off.  What you think is far away is really close and what you think is really close is far away.  You're up on this white sheet of ice all day, your eyes start to burn and it's hard to keep things in perspective.  So you really have to focus that much more."   
Elaborate scenes utilizing helicopters, numerous gun-toting mercenaries and several large explosions also took place in Mission, BC, about ninety minutes from Vancouver, which stood in for Bob Lee Swagger's mountain-top ranch.  Breathtaking as it was, the location became known as "Mission: Impossible" for its constant barrage of obstacles and challenges ranging from constant shifts in weather to bone-breaking terrain.  It was here that stunt coordinator John Stoneham and the visual effects team also did some of their finest work, carefully rigging several massive, napalm-style explosions that ratchet up the intensity and suspense of the film even further.
Also in Canada, the historic desert community of Ashcroft, BC was used as a stand-in for scenes that take place in the Horn of Africa, near Eritrea.  The arid terrain, surrounded by mountains, provided the perfect setting for production designer Dennis Washington to re-create a U.S. military camp in the small African nation of Djibouti.
As successful as the Canadian portion of the shoot was, Fuqua was eager to move on to the U.S. locations.  "Personally, I love shooting on location because it puts me in real space," says the director.  Among the highly recognizable locales seen in "Shooter" are the Capital Mall, the Reflection Pool in front of the Capital and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 
Throughout the shoot in the U.S., Fuqua credits the FBI's cooperation with lending even more striking authenticity to the film.  "The FBI was incredible to us," remarks Fuqua.  "In Philadelphia, the FBI just opened up their doors to us, which I didn't think would happen, especially after 9/11.  They let us roam all around the offices, we met the ASAC [Assistant Special Agent In Charge], we met the Violent Crime Squad.  A couple of guys at the FBI who used to be Secret Service actually got up every day when we were shooting in Philadelphia at six in the morning and came to the set to tell us what was right and what was wrong about what we were doing, on their own, just to help.  We also had the opportunity to shoot in front of Independence Hall, which we couldn't have done without the FBI, whose offices are right across the street from Independence Hall."
While the intricate logistics added further intensity and excitement to the production, for Fuqua the bottom line always came back to the characters - and the journey of Bob Lee Swagger to find his way through an impossible situation to some kind of justice.  Fuqua summarizes:  "Shooting the big sequences in this film was sometimes like going into battle.  You had to coordinate everything perfectly - the explosions, keeping people safe, making it look cool, using the best angles and shots, all of that.  But as important as all of that is, the real heart of the excitement still comes down to the performances of the actors." 

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ANTOINE FUQUA (Director) has established himself as one of the foremost industry talents of his generation.  Through his diverse body of work, he has achieved his goal of making highly stylized films that resonate thematically and personally with audiences around the world.  Fuqua confirmed his place as a young director of unique vision and craft with the extremely successful release of Warner Bros.' "Training Day," which chronicles one brutal day in the life of a corrupt cop.  The film starred Denzel Washington, who won an Academy Award^® for Best Actor for his performance, as well as Ethan Hawke, who was nominated for an Academy Award^® as Best Supporting Actor.
Fuqua's recent features include "Tears of the Sun," starring Bruce Willis and Monica Belucci and the Jerry Bruckheimer production of "King Arthur," starring Academy Award^® nominee and Golden Globe winner Clive Owen, and Academy Award^® nominee Keira Knightley.  He also directed "Lightning in a Bottle," a filmed concert celebrating the history of blues, which was produced by Martin Scorsese.
Fuqua revealed an impressive stylistic flair with his debut film, "The Replacement Killers," featuring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat and Academy Award^® winner Mira Sorvino.  This was followed by the comedic thriller "Bait," starring Academy Award^® winner Jamie Foxx.
A native of Pittsburgh, Fuqua studied engineering at West Virginia University before moving to New York in 1987 to direct music videos.  Fuqua joined Propaganda Films, where his narrative sensibility garnered him many awards, making him one of the industry's most sought-after music video and commercial directors.  He has directed videos for artists such as Prince, Coolio and Usher.  In addition, he has directed commercials for domestic and international clients such as Pirelli, Armani, Reebok, Nike (Jordan Brand) and GMC.
Fuqua continues to direct studio pictures, as well as directing and producing projects through his own banner - Fuqua Films.  Recently he set up a distribution deal with HBO for his award-winning documentary "Bastards of The Party" (which he produced), on the evolution of gang banging.

JONATHAN LEMKIN (Screenwriter) was raised in Ohio, the son of a toy designer and an educator.  These two disparate influences continue to confuse him slightly to this day, he says.
Lemkin received a magna cum laude degree from Harvard University in Visual and Environment Arts and attended the Eugene O'Neill National Theater Institute in New London, Connecticut and the American Filmmaking Institute in Los Angeles.  He began his professional career as a writer in hour-long television with credits on such shows as "Hill Street Blues," "Moonlighting" and "21 Jump Street," where he worked as a story editor for the first two seasons.
He wrote long-form television and both produced and directed in the hour-long arena before leaving for larger screens.  His writing credits in motion pictures include "The Devil's Advocate," "Lethal Weapon 4," "Red Planet" and  an assortment of uncredited production rewrites of action vehicles.
His work on "Shooter" allowed him to train with private snipers, crawl in the mud with Marines and sit in darkened rooms with worried conspiracy buffs.  He can't prove it, but he continues to believe that he's probably still being watched, the wry writer says.
He is currently adapting the book Cage for Regency Productions.

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