Matt Damon praises Weta studios…

In the Great Wall movie, Matt Damon will soon be fighting Chinese “badass” monsters armed to the teeth with arsenal by New Zealand’s Weta Workshop.

Damon stated, “The work the Kiwi special effects company did for the movie was, incredible!” and you can imagine it would be with, ‘LOTR’ and ‘The Hobbit’ under their belt.

The Great Wall is a US-China (Donald Trump be weary about those jobs escaping!) co-production from Legendary, China film group, Le Vision Pictures and Atlas Enternainment, by acclaimed director Zhang Yimou (Hero and House of Flying Daggers fame.)

Miramar-based Weta Workshop, having recently finished working on Scarlett Johansson’s film Ghost in the Shell, spent 65,000 man hours creating 4500 pieces of armour, swords, spears, shields, and other props for the film.

Filmed largely in Qingdao, China, the Great Wall is set in the Song Dynasty-era, and based on an ancient motif that appears throughout Chinese mythology, the Tao Tie.

Tao Tie appear in the movie as a swarming army of monstrous predators that a great wall was built to keep em’ out!

“The premise of the film set in historical China was a fantastic opportunity for Weta Workshop,” Weta founder Sir Richard Taylor said, and added, “That a sizable part of the biggest Chinese film (we wait to see) ever made has been produced in a small suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, is a terrific achievement.”

Photos: Legendary Pictures, China Film Group

The film’s Design Studio Project Manager, Tasha Guillot, said that while the film is a work of fantasy, its setting meant that designs had to embody a sense of historical realism, and what Culturedemandsgeeks has seen of the movie so far, Weta Workshop and the cast have pulled out all the punches.The film sets looks amazing, the craft and detail of the costumes and the story seems believable too.

Coming soon, The Great Wall, directed by Yimou Zhang. Starring Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Tian Jing, Lu Han,Andy Lau and many others will fire into cinemas mid 2017.