bodyField=Principal photography began on "Around the World in 80 Days" in the sweltering heat of Thailand.  On the first day of shooting, the unit had swelled to over 700 crew members. "Part of the learning process for the studio and for those of us in production was to find out what it took to get the job done all over the world," says UPM Billy Badalato. "It was very different everywhere we went." Luckily, he adds, the 700 crew members that showed up the first day whittled down to around 500 most days.

Despite the 125 degree heat and the vast scope of the production, Coraci kept the mood on the set as light as possible.  "I have rarely worked for a director who is so respected by the actors," comments producer Bill Badalato. "We worked hard. We worked long hours. But we enjoyed coming to work every day because Frank is a hoot."

Thailand served mainly as the location for Lanzhou, Passepartout's home in China, where the loyal valet returns the jade Buddha so prized by his village. Production designer Perry Andelin Blake, who worked with Coraci previously on "The Waterboy" and "The Wedding Singer," built a Chinese village in the foothills of the mountains in Thailand that amazed the cast and crew. "It looked spectacular, even from a distance," says Steve Coogan. "It's a beautiful old village, beautifully made, beautifully constructed."

It was in this village that Blake and Coraci had a run-in with one of the Brahma bulls that were being used to pull carts in a scene. "One day Frank and I were walking to the Chinese village, and we saw this big bull running down the main street," recounts Blake. "We thought, 'wow, that looks very authentic.' All of a sudden, we see people running and scattering. The bull was getting wild and crazy. He's running and people are diving out of the way. And we realized that the bull was actually loose. We ducked into a building and the bull went running past. It took about 25 minutes to finally get him restrained!"

The production spent four and a half weeks in Thailand, making stops in the capital of Bangkok; and the southern cities of Phuket (known as "the Pearl of the Andaman sea" for its pristine beaches) and Krabi. "It really worked out well. Thailand is a magical place," says Coraci, "and I believe that magic will come through in the film."  

The production then moved to Europe. One of the key sequences shot in Berlin was the climactic scene where Fogg, Passepartout, and Monique crash-land their flying machine at the steps of the London Royal Academy of Science in front of hundreds of onlookers.   

Says production designer Perry Blake, "We did a little crash test. It wasn't full speed, but still... We had a gigantic construction crane which was over 100 feet high. It was on a long track so that we could not only bring the flying machine in but we could drop it down and fairly well control it."

The scene took place in a large plaza in Berlin. The square was "Trafalgar Square-esque," according to Blake. "It turned out to be a fantastic place because not only was it spectacular and grand, but it was surrounded by an opera house designed by famed architect Karl Frederick Schinkel that stood in as the Royal Academy of Science." One side of the plaza didn't work as well, so the unit built its own 35-foot-tall, 200-foot-long building in the same style. "We tried to match the color and the style and the tone of the other buildings, and then we used trees to tie it together and anchor it into the plaza. We were able to shoot in almost any direction," says Blake.

A trick the production used to conceal modern buildings during this important scene was a huge lion. "We built an oversized base unit, and I sculpted a giant lion on it. It was on wheels so that we could move it around," says Blake. With changes in camera angles and moving the lion to different spots, the filmmakers were able to block several structures. 

The unit also filmed in Goerlitz, a small town in eastern Germany that seemed untouched by the modern world. "It was a small, beautiful little gem of a city," says Blake, and its quaint streets doubled for French streets. The production also filmed briefly on a back lot in Germany, which stood in for San Francisco. During filming, "Around the World in 80 Days" endured the normal little catastrophes that one might expect for an undertaking of this magnitude. Not only did the production shoot in many locations across the world, but many different languages were spoken on set and various interpreters were needed. "On American sets, we take for granted the language and the culture," says Phyllis Alia.

 "On this movie, we needed to learn on the job what works and what doesn't work for Thai crews, or German crews. We were on set in Thailand and Frank would be talking to the actors, and then we'd break for a second and five different interpreters would tell five different sets of people in Mandarin and Cantonese and Thai. "I think that we gained a larger respect and understanding for other cultures," says Alia. "The spirit of the journey of 'Around the World in 80 Days' is this spirit of opening your eyes to other cultures, and that's why this has been a truly special filmmaking experience for the whole crew."

"It's a time to embrace other cultures and make the world a smaller place," says Frank Coraci, "so we wanted to make a movie that brought people together."
Producer Hal Lieberman agrees that the film has particular relevance in the charged atmosphere of today's world climate. "These are hard times, and our movie at its core is about kindness, generosity, and spirit across the world. It's a nice story and a nice message. I think the movie speaks to the best places inside of us, because there's people all around the world, meeting and connecting and caring about each other."

"It's a very timely movie," says Steve Coogan. "The world's experienced a lot of problems and this is a way of bringing people together. It's a very unifying, positive view of the world as a global village." 

Once all was said and done, for two weeks after principal photography, a crew went to locations like Paris, Austria, Cornwall (England), Hong Kong, the California desert, and the Great Wall of China -- the film was shot in over 10 different countries and used CGI only when absolutely necessary. "It was about actually being in the places," stresses Coraci. "It's like a movie you don't see anymore ... A throwback film enhanced with today's technology."
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