by Jeff Kinney
people. The truck is followed by a caravan of
vehicles that carry the rest of the team.
The vehicles are spray-painted completely black so
that they don’t cast a reflection in the windows
of passing cars.
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That’s especially important when shooting a close-up
like this one.
The more action
there is in a
scene, the more
challenging it
is to film. The
most complex road
scene in the movie is when Greg’s father takes a
work call, and chaos breaks out inside the van.
The whole scene went off without a hitch, and no
people, or pigs, were harmed in the process.
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A Sticky Situation
The script for “The Long Haul” called for the
Heffley family to get really messy on their journey
to Meemaw’s. Mud, bird poop, feathers, toiletries,
cinnamon bun goo — you name it, and the Heffleys
were covered in it.
Most of the time, it’s the hair and makeup
department’s job to make actors look good
on-screen. But for “The Long Haul,” more often
than not they needed to look BAD.
The actors playing the Heffleys weren’t the
ONLY ones who had to get messy, though.
In most films, lighting doubles or stand-ins are
used so that the filmmakers can get everything
set up just right before the real actors are
brought in. For “The Long Haul,” each member
of the Heffley family had a double who was the
same height. And like the actors who played the
Heffleys, the stand-ins enjoyed getting to know
one another during filming.
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Everything the actors who played the Heffley
family went through in the film, the lighting
doubles had to go through, too. And they had to
go through it FIRST.
So every time Greg and his family were sprayed
with shampoo, attacked
by seagulls, or
splattered with mud,
remember that they
weren’t the only ones
who had to suffer.
In one of the first
messy scenes that was
filmed, the Beardo
family’s van runs over
a bag of toiletries,
which explodes and covers the Heffleys in a mix of
shampoo, conditioner, and makeup. The filmmakers
tried different combinations of liquids in different
colors and amounts until they got the mixture
just right.
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Then the liquid was loaded into air-powered cannons
that were designed to safely splatter people.
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When the effect looked right, the actors playing
the Heffleys were brought in for their turn in
front of the cameras.
Everyone seemed to be a good sport about
getting covered in slop, but some days were
tougher than others. Usually everyone could get
cleaned up right after their messy moment, but
sometimes that wasn’t possible.
At one point in the film, the Heffleys get
covered head to toe in mud.
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It wasn’t REAL mud, thankfully — it was
actually a mixture of cornstarch and food coloring.
But still, nobody
found it pleasant to
be caked in it.
Of course, the
actors could take
showers at night,
but during filming it
was all mud, all the time. And you really couldn’t
blame anyone if they got a little grouchy.
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Ani-Manny and Robo-Pig
One of the big questions at the start of filming
was how the twins playing Manny would behave
once the cameras were rolling. Moviemaking is
time-consuming, hard work, and there was no
telling how Dylan and Wyatt would feel about it.
In the first three movies, Manny appeared in
just a handful of scenes. But in “The Long Haul,”
Manny would need to be in almost every single
shot. So the filmmakers had to come up with some
creative solutions to make sure everything went
smoothly on set.
One of the simplest solutions was the pacifier
that Manny has in his mouth for a big chunk of
the movie.
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The filmmakers knew from experience that toddlers
can be chatty when other actors are saying their
lines. So giving the actors who played Manny a
pacifier was a simple way to keep them occupied.
The other solutions were a little more complex. For
parts of the movie, Manny is sitting in his car
seat, and sometimes he’s napping. The filmmakers
decided to put a realistic mannequin in place of the
twins for the scenes where Manny was asleep.
But this was no ordinary doll. Inside the
mannequin were complex robotics that allowed
“Manny” to suck on his pacifier, turn his head
to the side, and even kick his legs in his sleep.
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This would help
create the illusion
that Manny was
really “alive,” even
if he was napping.
Manny’s movements
were controlled by
a special effects
technician standing a
few feet offscreen.
The “Ani-Manny,” as
it came to be called
by the crew, was so convincing that when people
came across it on set, they thought it was a real
human being.
Even Dylan
and Wyatt
seemed a
little confused
when they
first saw it.
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Manny wasn’t the only one who got the robotic
treatment. An animatronic version of the pig was
created as well. That was the purpose of the clay
model from the preproduction phase.
Animals can be difficult to work with, and there
was no telling what a live pig might do when the
cameras were rolling. So the filmmakers decided to
use a live, trained pig most of the time, and then
use a remote-controlled robot in special situations.
Juliana pigs don’t love to be held, but in two of
the scenes the script called for Manny to cradle
the pig in his arms.
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For those scenes, the animatronic pig needed to be
convincing enough in its close-ups that moviegoers
wouldn’t notice it wasn’t a real animal.
The robot pig could do it all — blink, wag its tail,
wiggle its rear end, and open and close its mouth.
It really was a marvel of technology.
The animatronic pig had its big moment on the
day Manny and his pet reunite at the L’il Critters
Petting Zoo, which is a scene that happens at
the end of the “Long Haul” book but was filmed
early on for the movie.
For the first part of the scene, the real-life Manny
and the real-life pig sprint toward each other.
One of the pig’s
traine
rs used snacks
to get it to run
toward the camera.
When Manny
and the pig come
together, Manny holds the pig in his arms as it
wags its tail with joy. By then, the real pig had
been swapped out for the animatronic one. And
the whole scene is so convincing, no one would hold
it against you for getting a little misty-eyed.
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Winging It
One of the most memorable scenes in the book is
when a flock of seagulls invades the Heffleys’ van
to gobble up Greg’s Cheez Curlz.
Of all the scenes in the movie, this was the one
that most closely matched what happens in the
book. The director planned all the action in advance
with rough drawings, and then a storyboard artist,
Dawud Anyabwile, sketched out each scene.
There’s an amazing level of artistry and detail
that goes into planning a scene like this one.
SLAM
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Feeling miserable, Greg reaches for a bag of Cheez Curlz to comfort-eat.
A SEAGULL lands on the edge of the broken sunroof and looks in.
It’s kinda cute.
Greg shows it his bag of Cheez Curlz. The seagull cocks its head. Greg
tosses up a Cheez Curl. The seagull catches it and looks to Greg for more.
Susan: Oh Greg, I wouldn’t encourage them.
Greg: There’s only one.
But when Greg looks up …
… there are TWO seagulls.
Greg tosses them another.
Frank: Seriously, Greg, that’s enough.
Greg looks up again and the sunroof is surrounded by seagulls. This
is creepy.
Greg: Yeah. Er, guys, can you close the sunroof?
Frank: Rodrick gummed it up, remember?
Zoom in on seagull.
Close up on Greg’s face.
Suddenly, one of the seagulls jumps in the car and grabs Greg’s bag of
Cheez Curlz.
Greg tries to hold on to the bag.
The seagull flies away with the bag …
… spilling Cheez Curlz into the van as it flies away.
The Heffleys are covered with Cheez Curlz.
Greedy seagulls swarm in through the sunroof. Everybody screams.
Frank panics …
… and accidentally stomps on the gas pedal.
The minivan full of seagulls accelerates a few feet …
… then rolls down a grassy median …
… slamming into the bottom, and then finally coming to a stop.
The doors burst open and the seagulls swarm out …
…followed by the Heffleys. They are freaked out, roughed up, and covered
in feathers and poop.
Greg breathes a sigh of relief …
… until one last seagull swoops in …
… and grabs a Cheez Curl from his hair.
The minivan hisses as smoke exhales from under the hood.
Everyone looks at Greg like everything is his fault, again.
If you thought real birds — or animatronic ones —
were used for this scene, you’d be mistaken. The
seagulls in the movie were all created on computers.
And when it came time to film on set, the digital
seagulls hadn’t even been created yet.
So without any real birds to react to, the actors
had to do what they do best — make believe.
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The cast had to pretend the seagulls were in
the car, and a few of the crew members had to
pretend to be seagulls. Here’s what it looked like
on set when the
seagulls drop
the contents of
the Cheez Curlz
bag into the
Heffleys’ van.
And here’s the
assistant director using a seagull cutout to pluck
the last Cheez Curl out of Greg’s hair.
Months after filming ended, a special effects
team got to work, digitally adding seagulls to the
shots. The renderings started off rough, then
got better with each pass.
Here are a few shots of each stage in the process,
starting with the way things looked during
filming, and at each step along the way. See if
you can match the shots with the storyboard
drawings on the previous pages.
In the early days of filmmaking, special effects
were very basic.
But as special effects have gotten better,
audiences have become more and more demanding
that everything they see on-screen looks “real.”
The seagulls in “The Long Haul” look great by
today’s standards. But thirty years from now,
audiences may see them very differently.
FAAAAKKKKE!
The Only Game in Town
One of the biggest set pieces in the movie is for
a scene that’s not in the book. In the film, the
family is headed to Meemaw’s party, but Greg has
other plans. He secretly reroutes the GPS to
take him to Player Expo, a huge gathering of
game enthusiasts.
For Greg, Player Expo is like heaven. He needs to
figure out a way to get there, no matter what.
PLAYER
-EXPO
international
110
To film the scenes for Player Expo, the
filmmakers rented out the Georgia International
Convention Center. Months before they got
there, the art department planned out every inch
of the convention hall.
They made a three-dimensional miniature paper
model of every booth that would fill out the
convention center. The model also helped the
director plan out his shots.
Creating Player Expo was a huge undertaking,
because the giant hall needed to be packed with
video-game booths, walls of monitors, and lots of
other eye candy for moviegoers to enjoy.
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Player Expo would be filled with real products as
well as ones that were made up. The design team
had a blast creating concepts for games that
weren’t actually real but probably should be.
Here are some of the games that exist only in the
Wimpy Kid movie universe…for now.
BIG
FACE
CANDY
EATER
113
CHESS
X TREME!
Friendsville
114
GALACTIC
CARNAGE
MUSHROOM
MAKOTO
115
UNCHAINED
OCEAN’S
BOTTOM
REVENGE
KRAKENS
116
ROCK
DRUMMER
ICEBREAKERS
117
TWISTED
WIZARD
Each game had its own separate area on the
convention floor, and each area took on the
personality of the game. Some of the booths
were very elaborate.
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When you’re making a movie, you have a budget — a
certain amount of money you’re allowed to spend.
It’s always a challenge to stay within the budget,
and for a set like Player Expo, it’s easy to get
carried away.
But the art department found clever ways to keep
costs down. They
were able to get their hands
on some great stuff left over from a video-game
convention that had recently wrapped up.
Some of the displays you see in the film have pieces
that were used in an entirely different way in
other movies.
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Since Atlanta is a big movie town, there are lots
of props left over from other films and television
shows. If you’re really paying attention, you might
notice that the metal chairs in one of the booths
were first used in the Hunger Games movies.
Once the convention hall was filled with colorful
displays, it was time to bring in the people.
Hundreds of extras were needed for the Player
Expo scenes.
SLIIIIDE
Most were dressed in ordinary clothes, but a
number of attendees went all-out. At big
conventions where people come together to celebrate
movies, video games, and comics, a huge number of
people dress up like their favorite characters.
This is called “cosplay,” and costumes can range
from simple homemade outfits to professional-grade
getups that cost thousands of dollars to create.
Some of the extras in “The Long Haul” brought
their own cosplay outfits, and some were dressed
up by the wardrobe department on the day of
filming. The makeup department joined forces and
got to show what they were really capable of.
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Each booth came with its own costumed characters
to represent that game. Buried under the Twisted
Wizard costume was Jason Drucker’s dad, who took
