Begin 2008 komt National Treasure : Book of Secrets in de zalen, de sequel van de eerste N.T. film die opnieuw geregisseerd werd door Jon Turteltaub én geregisseerd door Jerry Bruckheimer. Spektakel verzekerd dus ! Nicolas Cage kon alvast gestrikt worden voor een interview op de set van de film en dat kan je lezen bij Filmfreak. Overigens aangevuld met wat set-foto's.

Can you tell us a bit about what drives Ben and the gang to go back on the hunt in National Treasure Book of Secrets ?

Well there’s this need to clear his great-grandfathers name, Thomas Gates is a freedom fighter who is actually trying to help the Lincoln philosophy and in the movie it comes out that they think he was a confederate sympathiser and that he burned the pages of the Booth diary because he as a part of this hunt for a very valuable source of gold that was going to be used to fund a rebellion on the confederate side but the truth is that he was trying to prevent them from finding it and Ed Harris’s character comes into the mix and he says that my great grandfather was on the wrong side, if you will.

This is the first sequel you have been involved in, what made you decide to do National Treasure Book of Secrets ?

It is, yes. I had a very good time working on the first film. Someone once said that all that really matters is, do you like the people you are working with and do you like where you are working and I tend to agree with that, plus I think if you’re gonna do a sequel, there are worse things that you can do than stimulate young people to look in their history books so it’s a pretty good one to do.

Were you interested in history before you did this film ?

Yes, I like being around the past, the remnants of the past. I like being around old buildings and it’s like a joy for me working in London because we don’t have anything like that in LA and I’ve always been excited by art and books from the past, I just like the way they were made.

Is there any particular era you are interested in ?

Well I’m really interested at this point in Celtic civilisations and their beliefs and that whole period in time, Christian society and Pagan societies were co-existing and I find that whole exchange of things fascinating.

You own a Castle in Germany, are you interested in your ancestors history in that area ?

Yes I am really curious to know more about my ancestry. I put a line in this movie where I said, as Ben Gates, “everything I am is because of my ancestors” and I really believe that about all of us. I believe that all of us sitting here arrived at this point because of different people that made it happen in our past, our ancestors and I want to explore that.

Given your interest in history, how much input do you have with the script and the storyline ?

Well that’s one of the things that I enjoy about this particular group. They invite it and they listen and they go back and they work it with the writers. Sometimes I’ll talk to the writers about what I would like to accomplish and they will give me room to improvise, so it’s a very collaborative process.

National Treasure is a very ‘popcorny’ way of documenting history. Are you pursuing any other more ‘serious’ historical projects ?

Yeah I’m interested in all of it really but the beautiful thing about a popcorn movie is you can reach out to more people, especially younger people and you can stimulate them more and I want to be able to communicate to all age groups.

Obvious comparisons will come up with this release to films such as The Da Vinci Code, how do you feel about that ?

Well it happened at the same time but genuinely we were separate concepts that didn’t know about each other and it really makes me a believer in the word zeitgeist, I think that things happen en-masse where people have something on their mind and you pick it up, it’s in the air and that’s what happened here. But, I’m very happy with the Benjamin Gates character and I like his trajectory and his adventures. I’m genuinely interested in what he’s interested in.

What is his trajectory in this film, in the first film he was very much the reluctant hero…

If I had to put him in a box: he’s part square, part glorified criminal, I actually think he enjoys these capers and gets off on the adrenaline from them. He’s also, because his grandfather knighted him when he was a child and I think he took it personally, I think he took it very seriously and I think he really believes in a sort of old code of ethics that’s almost Arthurian, that you don’t see very much in modern times.

How do you keep the character fresh ?

By looking into other past events, in this case we are bringing in Aztec and Olmec Indian culture, bringing in John Wilkes Booth and Confederate gold and the Civil War, so I try to think of it almost like Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes, each episode was a whole new adventure with Doctor Watson, they got to explore different cases.

Is Ben the character that you enjoy playing most ?

Well I really like Stanley Goodspeed (The Rock) I like that kind of unlikely hero, the last person you would ever imagine to actually get the job done but I have to say that I think Ben Gates gives me a better opportunity to explore a diverse level of adventures.

There was once talk of a sequel to The Rock…

Well Sean and I are friends and I bet that he would do it and I figure it would be great because I love working with him and I’d love to be back on screen with him. It was spoken about but I don’t know what happened. I think it was just a hard nut to crack because The Rock is Alcatraz and we already did that.

Have you turned sequels down in the past ?

I’ve just sort of steered clear of them, just because I haven’t really liked the idea of repeating myself in the past but in this case I felt like each episode, if you will, would be a whole new adventure with new possibilities because of the nature of the character you know, the sort of historical detective.

It’s not only a National Treasure, it’s an international treasure…

In a sense it is, I like that, I like the idea of that title, I hope it will be a version at some point, the international treasure.

How important are your Italian roots ?

They are very important, my father was a very proud Italian and I grew up experiencing that culture, but I tend to want to have more of an international mind. I feel that an international mind is what carries the spirit of peace and I think that when you get into national pride you can lapse into dangerous thought processes and I personally would rather see myself as an international civilian.

What do you read and where do you get your information in-terms of politics and current affairs ?

It’s just my own opinions, I just feel that for me, I don’t think that anyone is better than anyone else and I would rather keep it that way, so that’s why when I go to other countries I try to see myself, in some way, as a member of their country so then it’s better for relations.

What are your thoughts on filming something like World Trade Center ?

It’s something that happened, it’s a fact and it needs to be recorded. It’s not political in my opinion, it’s a part of history it happened, it could happen anywhere, it has happened in other places, all around the world, so then everybody can relate to it and it’s just a story of survival. Whether it’s in America or in England or in Asia it doesn’t matter. How do two people who are at the bottom of a hole, with all that debris on top of them, survive. It’s as simple as that for me. I think it’s important that these historical events get documented factually, for children really, who ask questions and want to know.

You have been working a lot over the past couple of years, how do you find time to pursue your own interests ?

They go together, what happens is when I am interested in something personally, it tends to manifest into work and that’s what keeps it honest. To work and express things that I really care about is where it stays truthful.

Can you tell us about the scene you are shooting today ?

I’m doing a scene where I have to make a scene, a huge spectacle of myself, which gives me an idea that maybe that’s a good line, and I have to get arrested so that I can get into a certain part of Buckingham Palace to get access to the Queens desk. You have worked with Jerry Bruckheimer on a number of occasions, what draws you to work with him ? Mostly because it’s a very collaborative process. It’s a bit of a high wire act, always just a little bit scary because you don’t always know what you are going to be doing and on what day you are going to be doing it, but it gives work that spontaneous edge. If you like being on a high wire it’s a perfect way to work and I tend to get drawn to the edge.