cameron diaz movies
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 Chapter 7 - Just How High Is High?
"When the first film was released, audiences were enthralled by seeing three female movie stars in these huge action sequences," producer Goldberg recalls. "Since that time, several movies have imitated that. So McG and I talked about elevating the action to a higher level. In this film, the Angels aren't just flying across the room doing triple kicks. There are also some good oldfashioned punch-outs."
Adds McG, "We all wanted to make this film decidedly more muscular and show that these girls can hang with the guys. We ramped it up to include wrestling, motocross, car crashes and leaps off tall buildings. The Angels hold their own in arenas normally reserved for idealized male action heroes. We wanted to put them in those environments and still have them be beautiful and comfortable in their own skin."
While there is some of the spectacular wire work from the first film, says McG, the fight sequences in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle "are more grueling and the girls insisted on doing many of their own stunts so you would feel the impact of every blow and the real peril they're facing."
According to Barrymore, "McG and I like many different types of fighting styles from different films and time periods and we brought all those elements together. This film used more than one genre, one flavor. There were some scenes where I thought, this is really intense, but it felt good."
Who better to train the Angels than "The Master," Cheung-Yan Yuen, the Hong Kong fight choreographer who instructed the three actresses in martial arts and wire action for the first film. "Cheung-Yan brings a code of honor and a way of conducting yourself that is very angelic," states McG. "He's the ultimate example of 'speaking softly and carrying a big stick.' Months before we started principal photography, the girls were working out with him and his 'team Hong Kong.' He brought out the best in the Angels and has been a huge inspiration to me."
When asked to heighten the fight scenes, Yuen was confident he could deliver. "Cameron, Drew and Lucy trained so hard for the first film, they were in much better condition this time. They already had a foundation, which really paid off."
This time around, Yuen says the Angels' fighting abilities "reflect their personalities. Having confidence in yourself and your ability is as important as learning the correct moves. Each of them has an individual strength. Cameron has amazing explosive power and reflexes, and she is very focused. Lucy is strong and professional. Drew has very good flexibility and great willpower."
In addition to the Angels, Yuen also trained Glover and Moore. Though Glover had previously worked with "The Master," his training was equally intense this time around. "We'd begin with stretches, then practice kicking, punching and various fight combinations. At the end of the day, we'd work with swords. The style of fighting is influenced by Wu-Shu, a derivative of Kung Fu. It's the most dance-oriented martial art and has a lot to do with form. Cheung-Yan had a specific way of moving. He and his team were very clear about how you're supposed to hold your poses. There is no difference in the fighting style between good and evil. What is interesting is that his choreography is psychologically based. There are different styles for the different characters."
For Mo o re, who had never studied martial arts before, part of the fun of filmmaking is learning new skills. "There is a particular stylistic element to the way Cheung-Yan choreographs," she reveals. "In some ways, it's like a dance.
Some of it is very challenging because it's extremely intricate and has to be well timed. Learning the diffe rent sequences was very empowering and exciting. Still, you really count on getting "The Master's" approval because you want to do your best for him. Cheung-Yan looks for a certain commitment, so we we re all working towa rds maintaining a level of integrity to what we we re doing."
Diaz explains that part of the training effort was to avoid repeating actions from the first film. Yuen moved her and Liu's characters more toward kung fu training and Barry more's towards street- fighting stances. "We really get thrown around in this one, but I think Cheung-Yan and McG have married the two different styles of fighting very gracefully, so you have the best of both worlds," says Diaz. "This time the bar was raised in a very organic way. It's charged with even greater energy. The fight scenes are more exciting, more dynamic."
And Diaz says she has the bruises to prove it. "There is just no way a human body can collide with another body over and over again, a hundred times a day and not get bruised," she asserts. "It's part of the job. Eventually the bruises go away. What remains is the great feeling you get when you know that, after all that rehearsal, you got it right and that the take is perfect."
Of all the action sequences, the one that Theroux remembers best was also the most harrowing. It was filmed at night on the docks of the port city of San Pedro, south of Los Angeles, with Theroux's character in a rage pursuing the Angels. On the run, Dylan trips and falls just as Alex and Natalie find a gas line and hose and turn the dockside alley into a wall of fire.
"McG really likes to see what the actor is going to bring to the stunts," says Theroux. "He usually has several cameras rolling and it's very safe because he's surrounded you with experts. Obviously, I didn't really walk through that wall of flame. It was cheated, but I did come very close to the intense flames. It was so hot, it just sucked the o xygen out of the air and there was a kick to it. I come stalking through the fire without a shirt on so the stunt coordinator put this incredibly cold jelly on me that they use for fire stunts. By the time I got through the fire, it had evaporated because the temperature was so intense."
Like Barrymore, Diaz and Liu, Theroux had the option of using a stunt double, but declined. "I wasn't forced to do the stunt. But I felt that if the Angels can do their stunts, then I can too."
The true joy of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, promises McG, "is that the Angels get blown up, they get shot at, they break their ribs and then just pick themselves up and go on. That's why we root for them. It's like Rocky Balboa. You don't want to see him just win the fight from start to finish. You want to see him get beat up by Apollo Creed, and then you want to see him just barely pick himself up and make it happen in the final moments of the final round. That's what makes the Angels so endearing. They're so tough, so willing to go for it."
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