Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt held their breath in underwater scene

• Johnson and Blunt held their breath for up to 30 seconds during each take.
• Underwater cinematographer Ian Seabrook held his 80-pound camera as the set came out of the water.
• Blunt also had to be on set when he stood up and held his breath for 15 seconds.

While “Jungle Cruise” is a CGI-powered blockbuster, there’s one scene where digital effects have been put aside for the good old hands-on movie.

Towards the end of the Treasure Hunt movie based on the iconic Disney attraction starring Emily Blunt as botanist Lily Hughton and Dwayne Johnson as steamboat skipper Frank Wolff, the stars meet a underwater lever that they must lower to continue their journey.

Outside of the CGI piranhas, the entire scene was done over a two-week period in an underwater setting on a studio lot in Atlanta. Blunt and Johnson did most of the underwater actors.

Insider chatted with the film’s director of underwater photography, Ian Seabrook, about the struggles of pulling off the scene and why he was impressed with Blunt’s performance, as she had never done a film shoot under -marine previously.

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Although she never did an underwater scene, Emily Blunt showed no fear

Seabrook is one of the few PDs Hollywood turns to when it needs underwater photography. He’s worked on everything from Christopher Nolan’s “Insomnia” to “Deadpool 2” and has stories to prove that doing underwater shoots isn’t for the faint of heart.

“On ‘Batman v Superman,’ Amy Adams and I got ear infections from the rusting of the underwater assembly because the crew didn’t use marine grade materials,” Seabrook told Insider. “Vacuuming is not a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.”

So, Seabrook was just a business when he was hired to do the underwater sequence for “Jungle Cruise”.

“We reviewed the footage, reviewed the shots; I spoke to the art department because they had started to build the rough shots for the set,” he said.

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But Seabrook said the most important thing is to understand the comfort level of the actors with the water. Are they afraid of water? Are they good swimmers? Having worked with Johnson in the past, he knew The Rock was good to go. But what about Blunt?

“If she was afraid of not communicating it, she was ready,” Seabrook said.

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Johnson and Blunt both held their breath for 30 seconds in each take of the streak.

Two locations make up the water sequence. The first is the photo of Lily and Frank jumping into the water at La Luna Rota. It was filmed on an outdoor set. Seabrook said the biggest challenge for this part of the shoot was keeping him and his waterproof camera a good distance away from Johnson when he entered the water.

“When Dwayne took his first breaststroke, the first take he made, he was right on top of me,” Seabrook recalls. “I realized how powerful he could swim, so on the catches I had to quickly go back underwater and I was balanced on the tips of my fins underwater so that when he swam, I was able to get enough distance to pull it off. I basically had to be at the same speed he was swimming. “

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The remainder of the sequence took place in the tank.

Because the set has a ceiling structure, the obvious emergency exit for Blunt, swimming directly to the surface, has been removed. So Seabrook said he and Blunt and his stuntman Lauren Shaw designed another escape route – they would swim to the right or left of his camera, then swim to the surface if something went wrong.

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The DP said it’s important to know where to bail out, as actors do while holding their breath, and panic can set in if you feel like you’re wasting your breath and don’t know how to get back to the bottom. area.

Seabrook said Johnson and Blunt held their breath for up to 30 seconds while shooting the footage. And they did it for days of filming for two weeks.

But that was not the only water work. Seabrook and Blunt still had to team up to make the streak finale.

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Seabrook said Blunt was “cold as a stone with his composure” in making the streak’s thrilling finale.

In the thrilling finale of the underwater sequence, Lily finally lowers the lever before running out of air. Suddenly, the structure rises to the surface and we see an unconscious Lily lying on it.

To shoot that part of the scene – Lily floating unconscious underwater then lying in the structure once on the surface – Seabrook and Blunt had to be on set as he emerged from the water.

“Normally you would attach the camera to the set without anyone using it, but when I saw where the camera needed to be I felt there was no way to do it, so I offered to hold the camera myself, ”Seabrook said.

After a successful test, Seabrook and Blunt entered the water. For 15 seconds, as the large crane pulled the tray out of the water, Blunt acted as if she was unconscious as Seabrook held her 80-pound camera as the tray exited the water.

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“The camera gets heavier and heavier the closer you get to the surface,” Seabrook said. “We did it eight times and for each we had to hold our breath, probably for 15 seconds, but it felt like longer than that.”

Seabrook said the highlight of his work on “Jungle Cruise” was working with Blunt. He was impressed that despite being a newbie to the underwater game, she was completely into it.

“I really admire Emily’s work in this area, I had no idea how comfortable she was in the water,” he said. “She was cold as a stone with her calm.”

“Jungle Cruise” is currently available in theaters and on Disney +.