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Feature by: Jack Foley
THERE were some bizarre happenings off-camera during the filming
of The Ring 2 - a sequence of unsettling occurrences repeatedly
affecting the production.
The strange events began May 20, 2004, coincidentally the 'seventh
day' of filming.
Early in the morning, the office staff arrived to discover that
the production office had been flooded overnight.
Though the reason turned out to be a burst water pipe in the
wall, for some the pooling of water - so closely tied to a major
theme of the movie - was an omen of possible things to come.
In an effort to forestall any future problems, director, Hideo
Nakata, requested that a Japanese purification ceremony, conducted
by Shinto Minister Reverend Igawa, be conducted at both the production
office where the flooding occurred, as well as on set.
Walter Parkes recalls: "I looked at the call sheet, and
it said, ‘8:30pm – Purification Ceremony.’ I’ve
worked on more than 30 movies, and that was a first.
"I said, ‘I’ll be there for that'," he
laughs. "It was great. I think it bonded the cast and crew
early on."
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Although the production was now officially
blessed, this didn't seem to prevent a string of strange coincidences
from occurring.
While on location, a swarm of thousands of bees suddenly descended
on the prop truck, prompting the immediate evacuation of the prop
department, before the bees left just as quickly as they arrived.
And for no apparent reason, a five-gallon water jug burst open
in the production office kitchen, once again flooding the room
that had flooded only weeks earlier.
One morning at the lot at Universal Studios, a set costumer stepped
out of the parking garage to discover an antlered buck charging
across the asphalt in her direction.
Though it’s a regular occurrence for deer to descend onto
the lot from the surrounding hills, the similarity to the deer
attack in the film was uncanny.
These incidents sparked many in the cast and crew to speculate
that somehow Samara was making her presence known.
Nakata observes: "The idea of a threshold between reality
and another world can be very frightening, and I think Samara’s
presence is much closer in this movie than in the previous films.
Samara is not just inside the TV; she is right beside you.
"That is probably the biggest fear for audiences in this
movie."
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