CHERNOBYL DIARIES Production Notes - Visual Hollywood

CHERNOBYL DIARIES (2012)
PRODUCTION NOTES
Peli notes, "It's for people who don't want to just go to museums or look at the countryside from
a seat on a bus. They want thrills; they want to risk their lives doing crazy things that 99 percent
of the population would be very happy to never do."
In the Ukraine, Pripyat—with its history and its close proximity to Chernobyl's infamous
reactor—is one of the more popular destinations. "You have to go with an organized tour," Peli
explains. "They drive you there; you get out and walk around for a couple of hours. The guide
knows the safer areas and the restricted areas, and has a Geiger counter to make sure no one
veers into a spot with high levels of radiation."
"They say that the amount of radiation you're exposed to, if you stay for only a few hours, is no
greater than what you experience on a flight from Los Angeles to London," Witten adds.
Peli combined the unforgettable images of Chernobyl's past with the modern-day concept of
extreme tourism to create his new horror thriller.
In "Chernobyl Diaries," the group is at first turned away from the locale by armed guards, who
tell the guide that it's closed for maintenance. Undeterred—and determined to give them their
money's worth rather than a refund—he takes them in through an unguarded backwoods route.
After spending a few hours exploring the fascinating abandoned city, they attempt to go, but
unfortunately the van won't start up again, and they cannot get back out. And, as night falls, it
becomes clear that something else, or someone else, is out there.
"Are you sure we're out here alone"
Once Peli had more fully conceived of the idea, he and Witten brought director Brad Parker on
board, along with the writing team of Carey and Shane Van Dyke, who penned the screenplay
with Peli.
Witten offers, "We knew after our first meeting that Brad was our guy. Even though he hadn't
directed a feature before, he had a clear idea of how he would shoot it."
"When Oren first described "Chernobyl Diaries," I knew it was a project I wanted to explore,"
Parker states. "I have a collection of photographs of fascinating locations that I would someday
like to film, and Pripyat was high on the list. As we discussed the story, setting and tone of the
film, things just clicked.
"I wanted to make a movie that grabs them and doesn't let go until the closing credits," he
continues. "The Pripyat in our story is a haunting place. The thought of being there alone at night
is frightening, but not being alone is terrifying."
Peli, known for the "found footage" style of filmmaking, wanted to capitalize on the realism of
that very notion, but also go in a different direction. "We decided to shoot it almost
documentary-style." To that end, he says, "we had the actors improvise a lot of their dialog. In
fact, much of the script was taken from the improv we did in rehearsals, in order to create a very
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