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Asecond unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit.[1] The second unit often shoots simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stage of production to be completed faster.
The functions of the second unit vary, but typically the first unit films the key face-to-face drama between the principalactors. Two frequent ways a second unit is used are:
In both of these scenarios, the purpose of the second unit is to make the most efficient use of some of the resources that are expensive or scarce in film production: actors' and directors' shooting time,sound stage usage, and the cost of sets which may have been built on stages.
The work of second units should not be confused withmultiple-camera setups, where several cameras film the same scene simultaneously. Large productions may have multiple second units. Although filmmakers may refer to having "three or four units working", each unit would be called an "additional second unit"; usually, none would be described as the third or fourth unit.
The second unit has its owndirector andcinematographer. A key skill for a second unit director is to follow the style set by the film's primary director.Peter MacDonald, who has directed second unit on multiple films (includingBatman forTim Burton,Excalibur forJohn Boorman,Dragonslayer forMatthew Robbins,Jack the Giant Slayer forBryan Singer,X-Men Origins: Wolverine forGavin Hood, andRambo: First Blood Part II forGeorge P. Cosmatos) has said, "The most important thing about any second unit is that you can't tell the difference between the second unit and the first unit. It must have the stamp of the first unit, both in photography and the style of direction... You try to copy what the first unit does as much as possible. You mustn't be on an ego trip and try to do your own style, because your material has to cut into theirs and it mustn't jar, it must fit in exactly so no-one can tell the difference."[2]Brett Ratner, commenting aboutConrad E. Palmisano, who directed second unit for him onRush Hour 2,Rush Hour 3,After the Sunset, andX-Men: The Last Stand as well asFirst Blood,Uncommon Valor, andWeekend at Bernie's forTed Kotcheff,Under Siege forAndrew Davis,Weekend at Bernie's II forRobert Klane,Into the Blue forJohn Stockwell,Distrubia forD.J. Caruso, andAssassins andConspiracy Theory forRichard Donner, said, "He has the understanding of what it takes to create a great action sequence and never deviate from the story or the tone of the film."[3]
Because second units often film scenes withstunts andspecial effects, the jobs ofstunt coordinator and (albeit less often) visual effect supervisor are often combined with that of second unit director. The most proflic second unit director according to theGuinness Book of Records isVic Armstrong, who directed second unit onGangs of New York forMartin Scorsese,War of the Worlds forSteven Spielberg,Mission: Impossible III forJ.J. Abrams,The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor forRob Cohen,I Am Legend forFrancis Lawrence,Blade: Trinity forDavid S. Goyer,Miracle forGavin O'Connor,Total Recall forPaul Verhoeven,Charlie's Angels forMcG,Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit andHenry V forKenneth Branagh,The Green Hornet forMichel Gondry,Tomorrow Never Dies forRoger Spottiswoode,The World Is Not Enough forMichael Apted, andDie Another Day forLee Tamahori. Other notable second unit directors includeSimon Crane, who didMen in Black 3 forBarry Sonnenfeld,Quantum of Solace forMarc Forster,Frankenstein for Branagh,Hancock forPeter Berg,Stardust forMatthew Vaughn,Vertical Limit forMartin Campbell,Jason Bourne forPaul Greengrass, andEdge of Tomorrow forDoug Liman;Dan Bradley, who didThe Bourne Supremacy,The Bourne Ultimatum, andGreen Zone for Greengrass,Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for Spielberg,XXX: The Return of Xander Cage for Caruso,Three Kings forDavid O. Russell,Monkeybone forHenry Selick,The Bourne Legacy forTony Gilroy,Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol forBrad Bird,The Dukes of Hazzard forJay Chandrasekhar,Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny forJames Mangold, andLions for Lambs forRobert Redford;Rick Avery, who didIdentity for Mangold,Scream 3 andCursed forWes Craven,Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy forAdam McKay, andTenacious D in The Pick of Destiny forLiam Lynch;Sam Hargrave, who didThe Accountant for O'Connor andAvengers: Infinity War andAvengers: Endgame forAnthony and Joe Russo;Bernard E. Dobbins, who didRed Heat andExtreme Prejudice for Hill,Commando forMark L. Lester,The Running Man forPaul Michael Glaser, andFerris Bueller's Day Off,Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, andWeird Science forJohn Hughes; andBuddy Joe Hooker, who didMoney Talks for Ratner,Corvette Summer for Robbins,The Jackal forMichael Caton-Jones,Suspect Zero forE. Elias Merhige,Vanilla Sky forCameron Crowe, andGleaming the Cube forGraeme Clifford.
There are several examples of second unit directors work with directors on several projects likeAllan L. Graf, who directed second unit forWalter Hill onAnother 48 Hrs.,Trespass,Johnny Handsome,Geronimo: An American Legend,Wild Bill,Last Man Standing,Dead for a Dollar, andSupernova andBrian Helgeland onA Knight's Tale and42 (as well asAny Given Sunday forOliver Stone,We Were Soldiers forRandall Wallace,Project X forNima Nourizadeh,Jerry Maguire for Crowe,Friday Night Lights for Berg, andTimeline for Donner); Eric Schwab, who worked withBrian De Palma as second unit director onMission: Impossible,Carlito's Way,Mission to Mars,Redacted, andDomino (as well asTop Gun: Maverick forJoseph Kosinski);Brian Smrz, who directed second unit forJohn Woo onMission: Impossible II,Windtalkers, andPaycheck and for Singer onX2,X-Men: Days of Future Past, andX-Men: Apocalypse (as well asThe Hangover Part II forTodd Phillips,Ghostbusters: Afterlife forJason Reitman,Knight and Day for Mangold,This Means War for McG,X-Men: First Class for Vaughn,Eagle Eye for Caruso, andMinority Report for Spielberg);Mickey Gilbert, who served as second unit director underTom Shadyac onBruce Almighty,Evan Almighty, andLiar Liar (as well asWes Craven's New Nightmare for Craven,Above the Law for Davis,The Horse Whisperer for Redford,Elf forJon Favreau,Nutty Professor II: The Klumps forPeter Segal,The Last of the Mohicans forMichael Mann,Rat Race forJerry Zucker,National Security forDennis Dugan, andGone Fishin' forChristopher Cain); andSteven Quale, who worked withJames Cameron as second unit director onTitanic andAvatar (he later went on to co-direct the documentaryAliens of the Deep with Cameron).Mic Rodgers andKenny Bates are two more examples, as the former worked withMel Gibson as second unit director on his directorial effortsBraveheart,Apocalypto, andHacksaw Ridge (as well asPayback for Helgeland,Maverick for Donner (both of which star Gibson),Nothing to Lose forSteve Oedekerk,Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter forTimur Bekmambetov,Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle for McG, andThe Fast and The Furious andThe Boy Next Door for Cohen) while the latter worked withMichael Bay as second unit director onBad Boys,The Rock,Armageddon,The Island,6 Underground,Pain & Gain,Transformers,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, andTransformers: Dark of the Moon (as well asBad Company forJoel Schumacher,Con Air forSimon West, andTraining Day forAntoine Fuqua).
It's also common for the second unit director to also serve as second unit director of cinematography. The three biggest examples areRobert Legato, who didThe Aviator,The Departed,Shutter Island,Hugo, andThe Wolf of Wall Street for Scorsese,Emancipation andThe Equalizer 3 for Fuqua,The Jungle Book andThe Lion King for Favreau,The Good Shepherd forRobert De Niro,Air forBen Affleck,A Nightmare on Elm Street forSamuel Bayer, andHorizon: An American Saga forKevin Costner;Peter Lyons Collister, who did so forTransformers: Age of Extinction for Bay,The Rundown for Berg,The Naked Gun forAkiva Schaffer,Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo for Mike Mitchell,The Lost City forAaron and Adam Nee, andSonic the Hedgehog,Sonic the Hedgehog 2, andSonic the Hedgehog 3 forJeff Fowler; andAlexander Witt, who didHercules for Ratner,Cinderella for Branagh,XXX for Cohen,Ferrari for Mann,Casino Royale for Campbell,The Bourne Identity for Liman,The Town for Affleck,Daredevil forMark Steven Johnson,Remember the Titans forBoaz Yakin,Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl forGore Verbinski,Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time forMike Newell,Skyfall andSpectre forSam Mendes,No Time to Die forCary Joji Fukunaga,The Italian Job forF. Gary Gray,Money Train forJoseph Ruben,Speed,Speed 2: Cruise Control, andTwister forJan De Bont, andGladiator,Black Hawk Down,Hannibal, andAmerican Gangster for Ridley Scott.Robert M. Stevens also did so forScary Movie 3 forDavid Zucker.
Certain films also may have more than one second unit director. Examples includeThe Departed,X-Men: The Last Stand,Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,Blade: Trinity,Minority Report,Superman Returns,The Expendables,Spider-Man,Spider-Man 2,Spider-Man 3,X-Men: First Class,Captain America: Civil War,Blade: Trinity,Transformers: The Last Knight,Cowboys & Aliens, andBad Boys For Life.
The role of second unit director can also be a stepping stone for aspiring directors to gain experience. Unlike anassistant director, who is second-in-command to the main director, a second unit director operates independently. Second unit directors who have gone on to become full-fledged film directors includeDavid R. Ellis,Eric Brevig,Chad Stahelski,David Leitch,Alfonso Gomez-Rejon,Steve Boyum,Peter R. Hunt,John Glen,Joe Alves,James McTeigue, andHal Needham.
Film directors who do not use second units in their films includeChristopher Nolan,[4]Quentin Tarantino,[5]Paul Thomas Anderson,Mike Judge, andStephen Hopkins (although he did direct second unit forRussell Mulcahy onHighlander) Sometimes, if a film has no second unit, another person will only direct a sequence. An example isRobert Shaye, who directed the melting staircase sequence ofWes Craven’sA Nightmare on Elm Street, which he produced, as well as having two uncredited voice roles as the television newsreader and the KRGR radio broadcaster. Occasionally, there is an uncredited co-director on a project, for example inUp in Smoke, whereTommy Chong, in addition to co-writing and co-starring in the film, co-directed the film uncredited alongsideLou Adler. That also happened withGeorge Lucas, who directed theVietnam War scenes inMore American Graffiti forBill L. Norton and directed reshoots onRed Tails forAnthony Hemingway, in addition to serving as executive producer. Sometimes, actors get a start serving as second unit director, likeDanny McBride, who served as second unit director forDavid Gordon Green onGeorge Washington, before making his acting debut in Green’s next film,All the Real Girls.
It is common for certain personnel involved with a production in another capacity to also function as a second unit director, benefiting from their understanding of the material and relationship with the production's director or producers. For example, Frank Marshall directed second unit onRaiders of the Lost Ark,Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,Empire of the Sun,The Color Purple, andAlways for Spielberg,Seabiscuit forGary Ross, andBack to the Future forRobert Zemeckis while also served as producer.Steve Starkey also served as both producer and second unit director onForrest Gump,Contact,What Lies Beneath,Cast Away,The Polar Express,Beowulf,A Christmas Carol,Flight, andThe Walk for Zemeckis. Additional examples of this isRobert Lorenz onAmerican Sniper forClint Eastwood; Phil Dornfeld onScary Movie 4 for Zucker andSuperhero Movie forCraig Mazin; Andrew Mason onThe Crow andDark City forAlex Proyas; andRobert K. Weiss onThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! andThe Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear for Zucker,Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult andTommy Boy for Segal, andCrazy People forTony Bill. Another case isRoman Coppola, who served as second unit director onBram Stoker's Dracula,The Rainmaker,Youth Without Youth,Tetro, andMegalopolis forFrancis Ford Coppola, whose his father.Andy Serkis served as second unit director onThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, andThe Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies underPeter Jackson after previously playingGollum inLord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingLord of the Rings: The Two Towers, andLord of the Rings: Return of the King, which saw Jackson allow Serkis to direct his flashback scenes asSmeagol andChristopher Lee, who playedSaruman the White, to help direct his character's death scene in the film's extended cut. Other cases includeGlen Morgan co-writing and served as second unit director forJames Wong onFinal Destination 3 andTony Mark serving as unit production manager, co-executive producer, and second unit director onScary Movie 2 forKeenan Ivory Wayans.
There have been times when the stunt coordinator is not the second unit director. An example is John A. Stoneham, Jr. He served as stunt coordinator onFour Brothers,Shooter,Dawn of the Dead, andTotal Recall, but Doug Coleman, Jeff Habberstad, Clay Staub, and Spiro Razatos respectively, directed second unit as opposed to Stoneham, Jr. Stoneham, Jr. served as stunt coordinator onMean Girls,Bridesmaids, andSuper 8, but no second unit was used during the filming on any of the three films.
Because second units often film scenes withstunts andspecial effects in action movies, the jobs ofstunt coordinator andvisual effects supervisor often get combined with that of the second unit director. Unlike anassistant director, who is second-in-command to the main director, a second unit director operates independently. Thus working as a second unit director can be a stepping stone for aspiring directors to gain experience.[6] Other times, directors may return to predominantly working as second unit directors for the remainder of their career.
