National Geographic: Mysteries of Egypt Page #4

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over 4,000 years ago

may be too much to

accomplish this day.

We have a panic moment here.

See what I'm wondering...

if we had some good lengths

of rope that

we could throw on shore and

draw that in.

It's a last ditch attempt

sail the boat anywhere

near the shore and have

the extras drag it in with ropes.

Throw the damn rope.

But the nightmare continues.

The light is going,

and the shot with it.

I quit... the boat looks great...

yeah all the physical

elements are great...

just, you know,

we just want to get the boat

to go up the river

turn around and come back.

And we finally just

we have to move on and

do other things.

At least there were no casualties.

During the actual building

of the pyramids,

mistakes often resulted

in serious injury and sometimes death.

Building the pyramid for sure

there was many accidents

we found about 12 skeletons.

At least ten of them

had accidents on their hand

two of them had accidents

on their leg.

It means maybe a stone

fell down on their leg.

Pyramid-building was dangerous work.

In the next scene,

the crew will film a runaway

column stone.

It's only a prop,

but it weighs about 400 pounds.

Actors, extras, and an

Egyptian stuntwoman must scramble

out of the column's path

at the last possible moment.

There is little room for error.

While the prop gets

a last minute touch-up...

the film crew shoots

the stone's point of view.

She's quick! Thank God.

I've done things like this before

but not as dangerous.

Finally, both camera and

column are ready to roll.

Three, two, one, go!

The shot comes off without a hitch

and the crew now turns to

their biggest challenge

recreating the funeral procession

of Egypt's most famous pharaoh.

Carter, please,

can you see anything?

Yes, wonderful things.

Wonderful things.

In 1922,

an obscure English archeologist

named Howard Carter

unearthed the remains of an

even more obscure pharaoh

named Tutankhamen.

Carter had discovered

what all others had

despaired of ever finding

a virtually unlooted

pharaoh's tomb.

And the treasures of King Tut

have never relinquished

their grip

on the world's imagination.

Now director Bruce Neibaur's crew

wants to bury King Tut all over again.

High above a desert valley,

the crew prepares to capture

the boy king's funeral procession.

In Tut's time,

the pharaohs no longer built pyramids for

their tombs-instead they hid their treasure

filled burial sites in the

remote valley of the kings.

The valley can be a tricky place to

shoot as the director of photography

Reed Smoot,

knows all too well.

It's tough because the sun

hits the horizon,

it's beautiful for about 30 seconds,

and then, boom!

It's midday.

But everyone feels the pressure

and lining up extras can be the bane

of any casting director's existence

Meanwhile, costume designer

Jackie Crier rushes to outfit them.

I'm not always calm.

I'm pretty calm.

Months of research, design and

artistry have gone into the costumes.

And into the props as well.

Egypt's finest artisans have carved

an exquisite replica of Tut's coffin.

Made of gold over plaster,

it looks like the original.

And like the original,

it's not easy to move.

How heavy is the coffin,

Michael?

It's a nightmare.

Advisor Nicholas Reeves

has arrived.

The author of several

books on Tut,

Reeves is here to

make sure the boy

king's last rites are performed

according to ancient protocol.

His only reference source lies deep

within the valley of the kings...

on the walls of the tomb itself.

Reeves also thinks these walls

contain shocking clues

about how the young pharaoh died.

Why should he have died at 17?

There's no trace of TB

or any other illness.

Nothing at all.

He was healthy when he died.

And x-rays taken of Tut's skull

suggest the possibility of foul play.

Certainly x-rays of the head

show damage which might

have been caused by a blow.

In fact,

Reeves thinks Tut was murdered...

and that his killer

attended the funeral.

But as the sun creeps up

over the horizon,

the immediate concern is

getting the procession underway...

and on film.

But before they can start,

another question-what sound

should the funeral goers make?

Taking their cues from

modern Egyptian funerals,

they decide on wailing.

And production designer

Michael Buchanan demonstrates

for the bemused extras.

But there's a last

minute hitch.

Reeves is bothered by

the golden staffs.

There's no time for

scholarly debate.

They've got to go.

Action!

Three thousand years

after his death,

golden light and mournful

sounds fill the valley

as the coffin of the 17-year-old

boy-king once again makes

its way to a final resting place.

From an Egyptologists point of view,

what's quite striking is the colors...

the contrast of the gold

against the backgrounds...

and the noise and the

whole atmosphere of the thing.

I think it's captured very well.

A filmmaker's imagination brings

back a lost moment in time.

At last it's time to rehearse

the scene where Tut's advisor,

Ay, administers last rites...

just as recorded

on the tomb paintings.

But Reeves suspects Ay had more

than a ceremonial role

in the young pharaoh's death.

Ay may well have had a hand

in Tutankhamen's downfall,

I suspect.

He had the most to gain.

It was Ay who took over the

pharaoh's throne after Tut's death,

but we may never know the truth.

With the sacred rites finished,

Tut's coffin was carried deep within a

labyrinth designed to foil grave robbers

sealed in for an eternity...

which turned out to

be a mere 3,000 years.

Tutankhamen in life

was a minor pharaoh.

He's quickly forgotten by his successors

and by the ancient Egyptians.

Now he's probably the most famous

king Egypt has ever known.

I think if he's looking

down on us,

he's probably quite happy.

One of my hopes for this film

is that people will see it,

and they'll be stimulated enough

to go to the library to

learn more about the project.

I keep looking at this stuff

and these beautiful scenes we're getting,

because I do feel at times like

I can really see what it was like.

Creating a sense of past

is what they've pursued all

these days under the desert sun...

hoping to share the secrets

of ancient Egypt.

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