Jerry Bruckheimer unveils treasures of ‘Book of Secrets’

Riding high on the recent huge international success of the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, "At World's End," Jerry Bruckheimer is clearly at the top of his game: the only producer in present day Hollywood who's his own brand and whose name is worth putting in big letters on a poster.

"Jerry makes movies for people who go to movies on Friday and Saturday night and who deserve a night off," says Jon Turteltaub, director of Bruckheimer's upcoming juggernaut, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the sequel to the 2004 blockbuster. "It's an honorable endeavor and he's better at it than anyone else in the business."

Bruckheimer, whose other hit films include "Top Gun," "The Rock," "Con Air," "Black Hawk Down" and "Pearl Harbor," discusses "Book of Secrets" in the following interview, outlining the plot of the new film and why he never takes no for an answer.

Question: Why do you think the first "National Treasure" was such a huge success?

Jerry Bruckheimer: There were great characters and a great cast. I think Nic [Cage] playing Ben Gates, a treasure hunter and historian is a great fit for him. And Diane Kruger is a great actress and so are Justin Bartha and Jon Voight. We just got really lucky with all those elements and we felt we had a chance to do something more intricate and more fun the second time around.

Q: What's the story of the second film?

Bruckheimer: There's 18 pages missing out of the John Wilkes Booth diary [Booth was the assassin of American President Abraham Lincoln], which is actually true, and a page surfaces that says that one of Nic's ancestors, his great-great-grandfather, was one of the conspirators involved in Lincoln's death. And Nic wants to prove that that's wrong. He also believes that on those missing pages there is a map to some hidden treasure.

Q: Was it hard to find the right story for a sequel?

Bruckheimer: You get pitched a lot of ideas. But this one had the most resonance to it. It was personal, because if he doesn't do something to solve the mystery, Ben Gates's family is going to go down in history as associated with this heinous deed.

Q: With a sequel, how do you strike a balance between audiences wanting more of what they liked about the first film but also something different?

Bruckheimer: I think audiences want something fresh every time and that's why all three "Pirates" movies were unique unto themselves. This will be unique too.

Q: Have you put an emphasis on bigger effects and bigger sets?

Bruckheimer: It's more about character and story. The effects and the sets are the candy and the icing. But, yes, there are enormous set pieces on this. We're at Mount Rushmore, we're at Buckingham Palace, we're at the White House and in Paris. A lot of huge locations.

Q: Is it ever difficult to get permission for these places?

Bruckheimer:  Well, we're known to people and to the government. We have done several movies that have shown the US government and forces in a good light. Also, we never take no for an answer. I see no as a starting point.

Q: You have worked with Nic Cage a few times, including "The Rock" and "Gone in 60 Seconds." What is it that makes you such effective partners?

Bruckheimer: Nic's just a great guy and a brilliant actor and you just love working with him. He's not one of those people who want to go home at six and forget about it. He really cares about the movie, he puts his ideas into things. He's a partner.

Q: You spent much of the spring and early summer coordinating the final stages of production of the third Pirates of the Caribbean film and then its release. How do you juggle that with producing a big picture like Book of Secrets?

Bruckheimer: I have a great team working with me and we juggle ten things at once and somehow we still get it all done. We have this picture going on. At the end of August we start another movie called "G-Force," which is half animation, half live-action and is a big family movie about Special Forces' guinea pigs trained by the government to run secret missions. Then we have "Prince of Persia," which is a video game we are going to turn into a movie. A little movie based on a bestselling book called "Confessions of a Shopaholic." And we still have six television shows on the air.

Q: Any clues you can share to the secret of your success?

Bruckheimer: I've been very lucky, but the harder I work, the luckier I get.

(Opening soon across the Philippines, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.)