OTHER BOOKS BY JEFF KINNEY

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book

COMING SOON

More Diary of a Wimpy Kid

 The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition of this book as follows:

Kinney, Je .
The wimpy kid movie diary / by Je Kinney.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8109-9616-8
eISBN 978-1-68335-206-8
1. Diary of a wimpy kid (Motion picture) I. Title.
PN1997.2.W546K56 2010
791.43’72—dc22
2010001859

ISBN for this edition: 978-1-4197-0642-4

Diary of a Wimpy Kid motion picture elements copyright © 2010, 2011, 2012 Twentieth Century
Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (excluding
motion picture elements or as noted below) copyright © 2010, 2011, 2012 Wimpy Kid, Inc.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID®, WIMPY KID™, and the Greg He ey design™

are trademarks of Wimpy Kid, Inc. All rights reserved.

Film unit photography for Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Rob McEwan. Film unit
photography for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Diyah Pera.

Photographs on pages 1, 6, 33, 88, 94 copyright © 2009 Linda Gordon.

Illustration on page 19 copyright © 2009 Zachary Gordon.
Photograph on page 14, journal drawings on page 15, and
storyboards on pages 45 and 100 copyright © 2010 Thor Freudenthal.
Photograph on page 27 copyright © 2010 Ann Badjura. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.
Illustrations on pages 21 and 156–57 copyright © 2009 Robert Capron.
Photograph on page 36 copyright © 2010 Jane Fielding.
Photograph on bottom of page 146 copyright © 2009 Gabe Sachs.
Photograph on top of page 219 courtesy of C3 Entertainment, Inc.

Book and cover design by Je Kinney

Published in 2012 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording,

or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet
Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and
promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to
specification. For details, contact [email protected] or the address below.
ABRAMS
THE ART OF BOOKS SINCE 1949

115 West 18th Street

New York, NY 10011

www.abramsbooks.com
TO ZACH AND ROBERT
 a wimp is born

Greg Heffley was created in January 1998 in a

small apartment in Massachusetts. There wasn’t
much to him, really. He was just a little pencil
doodle in a cheap sketch pad.

One month later, Zachary Gordon

was born on the other side of
the country, in California. At
that moment, Greg and Zach
didn’t really have a whole lot
in common.

But eleven years later, the two

would come together when Zach
was chosen to play the part of
Greg in the live-action “Diary
of a Wimpy Kid” movie.

This book is the story of how a little idea got

turned into a major motion picture, and how a
fictional cartoon character became a real boy.
 a rough start

Greg Heffley didn’t spring to life fully formed.

Like any kid, Greg had to change and grow
before he was ready to go out into the world on
his own.

In fact, it took a really long time for Greg

to develop into the character that he is today.
Which is kind of strange, considering he’s basically
a stick figure.

As you can see, Greg started off a little rough,

but he evolved over time.
2
While Greg was going through major changes in the
looks department, his stories were coming together.
All the ideas for the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series
were written down in the same sketch pad where
Greg first appeared.
3
Each of the pages at the beginning of the
sketch pad took a few hours to fill out.
4
Over time, more and more ideas were crammed onto
each page. The last few took several MONTHS
to complete.
5
It took four years to fill up the sketch pad and
create all the scenes and characters in the “Diary
of a Wimpy Kid” universe. Right about the time
the last idea was written down, Zach Gordon was
celebrating his fourth birthday.

The pages of the sketch pad were photocopied,

and each joke was cut out and stuck onto giant
sheets of poster board. It took a few MORE
years to put all the little pieces of paper in order
and type them up in a single story.

The end result was a giant 1,300-page book that

was first published online. More than 90% of the
material written in the sketch pad didn’t make the
final cut.
6
A year later, an editor in New York decided to
publish “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” And that’s how
Greg Heffley made the leap from a sketch pad to
a printed book.

A few months later, Zach Gordon, now working as

an actor in television and film, read the book and
told his mom he hoped someone would make it into a
movie. And if they did, he told her, he wanted to
play the part of Greg Heffley.

7
 MAKING IT REAL

Zach wasn’t the only one thinking about making

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” into a movie. It turns
out a few people in Hollywood were thinking the
same thing.

But everyone had a different idea of what the

film version should be.
8
A lot of people wanted to make big changes to
the story and the characters. But finally, one
movie studio came up with an idea that worked.

The idea of a live-action version of “Diary of a

Wimpy Kid” raised some questions. How would fans
of the book feel about Greg being played by a real
actor? And would he look the way they thought
he should? But there were even more important
things to consider before moving forward.
9
 GOING HOLLYWOOD

The studio executives and producers are the people

responsible for getting the movie made. One of
the first things they do is bring in writers to
pitch their ideas for what should happen in
the movie.

Once the studio and producers hear a pitch they

like, they hire the writers to start working on the
screenplay. A screenplay describes everything that
happens in the film, from the action to the dialogue.
Here’s how the opening scene of the “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid” movie looks in the script —
10
11
The writers try to include the most important
stuff from the book, but they make changes, too.
Some scenes and characters from the book are cut,
and new ones are added. Sometimes the writers
add new jokes and scenes to surprise the audience.
Because let’s face it — if everything that happens
in the book happens in the film, there wouldn’t
really be a point in going to see the movie.

The screenplay goes through lots and lots

of changes as the studio and producers make
suggestions. Each time the writers turn in a
screenplay, it’s called a new draft. “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid” went through about ten different
drafts before filming began.
12
Not every idea makes it to the final draft. Here’s
part of a scene that was in the script early on
but ended up getting cut —
 LOOKING FOR DIRECTION

While the studio and the producers were working

with the writers on the screenplay, they were also
busy looking for a director.
After a long search, they
chose Thor Freudenthal.

Thor (pronounced “Tor”) was

picked to direct “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid” because he had a
lot of interesting ideas for
how to bring the book to the big screen. He
wanted to use a variety of filmmaking styles to
capture the spirit of the book and to give the
audience the feeling of being inside Greg’s head.

Before he became a director, Thor worked as a

special effects artist and animator. Those skills
would be very helpful in bringing the world of
Greg Heffley to life. But there was something
else that helped convince the producers Thor
was the right person to direct “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid.”

14
As a boy, Thor kept a journal with illustrations,
just like Greg. And if you’re wondering why his
entries aren’t in English, it’s because Thor grew
up in Germany.

Translation:

dear book!

today my class
had a relay race.
my team got
last place.

a washing
machine
with quality
issues
15
 THE SEARCH FOR GREG

Once a director was chosen, the search was on for

the kid who would play Greg Heffley.

It wasn’t easy to find a kid who could fill Greg’s

cartoon shoes. You might’ve noticed that in the
books, Greg isn’t always such a likable character.

The kid chosen to play Greg would have to pull off a

tough trick. He’d have to act like a bit of a jerk at
times, but get the audience to root for him anyway.

Dozens of television and movie actors were brought

in to try out for the part. They were asked to
memorize Greg’s opening monologue and recite it in
front of the camera.
16
But no one seemed like a perfect fit. The studio
and producers decided to do a nationwide search
for Greg. They wrote up a description of the
type of kid they were looking for and sent it
out everywhere.
17
A website was even created to help with the search.
Thousands of kids of all shapes and sizes showed up
at casting calls and posted their auditions online.

In the end, Zachary Gordon got the part. Zach

nailed his audition and left no doubt that he could
bring the character of Greg Heffley to life. And
who knows? Maybe this drawing, which Zach sent
to the producers a few days before his eleventh
birthday, helped him get the job —
18
birthday
zach wish
said was
his
to get the part.

19
 LOOKING FOR A FRIEND

What Greg needed next was a best friend. And

of course Greg’s best friend in the book is Rowley
Jefferson.

In many ways, Rowley is the opposite of Greg.

Rowley is a happy, innocent
kid and a loyal friend. Luckily,
the perfect Rowley Jefferson
was found in Rhode Island,
and his name was Robert
Capron. Robert had done
some stage and film acting
as well.

20
And like Zach, Robert drew a picture for the
producers to show his enthusiasm for the part —
21
The next step was to get the two boys together
and see if they had chemistry. In other words,
were Zach and Robert believable as best friends?
Robert was flown out to California, where he and
Zach met for the first time.

The two boys did a screen test, which is a short

scene that’s filmed to see how the actors work
together on camera. The actors performed in
an empty environment with almost no props or
background scenery.

For the screen test, Greg lectured Rowley about

wearing clothes that are more “middle school
friendly.” This scene made it into the final movie,
but it looked completely different.
22
Everyone felt the boys had real chemistry and
did a great job bringing Greg and Rowley and
their complicated friendship to life.

23
 homework?

To help Zach and Robert get into their roles,

Thor asked each boy to write an essay from his
character’s point of view. Zach typed his essay.
24
Robert wrote his essay out by hand.
Zach and Robert both proved they understood
their characters and were ready to get started.
25
 THE PERFECT SPOT

Now that the two lead actors, or principals, were

chosen, it was time to figure out where the movie
would be filmed.

But here’s the thing: In the “Wimpy Kid” books,

there aren’t really any clues about where the stories
take place. No states or cities are mentioned.
However, since the characters celebrate Halloween
and Thanksgiving, you know they live in the United
States. But you don’t know if they live on the East
Coast, the West Coast, or somewhere in the middle.

The reason there aren’t any geographic clues in

the books is because the reader is supposed to
believe the stories could’ve happened anywhere —
across the country or right down the street.
26
The producers searched for a place that looked like
a typical American town. They considered Rhode
Island, Michigan, and lots of other places in the
United States. So it’s weird that they ended up
finding the perfect American town in Canada.

Vancouver was chosen as the location for “Diary

of a Wimpy Kid” because the houses and schools in
the suburbs look just like the ones in the United
States. Plus, lots of other movies are filmed in
Vancouver. In fact, so many movies are made
there that some people call it “Hollywood North.”
27
 ASSEMBLING THE TEAM

Once the location was chosen, the producers hired

a team of people, called a crew, to get the movie
made. A crew is made up of camera operators,
sound and lighting technicians, hair and makeup
artists, costume designers — basically, anyone who’s
involved with the movie and isn’t an actor.

And here’s where you can really start to see the

biggest difference between writing a book and
making a film: It only takes one person to write
a book, but it takes hundreds of people to make a
typical movie.

An author could write a whole book on a cheap

pad of paper, but it costs millions of dollars to
make your average Hollywood film.
28
So where’s it all spent? On camera and lighting
rentals, food and hotels, set and costume design,
transportation, and the money that’s paid to the
actors and crew.

The bottom line is that it’s not cheap to make a

movie, even if there aren’t any big explosions or
computer-generated aliens involved.

29
 GREEN MEANS “GO”

With all the pieces in place — screenplay, director,

lead actors, location, and crew — the studio was ready
to give the movie the green light. Before that
moment, things move slowly. But after the green
light, everything happens all at once.

Zach and Robert were both winding down their

school year on opposite sides of the country when
the call came.

In an instant, each boy’s life was turned upside

down. They packed their bags and headed for
Vancouver, each with one parent.

30
It would be three months before Zach or Robert
went home.

By this time, everyone in Greg’s family but Manny

had been cast.
DAD RODRICK
(STEVE ZAHN) (DEVON BOSTICK)
 GREG MOM
(ZACH GORDON) (RACHAEL HARRIS)

31
The actors were invited to Vancouver, where they
met one another for the first time.

The cast participated in a “table read,” where

they went through the script from start to finish.
This gave the director, writers, producers, and
studio a chance to hear the script spoken by the
actors for the first time, which helped to improve
the dialogue.
32
Working with people you’ve never met before and
pretending they’re your family members can be a
strange experience. So the producers arranged for
the newly minted Heffleys to have a few “family
outings” to get to know each other. After the
table read, Rachael Harris, Zach Gordon, and
Devon Bostick had a bowling night.

A few weeks later, when Steve Zahn arrived on

the scene, the group went out for their first-ever
meal as a family.
33
 FILLING OUT THE RANKS

Every role in the movie had to be filled, from

Greg’s arch-enemy, Patty Farrell, to the kid
who starts the Cheese Touch, Darren Walsh.

A casting director looked through thousands of

résumés and photos before bringing in actors to
audition. The producers then made a final decision
for each part.
34
Since “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” was filmed in Vancouver,
most of the kids you see in the movie are from the
general area. But the roles of Fregley and Chirag
were played by actors from the United States.

Grayson Russell (Fregley) is from Alabama, and

Karan Brar (Chirag) lives in Washington state.
Fregley and Chirag each have small parts in the
book, but their roles were beefed up for the movie.
35
 DOUBLE TROUBLE

One of the trickiest roles to cast was Greg’s

three-year-old little brother, Manny. You might
have noticed that in the books, Manny looks sort
of like a bucktoothed alligator.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many
kids who look like that in Vancouver,
or anywhere else for that matter.

So the casting director looked for the next best

thing, which was a cute kid with a memorable face.
After a lot of searching, the perfect Manny was
found. Two of them, actually.
 CONNOR AND OWEN FIELDING

36
The trouble with three-year-olds is that they
don’t always do exactly what you want them to
do, so it’s a good idea to have a backup in case
one of them decides not to cooperate.

The other funny thing about three-year-old actors is

that they’re not actually aware they’re actors. That
means they’re not too concerned with memorizing their
lines or rehearsing. One second they’re minding their
own business, and the next they’re making a movie.
37
 GIRLS IN THE WIMPY WORLD

Another challenge was picking the girls who would

play Greg’s classmates. In the “Diary of a Wimpy
Kid” books, most girls look very similar to one
another. In fact, the only thing that sets them
apart is their hair.

Boys, on the other hand, look very different

from one another in the books.
38
So why is that? Well, remember, Greg’s journal is
told from his point of view, so we’re seeing things
through his eyes. And Greg thinks all girls are
more or less the same, so that’s why they’re drawn
the same.

That’s because Greg doesn’t really “get” girls yet.

Girls are a mystery to him. He doesn’t understand
why they travel in packs and go to the restroom
in pairs.

Of course, you can’t cast a movie with a bunch of

young actresses who all look
exactly the same. So the
girls in the “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid” movie look very
different from one another,
like they do in real life.

Just don’t expect Greg to

be able to tell them apart.
 ANGIE
(CHLOE MORETZ)

39
 A CHEESY VILLAIN

Every movie needs a good villain, and this movie was

no exception. The thing is, the villain in “Diary of
a Wimpy Kid” isn’t a person — it’s a dairy product.

Yes, the villain in the movie is a piece of cheese. But

finding the right piece of cheese was just as difficult
as finding the actors for the other important roles.
40
All different types of cheese were considered for
the part — cheddar, American, provolone — but
in the end, a large, deli-cut slice of Swiss cheese
beat out the competitors.

To find out what would happen to cheese if it was

left out in the sun, a real piece was placed on the
ground, then covered with wire mesh to keep animals
out and let the weather in. This allowed the cheese
to “age” and gave the moviemakers a chance to
study the effects of sun, rain, and cold air.

When the Cheese is shown up close in the movie, it’s

not really there at all — it’s a computer graphic. The
visual effects department used a piece of silicone as a
starting point, then digitally added stages of decay.
41
 STAGE ONE

The silicone “blank” for the Cheese. The digital

aging effects were painted on this model.
 STAGE TWO
The Cheese as it looked on the first day of school.

42
 STAGE THREE

After a few months the Cheese gets a

little moldier and nastier.
 STAGE FOUR
The Cheese looks good enough to eat.

43
 THE MASTER PLAN

A person called a “line producer” then took the

finished script and started working on the
shooting schedule. Every minute of every day has
to be planned out in advance, because going into
overtime is very expensive. The schedule is actually
like a giant puzzle, and the scenes are the pieces.

The trick is to make all the pieces fit together so

the movie can get made on time and under budget.

What makes the planning so tricky is that a movie

isn’t shot in order, from beginning to end. The
reason for that is because it’s more efficient to film
all the scenes that take place in a certain location
back-to-back so the crew doesn’t have to keep
moving the equipment from one place to another.
44
While the line producer was working out the
schedule, the director was doing some planning of
his own. Thor had begun creating storyboards for
the movie to plan out each shot.

A storyboard is a series of panels that describes

everything that goes on in a scene — which actors
are in a shot, how they’re moving, and where
the camera is positioned. For most movies, an
artist is hired to create storyboards, but for
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” Thor drew his own.
45
 GETTING INTO CHARACTER

Once all the actors in the movie were cast, it was

time to start creating costumes.

You might not think of the characters in “Diary

of a Wimpy Kid” as wearing costumes, since most
of the time they’re dressed in everyday clothes.
But a lot of thought and work actually went
into each character’s wardrobe.

The first thing the costume designers did was look

to the book for inspiration. But that wasn’t much
help, since most of the characters wear the same
thing all the time.

It would be kind of boring and a little unrealistic

for the live-action Greg to be wearing a white
shirt and black shorts every day. So a whole
wardrobe was created to cover the school year.
46
Costumes are more than just clothes. They give
you extra information about the characters. Greg’s
wardrobe is made up of outfits that are a little too
tight, to emphasize his smallness in the world. And
Greg’s shirts and pants are a little worn-out because
his older brother, Rodrick, had them first. So Greg
feels frustrated that he never gets anything new.
47
Manny, on the other hand, is always dressed in
brand-new clothes. That tells you he gets special
treatment from his parents.

Even Manny’s Halloween outfit is a deluxe version

of Greg’s costume.
48
Rowley’s outfits look comfortable but unstylish.
His clothes are a mix of men’s and husky sizes.
They make him a nonconformist without his
really knowing it.

Unlike Greg, Rowley isn’t concerned with looking

cool. His mom dresses him in clothes that make him
feel safe and happy.

Sometimes Rowley wears clothes from foreign

countries. Rowley has done a lot of traveling with
his family, which gets on Greg’s nerves because
he’s a little jealous of his friend.
49
Fregley is an oddball character, and he dresses
completely different from his classmates.

Fregley’s mom is a seamstress, and she makes all

her son’s clothes. She uses a lot of old fabrics,
and you get the feeling that she might even be
making some of his clothes out of pajama materials.

It’s clear that Fregley’s mom loves her child but

doesn’t have a clue as to what a normal middle
school student might wear. Fregley’s wardrobe also
tells you he couldn’t care less about fitting in with
his peers.

50
One of the biggest challenges the costume designers
faced was to make the outfits in the movie look
timeless. While the story is meant to feel like it
could’ve happened in any PLACE, it’s also meant
to feel as if it could have happened at any TIME.

So the costume designers bought and made clothes

that felt like they could have been worn by kids
twenty years ago, or could be worn twenty years
from now.

And not only did they have to put together outfits

that looked timeless, but they also had to have
multiple versions of each outfit. That way, if Robert
spilled hot chocolate on his snowman sweater, the
wardrobe department had a spare ready to go.
 THE PERFECT SCHOOL

Location scouts drove around the Vancouver area

looking for the right school to use in the movie.
And they found it — well, actually, they found
three of them. It took three real schools to make
one fictional school.

Shaughnessy Elementary School was used for its

exterior and outdoor basketball court.
52
Van Tech Secondary School was used for its gym.

And Templeton Secondary School was used for

its hallways, classrooms, and auditorium.
In the movie, all three schools are combined to
feel like one place: Westmore Middle School.
53
Westmore Middle School had to be convincing, so
graphic designers got to work bringing it to life.
The artists started by creating school colors, a
mascot, and a logo.
54
Once that was finished, they moved on to designing
print materials, like the school paper.

The Westmore individual state education-based athletics. the accident. Green’s Not surprising Saul West

T School
team was more
proud to accept
Hornets

Farrell into the ring, and in

Friday. Best match of the
was at 115 lbs when 110
ranked Jonathon Taylor
up one weight class to
Green is on of the top
wrestlers on the Hornets
ling team, which comes as
surprise to the community.
killed on impact, and his
died several weeks later in
hospital. His brother was
ridden for several months,
defeated Jeff Bonny in a
up promting Bonny to
and demand a re-match.
the re-match title fight
suprising
Middlevictory over tournament
Mike West (6th ranked on
at father, who grew up in the mother to wrestle again
learning was pinned Bonny in the first
Heffley.Wrestling
The semi-final nightThe match was tied at
lbs). town, also was an father
accident. match- of the match.
minutes
betweenthan Heffley and lib the end of regulation
at 3rd wrest- for the school.
wrestler theThe most competitive stomp,
in a post match interview “I
patty on the final
again decided stepped
Aguilar took just 33 no
family was always there to bed
came at 155 pounds, when During
saw it coming. I know he
a Patty Farrell won a
as takefirst overtime period on
the to His
support him, and rarely but
Madeleine Grant is
of West but thought with my
strong
Greg
decision. She was them 115
and win 19-17 in his third sameof his matches.
any after
scored a the
last-second three
mental wit I could defeat
battle outstanding wrestler
most 17-17
bout. outstanding
On the way back from a defeat Deana Kittson, of Bonnywill be looking
We said
Farrell was
finals. Patty Farrell pinned time.
The “National Middle Green’s
tournament in February finals
more 8-7. Grant was fifth never
future match up’s with the
match
opponents and won a 19-5 secondsof Sport Award”
Spirit of their vehicle was hit coming Junior Nationals last was
wrestlers.
in for
decision
major
three
named
The
ville Hornets
most
over
the west
another
outstanding
travel
regional
tothe
be
to that
created
was
School
title
score
those
the ideals
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represent
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who
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the
exemplify
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2008,
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parents
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has
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older
a semitrailer
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brother
at the reversal
Westmore
in
summer.
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Whyte,
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8-2 Steve
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to

wrestler.
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recognize
sport of track
Green’s
Scott
time of 126
defeated
at Pete
the John
lightly

55
The graphic designers even created a school
yearbook. Here’s the front cover —
56
And here’s one of the inside pages. Most of the
kids in the photos were extras in the film —

Tristan Borra
Michael Lemieux
Ethan Gugliotta
David Lemieux
Kevin Mohajer

Ilyas Nazem
Martin Todorov
Ryan Robinson
Daniel Taran
Emma Irvine

Cydney Cocking
Cassie Watson
Fernanda Silva
Jessica Fung
KayDee Kabia

Alyssa Moore
Emma Fooning
Sara Wik
Danny Waston
Christina Gerke

Caimen Weibe
Falon Danbou
Cole Heppell
Jack Violette
Pasha Roumlantsev

Josh McLeod
Bradley McGowan
Keegan Baldwin
Cassiel Williams
Derrick Tamz
57
Next, set designers went into Templeton Secondary
School to start transforming it into Westmore
Middle School.

No detail was overlooked. Fake trophies were

created to show off the accomplishments of
Westmore’s imaginary sports teams, and pictures
of make-believe Westmore students were hung in
the hallways.

If you look closely in the movie, you might even

catch a picture of Preston Mudd, Athlete of
the Month, hanging on one of the walls.
58
The set designers repainted Templeton’s hallways
and classrooms with the Westmore school colors:
blue and gold.

But if Westmore looked like it was freshly painted,

it wouldn’t be convincing. Westmore needed to feel
broken in, so the painters used some tricks to age
their work.

One of the techniques they used was to mix the

color of the background that was being covered
with the fresh paint, making it look faded. You
can see the effect on this mural painted on a giant
brick wall of Shaughnessy Elementary School.
59
Of course, no school would feel complete without
posters and student-created artwork decorating
the walls. Here are a few of the items that you’ll
see posted on bulletin boards and in the hallways —
60
Here are some posters supposedly created by
Bryan Little, the school cartoonist behind the
“Wacky Dawg” comic strip —

The graphic artists

made sure to use
materials students
could easily get
their hands on, like
poster board, colored
pencils, and crayons.
61
You might remember that Greg Heffley entered an
antismoking-poster contest in the book.

Be on the lookout for some of the other entries in

the movie.
62
To create artwork that looked like it was made
by middle schoolers, the graphic designers had to
seriously suppress their talents.
63
There were lots of things created for the movie
that are only on the screen for a split second.
Here are some of Rowley’s “Zoo-Wee Mama”
comic strips.

If you blink when you’re watching the movie, you

might miss them.
64
65
One example of a set that was loaded with details
was Mr. Winsky’s office. Mr. Winsky is in charge of
the safety patrols, and Greg and Rowley end up in
his room a few times during the movie.

The art department created pictures and memorabilia

for Mr. Winsky’s office, to show how serious he is
about safety.
66
It’s clear from the stuff hanging on Mr. Winsky’s
walls that his glory days were when he was a
safety patrol in middle school.

To give you an idea of how far the set designers and

decorators will go to create a believable environment,
they even created fake newspaper clippings showing
Mr. Winsky as an adolescent. Real photos of the
actor as a teen were used for the articles.

67
The art department wrote newspaper stories even
though there’s no chance the audience could read
them during the movie.

and was nominated for the award To qualify as a driver, Winsky had
by Lori West, safety patrol advi- to take a written test and a driving
sor and paraeducator. “Winsky is test—just like a real driver’s li-
a wonderful advocate and role cense. He is also an avid ice skater
model for westmore students,” and practices every morning
said West. “He has boundless before he comes to school.
energy and a strong commitment “Winsky is so organized that she
to safety and community service. developed and presented a contin-
His organizational skills leader- gency plan in case she was ever
ship and dedication make her very late for her safety patrol duty—it’s
deserving of this honor.” Winsky been two years and she’s never
will be honored along with other missed a day, but that plan is in
hall of fame recipients at the May place.” Westmorn’s safety patrol
1 baseball game. “I enjoy helping program emphasizes leadership
younger kids at my school and and responsibility. Four teams of
making sure they are safe,” said 12 students make up the safety
Winsky. “Contributing my time patrol team and are recommended
and talents to help others is very for the position by their teachers.
Bertrand Winsky important to me.” In addition to According to West, there is a wait-
his role as safety patrol captain, ing list to join the patrol, because
Bertrand Winsky, a safety patrol Winsky is a “wheelchair driver” students know what an honor it is.
captain and fifth-grader from West- and helps fellow students navigate Each year the safety patrol selects
more Middle School was inducted the school’s busy hallways and 10 outstanding school safety pa-
into the Safety Patrol Hall of Fame. playground. Westmore has a trollers from schools throughout
Winsky, is the son of Sgt. 1st Class unique population of special the state to receive the honor of
Markand Winsky. He is one of 10 needs students because of its being inducted into the School
hall of fame winners across the state proximity to the Medical Center. Safety Patrol Hall of Fame.

That should
give you an idea
of how much
care filmmakers
 put into their
Bertrand Winsky interviewed about school safety
Westmore Middle School safety supervisor is interviewed by the school safety council to
discuss winsky’s exemplary conduct as the head of safety at the school. craft.
68
 him off for school, thekindergar-
tener became extremely upset about
her leaving. Not wanting to hold up
traffic, the mother pulled forward
and turned into a parking space. Ber-
trand spotted the crying young boy
as he ran along the sidewalkfollow-
ing his mother’s car. He ran after him
and caught up to him right before he
ran across the drive to his mother’s
parked car. Bertrand stopped the
child from darting into the drive just
as a truck was passing by. Several
witnesses said the driver would likely

Bertrand Winsky have not seen the child nor had time
to stop if the kindergartener had not
On a sunny morning in September,
been stopped by Winsky..
Bertrand was on duty near the school’s
As North America’s largest motor-
entrance with his Patrol Advisor help-
ing and leisure travel organization,
ing students cross the busy road in
the safety program provides more
front of the school. As students were
than 51 million students with safety
crossing, a small white car suddenly
services. Since its founding in 1902,
sped around a corner and towards a
the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying
crossing fifth-grade girl. Bertrand
safety patrol has been a leader and
quickly pushed the girl out of the way
advocate for the safety and security
before the car flew by and quickly
of all travelers, safety patrol clubs
turned into the driveway of the school
can be visited on the Internet.
without any regard for the School
Safety Patrol or students crossing the
street in front of him.
After only two weeks at his School
Safety Patrol post, Bertrand’s quick
thinking saved a kindergarten student.
When the 5 year old’s mother dropped

On a sunny morning in September, him off for school, the kindergar- ing and leisure travel
Bertrand was on duty near the tener became extremely upset the safety program provides more
entrance with his Patrol Advisor her leaving. Not wanting to hold than 51 million students with
ing students cross the busy road in traffic, the mother pulled forward services. Since its founding in
front of the school. As students and turned into a parking space. the not-for-profit, fully tax-
organization,
crossing,
school’s a small white car trand
about spotted the crying young safety patrol has been a leader
sped
help-around a corner and towards a as
up he ran along the sidewalk advocate
safety for the safety and
crossing fifth-grade girl. Bertrand ing his mother’s car. He ran after of all travelers, safety patrol
1902,
quicklythe
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Several can be visited on the Internet.
clubs
security
and
street in front of him. witnesses said the driver would
After only two weeks at his School have not seen the child nor had
Safety Patrol post, Bertrand’s quick to stop if the kindergartener had
way
school
thinking
the saved a kindergarten he stopped by Winsky..
mother’s
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been
When the 5 year old’s mother As
likelyNorth America’s largest
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not
student.
dropped motor-
69
There’s a lot of work the set designers do that
goes unnoticed by the audience, because it’s in the
background. But their work isn’t just for the
moviegoers to enjoy — it’s for the actors, too.
If the actors are in an environment that feels
convincing, it helps them do their jobs better.

It’s the set designers’ job to make the audience

believe that the environments in the film are real
and not just some part of a movie set. But almost
everything you see on the screen was created for
the film.

70
Take Greg’s homeroom, for example. It’s loaded
with all sorts of items you’d see in a typical
classroom. But everything, from the textbooks
on the shelves to the pencils and pens, was
brought in from a prop warehouse.
71
 ACTION!

Once all the pieces were in place, it was finally

time to start filming. Each shot begins with the
snap of a clapboard in front of the camera.

Sound and film are recorded separately in a movie,

so the time stamp of the clapboard helps the
filmmakers match up the sound and film later on.

The first scene shot was in Greg and Rowley’s

homeroom. Remember, a movie is usually filmed out
of sequence, and this particular scene was from
the middle of the story, when Greg comes to
school and is horrified to discover he’s wearing the
same clothes as Rowley.
72
In fact, all the scenes that happen in the boys’
homeroom were filmed on the first day. The kids
changed outfits in between each scene.
The actors are surrounded by lots of people, cameras,
and equipment, so it’s kind of amazing that they
can focus on delivering their lines.

Most people think filming is really exciting, but

the truth is, it can be kind of boring. There’s a
lot of waiting around while the camera and lighting
people set up their equipment for each shot. It can
take as much as an hour just to put the cameras
and lights in the right spot for a new scene.

And when filming actually begins, the same shot is

filmed over and over again.

74
So even if an actor is saying a funny line, by
the fourteenth take nobody really thinks it’s
that funny anymore.
75
The reason the director films so many takes is to
make sure he has lots of choices later on when the
movie is put together. And even after a single
scene is shot several times, the director then films
the same one from a different angle to capture
the other characters’ reactions.

So filming takes a really long time. In fact, a

whole day of filming usually produces only about
two minutes of a finished movie.

Whenever there’s a break in filming, the hair and

makeup artists touch up the actors to get them
ready for the next shot.

76
The actors need to look exactly the same for
each take. A lot of time goes by between shots,
and the actors’ hair and makeup can get messed
up. It’s important that the actors look like
they did in the last shot, or the audience is
going to notice the difference.
77
One of the ways the hair and makeup artists keep
track of how the actors look is by taking digital
pictures of them after each take. That way there’s
a record that everyone can refer back to.

Sometimes a REALLY long time goes by between

takes. An actor might film part of a scene one
day, and then film another part of the same scene
two months later. That’s when the “continuity”
pictures really come in handy.

For example, in one of the early outdoor scenes,

Robert has zinc on his nose. Another part of
the same scene was shot a month later, and the
hair and makeup people were able to use the
photos to get Robert’s nose just right.

78
Hair is a real challenge, because it grows. The
hairstylist has to make sure things don’t get out
of control during filming.

The actors have to get regular trims so their hair

stays more or less the same length throughout
the movie.
79
One of the toughest decisions the filmmakers
had to make was how to style Zach’s hair for the
movie. Long meetings were held to discuss the issue,
and everyone had a different opinion.

After a lot of experimentation and tons of hair

gel, Zach’s “wimpy sprigs” were created and the
problem was solved.
80
The hair and makeup artists don’t just make the
actors look good. Sometimes it’s their job to
make them look BAD. In one case, the makeup
artist needed to add fake pimples to an actor
who didn’t have any.

And in another, the hairstylist needed to figure

out how to give a mullet to a teenager who had
short hair.
81
 A DAY IN THE LIFE

Every minute of an actor’s day is scheduled ahead

of time. Each morning, the actors get a call sheet
that tells them what they’ll be doing that day.
Kids are only allowed to work seven and a half
hours a day by law, so it doesn’t make a lot of
sense to have them sitting around while the camera
and lighting crews set up a shot.

There are a few ways to keep things moving

without having the actors waiting on set. One is
to use adult stand-ins, or lighting doubles. Stand-ins
take the kids’ places so the camera and lighting
people can get things just right, and then the
kids are brought back in when the shot is ready.
Stand-ins are usually the same general size as
the kids they’re doubling for.
Another trick for keeping under the seven-and-
a-half-hour time limit is to use doubles who are
actually kids.

Let’s say that Zach is in a scene with Robert,

and the two actors are talking to each other.
Well, when Robert’s face is being shown on the
camera, a double might be used for Zach, with
only the back of the stand-in’s head showing.

Meanwhile, Zach can be off in his trailer, taking

a nap. As long as the double looks like the actor
from behind, the audience won’t notice.

84
Kids also have to spend at least fifteen hours a
week going to school. Actors don’t get a free pass
just because they’re working on a movie.

A special school was created inside a trailer so

the actors in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie
could keep up with their classmates back home.
A set teacher tutored each kid individually
to make sure the actors didn’t fall behind in
their education.

What’s ironic is that both Robert and Zach were

missing their real-life first days of middle school
because they were playing characters entering
middle school in a movie.
85
Usually, the kids do their schoolwork in the classroom
trailer, but when it’s nice outside, they set up wherever
they can find a comfortable place to work.

The kids don’t usually go to school in long chunks of

time — they study whenever there’s a break in filming.
86
On top of regular schoolwork, the kids get to
go on field trips and get some phys ed, just like
their classmates back home.

So where do actors go when they’re not on the

set acting or doing school stuff? They go to
the “circus.” The circus is the big group of trailers
where each actor has a place to wind down.

The trailers are like rooms on wheels. The reason the

actors are set up in trailers is because when the crew
needs to go to a new shooting location, the trailers move with them.

87
The trailers are nice inside — many are equipped
with a flat-screen TV with surround sound, a desk,
a refrigerator, a bathroom, and a big leather couch.

Here’s Zach Gordon stepping into his trailer for

the first time —

The size of an actor’s trailer usually depends on

how big their part in the movie is. If an actor
has a lead role, chances are they get a big trailer.
If an actor has a small part in the film, well, their
accommodations might not be as roomy.
88
The trailers aren’t just for actors. The producers,
director, and many of the other people working
on the film have trailers too.

Plus, the wardrobe department, the propmaster,

and the makeup crew all have “office space” in
their trailers where they can do their work.
89
The actors get a break in the middle of the day for
lunch. The catering trailer is basically a restaurant
on wheels.

The people who make the food change the menu

each day to keep things fresh. But that doesn’t
stop the crew from giving them a hard time.
90
The whole cast eats together, and sometimes that
can be a little strange.

Besides lunch, there are always snacks available in

an area called “craft service.” That’s where actors
can snack on hot chocolate, beef jerky, peanuts,
bagels, crackers, and lots of other stuff.

The craft service area on the “Diary of a Wimpy

Kid” set was mostly sugar-free, because kids tend
to work better when they’re focused.
91
When the cast is done for the day, they go back
to their hotel. The actors stayed in large suites in
downtown Vancouver that were meant to make them
feel at home. The suites had two bedrooms, a family
room, a dining room, and a kitchen.

Zach’s favorite thing to do in his downtime was to

hang out with his mom and play video games — sometimes
at the same time.

Robert and his dad watched almost every movie in

the James Bond series.
92
Sometimes the actors hung out with each other
at the hotel pool, where they could have fun and
just enjoy being kids.

The great thing about living in a hotel is that you

don’t have to make your bed or clean up after
yourself. But after three months of living like
kings, it was a little hard for the kids to adjust
once they got back home.
93
The actors’ parents aren’t the only ones looking out
for them. Everyone on the set acts as an extended
family and helps support the kids during filming.

The kids are also assigned acting coaches who help

steer them through the sometimes chaotic world of
moviemaking.

It’s the acting coach’s job to help the kids

memorize their lines, but they do much more than
that. The coaches make sure the kids are eating
right so they can keep their energy level up, and
they try to balance the work with plenty of fun
for the actors.
94
The acting coaches are with the kids from the
beginning of their day until the end. Since “Diary
of a Wimpy Kid” was shot out of order, it was
important for the kids to be reminded of what
happened in the scene before the one they were
about to perform. The acting coach goes through
the day’s scenes on the early-morning car ride
from the hotel to the set.

The coaches for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” were actors

with years of television and film experience, so they were
especially prepared to help the kids
navigate through the whole process.

One of the acting coaches actually

had a role in the movie as Mrs.
Norton, the drama teacher.

95
 EXTRA INGREDIENTS

Now you know what a typical day is like for the

main actors, but what about those people you see
walking through the background of a scene?

Those people are called “extras,” and it’s their job

to fill out a scene so it feels real. Extras don’t
have any spoken lines, but the work they do is
very important.

Extras are usually people who want to get involved

in moviemaking or are just looking for something fun
and interesting to do for a few days. They get to
be a part of a movie, and they get paid, too.
96
But being an extra is hard work. The hours can
be long, with lots and lots of waiting between
filming. Extras don’t get trailers like the rest of
the actors, so they have to find whatever spot’s
available during their downtime.

But it’s all worth it when they get to see their

big moment play out on the screen.
97
 PAGE TO SCREEN

Here’s how a few of the drawings from the book

translated to scenes in the movie.

Cartooning is the art of boiling something down

to its simplest parts, but in a movie, a director is
working on a much bigger canvas and needs to “fill
out the frame” with lots of detail.
98
99
 FIGHT!

One of the more complicated scenes to film was

when Greg and Rowley get into a fight and the
teenagers show up on the playground.

Here’s how the director storyboarded the scene —

100
And here’s how things looked in real life —
101
 A REAL PRODUCTION

One scene that really shows the difference between

writing a book and making a movie is the school play.
In order to create a play in a book, all you have
to do is draw a few doodles and write down a
paragraph or two to describe the scene. Easy,
right? Well, creating a school play in a film is a
whole different matter.

To stage “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” for the

movie, the wardrobe department needed to create a
costume for every kid, lights had to be rigged, sets
had to be designed and painted, and a choreographer
had to plan out how and where the actors moved.
102
In other words, everything that goes into putting
on a REAL play had to be done for the school
play in the movie.

Of course, the play couldn’t look TOO professional,

or it wouldn’t look like it was put on by kids. So
everything had to have that middle school touch.
For example, the trunks of the costumes for the
three trees were made of styrofoam, and the
branches were swimming pool noodles.

Some of the other costumes were a little more

complicated and were created by the wardrobe
department.

103
The costumes for the school play needed to look
different from the ones in the “Wizard of Oz”
movie, so the wardrobe department put a lot of
work into making the costumes unique.
104
The costume designers researched the types of fabric
that were worn when “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
book was written and used those for the play.

Finally, the actors got to try on their costumes.

105
In the book, Greg has to sing a song called “We
Three Trees.” A
songwriter had to
compose music for the
song, which you can
hear in the movie.

And to give you an

idea of how far the
art department
went to create a
convincing school play,
they even designed playbills and handed them out.
to the audience members.

Speaking of those audience

members, it took a few
hundred extras to fill up
the auditorium.

It was the biggest “set

 piece” in the movie and
took three days to film.

106
One of the toughest scenes to shoot was in the middle
of the school play. In the book, Manny yells out
Greg’s nickname when the curtains first open.
107
It may be easy to make that happen on paper, but
it turns out it’s not so easy to pull off in real life.

The school play was one of the first scenes for

the twins playing Manny, and they weren’t really
on board with the whole “acting” thing yet.

In fact, they didn’t seem to know what to think

when they were suddenly a part of a new “family”
in a big auditorium filled with strangers and with
lights and cameras pointed at them.
Luckily, the filmmakers figured out the secret to
winning the twins over: candy.
108
Each twin took turns playing Manny during the
scene. One of the producers stood in front of the
kids and yelled “Bubby” repeatedly, hoping Owen
or Connor would copy him.

Owen caught on, shouting ten perfect “Bubbys” in

a row. Afterward, both twins were rewarded with
a handful of Tootsie Rolls for their efforts.

Sometimes moviemaking is about capturing a big

explosion or dramatic moment on film, but for
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” the high point came
when a three-year-old actor delivered his line.
109
 HEY, THAT WASN'T IN THE BOOK!

One of the other big set pieces in the movie, the

Mother-Son Sweetheart Dance, wasn’t in the
book. So why was the scene written for the film?

Well, sometimes you need to create some extra

emotional firepower to help tell a story. In the
book, Greg and Rowley have a falling-out, and
things slowly build until they get into a fistfight.

That happens in the movie, too. But the writers

felt like there needed to be an extra spark to
push the boys over the edge. So the Mother-Son
Sweetheart Dance was created to show how things
reach a boiling point.

110
By the time Greg and Rowley meet up at the
dance, they haven’t been friends for a while.
Rowley’s found a replacement in his new best
friend, Collin.

When Greg sees Rowley, he tries to reconnect

with him, only to get shot down.

Like most of the boys at the dance, Greg doesn’t

want to be there. But Rowley’s a different story.
He’s excited to be at the dance with his mom, and
they’ve been rehearsing their moves at home.
So when their special song plays, they hit the
dance floor.
111
Greg is happy to see his ex-friend make a fool out
of himself. But then, to Greg’s shock, the crowd
gets into it, and Rowley and his mom become the
stars of the dance.

Greg watches in horror as the whole scene unfolds.

And when Greg and Rowley run into each other
on the blacktop the next day, Greg is itching for
a fight.

Creating the Mother-Son Sweetheart Dance was

just as complicated as staging the school play. The
set designers had to decorate a gym with balloons,
streamers, posters, and a disco ball.
112
About two hundred extras were brought in to play
the mother-son pairs. Most of the people you see
in the scene are real-life moms and their kids. And
with all those boys and their moms dressed up, it
was just as awkward as the real thing.

The woman playing Rowley’s mother isn’t an actress —

she’s Robert’s mom in real life. The two of them
rehearsed their dance routine with a professional
choreographer for about a week.
113
To give you an idea of how something that looks
simple can actually be complicated, take the scene
where Collin hands Rowley an ice cream cone. In
the movie, it looks like this —

No big deal, right? Well, believe it or not, it was

one of the hardest scenes to film.

First of all, it was hot in the gym where the

dance was filmed, so the ice cream was kept in
a freezer about a hundred feet away from where
the actors were standing. When the director
yelled “Action!” a prop man started making two
ice cream cones as fast as he could.

114
Then he ran the cones out to the actors and
handed them off at the exact moment Collin came
into the scene.

The actors each took a single lick of their ice

cream, then handed the cones back to the prop
guy, who took them back to the kitchen to throw
them away.

This went on for half an hour, and by the

time the scene was finished,
there was a trash can in the
kitchen full of once-licked ice
cream cones.

That’s something you’ll only

see on a movie set.

115
 AN AWESOME VIDEO

Most of the time, filmmakers strive to do their

best work. But every once in a while they get to
have a little fun and lower their standards.

In the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie, there’s a

video shown in the classroom called “It’s Awesome
to Be Me.” It’s one of those outdated videos that
they show in school year after year.

The filmmakers had a lot of fun shooting a very

corny, unpolished video that looked like it was
made thirty years ago. The actors in the video had
to wear hairstyles and clothes from the 1980s.
116
In the video, a teen learns that if he just acts cool,
people will like him. So he break-dances in the library,
impressing everyone and winning new friends.
The whole scene was filmed with a video camera to
make it look like it was created a long time ago.
117
 double take

Since “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” doesn’t have a lot of

over-the-top action scenes, you might not think
that special effects play much of a role in the
movie. But they’re actually used a lot.

A special effect is any kind of visual trick a

filmmaker uses to create an illusion. One of the
most common special effects is replacing an actor
with a stunt double.

When you’re filming something that might be

dangerous, you usually replace the actor with an
experienced stunt double who knows how to perform
a scene without getting hurt. For the stunt double to
be convincing, they have to be more or less the same
size as the actor they’re replacing.
118
Usually, when a stunt double is used, they’re filmed
from far away so the audience can’t tell. In the
scene where Patty Farrell tackles Greg at the
end of the school play, TWO stunt doubles were
used — one for Patty and one for Greg.

Sometimes, in scenes where the actors are filmed

close up, you can’t get away with using a stunt
double, and the actors have to do their own stunts.
For the wrestling scene between Fregley and Greg,
the actors were trained by a professional.
119
Some stunts are complicated and take a lot of
planning. One scene that took some serious work
was where Rowley gets knocked off his Big Wheel
by Greg’s football.

In the movie, Greg throws a football at Rowley as

he’s speeding down the hill. But when the scene was
filmed, Zach didn’t
throw anything — he
just pretended to.

The football was

added later on as
a visual effect.

120
When the football connects with the Big Wheel,
Rowley goes flying. During filming, Robert was
replaced by an adult stunt double. The front wheel
of the bike was connected to a cable, which was
attached to a stationary object. When the cable
went taut, the stunt double went flying.

The stuntman was wearing padding underneath his

clothes. And because he was a trained professional,
he knew how to land without getting hurt.

121
You might’ve noticed the giant blue backdrop
behind the stunt double. The backdrop is called a
“blue screen,” and it’s another tool filmmakers use
to twist reality. Here’s how it works: An actor is
filmed performing in front of a giant blue sheet,
or “traveling matte.”

Another shot, called a “background plate,” is

created separately.
122
Then the two shots come together in a “composite.”
The blue color is removed, and the background plate
can be seen underneath.

This technique is used whenever it’s not practical

to film the actors in a specific location or during
a certain time of year. Since “Diary of a Wimpy
Kid” was filmed in the summer and early fall,
the filmmakers had
to create their own
winter scenes. This
image of the Heffley
house was created
with a mixture of a
real photo and some
computer artistry.
123
A blue screen was also used to film one of Greg’s
fantasies, when he imagines himself as a wealthy
adult. It was easier to film the actors in front of
a blue screen than to fly them out to shoot the
scene in front of a real mansion.
124
Sometimes a blue screen is used to re-create
something that’s already been filmed. There’s a
scene in the movie where Chirag tells Greg and
Rowley the story behind the Cheese. A few
weeks after the original scene was shot, the
director decided he wanted to get another few
takes. But the school and the extras from the
original scene weren’t available anymore.

So the director used a blue screen and shot the

actors in the foreground, then combined the new
foreground image with the old background image.
And if it wasn’t pointed out, you’d never notice.
125
Sometimes filming against a fake background isn’t
enough to convince the audience that a scene is
real. If you have a snow scene, you’ve gotta have
snow in the foreground, too. So the filmmakers
had to make it snow in September.

Here’s how they did it. First they laid a thick

white sheet of plastic down on the ground to
cover the green grass. Then they used a “snow
hopper” and a giant hose to blow the fake snow
onto the ground and into the trees and bushes.

The fake snow was made of paper. It looks almost

exactly like real snow. You can even make snow angels
in it if you want.

126
The only downside to the fake snow is that it
had to be cleaned up afterward — you can’t just
roll into someone’s neighborhood and leave a couple
hundred pounds of white paper behind.

In order to make it look like the boys had spent

the day out in the snow, blush was put on their
ears, noses, and cheeks.
127
Snow wasn’t the only kind of weather that had to
be created for the movie. One of the scenes called
for a downpour, and you can’t fake rain with
chopped-up paper.

You might remember a scene from the book where

Greg chases some kindergartners with a worm on
a stick.

Well, the writers decided that Greg had to do

something worse in the movie than chase kids with
a worm. So they created a scene where Greg is
walking the kindergartners home and he thinks
he sees the teenagers who chased him and Rowley on
Halloween night. So Greg hides the kindergartners —
and himself — in a dug-out hole on a construction site.
And all this happens during a rainstorm.

128
The filmmakers set up a giant crane and used a
fire hose to create rain on a sunny day.

All the cameras and equipment had to be protected

from the downpour with plastic. The kids had to be
protected, too. Each one wore a wet suit underneath
their clothes so they didn’t get too cold.
129
The weather isn’t the only thing the filmmakers can
fake. They can even manipulate the time of day.

Shooting outdoors can be a challenge, because as

the sun goes down, the light changes. But the
lighting department has all sorts of filters, bulbs,
and reflectors to make it look like a bright,
sunny afternoon, even if it’s not. In fact, just
about any type of lighting condition can be
simulated by the filmmakers.

Sometimes the time of day needs to be tweaked

even more drastically. When it does, the filmmakers
can change night to day or day to night.

130
One nighttime Halloween scene needed to be shot in
the middle of the afternoon. So the crew covered
the entire front of the
house with black cloth,
which is called “tenting.”
When you see the scene
in the movie, you’ll swear
it was filmed at night.

Another scene was

filmed at night, but
had to look like it was
shot in the day. So
the lighting crew shone giant lights through the
windows to make it look like late afternoon.
131
 TAKING OVER

Most of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” was filmed “on

location” in real schools, stores, and neighborhoods
in the Vancouver area. This helped give the movie a
realistic feel that might’ve been missing if it was all
filmed on a Hollywood set.

So what happens when a film crew wants to make

a movie in a real neighborhood?

The filmmakers strike a deal with the residents

that allows the movie crew to shoot in their
neighborhood for a certain amount of time and
under certain conditions. Most people are excited
to have their neighborhood included in a movie, so
it usually works out pretty smoothly.

132
Some people even offer up their homes for filming.
Three of the houses in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
movie — Greg’s house, Rowley’s house, and Fregley’s
house — were real homes that people actually lived in.

GREG'S
HOUSE

ROWLEY'S
HOUSE

FREGLEY'S
HOUSE
133
The residents let the movie crew into their homes
and find other places to stay during filming.

Of course when the film crew moves in, they make

a lot of changes. First of all, everything that
isn’t nailed down — pictures, lamps, even furniture —
is removed and stored someplace else.

Next, the set designers and decorators bring in

stuff to make it look like the fictional characters
live there. Everything from the pictures hanging
on the walls to the books on the shelves helps
make it feel believable.

For example, Greg’s dad is a Civil War buff in the

book, so in the movie the Heffley home is full of
Civil War books and miniature figurines.

134
To really make the homes authentic, the set designers
asked for family photos of the actors so they
could be placed on walls and on dresser tops. Some
pictures in Rowley’s room came from the Caprons’
family photo album.
135
Just as costumes tell you something about the
characters, so do the homes they live in.

Take a look at Rowley’s room. You can see that

he’s into dinosaurs and astronauts, and that his
tastes are a little young for his age.
136
Even the knobs on Rowley’s dresser drawers are
astronaut-themed.

You get the feeling that Rowley’s mom had a

heavy hand in decorating her son’s bedroom.
137
In the books, Rowley is a big fan of teen singing
sensation Joshie. So the art department created
some Joshie posters for Rowley’s room.
138
The art department designed everything in
Rowley’s room, from the wallpaper to his bed.
They wanted to make his bed look childish and
cool at the same time.

Here are the plans that were drawn up to make

Rowley’s rocket bed.

All this work was done to give you a feeling for

the kind of person Rowley is. And it was all
created for a handful of scenes that last only a
minute or two in the finished movie.

139
Fregley’s room tells a different story. From the
pictures on the walls to the strange items on his
shelves, it’s clear Fregley isn’t your typical middle
school kid.

You get the sense that

Fregley doesn’t have many
friends. Everything in his
room is designed to make you
feel uneasy — just the way
Greg feels after he steps
into Fregley’s house for a
sleepover.

140
Fregley’s living room, where his mom makes clothes
(and maybe even playmates), was also designed to
make you share Greg’s discomfort.
141
 FAKING IT

There are some items you see in scenes that can’t

be purchased — they have to be made just for the
movie. The person who creates these items is called
a “propmaster.”

The propmaster made dozens of objects for the

film. He made the tree costumes for the play and
the safety patrol badges. He made all the strange
items sitting on Fregley’s shelves, from the dung
beetles to the scab collection.

He even made the booger stuck to the note Fregley

hands to Greg. And for the record, it was made
of a sticky adhesive product mixed with tinted wax.
142
One of the most complicated items the propmaster
made was Greg’s diary. The cover of the “Diary of
a Wimpy Kid” book you see in stores was designed
on a computer, but for the movie the propmaster
had to create a real book, cover and all.

It took weeks to make the journal seen in the

film. The propmaster needed to find all the
materials to create a real journal and bind them
together. The stitching on the cover of the
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book might be digital,
but in the movie it’s the real thing.
143
In the movie, Rowley breaks his arm. Over time,
more and more people sign his cast at school.

Several rubber casts were created to show the

passage of time in the film. They all had a seam in
the back so Robert could easily put them on and
take them off.

The propmaster drew signatures on little slips of

paper and stuck them to the cast for positioning,
then copied them onto the rubber by hand to
create the fully covered version. Then he made
two more copies of that one, just in case.
144
For the earlier version of the cast, the propmaster
simply used fewer signatures, making sure to keep
them in the right position.

The end result was an amazingly realistic series of

casts. And Robert reports that they were itchy,
just like the real thing.
145
The propmaster was also in charge of creating a lot
of the food you see in the movie. He made everything
from the fancy cake to
the burning casserole Greg
pulls out of the oven in the
Home Ec scene.

He also made the giant

ice cream sundae that
the grown-up Greg eats in the mansion fantasy
scene. It was made out of shortening, corn syrup,
icing sugar, and cocoa powder so it wouldn’t melt
under the lights.
146
But not all the food you see in the movie is a prop.
Have you ever seen a commercial on TV where someone
is saying how good such and such food tastes?

When the cameras stop rolling, the actors usually

spit out the food they’ve got in their mouths.
That’s because the actors have to do lots of
takes, and if they actually swallow the food,
they’ll eventually get sick.

Sometimes during the filming of a food scene in

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” there wasn’t a chance
to spit out the food. So don’t mention mashed
potatoes to Zach Gordon if you run into him.
147
 GARAGE BAND

In the book, Rodrick’s band, Löded Diper,

practices in his room in the basement.

In the film, they practice in the garage. So why

the change? Well, in Vancouver, there aren’t a whole
lot of houses with finished basements. And even if
there were, it would be really tough to cram a whole
film crew and actors into an underground room. So
Löded Diper became a garage band instead.
Only one of the actors who played the Löded
Diper bandmates had ever been in a real band,
and that was the lead singer.

The actors met just a few minutes before they

made their big entrance in the Löded Diper van.
149
 HEY, WE MISSED A SHOT!

At the end of each day, all the raw footage from

that day’s filming is collected in one place and
burned onto DVDs. These DVDs are called “dailies,”
and they give the director, the producers, and
the executives back at the studio a chance to see
how the movie’s coming along. Dailies also give
everyone a chance to see if something’s been
missed. Sometimes there’s not enough “coverage”
for a particular scene, which means the director
has to shoot additional film to capture the part
that’s missing.

The problem is, you can’t always go back to the

place where you shot the scene originally. So you
have to fake it. This is what happened with the
cafeteria scene.
150
The filmmakers realized they needed more coverage
of the scene where Fregley, Greg, and Rowley are
sitting against a cinderblock half-wall. But school
was back in session at Templeton, and the film
crew couldn’t shoot there.

So a fake cinderblock wall was made out of styrofoam

and painted to look like the one in the cafeteria.
Then a blue screen was put up behind the wall and
the scene was reshot.

When you see the boys sitting against the wall

in the cafeteria, the actors are really in the
Heffleys’ garage — in the exact spot where Löded
Diper practices.
151
 PAGE TO SCREEN

Here are a few of the Halloween scenes that made

their way from the book to the movie.
152
153
 DO IT IN ONE TAKE

Even though each scene is usually filmed lots of

times, there are some you don’t really want to film
more than once. One of those scenes was when
Greg and Rowley get water dumped on their heads
by Greg’s dad at the end of Halloween night.

When the scene was filmed, it was October, and it

was starting to get chilly in Vancouver. Nobody
wanted the actors to get soaked more times than
they had to.

Plus, if the shot wasn’t perfect, the actors would

have to be dried off and given new costumes. So it
was important to get it right the first time.

154
In the movie, Mr. Heffley dumps the water on
the kids from a second-story window. But when
the shot was filmed, two men stood offscreen, each
holding a bucket of water. The men practiced a few
throws before the actors took their places.

When the director yelled “Action!” the guys with

the buckets tossed the water at Zach and Robert.
They nailed it in one take, and everyone went
home happy that night.
155
 ROWLEY JEFFERSON, 007

Some of the actors made good use of their downtime

on the set. Robert Capron decided to use his free
time to produce several James Bond-inspired movie
scripts — with Rowley as the star, of course.
156
While on the set, Robert worked on “The Friend
Who Hated Me,” “On Her Principal’s Secret Service,”
and a few others. Here’s the big romantic moment
in “From Westmore with Love” —
157
 MOVING IT INDOORS

October in Vancouver means rain, so after the

Halloween scenes were filmed, it was time to move
things indoors.

The whole operation was relocated to a soundstage

on a movie lot nearby. A soundstage is like a
big empty airplane hangar where sets are built
for a movie.

So why build sets on a soundstage when you can

use real buildings and homes instead? Well, there
are a few reasons.

The first is the weather. If you’re working on

a soundstage, you’re in an environment where you
don’t have to worry about rain, snow, or the cold,
because there’s a roof over your head.
158
Another reason is convenience. If you build a few
sets in one place, you don’t have to keep moving
the actors, film crew, and equipment around. That
saves time, and you can get more work done.

But the main reason to use a soundstage is to build

the kinds of sets you can’t find in the real world.
Sometimes you need to be able to move cameras
around so you can film from lots of different
angles, and that’s tough to do in a small room
in a real building. On a soundstage set, you can
remove walls to give yourself more space.
159
The set designers built three rooms on the
soundstage: the Heffleys’ kitchen, Greg’s bedroom,
and Rodrick’s attic. It might seem strange that
these three rooms had to be built, since they existed
in the real homes, but since so many scenes were
filmed in these spots, it made sense to create them
on a soundstage.

Building a set is just like building a real structure.

You need carpenters, electricians, and painters.
You even need a draftsman to come up with the
plans. Here’s a blueprint of the Heffleys’ kitchen —
160
Everything you see on the screen is planned down
to the smallest detail. Even the windows had to
be designed.

After the set decoration group did their work in

the kitchen, it looked like a busy family had been
using it for years.
161
 ROOM FOR INTERPRETATION

When it came to designing Greg’s bedroom, the art

department didn’t have a lot to go on. There’s just
not a lot of information in the book’s drawings.

It was up to the set designers and decorators to

imagine what Greg’s room would look like in the
real world.

The first thing they decided was that Greg’s room

should look authentic — it shouldn’t look like a room
created for a few scenes in a movie.

The set designers and decorators wanted to make

it look like a real kid lived in the room, and had
lived there for a long time.

162
Most kids go through a lot of different interests
and hobbies over the years, and their rooms end up
being a kind of museum of the things they liked at
one time or another. If you look closely at Greg’s
room, you can see old cowboy toys, a rock collection,
monster models, and airplane kits.
163
The set decorators decided that Greg is currently
in a pirate phase, which is why he dresses up as
one for Halloween.

The constant shifting in his interests tells you something

about Greg. He’s got a short attention span and is
always moving on to the next thing. In that way,
he’s very different from Rowley, who seems happy to
stay a child forever.

When the set decorators were coming up with

the stuff to hang on Greg’s walls, they had one
serious challenge. Remember, everything in “Diary
of a Wimpy Kid” is supposed to look timeless, so the
audience shouldn’t be able to tell when the story
takes place. But most boys have posters of current
movies, bands, and sports stars hanging up.

164
Even though there aren’t any sports or band
posters in Greg’s room, there IS one video game
poster hanging on his wall. But of course it’s for a
game that doesn’t exist in real life.
165
For Rodrick’s room, the set designers and decorators
had a little more to work with. Here’s a picture of
Greg going through Rodrick’s dresser drawer in
the book —

Rodrick’s room is the ultimate teenage hangout.

It’s got lots of posters of classic heavy-metal bands
and other stuff Rodrick would like.
166
Teenagers like their independence, which is why
Rodrick lives separately from the rest of the
family, in the attic. Rodrick’s room was one of
the biggest sets built on the soundstage. Here’s
what it looked like from the outside, along with
the plan created to build it —
167
Fregley’s bedroom was shot inside a real house,
back when the crew was filming on location. But
the filmmakers felt there wasn’t enough coverage
and they needed to get a few more shots of Greg
reacting to Fregley.

So half of Fregley’s bedroom was entirely rebuilt on

the soundstage. The set designers and decorators
had to place every item in Fregley’s room back
where it was originally. They used continuity
photos from Fregley’s “real” room to tell what
went where.

When you’re watching the movie, see if you can tell

which is the soundstage version of Fregley’s room
and which is the original.

168
169
 IT'S A WRAP!

As filming wound down, the actors “wrapped”

their final scenes. In one of Robert Capron’s last
shots, he was dangling from a wire against a blue
screen — his close-up reaction to flying through the
air during the Big Wheel flip.

Each time an actor wraps, the cast and crew give

them a big round of applause and say good-bye.

It isn’t always easy for an actor to leave. After

working together for a few months, the actors
and the crew form a strong bond. So even though
actors get to return to their families back home,
they’re also leaving behind relationships they formed
during filming.
170
Luckily, everyone’s invited back at the end of
shooting for a big “wrap party,” where they can
have fun and cut loose.

Ironically, one of Zach Gordon’s very last shots

was the opening monologue — the scene Zach first
performed way back at the beginning, when he
tried out for the role of Greg Heffley.

Things had come full circle for Zach. He had

spent three months living in Greg Heffley’s shoes,
and now it was finally time to go home. It was
also time for Zach to go to middle school — this
time for real.

171
 PACKING UP

After the actors have gone home, the crew

packs up all the sets and props for the movie
and puts them in storage. They do this in case
certain scenes need to be reshot and in case
there’s a sequel and some of the sets and items
might be used again. Here are a few of the
props before they got packed away in boxes —
172
173
 PUTTING THE PIECES IN PLACE

After a movie’s finished shooting, it’s still got a long

way to go before it’s ready to be seen by an audience.
In fact, the work that’s done AFTER a movie
wraps actually takes longer than filming itself.
This phase of the work is called “postproduction,”
and it includes everything from adding visual and
sound effects to creating the closing credits. But
the biggest job is editing.

Editing means going through the mountain of

footage that’s been filmed and picking out the best
parts, then combining them into a story. The film
editor and the director work closely for several
months piecing the movie together.
174
Editors have one of the most important jobs in
the moviemaking process, because they help decide
how the story will finally get onto the screen.

When the director films a movie, he creates little

shots that are like puzzle pieces — all out of order.
The editor chooses the best parts of what the
actors have done, sometimes cutting the scenes and
even changing the words the actors say.

The editor can rearrange all the pieces to tell the

story in different ways. Some people call this the
“final rewrite.” Another way to think of it is as
the “elastic version,” because it’s the last chance
to change the story.

175
One of the toughest puzzles for the editor to put
together was the scene where Greg tosses the
kindergartners into the muddy pit.

First of all, the downpour made things tough for

Zach and the five-year-old kids, and good clips
were hard to find.

When the kindergartners were tossed into the pit

by Zach, there was someone in the hole to catch
them. Since there was a springy pad in the pit,
sometimes the kids would bounce back up into view.
The editor had to make sure to find clips where
the kids couldn’t be seen popping up.
176
Good sound was also hard to come by, because
people were shouting directions and encouragement
to the young actors from across the street while
the cameras were rolling.

Finally, in the shot where the kids look up at

Mrs. Irvine, the kindergartners had to look into
the rain, and it was hard for them to keep their
eyes open.

All this made for a challenge for the editor, but

she was able to find the right pieces to put the
puzzle together.

177
 SOUND DECISIONS

Another big piece of the puzzle is sound. Even

though some sound gets recorded during filming
(like the dialogue spoken by the actors), there’s a
lot more that gets added during postproduction.
Sound effects are created in a “Foley studio,” where
there are tons of everyday items that can be used
to make just about any sound you can imagine. For
example, if someone is getting punched in the movie,
a recording engineer might smack a watermelon with
a stick to make the right sound.

But not all the sounds created during post-

production are noise. There’s music, too. While the
movie was coming together in the editing room, a
composer was creating the “score,” or background
music, for the film.

178
You might not really notice the score unless you’re
listening for it, but music is a big part of the
movie. The background music reflects what’s going
on in a scene, and it helps the audience feel what
the characters are feeling.

For example, in a scene of Greg and Rowley

walking down the street after a good day at
school, there might be bouncy, upbeat music in
the background. But in one where the characters
are scared, high-pitched violins might play to
make you feel tense.

A variety of musical styles and instruments were

used to reflect the different moods and characters
in the movie.
179
 SETTING IT IN MOTION

Most of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie is live-

action, but there are moments when the drawings
from Greg’s journal come to life on the screen.

It was up to a team of animators to figure out how

to make the two-dimensional cartoons in the book
look interesting and lively when they moved.

Here’s an illustration from the book —

In order to give the movie version of this scene

depth, the animators re-created it on a computer
and placed the characters in a 3-D environment.

180
Then they converted everything to a rough
pencil look to make the whole scene seem like a
middle schooler’s drawings come to life.

Here’s a still shot of the final result —

181
Here’s how one animated scene came together.

In the movie, Greg imagines himself stuck with

Fregley on a deserted
island. First, Thor
created a storyboard
to show the position of
the characters. Then a
more refined pencil sketch was drawn.

Next, the animators created a “wireframe” version

of the drawing, which made the 2-D sketch into a
3-D model that animators could manipulate.

182
After that, the animators “painted” the wireframe
to create the shaded version. This gave them an
idea of how the characters looked as solid shapes.
For the finished product, the shading was removed,
leaving only the black lines.
183
 TESTING THE WATERS

Before a movie is released, the studio invites a

group of people in to watch a “test screening,” or
preview. The reason for a test screening is to see
how an audience reacts to a movie.

Is the audience laughing at the right places?

Do they seem bored in certain spots? And do
they seem scared at the right times?

Showing the movie to an audience is a big moment

for the filmmakers, because up until that point
they’re just guessing how people might respond.

184
After the test screening, the audience members
are handed questionnaires to fill out.

The questionnaires help the filmmakers decide if

they should change anything in the movie before
it’s released to the general public. Sometimes
what the test screening audience says can have
a big impact on the finished film. Other times,
not so much.
185
 IT'S NOT (JUST) A DIARY...

While the postproduction team was busy putting

the film together, the marketing department
was working to make sure the world knew it
was coming.

One of the marketing team’s most important jobs

is to create a poster, or a “one-sheet.” Here’s the
first version of the movie poster.
186
And here’s the final version, which features both
Zach Gordon and a cartoon drawing of Greg Heffley.
 SPREADING THE WORD

In the weeks leading up to the movie’s release,

the actors hit the road to tell everyone about it.
Zach and Robert went on a coast-to-coast press
tour, visiting schools, appearing at sporting events,
going on radio and television shows, and sitting down
with reporters to talk about the movie.

The boys did one interview after another, often

answering the same questions over and over. By
the end of the press tour, the actors could finish
each other’s sentences.

188
Finally, it was time for the whole world to see the
film. Zach and Robert got to walk the red carpet
at the premiere and get a taste of what it feels
like to be real movie stars.
189
scrapbook
190
191
192
193
194
195
 PART TWO: BACK TO SCHOOL

On March 19, 2010, the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

movie appeared in
theaters, and fans
made the film a hit.
So five months later
the cast and crew
from the first film
reunited in Vancouver
to make the sequel.
Everyone was excited to get back to work and
make another movie.

There were a lot of familiar faces, but there were

some new ones, too. “Rodrick Rules” features several
new characters, including
Holly Hills, who plays Greg’s
crush.

Holly is played by Peyton

List, a talented actress who
 has appeared in a number of
movies and TV shows.
196
Another new character is Rodrick’s bandmate Bill
Walter, who is played by actor Fran Kranz. In
the movie, Bill is a talentless
airhead, but in real life Fran
is one smart guy. He went to
college at Yale University,
one of the country’s most
prestigious schools.

There was also a new face in the director’s chair.

David Bowers, who directed “Flushed Away” and
“Astro Boy,” signed on for the new film. But
this would be the first time David directed
live-a
action movie.
197
 A ROLLING START

The filmmakers wanted to make sure “Rodrick

Rules” opened with a bang, so the first scene is
set in a roller rink. The only problem was that
Vancouver didn’t have a roller rink that could be
used for filming, so the production designers had
to build one in a hurry.

The filmmakers rented an empty building and

built an entire roller rink from scratch. They
had to design everything from the floors to the
lights to the space-themed murals on the walls.
They even created a very convincing refreshment
area, complete with a working Slushee machine.
198
The set decorators filled the roller rink with video
games, old skates, and even trash for the tables
near the snack
bar. It was all
done to make it
seem as if the
roller rink was
real and not
just a movie set.

Filming at the rink lasted for six long days. And

after it was all over, the whole set was dismantled
and not a trace was left in the empty building.

199
PAGE TO SCREEN
200
 MOVIE MAGIC

With a new movie came new challenges, and the

filmmakers were up to the task.

In one scene, Greg and Rowley get in the back of

Rodrick’s van, only to find out there are no seats.
To simulate the boys sliding around the vehicle as it
goes around corners and hits speed bumps, the van
was placed on a machine called a “gimbal,” which can
pivot and turn every which way. So even though
it might look like the boys are traveling around
the neighborhood in the Löded Diper van, they’re
actually sitting in place.
202
In another scene, Greg dives sideways to avoid
a sprinkler in his front yard. To keep Zach
from having to actually dive on the ground over
and over,
he was
strapped to
a cart and
rolled along
a special
track.

In Grandpa’s apartment, there are lots of photos

of the Heffleys, including one with him and the
whole family. The only problem was that on the
day that photo was taken, the actor playing
Grandpa hadn’t
been cast yet.
So the photo was
taken anyway,
and Grandpa
was pasted in
later on.

203
 LEISURE TIME

Another big set piece in the second film is Leisure

Towers, the retirement community where Grandpa
lives. Rather than create a whole apartment complex
from scratch, the moviemakers scouted out a real-life
retirement community in Vancouver called Hollyburn
House. Residents were gracious about letting
the film crew move into their building.

Zach had to endure a tough day of filming, most

of it while running around in his underwear.
204
Mixed in with the actors playing the residents of
Leisure Towers were residents of Hollyburn House.
When you watch the movie, see if you can tell the
actors from the residents.

Also, be on the lookout for lots of visual gags the

director slipped into the scenes.
205
 THE REAL THING

The design department had its hands full

preparing materials for the second film. They
had to create lots of objects for the movie,
including “Pay Up,” a pretend board game that
holds the play money Greg’s mother uses as Mom
Bucks, and “Gutbusters,” Grandpa’s all-time favorite.
206
Propmaster David Dowling also had his work cut out
for him. Among his challenges wererocket-
baking
shaped cakes for a birthday party, creating a
ventriloquist’s dummy for Fregley, and making the
most sinister prop of all: Manny’s spiky tinfoil ball.
207
 TALENT TO SPARE

The last big set piece of “Rodrick Rules” is the

town talent show. A historic theater was rented
in downtown Vancouver, and the crew set up for
a week of filming. Many of the characters get a
moment in the spotlight.

The theater could hold

more than 2,000 people,
which meant it would take
a lot of extras to fill all those seats. And extras
need to eat and take breaks, which interrupts
filming. The solution? Inflatable people. A
company was hired to bring in hundreds of
blow-up mannequins to fill the back rows of
the building.

208
Each mannequin had its own mask, wig, and
wardrobe from the waist up.

It was pretty creepy filming in a theater with

hundreds of silent blow-up people. But at least
none of them asked to take a bathroom break.
209
 A DIPER OVERLÖDE

The grand finale of the second film is when Rodrick’s

band plays at the talent show. Every rock band
needs a breakout hit, and Löded Diper has
written a song for their big moment.
Here are the words and music for “Explöded Diper,”
sure to be a runaway heavy metal hit.
210
 Explöded Diper

Lyrics by Evan Brau, Jeff Kinney, and Ryan Shiraki

You told us that we’re losers EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

And we can’t do nothin’ right Your head is gonna pop!

You said we’d never make it EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

But just look at us tonight You can’t keep us down!

WE’RE GONNA HIT THE FAN!

Chorus And rock this sleepy town!

EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

All over the place! Once we shred this hall

EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER! And win the whole contest,

In yo’ face! We’ll unleash the force of

EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER! LödedDiper’sawesome-num-ness.

Feel the Diper’s thunder!

WE’RE GONNA HIT THE FAN! Chorus

Can’t keep this Diper under! EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

Ya hear that knock?

This one goes out to all the folks EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

Who used to put us down It’sus.TheDiper.Andyes,werock!

We’re up on stage and EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

Thereyouarejustsittin’inyourseat It’s Diper happy hour!

It’s time to face the music WE’RE GONNA HIT THE FAN!

And to feel our Diper heat And unleash this Diper power!

Chorus EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER! EX-PLÖD-ED

EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER! DI-PER! EX-PLÖD-ED DI-PER!

We can’t be stopped!

© 2010 T C F Music Publishing, Inc., Songs Music Publishing, LLC, on behalf of Ram Island Songs and Evrock Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved.
211
 GUEST APPEARANCES

Every so often a person who comes to visit the

set is put into a scene in the movie just for fun.
This kind of appearance is called a “cameo,” and
“Rodrick Rules” has lots of them.

Be on the lookout for a number of special appearances

in the sequel.

ROBERT CAPRON SR. HARRY BRAR

(ROBERT CAPRON'S REAL DAD) (KARAN BRAR'S
SITS NEXT TO MR. JEFFERSON, REAL DAD) SITS
ROBERT'S SCREEN DAD NEXT TO HIS SON
212
 THE DIRECTOR'S PARENTS, RAY AND
PAULINE BOWERS, PLAY CHOIR MEMBERS
IN THE CHURCH SCENE. IN REAL LIFE,
THEY SING IN THEIR CHURCH CHOIR
BACK HOME IN GREAT BRITAIN

JEFF KINNEY, AUTHOR OF THE “DIARY OF A

WIMPY KID” SERIES, PLAYS HOLLY HILLS'S DAD
AND SITS IN A PEW IN THE CHURCH SCENE
213
 PARTY TIME

In the book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick

Rules,” Rodrick is able to keep his party a secret
from his parents until a photo of the party emerges,
blowing his cover. In the movie, one picture won’t do.
Here are a few of the photos that tell the tale of
Rodrick’s blowout bash.
214
After the party scene was over, it was time for
Zach Gordon to shoot his last scene of the movie
and say good-bye to cast and crew.

Throughout filming, Zach had been secretly clipping

clothespins onto crew members’ shirts, pants, and
hoodies. After Zach’s last shot, it was time for the
crew to return the favor.

With that, filming ended on a high note. And

everyone who helped make the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
movies was hoping they’d get a chance to reunite
and make a third film.
215
 PART THREE: SCHOOL'S OUT!

When “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” came

out in March 2011, it was the number one movie in
America. The studio decided to move forward with
a third “Wimpy Kid” film immediately.

The first thing the filmmakers settled on was

that they wanted to make a movie that was set
during the summertime. So they took parts from
the third and fourth “Wimpy Kid” books and
combined them into one story.
216
The third movie has the basic plot of “The Last
Straw,” but it takes place during school vacation.
The movie is called “Dog Days” because the phrase
“the dog days of summer” refers to when it’s really
hot outside.
217
 CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

The cast was called back to Vancouver in the summer

of 2011 to get to work. When the actors gathered
for the table read, some of them seemed a little...
different.

Zach had changed the most. He was a foot taller

than he had been at the start of the first movie,
and his voice was deeper, too.

In the first film, Greg was a sixth grader entering

middle school who was terrified of the eighth graders.
Now Zach was entering the eighth grade himself.
Robert looked different when he showed up as well.

218
He came to Vancouver fresh from the set of the
“Three Stooges” movie, where he played a young
Curly. For the role, Robert’s head had been
shaved almost completely bald.

With filming for the third “Wimpy Kid” movie set

to start in a few short weeks, Robert wouldn’t
have time to grow his hair back. So a special wig
was made to match Rowley’s hair from the first
two movies. See if you can tell the difference.
219
 FRESH FACES

With the new film came a new batch of characters.

The most prominent is Heather Hills, Holly’s older
sister. In the books Heather doesn’t speak a
word, but in the movie she’s got a lot to say,
and not much of it is nice.

The casting director didn’t have to go far to find

the actress to play Heather. Melissa Roxburgh,
a Vancouver native, was picked to step into
Heather’s shoes. You might recognize Melissa from
the second “Wimpy Kid” film as one of the girls
in the conga line at Rodrick’s party. So she plays
two very different roles in the films.
220
Other notable new characters are juvenile
delinquent turned role model Lenwood Heath,
Troopmaster Barrett, and Heffley next-door
neighbor Mr. Warren.

Sometimes in a film series, characters get recast

and the same role is played by two different
actors. That’s what happened with the role of
Mrs. Jefferson. In the first film she’s played by
Robert’s real mother, Kaye Capron, who does not
work as an actress but is
impressive on the dance
floor. But in the third
film, Mrs. Jefferson is
played by Canadian
actress Bronwen Smith.
221
 GOING TO THE DOGS

Of course, with a title like “Dog Days,” you’ve

got to have a canine in your movie. It’s not really
clear what kind of dog Sweetie is in the books,
so for the film a labradoodle named Oliver got
the part. Oliver is a specially trained dog who
had performed in a number of feature films and
television shows. And although he didn’t expect
to be paid, he did like getting doggie treats in
between takes.

There’s a saying in Hollywood that you should

never work with animals or children. That’s because
animals and children can be unpredictable and don’t
always do what they’re supposed to when the
cameras are rolling.

222
Even though Oliver was trained to perform
commands on cue, sometimes he had his own plans.
One scene called for him to run around the house as
Greg and Frank chase him, but Oliver waslaid-
in a
back mood that day and wasn’t really up for running.

In another scene, Oliver was supposed to go to

the bathroom in the yard. But he was a little
gun-
shy while he had a camera pointed at him, so the
filmmakers put a blue
pillow under Oliver and had
him sit on it. The pillow
was removed
post-
during
production to make it look
like he’s squatting.

223
page to screen
224
 THE GENUINE ARTICLE

Just as they did in the first two movies,

propmaster David Dowling and the movie’s design
team had to make real-world objects that were
based on doodles from the books. Here are some
drawings and their film versions.
226
In the third film, Greg
and his friends join the
Wilderness Explorers, a
group similar to the Boy
Scouts. The costume
department had to
design and sew each and
every patch you see on
the boys’ uniforms.

227
 A TALE OF TWO POOLS

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” features two

swimming pools: the small, crowded town pool
Greg’s family goes to, and the spacious pool at the
country club where the Jeffersons are members.

The location scouts found two public pools in the

area that were similar to each other, then the
set decorators dressed one of them up with trees,
plants, marble columns, benches, and walls to make
it look like a fancy country club.

AFTER

BEFORE
228
For the town pool scene, hundreds of extras were
brought in to make the pool look overcrowded.

In the movie Greg has to walk through the

men’s locker room to find Manny. The locker room
was built on a soundstage, complete with working
showers. But don’t worry... when Manny washes his
hands in the urinal, the water is sanitary.
229
 ALL WET

In the “Wimpy Kid” films, Greg has to endure

just about every type of humiliation you can imagine,
from wrestling Fregley to acting as Rowley’s
assistant in a magic show to getting stuck in the
women’s bathroom at Leisure Towers. But in the
third film, Greg suffers the ultimate embarrassment.

While trying to show off for Holly Hills by jumping

from the high dive at the country club, Greg somehow
manages to lose his bathing suit on the diving
board, and he’s helpless to do anything about it.
230
Of course, Zach Gordon didn’t really have to
swim in the buff for the movie. The costume
department gave him a skin-colored bathing suit
that you can’t see when he’s underwater.

But that doesn’t mean it still wasn’t embarrassing.

Some fans came by the set that day, and Zach
signed autographs in his skin-colored suit. Now
that’s dedication.
231
 FREE-FOR-ALL

About halfway through filming the third movie,

the actors got a special treat. It was time to
film the scenes where Greg and Rowley spend a
day at the boardwalk. So Zach, Robert, and a few
hundred extras got to live every kid’s dream: they
had an amusement park all to themselves.

Zach and Robert took full advantage of the

situation, going on rides, playing carnival games,
and eating plenty of popcorn and cotton candy.
232
The extras had a lot of fun, too, but some
of them got more than they bargained for. In
the scenes where Greg and Rowley are talking
in the foreground, thrill rides are running in
the background. The extras sometimes found
themselves riding the same ride over and over
as the actors performed take after take.
And by the end of the day, you wouldn’t blame
the extras for feeling that the thrill was gone.
233
 THE RIDE OF THEIR LIVES

In the fourth “Wimpy Kid”

book, Greg goes on a
terrifying thrill ride called
the Cranium Shaker while
on vacation at the beach
with the Jeffersons.

There wasn’t a ride exactly like the Cranium

Shaker in Vancouver, so the filmmakers had to
settle for the next
best thing. The
amusement park’s
most terrifying
ride was called
the Revelation,
which spins its
passengers at
sixty-two miles
per hour on either
end of its 160-
foot propeller-like
arm.
In the book Greg has to go on the Cranium
Shaker by himself, but in the film Rowley is
along for the ride. The Revelation tumbles its
passengers end over end as it rotates on its axis.
Neither Zach nor Robert had ever been on a ride
that went upside down before, so they got a pep
talk from the producers and the director before
lifting off.

Special cameras were attached to the ride to film

the boys while the ride was in motion. And we’ll
never know if the look of terror on their faces
was real or just great acting.
235
 WASHOUT

In the third film, Greg’s entire Wilderness

Explorers troop goes on a campout. But a downpour
threatened to ruin filming just like it ruined Greg
and his dad’s weekend in “The Last Straw.”

Unfortunately, the cast and crew couldn’t hole up

in a cozy motel room like Greg and his father did
in the book. Filming had to continue no matter
how cold and wet the weather was.

But the crew came prepared, and most of the

filming took place under a special tarp designed to
keep things dry.

236
And when you see the sunny camping scenes in the
film, you’ll never notice it was actually raining.
237
 GETTING OUT OF HAND

In the second “Wimpy Kid” film, Greg and Rowley

have a sleepover and watch a horror movie, scaring
themselves half to death.

At first the filmmakers were considering having

the movie the boys watch be “Hello, You’re Dead,”
featuring the muddy hand from the fourth book.

But they decided that since the muddy hand was

such an important part of the fourth book, it
would be better to save it for the “Dog Days” film.

238
So director David Bowers came up with the idea
for a cheesy horror film called “The Foot,” which
features a couple
who spend the
night in a mansion
and are terrorized
by a disembodied
five-toed fiend.

The muddy hand has its big moment near the end
of the third “Wimpy Kid” film, but instead of
being a part of a horror movie, it’s now told as
a ghost story during a campout. Because really,
what could be more terrifying than a ghost story
told by Fregley?
 ANTS IN HIS PANTS

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice animals

in each of the three “Wimpy Kid” films. There’s
an owl in the first movie, a rat in the second,
and of course a dog in the third. Each animal is
taken care of by a handler who’s trained to follow
strict rules to keep it safe during filming. Chances
are, if you see an animal in a modern film, it was
treated very well.

The handlers take their jobs very seriously, even

if the animals they are handling are tiny. The
third movie features not just Oliver, a dog, but
insects as well. There’s a scene (which was cut from
the finished film) where Greg and his friends see
an anthill in the forest.
240
The person handling the ants had to count them
each time they were filmed to make sure none
went missing.

In another scene, Greg is covered in ants. But

these are the computer-generated variety, so no
counting was required.
241
PAGE TO SCREEN
242
243
 LAST DANCE

The filmmakers wanted the third movie to end with

a bang, so they dreamed up a Sweet Sixteen party
for Heather Hills as the grand finale.

The party allowed Löded Diper to perform in a

classy setting, and for Rodrick to serenade
Heather with a Justin Bieber hit.
244
The party featured a large
ice sculpture of Heather Hills,
which came crashing to the
floor. But when it hit the
ground, instead of smashing
into a million pieces, it bounced.

And of course, if you see a chocolate fountain in

a movie, you know things are bound to get messy
by the end.

Moments after the actors were sprayed by the

fountain, there was a break for lunch. So the
actors had to eat their meal covered in chocolate.

245
 ONE MAD RUSH

Things usually get a little hectic toward the end

of filming as everyone tries to wrap things up,
and the final day of production on the third
“Wimpy Kid” movie was especially busy. Here are a
few scenes from Zach Gordon’s last day on set.
246
It seemed fitting that on his
last day of filming, Zach was
holding a diary and speaking to
the camera, just as he was at
the beginning of the first movie.
And although filming may have
ended, this actor’s story
isn't finished being written.
247
 CREDITS

FOX 2000 PICTURES Presents

A COLOR FORCE Production

“DIARY OF A WIMPY KID”

Greg Heff ley

ZACHARY GORDON

Rowley Je erson
ROBERT CAPRON

Susan Heff ley

RACHAEL HARRIS

and

Frank Heff ley

STEVE ZAHN

Music Supervisor
JULIA MICHELS

Music by
THEODORE SHAPIRO

Co-Producer
ETHAN SMITH
 Costume Designer
MONIQUE PRUDHOMME
 Film Editor

WENDY GREENE BRICMONT, A.C.E.

Production Designer

BRENT THOMAS

Director of Photography

JACK GREEN, ASC

Executive Producer

JEFF KINNEY

Produced by

NINA JACOBSON

BRAD SIMPSON

Based upon the book by

JEFF KINNEY

Screenplay by

JACKIE FILGO & JEFF FILGO

and GABE SACHS & JEFF JUDAH

Directed by

THOR FREUDENTHAL

FOX 2000 PICTURES PRESENTS A COLOR FORCE PRODUCTION “DIARY OF A WIMPY KID”

MUSIC MUSIC
ZACHARY GORDON ROBERT CAPRON RACHAEL HARRIS AND STEVE ZAHN JULIA MICHELS THEODORE SHAPIRO
SUPERVISOR BY

CO- FILM PRODUCTION DIRECTOR OF EXECUTIVE

ETHAN SMITH WENDY GREENE BRICMONT, A.C.E. BRENT THOMAS JACK FREEN, ASC JEFF KINNEY
PRODUCER EDITOR DESIGNER PHOTOGRAPHY PRODUCER

PRODUCED BASED UPON SCREENPLAY

NINA JACOBSON BRAD SIMPSON JEFF KINNEY JACKIE FILGO & JEFF FILGO AND GABE SACHS & JEFF JUDAH
BY THE BOOK BY BY

DIRECTED www.diaryofawimpykidmovie.com Read Dairy of a Wimpy Kid

THOR FREUDENTHAL
BY series from Amulet books

© 2010 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID is trademark of WIMPY KID, Inc. © 2009 Wimpy Kid, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Just as it took an army of talented people to make the Wimpy Kid movies, it took

contributions from a big cast of characters to make this book. Thanks to everyone

at Fox—especially Carla Hacken, Elizabeth Gabler, Riley Ellis, and Nick D’Angelo—for

believing in Diary of a Wimpy Kid enough to make it into a film. Thanks to producers Nina

Jacobson and Brad Simpson for putting your trust in my books and for shepherding

me through the process. Thanks to Thor Freudenthal for doing a great job directing

the first movie and for contributing to this book with your storyboards and journal

pages. Thanks to David Bowers for taking the helm on the second and third films and

for infusing so much of your humor into the movie. Thanks to Monique Prudhomme

for your outstanding costumes and for helping me understand the thinking that goes

into your craft. Thanks to Brent Thomas for your insight into the work that goes on

in the production department, and to all of the graphic artists, set designers, and set

decorators whose work I’ve displayed in this book. Thanks to Lori West for lending

your amazing artistry to so much of these films. Thanks to Warren Carr for sharing

your team’s work with me and for o ering your help so readily. Thanks to propmaster

extraordinaire David Dowling for being so generous with your time and for explaining

everything that goes into your work. Thanks to Tony O’Dell for taking the time to

share your thoughts on being an acting coach and for being such a great role model

to the kids on the set. Thanks to Cheryl Anderson for all of the laughs on set. Thanks to

unit photographers Rob McEwan and Diyah Pera, whose beautiful work is seen

throughout this book. Thanks to Je Filgo, Jackie Filgo, Gabe Sachs, Je Judah, Wally

Wolodarsky, and Maya Forbes for taking on the challenge of transforming these books

into scripts and for helping me understand the art of screenwriting. Thanks to Mike

Murphy and Mark Dornfeld for your team’s dedication to the art of visual e ects and

for working with me to make the animated Wimpy world look like the one in the book.

Thanks to Max Graenitz and your team for doing such a great job of animating the

characters for the second and third films. Thanks to stunt coordinator Dave Hospes for

describing in great detail the planning and e ort your team puts into its work. Thanks

to Wendy Greene Bricmont for sharing your insights on editing during a very busy

time. Thanks to cinematographer Jack Green for lending your extraordinary talents

to the films. Thanks to Ethan Smith for your kindness and help. Thanks to Virginia

King and Debbie Olshan for helping navigate uncharted territory to make this book.

Thanks to Zach Gordon, Robert Capron, Karan Brar, Grayson Russell, Peyton List,

Laine MacNeil, Devon Bostick, and all of the actors for stepping into the shoes of my

characters and for knocking it out of the park. Thanks to Linda Gordon for all your

contributions to this book and for your great help and insight. Thanks to Robert Capron

Sr. for taking time to make sure I got everything right. Thanks to Jane Fielding for the

terrific pictures of your sons. Thanks to all the great folks at Abrams, especially

Chad W. Beckerman, Veronica Wasserman, and Scott Auerbach. Thanks to my agent,

Sylvie Rabineau, for being a guiding force and a great friend. Thanks to my lawyers, Ike

Williams, Paul Sennott, and Keith Fleer, for pulling this one o . Thanks to my assistant,
Shaelyn Germain, for all of your help. Thanks to Julie, Will, and Grant for giving up

so much of your time with me so I could write this book. And thanks especially to

Charlie Kochman, who sat side by side with me to make this happen.
www.wimpykid.com
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