:44:03
Production designer Michael Buchanan
:44:05
knows everything has to look just right.
:44:08
I'm trying to make the plaster
:44:09
Iook like real stones.
:44:09
So it doesn't look
like what it is!
:44:21
The plaster stones weigh only
:44:22
a fraction of the real thing,
:44:24
but the actors' efforts are real.
:44:28
As the camera rolls,
:44:29
20-man teams haul the blocks
:44:31
on sledges up increasingly steep ramps.
:44:39
It's a dazzling sight...
:44:40
and one not seen on the
:44:41
Giza plateau in over 4,000 years.
:44:48
Until now
:44:49
I haven't seen any film
:44:51
that is done on ancient
Egypt that is accurate.
:44:54
All that we see is like
30% accurate, until now.
:45:00
When I saw the stones
going up the hill,
:45:02
it really looked like
ancient Egypt.
:45:04
So this is a huge pay off
and to have Zahi's stamp
:45:07
of approval is a big,
big relief.
:45:12
But more than stone was moved
to build the pyramids
:45:15
20,000 laborers
:45:17
traveled to the isolated Giza plateau.
:45:20
How they got here
might surprise you.
:45:26
Four thousand years ago,
:45:27
the pyramids weren't
surrounded by desert.
:45:30
The Egyptians built harbors
and canals that brought
:45:32
the Nile deep into the
Giza plateau.
:45:35
We can imagine,
back 4,600 years ago,
:45:41
Cheops building his pyramid,
:45:43
what he did
he cut this harbor,
:45:46
and the harbor was
connecting with the Nile.
:45:49
The harbor was used every morning
:45:51
when the workmen are coming.
:45:53
Everyone is holding his lunch
and coming,
:45:57
and coming in boats, and
:45:59
they work here and building