Gathering 5
Pen vs. Sword (Saturday)
I missed half of this as,. . .I needed to eat (and I ate with Mistress Wanderer, Mac-a-ruin, a small slew of forumlanders, and a floating BJ).
When I made it back to the room McAsh and Gillian were talking about how they would cast for actors and then it was up to McAsh to come up with the swordfights. They moved from that to talking about how Duende was the one exception and how the whole episode is a dance, and even the fight scene is set up that way.
They then showed out takes of the Destreza, with McAsh filling in that the lines are the fastest way from you to a vital part of your opponent, and that from the crane shots you can see that their swords follow the lines, 'which is the great thing about having two capable swordsmen!'
The outtakes were incredible. It showed Adrian and Anthony huddling under blankets before the next take was called for, shouting out 'It's ok Mr. Panzer,. . .the rain has stopped,. . .we can film it now" And then the fighting! Wow,. . . . they'd fight,. ..pause for breath and Adrian would 'forget my f**ing line",. . .so they'd start again,. . .and in the midst of fighting Anthony disappeared from view and Adrian just stopped mid move,. . .his rapier and dagger crossed and you hear is voice 'That was close!"
Or another time,. . .Anthony *stabs* Adrian and right as Adrian is to pull the sword in deeper he stops and starts dancing "Singing in the rain,. . " and Anthony joins him for a short bit of the can-can. The out takes are incredible.
McAsh then talked about the daggers, that what he was going for was the effect, and that the daggers they used were not quite long enough for the beheading,. . .but the real daggers used in the fight would have been,. . .and the shot of Adrian at the end was to show him in that finishing pose of the dance.
Gillian also mentioned how they wanted to show that Duncan had learned his 'never give up' from Consone, and that not only had the teaching moment of 'would you let a dagger in the gut stop you?" carried with him through the years,. . .but it was what lead him to take Consone's head.
Auction (Saturday)
Like always, the auction is the time to watch the actors work off of each other in a somewhat natural repetoir. Stan kept saying "Yes dad,. . " and Elizabeth was playing up her role as Vana. One of the moments I really loved was when McAsh brought something in, I believe a script with his notes for the fight, and it sold for more than the one he'd auctioned at Anaheim,. . .you could tell he was surprised and touched.
Then of course there was the auctioning of breakfast tables with the cast,. . .and of course,. . .when bidding was tight,. . .Elizabeth looked down at BJ and crinkled her nose to say 'BJ,. . .Dirt!" (and yes,. . .he bid and won).
The most interesting piece was a mold of Adrian from shoulders to buttocks that was used in the movie in a scene where Duncan falls from a window and lands on spikes. Stan wouldn't touch the thing, and Elizabeth danced around with it and held it up for us to see. Adrian had a hard time not laughing as he sold it,. . .and it went for $2300.
Other pieces of interest:
Two practice katanas, used by Adrian and Christopher Lambert $1800
Katana from the movie, $2300
Picture from the movie (the last Peace front cover, but larger) $1550
EG playboy $550
Sword Demo (Saturday)
I arrived a bit late to this, as Mistress Wanderer and I had run out for a nice Mexican meal. I arrived to find BJ and another audience member telling McAsh and Bob (don't ask who,. . .I never really bothered to know,. . . .he's a sword fighter/actor that taught some of the classes and works with Anthony) where to move about the stage and what was going on in the fight.
They worked through the fight, including Bob pulling a dagger from his boot, being disarmed of it with McAsh snarling (and yes, BJ came up with these words) "I'll bury this with your head" ,. ..then a few moves later McAsh is disarmed with "Do you always bring a butter knife to a sword fight, and McAsh turns a lunge on Bob's part against him and 'beheads' him.
As they worked through the choreography, figuring out what moves would work next, they talked with the audience about what it was like to do this with people who didn't know how to fight and how they would film at the end of the day when people were tired and it wasn't always the best of circumstances.
Then they brought someone up from the audience, who had never touched a sword, and gave her a rapier and a dagger. They walked her through the following:
Step left
Step right
Bow (deeply)
Bow again
Rapier up
Dagger up
Rapier down
Dagger down
Cross them both high in front of you
And uncross
They worked through this until she had it down, then they both picked up swords and the above moves translated into
Dodge left, dodge right
Duck a swoop from McAsh
Duck one from Bob (which she missed the first time through and fortunately bob stopped before skewering her)
Parry right (McAsh-and I'm not a swordsman,. . .so if it's not a parry forgive me)
Parry left (bob)
Low parry right
Low parry left
The cross blocked a dual lunge by both of them, and the uncrossing sent their blades away from her.
If you think that was impressive in semi-real time,. . .you should have seen it when they blindfolded her!!
They filled up the last few minutes with questions. McAsh talked about the fight between Duncan and Evil Duncan in Deliverance. That the floor plans they'd given him didn't have elevation written in, so they had to alter the fight when they got to the set. The stunt double had to learn not only both choreography's, but Duncan's style as well.
McAsh had commented that he often didn't know what hand the actors were, so he had to come up with 2 plans. Working right hand to left makes filming easier, as it opens the fight up to the camera, but the fight itself is similar, there are just different areas open to attack.
They usually had four hours with the guest star spattered throughout the filming, to teach them the choreography.
Outtakes (Sunday) with Gillian
These were great. We got to see a bit of the auditions for roles, that of Richie and of Kronos,. . .and it is so incredibly evident why Valentine was picked (come on people,. . .these are not just words you're reading!)
We saw the entire flamenco out take,. . .which was beautiful and stunning. As well as the tango,. . .which is so humorous, during the shots where they are just dancing with the camera,. . .as between moves both Adrian and Elizabeth are making faces into the camera,. . .and the dance itself,. . .you see just how scary their platform was!!
One of the greatest set of out takes was those of the 'Jimmy Scene' in Comes a Horseman. Each scene had the same lines, . . .played just a little bit differently,. . nuances were shifted, movements shifted,. . .if/when they grappled with each other shifted,. . .and at the end of watching that scene over 5 times,. . .I was exhausted!!! (they were all great too,. . .and it made me appreciate the editors job so much more).
Another note from this session,. . . .the "An Evening at Joe's" book,. . .containing short stories about the characters from the actors is coming out soon and looks very good.
The Gathering 5
(created March 27, 2000)