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Bob Anderson has taught swordplay to the greats of the actingworld, including elfin Arwen FELPHAM, England - The latest handiwork of Bob Anderson, who hasspent nearly 50 years making sword fights on the screen look convincing, can be seen in the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings. Though the battle scenes have drawn praise from some critics, the results are not, Anderson is quick to point out, fencing in thetraditional mode. "We use weird weapons," he said. "It's not fencing, I've got to tell you. It's hammering each other with swords. Tremendous!" With Tolkien setting his story in Middle-Earth, conjuring up medieval times, Anderson said he had to deal with "all sorts of characters -- barbaric creatures, really ugly-looking brutes." "So I made it bestial, but there's still some really neat swordplay," he added. Anderson prides himself on his reputation for safety, and will not accept any shortcuts. When Liv Tyler, who plays the young heroine Arwen, was told to practice for her sword fights, she was less than enthusiastic and faced the full force of the sword master's wrath, he said. "I told her I was going away for a while, leaving her with my assistant," he said. "If she wasn't properly rehearsed on my return, I would report as such to the film's director, Peter Jackson. When I got back, I could see a gleam in my assistant's eye so I knew something was up. Liv put on one of the best fights I've ever seen a girl do." Anderson is widely acknowledged as the master of his craft. No one else can match his experience, imaginative swordplay or longevity. "It started in 1952," he said. "I was in England, in the Royal Marines, and had made the British sabre team for the Helsinki Olympics." Ten days before the games he was asked if he was free to act as double and fight arranger in an Errol Flynn movie, The Master of Ballantrae. He said he hit it off with Flynn immediately, but during a duel in Sicily he played a French pirate, and pierced Flynn in the thigh. Flynn said immediately that it was his own fault -- he had been distracted by a boat passing by -- and soon the two men were off drinking together. But for long afterward fellow stuntmen mercilessly recalled the thrust. "That's the man who stabbed Errol Flynn," they would warn actors, Anderson said. He went on to work with Flynn on two other movies. During a career of more than 100 films, he doubled for Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, taught Richard Gere his swordplay for First Knight and tutored Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones for The Mask of Zorro. During half of his film career, he fenced competitively. At the Helsinki Games, he narrowly missed the final because of an injury. In 1954, he was appointed Britain's national coach, remaining until 1979. He won the British sabre title from 1962 to 1964 and the professional championships in all three weapons -- foil, sabre and épée -- for four years in succession. He went to seven Olympics, first as competitor, then as coach. Anderson's film fights often emphasize the romantic Three Musketeers style of swordplay, which is different from the ultrarealism of such films as Rob Roy or The Duellists, or the impossible swordplay of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in which the skills belong to the special-effects room, not the fencers. He is the first to point out, though, that competitive fencing and the film version are worlds apart. "Everything's bigger on film," he said. "You have to pull back your arm before making a foil or épée thrust, and at sabre almost take it back over your head so the audience can see it coming." Whenever possible, he likes to train actors to do the fight scenes for themselves, he said. "A double never has quite the feeling of the actor," he said. "There's always something mechanical about them." But he had
to stand in for Sean Connery in the original Highlander as here wasn't
time to teach the actor the moves.
" 'That's no
good, Bob,' the director said. 'You're meant to be dying, but you look
as if you're enjoying it.' " Enthusiasm is a trait he has passed on to
his actors: When Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes appeared in the 1987 film
The Princess Bride, they would go on slashing away at each other long after
cut was shouted, and had to be called to order for the next scene.
He starts each action sequence by teaching the rhythm he wants, and works slowly up from there. "The most important thing is the changing rhythm of the blades," he said. "If all goes along at the same tempo it gets boring, so you have to go broad and slow, then fast and fluid." Swords are usually aluminum replicas, light and well balanced, but they sound dull as they strike, so the actual clash of steel against steel has to be added later. "We used to call him Grumpy Bob on the set, he was such a perfectionist," said Martin Campbell, the director of Zorro. "He was incredibly inventive, and also refused to treat any of the actors as stars. They would complain about the intensity of the training, but having worked with him, there's nobody I'd rather use." Preparations are underway for the same team and cast to make a sequel in 2002. After each
film, Anderson says he is going to retire, but then he recants. He is now
in England, preparing the sword fighting for the new James Bond film. The
film should be ready by November, although so far only Pierce Brosnan has
been cast.
HOEFN, Iceland (AP)- 007 Crew Films in Iceland: No snow. No 007. No Problem. March 13, 2002 No matter. A film crew moved trees, flew in some snow, and got on with work this week on the next James Bond movie, "Die Another Day." Star Pierce Brosnan was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't make it. He was injured a few weeks ago during filming of a hovercraft stunt scene. "I wanted Pierce to be here, but we couldn't get him," said second unit director Vic Armstrong, adding that images of Brosnan filmed back in England could be inserted into the Icelandic scenes later. Roughly 200 crew members were shooting at the dramatic Joekulsarlon glacial lagoon in southeast Iceland for a five-minute chase sequence in the 20th Bond film. "It's the climax to the middle of the movie. Bond is being chased and he must escape to save Halle Berry from the Ice Palace that's about to sink," said Armstrong, who also worked on Bond films "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World is Not Enough." "It's the scene with all the guns and gadgets." In "Die Another Day," set for release Nov. 22, the villain's henchman, Zao (Rick Yune), lives in Iceland. The chase involves a convertible green Jaguar and a gray Aston Martin racing across the frozen lagoon with turquoise icebergs as obstacles. The eight cars used in production were modified to drive on ice. Armstrong said he aims to "keep the cars flowing, spinning. It will be like a ballet." Joekulsarlon is on the edge of the Vatnajokull glacier, the world's third-largest ice cap. The lagoon, 240 miles from Reykjavik, was formed mostly after 1950 when the glacier began receding. It is about 330 feet deep in places, and is one of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions. It has appeared in numerous films, including the Bond film "A View to a Kill" and last year's "Tomb Raider." Ice on the lagoon must be at least a foot thick to support the crew and cars. To strengthen it, the filmmakers blocked the inlet to keep out warmer sea water. "We hired two bulldozers and dammed the enclosure using only natural materials," says Leifur Dagfinnsson, unit manager. "We basically enhanced what nature does every year." Nature also failed to oblige the film's need for snow in a scene set in a forest. So the action was moved to a glacier, snow was flown in, and a forest was manufactured from 225 Norway spruce taken from the Hallormsstadur National Forest in eastern Iceland. Iceland has few trees - woodlands cover just 1.3 percent of the land - but Throestur Eysteinsson, general director of the Forestry Service, said the sacrifice caused no pain. "The trees were mainly the small young ones and needed to be thinned out of the stands," he said. YAHOO:
For Your Wrist Only, James
He may have a licence to kill and spend his time with some of the most gorgeous women in the world draped over him but it would seem that James Bond star Pierce Brosnan can't keep his hands on his watch. It's been reported that, during the filming of the latest 007 flick, Die Another Day, the absent-minded spy has managed to lose three, yes three, of the expensive Omega watches worn by his character. Not to worry, though, as part of the contract Bond producer Eon Productions has with the watchmakers states that the star gets the pricey timepieces replaced free of charge.
Yun
Lee's role to 'Die' for
For "Witchblade"
co-star Will Yun Lee, doing double duty-shooting the
Declares Lee,"I
felt like a 5-year-old with the giggles every time I was on the
Vanity
Fair: "For Your Eyes Only"
The September
2002 issue of Vanity Fair has a four page photo spread taken on the set
of 'Die Another Day'. The photos are by Greg Williams and will appear in
the book 'Bond On Set: Filming Die Another Day'. Vanity Fair's Bruce Handy
finds out more about 'girls, gadgets and guns.'
Ring, ring. Lee Tamahori is on the phone from Pinewood Studios, outside London, where he is wrapping up his chores as director of the 20th James Bond movie, 'Die Another Day,' which should not be confused with 'Tomorrow Never Dies,' the 18th Bond film and the one with the most idiotic title, since no one really expects "tomorrow" to "die," being that it's a point in time and all. Best Bond title? 'Thunderball,' hands down; it works on so many levels. But anyway, Lee Tamahori is on the phone. He is previously the director of 'Once Were Warriors,' 'Mulholland Falls,' and 'Along Came a Spider.' How, we want to know, does a director of such relatively idiosyncratic fare - certainly in comparison with 'Octopussy' - navigate the ritualized narrative, the popcorn Kabuki, that is a Bond movie? "Girls, gadgets, guns," he says, "those are indeed your building blocks. I mean, you know that since it's a Bond he's going to shoot someone and drive a car. But I always head for a sense of logic. It's a thriller, and in a thriller everything has to be treated seriously." One example: "In lovemaking, Bond's PG requirements have traditionally meant you can only show post-coital sex. You know, clothes strewn about the room, the camera slowly pans over to the bed.... But we thought, why couldn't Bond have the best lay of his life? So we shot a very hot love scene. Whether it survives the censor's cut - or the producers' - we'll see." Pierce Brosnan returns for his fourth spin as 007, while Halle Berry has been anointed the new "Bond girl." As a follow-up to her Oscar-winning role in 'Monster's Ball,' it's an interesting choice, for both her and the series: there have been other Bond girls who could act, but only rarely were they asked to. Tamahori insists this time will be different. "It's been a joyride," he says, now heading into the editing room. "I'll regret it if it comes out the same old Bond."
Maxim Fashion
(Excerpt)
“Seventy- Three, Take One” A rough outline of how James Bond got here runs thus: Betrayed during a covert operation in North Korea, Bond has been held hostage for some time – enough at least to grow this image changing mane. Finally, he’s released, but he loses patience with Dame Judi Dench and her stuffed shirt MI6 cronies during his debrief aboard a Navy Vessel and decides to jump ship, literally. Into the waters of Hong Kong – a city represented cinematically by a few Christmas tree lights on a black cloth background which miraculous appear like a distant metropolis when viewed in playback. In this brief scene Bond is to exit from a bulkhead door, evade two sailors who are scouring the ship for him, and leap into the water. Cameras roll. Brosnan approaches the door barefoot, looks quickly around it, strides to the side and jumps. He falls five feet to an out of shot mattress where his slippers are waiting. But somehow it’s not Bond enough. “It felt kinda wrong,” Brosnan ticks himself off quietly. “You’re trying to be stealthful, but you’re dressed in pajamas and a Robinson Crusoe wig and you’re James Bond.” He and director Lee Tamahori have a few words. Brosnan does it again. This time the action is slower. He looks almost bored as he hides from the scurrying seamen. With casual sangfroid, he walks to the side of the deck and then, with a quick look over his shoulder jumps into the sea. This time he’s
not playing it as if he’s in her Majesty’s Forces issue pajamas.
He’s playing it as if he’s wearing the sharpest Saville Row suit yet made.
Much better.
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