Behind The Scenes And on The Set With Anthony De Longis

"DUEL WITH A STRANGER"

"Come on baby, light my fire!"

The story calls for the Queen to use the distraction of fire to get away. She kicks Antonio's sword out of way and smashes a table lamp to create a wall of flame between the combatants. She quickly retrieves her sword and crashes through the window to escape. Sounds simple enough but the safety preparations were considerable.

At left: Anthony on the set of "The Hanged Man" with Special Effects. Carlos (on right) tirelessly ran the department, pulling extra duties like polishing down the sword edges when they got too rough and crafting daggers from existing parts when there were none to be had.

The Special Effects department had fireproofed (with asbestos sheeting) the hotel room's ceiling area behind the double doors where the gas-fed flame bars would burn to control the height of the flames. Mary stayed behind with second unit to film multiple takes of the lamp smashing and the flames leaping. Filled during the day with fire and a full crew with windows covered with blackout curtains, the room quickly heated to well over 100 degrees. Mary had a great time busting up the place and creating all that mayhem.

At right: The room fire and the Queen's jump to safety were shot in two different parts of the same building. The center doorway in the left image was replaced with a breakaway frame for the fireball jump. Pads were placed on the ground for the jump. The balcony on the right is to the room used for the interior shots of the confrontation and the fire. To simulate night, the windows were draped with heavy black cloth.

Down the hall, a second area was prepared with an asbestos sheeting, metal gutters, flame bars and pre-cut French doors with "breakaway" frames and panes of sugar glass. This would permit Natalia, doubling as the Queen, to easily crash through them during her escape. A fire cannon was set to blow a ball of flame through the doors once Natalia was clear. Did I mention both the doors AND the curtains would be on fire? Natalia had to wear layers of flame retardant clothing soaked with protective gel as a standard safety measure. FX Carlos and his team did a great job getting us ready to shoot a potentially very dangerous scene.

At left: to get the size of the fireball and the timing of the jump just right, this stunt was rehearsed over and over. Natalia is wearing a fireproof suit for the rehearsal. Anthony watches from the side to monitor her jump and her margin of safety.

I had an idea to get more bang for our buck. Richard Martin was satisfied to have the shot end as soon as the Queen crashed through the French doors. I suggested to Ricardo that Natalia could actually JUMP from the balcony if we raised the safety boxes and mats we'd placed below the balcony a bit higher. Natalia's specialty is horses and she's terrific, but she had less than 2 months of training in swordfighting, whipwork, and falls higher than tumbles from horseback. However, this small jump small would be within both Natalia's comfort and safety levels.

Natalia could burst through the doors, cross the six feet of balcony and safely jump over the wall into the waiting pads. We set up a ramp to make the step up to her takeoff point atop of the balcony wall easy so Natalia would be in balance before her leap. Oh, did I mention that she was carrying the Queen's sword? That situation also had to be addressed as a safety problem since the sword was a practical metal fighting sword. After nearly four months and numerous requests, we still didn't have any rubber stunt swords for these special occasions.

At right: Anthony checks in with Brian Gedge, the 2nd unit director, as they prep the fire jump. Natalia is wearing a wet wig, protective gel, and the fireproof suit (under the Queen costume).

Now the point of this whole idea was twofold. Natalia would be safer and the shot could be much more dramatic. With Natalia leaping off the balcony, we no longer had to worry about her getting hit by the shooting ball of flame - she would be gone and out of the way. If we timed the explosion to her leap we could use a much bigger fireball that would silhouette her in front of a wall of flame as she jumped. Ricardo, FX Carlos and I ran some tests to see how far the flames could safely be extended.

Photo at left: the 2nd take worked perfectly. The larger fireball filled the darkness behind Natalia, and she was silhouetted perfectly against the flames. Download video clip of the jump here or by clicking on image.

I convinced the Richard Martin and our DP Alwyn Kumst that this was a win/win situation and would definitely be worth changing the planned camera placements to cover our extended action. With no additional time or expense we could shoot a much more effective climax to our scene. The results of our efforts are now yours to enjoy each week as part of the opening credits sequence of the show.

"It Went Great in Rehearsal" or "Horses Aren't Machines"

Antonio dashes down the stairs in hot pursuit and steals a horse to follow the Queen. Ricardo Cruz is an extraordinary horse trainer. He played the soldier that Antonio grabs and laid his horse onto the tiny patch of prepared perfectly. I was dressed to pull a "cowboy switch." After Christian pulled down horse and rider, he'd exit frame. I'd re-enter in his place, climb onto the horse and ride away. Ricardo and I practiced the stunt that afternoon and all went smoothly. That night we discovered that our fire cannon shot huge balls of fire with great booming belches that lit up the sky and sounded like the interrogation scene from The Wizard of Oz. We hadn't counted on was the effect the flames and all those running extras would have our falling horse.

At right: Anthony cues Ricardo to make the horse fall (left), then mounts the horse before he rises (cente) and rides away (right).

Our first problem was that props had lost the scabbard for the spare sword that matched Antonio's and I had to wait for him to hand me his weapon. On our first take Christian did everything perfectly, except he forgot to hand me his sword. Meanwhile, our horse was lying on the ground feeling very vulnerable, his huge eyes watching flames shoot out of the room over his head. He immediately decided he should join the rest of the running crowd and get the heck out of there. Up he rose before I had time to mount. Cut!

On our second attempt the reins got caught under the horse during the fall. The transfer went smoothly and I raised him up and managed to recapture one rein but he refused to move no matter how much leg I applied. Our experienced movie horse and had been trained to stand in place if one of his reins was dropped to the ground. Cut! We finally got our shot but only after framing closer so that we could turn off the flame cannon and our horse could focus on the job at hand.

Copyright 2000-2001 Anthony De Longis. All contents, unless otherwise noted, are the property of Anthony De Longis or used with permission of the copyright owner. All text and photos herein may not be reproduced or distributed without the express written consent of Anthony De Longis, his official representative, or the copyright owner.

The Queen of Swords is trademark of Fireworks Productions, Toronto, Canada, and is a production of Fireworks (Canada), Amy Productions (UK), Morena Films (Spain) and M6 (France), and is distributed in the United States by Paramount. The Official Queen of Swords Website can be found at http://www.thequeenofswords.com.