Reclaming the sowrd?

[Eddie Smith]

I didn't notice any mention of the movie but check out the list of talents and all.

http://www.reclaimingtheblade.com/

[Scott A. Richardson]

Should be interesting. I look forward to it.

One thing, though. This is described as a "documentary" with numerous experts. I wonder what the actors like Viggo Mortenson are there for. I wonder if they will be acting out fighting techniques or what they're up to?

[Will Adamson]

They're going to be stand-ins for the uglier experts.

[Alan Abu Bakr]

I've known about this for ages.
What I want to know is when the heck it'll finaly be done...

[Scott A. Richardson]

They're going to be stand-ins for the uglier experts.

Oh, those damn ugly experts. If only they could combine their encyclopedic knowledge with Hollywood good looks!

[Mars Healey]

I wonder what the actors like Viggo Mortenson are there for. I wonder if they will be acting out fighting techniques or what they're up to?

From watching some of the "How they made the movie" documentaries on Lord of the Rings, Viggo had quite extensive training on WMA swordsmanship and was very much into the technique and history of fencing. I wish I could remember the guys name who was training him.

[AlexCSmith]

I can't remember his name either but he mentioned that Viggo was a very quick study.

Several of the cast members said it was sort of scary to watch him.

Orlando Bloom was also mentioned as a standout.

[Jeremiah.Phipps]

Bob Anderson who is also involved with Reclaming the Blade.

Jeremiah

[JeremyDillon]

I can't remember his name either but he mentioned that Viggo was a very quick study.

Several of the cast members said it was sort of scary to watch him.

Orlando Bloom was also mentioned as a standout.

He reputedly caused some fairly severe bruising to stunt people in full orc get-up during filming. He apparently garnered a significant amount of respect (and maybe a little fear) from the stage fighting professionals involved in LoTR. I've always wished he would get involved with a project promoting really legitimate realism in filmed sword fighting. Anyone whose seen "Eastern Promises" can verify that he's certainly capable of pulling off a very brutal, effective and decidedly un-hollywoody fight scene.

edit: Has anyone see Viggo in Alatriste? Bob Anderson did the fights in that one as well, so I'm a bit dubious as to the realism (don't get me wrong, Anderson is a terrific fight choreographer, but he's not exactly as concerned with realism as most of us are.). I've not been able to find a copy, so I've not seen it myself.

[Jaron Bernstein]

I have looked high and low for Alatriste on DVD and can't find it. Any ideas?

[John_Clements]

From watching some of the "How they made the movie" documentaries on Lord of the Rings, Viggo had quite extensive training on WMA swordsmanship and was very much into the technique and history of fencing. I wish I could remember the guys name who was training him.[/quote]

Don't confuse stage combat instruction with martial arts training, please.

[Mars Healey]

Don't confuse stage combat instruction with martial arts training, please.

Quite true. In our demos for various groups, we have a segment that is a compilation of many 'bad' movie scenes, then we go on to show how those scenes are contrived to promote audience entertainment and have little to do with actual sword fighting skills.

My reason for bringing up Vigo's training was that I felt he and his teacher at least tried to make the effort to be as realistic as possible, within the constraints of making an entertaining movie.

[Axel Pettersson]

I don't think there were any true WMA practice involved in Lotr. I do think that Bob Anderson looked some at period manuals and the growing HEMA scene though, to get inspiration for a realistic looking movie fight (but still a movie fight!) like the "posta di falcone" in Kingdom of Heaven (from Vadi) but not much more than that.

There is in the making here in Sweden a movie about a Swedish crusader, the makers approached some old ARMA folks here and got a full day instruction. As I understood it they liked it but thought much of it was too subtle to convey to a movie audience and thus decided to play safe with ordinary coreographers.

[Alan Abu Bakr]

There is in the making here in Sweden a movie about a Swedish crusader, the makers approached some old ARMA folks here and got a full day instruction. As I understood it they liked it but thought much of it was too subtle to convey to a movie audience and thus decided to play safe with ordinary coreographers.

Yes, it's too bad.
Well, at least they'll have proper swords

[steve hick]

I wonder what the actors like Viggo Mortenson are there for. I wonder if they will be acting out fighting techniques or what they're up to?

From watching some of the "How they made the movie" documentaries on Lord of the Rings, Viggo had quite extensive training on WMA swordsmanship and was very much into the technique and history of fencing. I wish I could remember the guys name who was training him.

Might be Tony Wolf, who did the development of the styles of the different races who worked with the stuntment before Anderson worked on things.
Steve