Saturday Night
Duende was an episode that came about when Anthony brought the concept of the magic circle to David Abramowitz (after pitching it to Zorro.)
Anthony de Longis had wonderful things to say about working with Richard Martin (director) on Duende. He has an amazing gift for drama. And he communicated his ideas to Anthony so he could see where it was going and use it. He also mentioned having worked for Richard's dad Dick Martin. Yes, THE Dick Martin as a director. I suppose that dates my bippy.
A tidbit about Tialita
Anthony said the actress that played the Dueña she showed up on the set she was wearing a bustier and leather hipboots. Looked nothing like her character. And the actress that played his love in the flashbacks is Charlie Chaplin's grand daughter, Dolores Chaplin.
The actress that played Anna is Caremen DuSautoy and was classically trained....Royal Shakespeare.
And a bit more on Duende.
Anthony commented on the dramatic lighting twice. In the first flashback to the flamenco dancing, when he knifes Ramon etc. He said the backlighting really set the stage for the drama.
Then again, when Anna comes into the club and turns on the lights, Consone is already there sitting in a chair which will be spotlighted the minute she hits the lights.
Little stuff like that. Richard had it all planned out and related it to the actors so they would have the concepts in mind.
Anthony gave us an example of how an actor can cheat a little extra screen time. In one of the confrontation scenes he asked "Theresa" to wait at the car door instead of entering the car. Then after his final line he walks to her, kisses her on the forehead, hands her in and then turns and gives MacLeod one final look. Voilá. Extra screen time.
The sauna scene was filmed in the same place as the flamenco club, no heat and they were quite cold. The steam is really smoke and their sweat was just oil sprayed on. Anthony said the sauna scene was quite important to the character of Consone in that it was the only time he could convey the friendship Consone had with MacLeod. Consone was not a man that made friends easily nor did he have many, so the relationship he developed with MacLeod was important. And Consone's choice to end that friendship and the reasons behind it were important to the story. He also talked about Adrian's very artistically draped loincloth and his decision to stay seated through most of the scene.
Anthony told us about that very artistic slow motion scene in which he pushes the actress down the stairs and it then cuts to a slow motion shot of the apples. It was filmed in an art school during a 'new wine' festival. (He says they all poo poo the wine as being inferior but by the end of the day most everyone is drunk.) The students were all standing around the upper balconies watching the shooting. So he pushes the actress and she tumbles down a few steps to a nice soft mat. Then he hears all these mumbles and curses from the observers "Aw, dolors, bastard!"..... and decided to beat a hasty retreat.
The love scene is Anthony and "Theresa" in the back seat of a limo driving around Paris for hours with the director and the camera man in front of them. Very intimate he says with a laugh. Anthony said that after 20 years this was his first love scene. At least the first one where the woman isn't handcuffed or tied up.
Oh, yeah.
It was going to be filmed down below where there was a nice fountain, but they moved it up higher because the techs had already places the explosives and there was a nice view of the Eiffel tower in the distance. (Then the rain clouds moved in. Ce la vie.)
They didn't treat the painted surface of the circle like Adrian and Anthony and Braun asked. The final duel was a nightmare. The magic circle hadn't been treated because it had rained all day. (They had spread Coca-Cola on it for the inside shots to give them some grip but that wouldn't work outside. Also Anthony's boots for the salon scene were two sizes too big.) Adrian was using an aluminum blade but Anthony's blade was steel because of the flamberge style. The rain and the slick surface made the fight particularly dangerous. The surface had to be squeegeed off between takes. As hard as you see it in the night scenes even though you can't see it in the day scenes. Because of the back lighting after dark sometimes you couldn't see the rain so for continuity they had to add it in in post production. Finally we saw the entire finished fight from beginning to end with the music, the editing, the 'added' rain. Anthony says the fight in Duende is unique in that F. Braun found a way for Consone to win....but still lose. He was quite pleased that despite fears of the gruesomeness of MacLeod pulling himself onto Consone's sword it was still in the final script.
He said that they rehearsed whenever they could. Got a little extra in between when it was too dark to film it as daylight and not dark enough to light it as night. The two different lightings give the impression of the fight lasting a long time.
The grounds are on some sort of University Campus but I missed the name.
It's one of my favorite quickenings too.
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