Reclaiming the Blade Page #2

when the other guy changes

to his right hand.

I'm not left-handed either.

Johnny is about as good

as you can get.

He can transform what

he learns from someone like me

into a character.

You know what you are doing,

I'll give you that.

Excellent form,

but how's your footwork?

Viggo came running in

from Los Angeles

and I stuck a sword in

his hand and he had to fight

20 stuntmen in almost

the same day as he arrived.

When all the stunties

with their swords at

the other end of the room

and Viggo was standing there

like looking around

like:
What next?

And then all of a sudden

they just charged Viggo

and they're like running towards

him and he's just like...

had his sword up.

Apparently,

that was his initiation.

He didn't run away,

so I think Bob was like:

Okay, I think I can

work with this guy.

He had a lot to learn.

He did, I thought he

did extremely well.

You know, it was hard work

to prepare the fights

and demanding

physically at times.

But it was mostly fun

and it was sort of like

a boyhood dream come true.

You know, I got to

really do it for real.

There were real enemies,

it was a real sword.

It's important that the people

you're working with trust you

and you trust them and you

effectively work out the sort of

highly-detailed choreography

weeks and weeks in advance

of when you actually get

to do it on the set.

And then really the tough

thing becomes about stamina.

Especially when you are

wearing armor and leather

and weighed down

by all that sort of stuff.

I thought it was some of

the best choreography

I had seen in

this type of movie.

A lot of the stuff the stunt

men put together themselves.

And they did

a very good job of it.

He is much more than

a swordmaster, and I think

that directors have been well

pleased with his collaboration.

A sort of a regal refined

cultured kind of a gentlemen

in the midst

of all this chaos.

It was an honor to work

for him and I learned a lot.

Not just about sword fighting

but just about being a man,

about being a gentleman,

about how to deal with people

and a respect for the weapon.

The swords were very well

done, very attractive.

John Howe's

designs were superb.

I really enjoyed getting

involved with

"The Lord of the Rings" swords

because it was always

a question of paring it down

and making the blades slimmer

and making it shorter,

making it more real,

even though we are not

talking about real swords.

The actor may turn up a year,

a year and half

after you first started

designing that weapon.

It's therefore a great thing

when you finally present

the weapon to the actor.

I really enjoyed working

with Richard Taylor

and all the people at

the Weta Workshop because they,

like Bob Anderson,

were sticklers for detail.

The attention to detail that

these guys devoted to items

that may not necessarily

be visible to the camera,

at least not on first viewing,

but they're there.

As an actor it was wonderful

to have those kind of props to

you know, really help transport

you to that time and place.

I liken our effects workshop as

are all other effects workshops

around the world, to be similar

to an artisan's studio

of the years past.

This is a gathering

of an eclectic group

of craftspeople working

across an amazing array

of different artistic skills

coming together.

It's a really exciting

thing to be part of that.

As a designer you can

draw your heart out.

You can draw hundreds, hundreds

of designs that you love

but if the man making them

doesn't understand then there's,

you know, it's--

everyone's disappointed.

We're incredibly fortunate to

have a fellow named Peter Lyon,

who was the metal worker,

the swordsmith on the movie.

And he's someone who understands

what weapons and armor are

and he did these

amazing blades.

The forging techniques I use

are some ways they're similar

and some ways they're different

from the old techniques.

With sword blades I'll start

with a bar of spring steel.

Usually, I'll cut and grind that

and then if necessary, forge it.

We use bronze, wood, leather,

and various other materials

that were used in period.

The main difference really,

is that today

with mass production

and steel foundries and so on,

that we can get things to

a much more consistent standard.

And essentially they're a lot

easier to get and work with.

The style of the sword,

the level of decoration,

the aging on it, they all

tell you a bit about

whether this character

is a new person,

whether they're

an old warrior.

It's a really

lovely experience

when the actors begin

to take ownership of them.

Bob very much encouraged you

to be familiar with this weapon,

which in some cases

is your livelihood.

Yes, it's only a movie, but,

the more you can feel like

it's not a movie,

the better the movie.

Actors on the stage

also demonstrate swordplay

through real-time

fight choreography.

Doing it on the stage

is so very difficult.

They have to

remember every blow.

On the films you can take

a part of the fight,

film it, do it once, twice,

15 times if necessary.

You get one chance on stage.

But you've got to be really good

to be a good stage swordfighter.

When you've gone to the cut,

and it comes in with a thrust,

you turn, and your hand is

stopped here and as you do it,

you transfer that

all in one fast move.

You try to hit him

on the head

with the cross part

of your sword.

Now if he hangs on to his

sword you pull him down

and you hit him under

the chin with the pommel.

But he knows that,

what he does is he lets go.

Then I go to hit him,

he has the advantage now

and that's why

you see them in the manuals.

The thing that we call

a glissar, which means to glide,

is which leads you

straight at his belly.

In the 18th century the move

still comes into swordplay.

We attack each other's chest,

he comes back,

I stretch him on the lunge, and

the glissar could disarm him.

So there is the same movement

over a period of 200 years

with different weapons

it still has the same intention.

All those moves,

you're trying to find out

what the other one's doing.

Now you can do the glissar

and then they all join together.

It's eye contact,

it's distance, it's balance,

it's timing

and it's intent.

I was looking at Andy's eyes,

I can see everything

that his body's doing but I

can also see Dad standing there

and I can see 180 degrees

in front of me.

Again the arm goes first,

the reality obviously

the arm plunge down

or through the throat.

See, there won't be a second

performance so we keep the arm,

shoulder, the body looking

as though it's going towards

the throat but at the last

moment we turn the point.

And to make it real,

he then defends and turns away.

'Cause I don't trust him.

I feel that I might get hit

so I then use the dagger

to make sure that the sword

has actually missed me.

You cut, and you hit him,

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