17 - 10 - 09 : The Blood Bond Saga (part 12)

A funny thing happened on the road to Purma...

Making action movies tends to be a serious business. These scenes involve physical action sequences that are intensely demanding and potentially dangerous, and this business should not be taken lightly.

Having said that, I can't remember laughing as often or as hard as I have with Michael Biehn and the rest of our 'Blood Bond' family.

Here are some fun memories from the story so far.

Our associate producer, Oliver Williams, is a trained actor with years of experience to bring to bear on our project. He is working with our 3rd AD, Seventeen Xie. I did ask if he was the 17th of his father's children, but this turned out (disappointingly) not to be the case.

Despite their different upbringings, they both had the same reaction to MB's description of our car chase scene:

Funnily enough, DP Ross Clarkson and action director Ken Yip had opposite reactions to the exact same information:

Since we started pre-production, I've been getting a persistent tight pain in my left trapezius (I think that's what its called). I've instructed Phoenix to attack me without mercy (Kato style) to give me an elbow massage with all her kung fu might.

Around the studio, everyone has a cell phone or two, a walkie-talkie and sometimes even a Blackberry as well. Its got so bad, our director even phoned our action director from two feet away.

For a scene set in a rural area, Michael asked that prop department provide some 'hoes'. Phonetically, this lent itself to some confusion, but our great props master, Li Sifu, was happy to comply.

For all of you who wish to know what a real hoe looks like:

Our overworked costume department constantly delivers fresh and amusing images. Some of our antagonistic rebel soldiers wear black berets, and a specific member of the wardrobe team has become our beret wrangler:

Actresses know who has them in focus (or out) and who has their best side (or not), and that's the Director of Photography. Our lovely leading lady Phoenix teases our gruff Aussie DP Ross Clarkson unmercifully, constantly jumping on his lap. Or risking life and limb by having him sit on hers...

I'll post more fun photos as the film progresses. (Presuming that we'll have any fun after production itself begins!)