25-11-09 : The Blood Bond Saga (part 48)

Rumble at the teahouse (part one)

John Huston said we shouldn't remake the great movies, just remake the bad ones 'til we get them right. We applied this dictum to the making of 'The Blood Bond', where we decided, towards the end of production to reshoot the first days of production.

We just realised that, by the end of the film, Michael was a better director, team were working better, Phoenix was fighting better... I'm very grateful to my friend and partner Henry Luk for accepting the news of the extra shooting days with such equanimity.

We had shot the first bar fight scene at an actual location near the studios. It was a perfect storm of everything going wrong at once: the set dressing was terrible, the actor cast as the bartender was terrible, MB wasn't yet in sync with the stunt team, Phoenix hit one of her opponents in the jaw...

Note to would be producers : You, too, will get days like these, so be prepared!

Without missing a beat, Henry began construction on a new, and far superior bar set, out on the backlot. Special effects make-up man Mike Dinentz introduced us to the wonderful Aussie Chinese 'character' Mike Chai, who was cast as the new barman.

Michael had made the (wise) decision to hand full responsibility for the fights to Ken Yip and his 'boys'. Phoe was, by now, fighting like a Shaw Bros kung fu queen...

Speaking of which, as I was watching the team rehearse in the 'new' bar, I was struck with a sense of deja vu. Then I realised it resembled the roadside teahouses that wandering swordsmen frequent in all those classic martial arts flicks... Cool.

One thing we didn't need to work on was Michael's physical and dramatic performance. That guy brings it every time. By now, Ken and the team had completely earned his trust, and MB put himself in their hands for his brief brutal fight sequence.

Another veteran who needed to be just the same and not better was Ken Yip, back on camera as PLM#1. He's a terrific actor, and also got to play a more active role in the fight sequence.

Everyone was on the top of their game, and we reshot and hugely improved on the earlier version of the scene. All that's left to shoot tomorrow is the balance of Phoenix's fight, and she looks like she can't wait to get at her (screen) foes!

Next : Rumble in the teahouse (part two)