14-11-09: The Blood Bond Saga (part 39)

Bar brawl concluded and meet Jesse

This morning we were scheduled to shoot the final shots of the market sequence, which I filmed second unit on earlier in the shoot. We woke to torrential rain, and it was evident that we couldn't work outdoors. However, we only had our evil nurse (Lily Xue) and Guang Di (Emma Pei) for one day, so....

In a sudden stroke of genius, I decided to recreate the market stalls in the (waterproofed) hospital set, and shoot there. Michael was still resting after the night shoot when I staggered in to direct our two lovely lasses.

They and the crew did a great job, and we got the shot within the hour. Lily and Emma were up, up and away to Shanghai, and I retreated to the couch in my office to rest up for the coming night's shoot.

We're back in Jesse's bar to shoot the end of the brawl instigated by Deva (Phoenix Chou) the night before. Given that she's seriously out-numbered, our hero, John Tremayne (Michael Biehn) has to come to her rescue.

Fortunately for us, years of experience, and the fact that he keeps himself fabulously fit, mean that Michael can handle these scenes with something close to the skill level of a stuntman, which makes shooting his shots happen much faster than anticipated.

The set was graced by the return of Kong Sifu. He didn't have any further scenes, just wanted to see us all again. This really is a 'family' movie! He brought some caricature portraits of hmself, and MB put one up on the barroom wall.

The concluding section of the Deva action scene is shot in a smoke filled backroom, as our scintillating star lays a smackdown on her foes before spinning off a table and out of the door. Poor Phoenix has been laid up with a stomach virus, but gamely takes to the floor to resume the combat.

One of the thugs Michael fights in the bar is played by my old friend Robert Vicencio, who is a terrific musical theatre performer and also an Alivenotdead veteran.

He is based in Shanghai, where he works as a director and producer. It was great to find a nice 'moment' for him in 'Blood Bond'.

The climax of the sequence sees Tremayne's old flame, Jesse (Jennifer Blanc) break up the proceedings when she blasts her shotgun into the roof. Its quite an entrance for our blonde diva!

Jennifer is terrific. Its tough to 'sell' an opening line like she has, but she delivers beautifully.

As we lit the scene, Hong Kong supermodel Cara G offered to stand in for Jennifer.

Cara was a real trouper throughout her time on then set, and we all adored her. She can definitely have a future in the business if she wants it. for her.

All in all, yet another 'righteous day'...

Next : Jesse's office and Tremayne's hut