20 - 10 - 09 : The Blood Bond (part 15)

First fight

Today was our second day of filming, and first day with action. The location is an rural bar, supposedly set out in the badlands, but actually set five minutes from Ace Studios. On one side is a busy highway, on the other unspoiled countryside. You have love Nanhai!

MB, the crew and the stunt team gather as dawn breaks, and we take a look at the location, which is supposed to have been set dressed the evening before. The 'walls' of the bar are actually sheets, and these were made suitably dirty the night before. During the night, the dirt somehow washed off again, and they now look too clean! MB does his best Jackson Pollock impersonation throwing black paint onto them. (He subsequently signed them and they'll be for sale on Ebay next week...)

In this scene, our hero, John Tremayne (Michael Biehn) is accosted in his local bar, gets into a brawl and is rescued by our high kicking heroine, Deva (Phoenix Chou).

We originally had another actor scheduled to play the first of the thugs, Abbas. However, when we saw action director Ken Yip play the role in the stunt rehearsals, we all realised that he was our guy!

Poor Ken had to threaten Michael with a knife, get his head slammed into a table and then finally get taken out by a kick to the face from Phoe. And he had to choreograph the action in between takes!

The fake knife we'd prepared didn't fit into the sheath for the proper blade, so MB had Ken stick the real weapon to his throat. (Kids, don't try this at home.)

MB and Ken 'sold' the headslam perfectly. I think we can even use the sound effect of Ken's head hitting the furniture!

Michael impressed us all by getting into the thick of the fray, in terms of doing his own action and also directing the stunt men who were attacking him. I had anticipated that he would focus on the dramatic aspects of the film, but he seems prepared to get stuck into everything. 

However, the demands of acting, directing and set design did begin to take its toll on MB as the day wore on.

Though he's an experienced bar fighter, Tremayne meets his match in the form of a hulking rebel soldier, played by Canadian Chinese bodybuilder Will Chan. Will goes to the same gym as me in Hong Kong, and its always good to have friendly faces around.

He did a great job in his brief fight with MB. In a couple of shots, he unleashed his inner Bolo on us!

Deva arrives to save the day, and this leads into the first fight scene to be filmed by Phoenix.

She dumps Will on his back, then unleashes a fast and furious hand combination that knocks him out.

Unfortunately, on the last move, she actually connected with Will's chin with her fist. This in itself would be a problem, but what really hurt was that she broke character after she hit him, meaning we couldn't use the take.

Note to all you would-be wu shu divas out there: no matter how hard you hit someone in a movie fight scene, keep acting until they say 'cut'... or else you'll just have to hit them again in the same (painful) place!

Anyway, after some ice on his jaw, Will manfully carried on, and finished the scene in style. He's a real trouper, and I appreciate him coming to support us on 'Blood Bond'.

Next, poor Ken comes back into the fray, bloodied but still belligerent.

And gets dispatched by another combination that ended with Phoe kicking him in the head.

Given our brilliant planning, we had scheduled a major drama scene right at the end of the day, after our leads had both been fighting furiously. I was worried they might not have had enough gas in the tank to deliver.

This was especially a concern as it was Phoenix's first major dialogue scene in the film (and, in fact, in any film).

We did the first take with an 'over the shoulder' from Michael's side, Phoe's close up. The scene has Deva trying to persuade Tremayne to come with her to the city, where a donation of his special blood is needed to save her master, The Bagwun.

I listened intently in the other back room, and was blown away by what I heard and saw. She's really a wonderful, instinctive actress, and, as far as I could tell, she pretty much nailed the scene in one take.

Michael came and listened to the playback, and felt exactly the same, so we moved on to shoot his side. He has always had a unique intensity on-screen (and sometimes off!), and it feels that there's something in this role that allows him to channel his dark side very easily.

It was a long day, but a very rewarding one, and even Will and Phoe were still friends by wrap time.

Next : Wheels of pain