The end of Thunder Road!
After two days and dust, hurtling metal, automotive breakdown and sunburn, we were all about done with Thunder Road.
Our last day at this location proved the most testing yet. One of...Read more
Thunder Road Continued (plus Emma Pei Meets Kong!)
We were back in the quarry today, continuing our car chase. Phoenix had got dust in her eye the day before, and had to go to hospital to get it rinsed. Fortunately, we had finished most of the shots of her driving, and could shoot around her until our last scheduled car chase day, which is tomorrow.
Apart from that, and the fact that the vehicle being chased kept breaking down, everything went well!
The quarry has a ...Read more
Thunder Road
Monday morning, we're back to work bright and early as we begin to shoot our car chase sequence.
We know we don't have anywhere near the budget to match a Hollywood production in terms of stunts and spectacle. Hopefully the unique locale for the chase, the interplay between our characters and a surprise gag ending will still hold viewers' attention.
Praying for peace and luck
I mentioned in an earlier blog the old show business saying that you should never work with animals or children. Today, we worked with a number of young, amateur performances, and it was a wonderful experience.
In the scene concerned, the spiritual lead at the centre of our story, the Bagwun, makes an unscheduled stop at a rural village shrine in order to pay his respects. When a young boy recognises him, a crowd soon gathers, and the Bagwun gives an ...Read more
Checking in to danger
When Michael Biehn and I were first invited to visit the Ace Studios in Nanhai, we stayed at the magnificent Fontainebleu. Modelled on a French hotel (as the name suggests), its a faux Grecian building set in its own beautiful grounds. The approach to the hotel, with landscaped bushes and fountains, is just incredible.
Karmic convoy
The highway giveth, and the highway taketh away... Yesterday's car scenes were a brute; today we shot a convoy of cars crossing the land, and it went like a dream. I guess we'd all figured out how to film automobiles in motion overnight!
Wheels of pain
To the old show business adage that you should never work with children or animals, I'd like to add 'motor vehicles'. Today was our first day filming on the roads, a relatively simple sequence in which we see a group of our antagonistic rebel soldiers taking a captured military officer to be executed in a rural stone house.
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 shee...Read more
The eve of battle
As I mentioned in the first of these blogs, it was many years ago I first came up with the concept for the film that became 'The Blood Bond'. It was always intended as an action film that would combine east and west in a believable manner. Maybe it took me this many years to become sufficiently eastern and western to pull the project together.
Today is our last one of prep; we start shooting tomorrow.
I finally started decorating my office...Read more
We begin...
Based on my previous experiences, it takes film crews a day or two of get out of each other'...Read more