Rehearsal

Edward Berger

So we cut to this battlefield. It was a really hard shot to get here. We rehearsed it a couple of times in a parking lot at ARRI in Prague because we wanted to get the exact height and the lens right. And then on this day, we just shot it just before sunset and probably took about four or five takes only.

2:08 · jump to transcript →

Edward Berger

in this case, and felt like an opening image that was a transition from the nature shots and slowly getting us into battle feeling. But also you realize that you don't hear the real sounds yet. We really only set in with the real sound, with the reality of the sound here. And this was a shot we probably rehearsed. You notice how it's uncut. You know, we run through the,

2:37 · jump to transcript →

Edward Berger

if this could work, if this would work, because I also want to see them all. Very soon they're in uniforms, and so I want to see their faces, I want to get to know them. But it just felt more as the group, and I rehearsed this in a gym with the kids before the shoot because I was nervous if it would work, and Felix, he had never been, Felix was the guy who plays Paul.

9:04 · jump to transcript →

backstory, here's something genuine, something you guys did do as a way of just saying something about the age of these people, their humor, their bond with each other, their ability to mess around even in tense situations. Calm under pressure, yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of information just within that little exchange that happens, I think. Evan rehearsed that for so long, his little dance move, and it showed.

4:12 · jump to transcript →

Yeah, and it's very similar. I mean, that's how we do it in the military. We rehearse when we go through these scenarios. We are applying principles, which is with these, to your point, is what they're doing. In Civil War, they'll buy a house scene. They'll bring this up all the time. That's essentially what we did. I would just run them through the whole thing. And it was very similar. Yeah, it was. Almost exactly the isolation. We just stayed in the house. No one went away.

22:19 · jump to transcript →

Then I'll hold up a hand like, this guy's the person on the left, this one's the one on the right. And I'll sort of think it through. Here, how many people we got up there? Like, 10? It's... I remember when we were rehearsing, it was like the first time I saw you actually ever get... Like, I don't think you're upset at me, but...

24:41 · jump to transcript →

and we lined up all the cars and the actors and we figured out the shot and rehearsed it and then went to the location to get it. So we were very well prepared. I love Tarzan. Tarzan's so energetic. He's so good. So great. And Tarzan is just, a lot of what you're seeing is just his natural instinct as an actor. That moment with Shay. Yeah. That was Shay on set feeling that moment and creating energy between him and Ethan because we were still,

59:41 · jump to transcript →

I think, I seem to remember, we only had one night to shoot all of the coverage of their fight, the two of them. This was really, really challenging stuff to do. Lots of rehearsal went into it. And Tom's running. When to cut to Tom. And again, that's point of view. Keeping that character in there, keeping that point of view alive. This is a drone. It was the only...

1:38:28 · jump to transcript →

And then this was an idea that developed as we were rehearsing the fight and suddenly came up with the idea of 18 inches of clearance and what kind of complication that would present for the characters, but also for the camera. Because suddenly we realized the camera could at no time be higher than the actors or you'd be disconnected from the reality of the scene when you suddenly realized the camera was...

2:18:05 · jump to transcript →

There we see they have a past. She's got a... They're in kind of an adventurous place in that photo. And you can think that maybe this couple has had an interesting and exciting past with some adventure. Anyway, there's the sweetest little girl in the world, played by Paisley Cadorath. Paisley Cadorath was an amazing little actress. We did auditions in Winnipeg because we knew we couldn't fly another person out from anywhere, and she was the only girl that could take directions. But more importantly, you can tell that she was really enjoying the process. And we, you know, make them do four or five takes of the same thing just to see how they'll fare. And she was just excited. Every time she'd run out of the room, we'd get the cameras all ready, and she'd run in and we'd rehearse, and she was perfect all the time. And I think when you watched the audition tapes... I remember getting a message from you saying, "We have to get this girl. I'm so happy that we matched perfectly on her." Fuck!

8:17 · jump to transcript →

We did not have Bobby Digital for too long. He was only there for what, three days? - I think four, including the rehearsal. Yeah, this is a lot of work to do, but, you know, he's done action before, many times. Directed it, starred in. Of course, you know, he knows... He's definitely seen more action movies than I have. Yeah. - Which is rare. It's hard to find. - Yeah.

1:18:06 · jump to transcript →

I should kill you. And all that is dear to you. But you love me. A son loves his mother. A mother loves her son. All these hand gestures were very carefully choreographed and found in rehearsal, like in the pulling of his tunic. And what I particularly liked was this finger across his neck and the choking him.

1:32:23 · jump to transcript →

Tim Burton

The first day at the school, we were there all together. It was interesting because that was, I think, our first time of seeing the three of them together. Because, again, we didn't rehearse this whole thing. Like, you know, when Michael came in, he just came in to be able to shoot. So we started shooting, you know, everybody. So there was that kind of spirit. So, you know, you kind of showed up on the day and didn't really know. But like I said, I just saw it right there. It was really nice. The three different generations sitting there at one spot. So it was very helpful to kind of shoot that early and see what that dynamic was.

16:37 · jump to transcript →