[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Lostgaeriel, haven't seen you in a while! <P>No kidding, Viggo's that good?<P>Thank you. Bob Anderson. I'm going to see what I can find on him and his work in the LotR movies. If I find anything I'll post a link here for those interested. What I really want to see is his design and thinking behind the different styles, and ideally footage of training for all of the actors.<P>Here's what I've found so far, but probably everyone's seen it:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Bob Anderson, the world’s top sword master who has consulted on such films as Star Wars and trained the legendary Errol Flynn, was also brought in to train the actors in different fencing techniques. An expert in medieval arms, Anderson read the novel and then developed sparring methods based on Tolkien’s descriptions of each culture. For example, he determined that the hobbits are so small, they should fight as a team. Some, like the axe-wielding Gimli the dwarf, use other kinds of weapons. A commando army of stunt performers was given special training to perfect the unique fighting styles of the Orcs, the Uruk-Hai, The Ringwraiths, the Elves and the other civilizations in Tolkien’s universe. An expert in firing ancient English longbows was also brought in. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Another bit:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Tell me more about the fighting styles? Are they recognisable, or did you 'invent' them? <P>They're styles developed for each particular character. Some are creepy and cockroach-like, some are quite smooth and dainty - flowing gracefully, and some are just crash-bash-nothing-stops-them killing machines. <P>How do you devise the fight sequences? <P>We've been very lucky ... the production has brought out a chap called Bob Anderson, who's the world's top swordmaster, An amazing guy - he's 77, and he worked with Errol Flynn. Even now, he moves like Bruce Lee. When he has a sword or weapon in his hand, he makes the hair stand on end. He's English, an Olympic fencer. He's done all the Zorro films and and TV series, he did First Knight and all the Highlanders, and he played Darth Vader in all the early Star Wars films. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I have a feeling we haven't seen anything yet: wait till we get to Helm's Deep and Pelennor Fields, not to mention various skirmishes throughout.<p>[ March 18, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]