Girl
I knew from experience last year that we’d be pretty much off for Christmas and New Year’s, so I wasn’t surprised that it took us this long to get filming again after the break. Nonetheless, it was a relief to get back into it after such a long time.
Shirzi and I met Sarah, who plays a major evil assistant to our baddie, at the Yuanshan MRT station on Saturday morning. Sarah was decked out in dark green, with leather jacket and long black boots, de rigeur for evil assistants this year, I believe. Our destination was the old abandoned and derelict naval language lab/base where we filmed Josh, April and Dean late last year. April lives in Neihu, so she was going to meet us there. “I hope the place is still there; it’s been so long,” I joked as we put our equipment in the back of the cab.
As soon as we came in sight of our destination, however, I knew something was very wrong. Instead of the barricaded gates, large metal plates had been laid down at the entrance, the kind used for large trucks. “We may have a problem,” I said as we got out and walked over to find that the entire complex of multi-story buildings had been reduced to rubble. Bulldozers were still working on bits of it, concrete-breaking machinese clanging away.
Just next to the entrance, a couple of single-story buildings still stood, one of which even still had a roof, and we took cover inside to avoid being seen by the wreckers, who had yelled at April for coming onto the site when she had arrived. I had originally planned the fight to take place in hallways/entrances of the bigger buildings, but it occured to me that there might still be hope in the smaller buildings. I scouted out a room in the only remaining intact building, and we hurridly set up angles for the three stages of the fight that Shirzi had come up with, based on what we had to work with. The place was filthy, of course, with clouds of mosquitoes buzzing around heaps of leaves, broken glass, puncuated by the occasional derelict office furniture. Shirzi liberated a picture of Dr. Sun Yat-sen to decorate his new digs in Xindian.
Sarah and April practiced the moves on the spot as the sound of the wreckers went on in the background. I hoped they wouldn’t be tearing down that building any time soon, but we had to work fast in any case, as April had plans later on. The actors getting used to the moves took th most time, and just when they had it down and had done one segment a few times, we had to move on to the next segment. Shirzi and I would do the moves for the girls to watch, and then they would practice until it was reasonably smooth. They ended up doing a great job, considering they were not martial artists and yet had to learn it and get it down on the spot.
There’s a part where April kicks over Sarah, who ducks to avoid the blow, but one time April didn’t quite clear Sarah’s head, instead kicking her right in the head with steel-toed boots. Sarah was ok, though. The only other injury, besides Sarah’s leather boot that lost a heel, occured when April cut her leg during a fall. Fortunately there wasn’t too much blood.
We got out of there by around 3:00, and I was sure that the building wouldn’t last another day, as they were obviously clearing the whole site. Talk about cutting it close. We bade farewell to April and took the MRT down to Bongo’s. People on the train stared at Shirzi Sun Yat-sen picture the whole way.
As for what’s next: Dean’s in Canada at the moment, but once he comes back, we’ll be ready for the final push that, hopefully, will see the end of principal photography. I, for one, will be very glad to see that day.
Love a well done real catfight between two female. Just very entertaining to watch them fight it out.
Comment by Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 3:35 am
Just opened the four pics in tabs on my browser. I love the way the scene comes alive when I switch between tabs really quickly..
Comment by SKBox — February 27, 2006 @ 2:05 pm
Hey, very nice work everyone. I’m sorry I missed it!
Comment by Dean — February 28, 2006 @ 4:43 pm