1492 Conquest of Paradise
Costa Rica - 1992
In 1991 rival movies were put in production to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, now known as America. Alexander Salkind and his son Ilay, who ended up suing his father by the end of that movie, were making one. The other was by one of the World's greatest living filmmakers, Ridley Scott (Sir) and fortunately for me I was asked to record the making of Ridley's project.
This is the guy who made the seminal sci-fi movie Alien and the visionary, 'Blade Runner'. The look of Blade Runner has been referenced by many architects (and other movies) as influencing building design and Alien became the blueprint for many future sci-fi films. I had briefly met Ridley as mentioned earlier while working on Alien3 but I was back in the sweet shop with this chance to see him in action. Gerard Depardieu was to play Columbus. Often refereed to as a 'Force of Nature', Gerard was a Frenchman playing an Italian who spoke Spanish but was playing it in English. While an accomplished actor not sure the force was with him for this one.
I got the job because the guy at Paramount who commissions these behind the scenes promos was Bill Rus, the same guy I had successfully done Patriot Games for. He introduced me to John Pattyson who was going to direct the show for him. Coincidentally I was in Los Angeles finishing up on Alien3 and John basically said to me, get straight back to England, hire some 16mm equipment and get on a plane to Costa Rica (filming had already begun apparently) where he would meet me. Sandwiched between Nicaragua to the North and Panama in the South, this Central American Country was deemed a suitable base to harbor the Santa Maria, converted from a 1929 Schooner The Phoenix. The surrounding seas would also provide a 360-degree horizon free of land. We would leave the dockside at dawn and make the 40-minute journey out to sea to reach the clear horizon filming area. Filming at sea is notoriously slow and working with an unanchored 100 tonne tall ship had it's own set of challenges. Ridley Scott is notorious for his meticulous attention to detail; it is sometimes a point of criticism of his work that everything will look great at the expense of the narrative.
My director, John Pattyson was a working friend of Ridley's as tennis buddies in LA so he would sit with us and chat while the first shot was being prepared. As Ridley rose to approach the camera I began filming. He rested his eye to the camera eyepiece, reviewed the scene, retracted his eye and calmly spoke into the radio: “Terry, where is the rope webbing that should be dressing the prow of the ship?” The radio went mute for a few telling moments, then an apologetic reply crackled back, “Ah… Ridley ... apparently they think it was left on the Dockside”. Well, Ridley went ballistic throwing his cigar on the deck in anger (Ridley does not smoke anymore) “Terry, I’m going to have someone’s NUTS for this!” (Terry by the way is the excellent 1st Assistant Director, Terry Needham) The safety boat, on standby for medical emergencies, was hastily despatched to retrieve the absent dressing, and an alternative shot was put in motion to keep the shoot moving.
With equal rapidity Ridley returned to a sea of calm and came back to sit with us explaining that he was not really that angry but; “it's good to keep the crew on their toes by blowing off periodically”! Only a specific number of crew were allowed on the deck of the ship at any one time for safety reasons so we had to negotiate some time on deck to film Ridley working with Gerard Depardieu. There was little shade from the searing Caribbean sun on deck but Ridley had a canvas cover create a dark area he could watch the video monitors of the scene-taking place on deck. Gerard was to deliver a motivational speech to his crew, it was the first time I had heard him acting in English. The camera rolled, the clapperboard snapped, and Gerard chewed his way through the dialogue, mangling the words into a semi comprehendible version of Roselyne Bosch's script.
Filming off the coast of Costa Rica
Ridley's face rippled with frustration throughout the scene, his mouth following the script, hoping Gerard would telepathically re-form the words into something with better clarity, I barely caught a word. I thought: “Oh, well no doubt that lot will be sorted out in post-production” – but it never really was. Great thing about shooting at sea was each day had to end at 4.30pm for safety reasons so we could get back to shore before sunset. After a quick shower we were on the veranda of hotel bar, margarita in hand enjoying the evening sea breeze.
The next trip was to Salamanca situated 200km to the west of Madrid in Spain for a sequence where Queen Isabella played by Sigourney Weaver celebrates the return of Columbus. The scene was set in the magnificent Cathedral of Salamanca, known ironically as the 'New Cathedral but built almost 500 years ago in the 16th Century.
Sigourney did not have many days filming on the movie so our main mission was to get her interview in the can. Entering the Cathedral was jaw-dropping, hundreds of costumed extras filled the aisle, an army of heraldic flags fluttered in the gothic rib vaulted ceiling assisted by the artificial breeze of electric fans. Banks of football stadium proportioned lights lined the right side of the window arches illuminating the vast interior. As we began the walk down the aisle I could see Sigourney Weaver by the Cathedral alter, looking regal, dressed as Queen Isabella and Gerard stood by her side also in full costume. She began waving frantically and I thought this a good sign as she must know John Pattyson. As we approached them to my surprise Sigourney warmly greeted me like a lost relative:
“Hi, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I'm covering the making of the film for Paramount”
“So how is you documentary going for Alien3?”
“Oh yes it's fine, it's being put together in LA, how is your film?”
“Oh, yes, it's going, fine...”
Gerard Depardieu just stared in bemusement fully dressed in his formal costume ready to shoot the scene. Sigourney clearly was no method actor as she was happy to make small talk a few moments before the shot was to begin.
We beat a retreat to position ourselves to record the scene. The BBC also had a crew present to cover the story for their flagship movie review show and they too wanted an interview which did not please John Pattyson who was concerned we may get second best. When a window of opportunity arose while a shot was being prepared the publicists approach Sigourney about the interviews and true to form she simply said, “OK, let Paul go first”. The BBC were left to wait until John had what he needed, I thanked Sigourney for her support, wished her well with Alien3 and we left.
Driving the 200km from Salamanca we followed the main unit to Seville in Southern Spain. During the drive down a large Mercedes crept by and waving a greeting in the back was Sigourney, all I needed now was the invitation to dinner and she would be on my Christmas card list?
I was already in love with Spain; it's people, culture, food and climate. Forget the Spain of Costa del Britain but travel inland and the Country is a heritage rich tableau. Seville provided numerous period locations for sequences with Armand Assante, playing Sanchez, who described me as moving like a cat on set, hopefully that was a compliment and not that I was creeping around like the cat in the crypt.
Ridley never likes to do his main interview on location so this was arranged during sound mixing at Pinewood Studios about 7 months after filming was complete. It's an interesting part of the film making process and I sat next to Ridley as he nuanced every aspect of music and effects, his attention to detail probably unsurpassed. I got my next opportunity to observe one of the Worlds greatest film makers playing with the largest train set any kid could want for, while filming 'behind the scenes' on, ‘Gladiator’, a movie that many in Hollywood thought a mistake to green-light but re-ignited the so called, ‘sword-&-sandal’ genre. The icing on this cake was that John Pattyson was the documentary director so I knew it would be another interesting adventure.
Production Budget $47 Million
Domestic (US) Box Office $7,191,000