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John Badham OnDirecting
Notes from the Sets of
Saturday Night Fever, War Games,
and More
John Badham
M I C H A E L W I E S E P R O D U C T I O N S
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Published by Michael Wiese Productions12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX)
www.mwp.com
Cover design by Johnny Ink. www.johnnyink.com
Interior design by William Morosi
Printed by McNaughton & Gunn
Manufactured in the United States of America
Copyright 2012 by John Badham
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations
in a review.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robert, Gerst
Make film history : rewrite, reshoot, and recut the worlds greatest films / Gerst Robert.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-61593-122-4 (pbk.)
1. Motion pictures--Production and direction--Study and teaching. I. Title.
PN1995.9.P7R53 2012
791.43023071--dc23
2012016311
Printed on Recycled Stock
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3
CHAPTER 1
ACTION
NOT JUST A PRETTY CHASE
You want to know how not to do an action scene? Let me tell
you. One bright Monday morning in Beautiful Downtown
Burbank, on the Burbank Studios lot I nervously gathered
together the Creative Team to see the Directors cut of my newfilm Blue Thunder. Dan OBannon and Don Jacoby the writ-
ers, the producers Ray Stark, Gordon Carroll and Phil Feldman
had assembled in Jack Warners Screening Room to see what
two years of work had yielded. Did we have a movie or six cans
of crap?
BLUE THUNDER trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1404764441/For the year 1982 Blue Thunderwas a very
expensive movie: 25 Million Dollars for a film
about a Super Helicopter secretly designed by
the government to suppress any riots at the
1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. As one of the
government stooges tells Roy Scheider, the
local police pilot picked to fly the helicopter,
We dont want any Munich massacres here,Frank, a reference to the terrorist attacks at
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the Munich Olympic games in 1972 where eight Palestinian ter-
rorists belonging to the Black September organization broke into
the Olympic Village and took nine Israeli athletes, coaches andofficials hostage in their apartments.
In our film, the government, wanting to justify the expense of
the helicopter, sets in motion a series of mini-terror attacks on
the white community. Supposedly the attacks were perpetrated
by gangs from the African-American and Hispanic communities.
However, the terrorists were just hired thugs inciting racial para-
noia in the city.
Roy Scheiders character along with his partner played by Daniel
Stern get wind of whats going down and steal the helicopter from
the Feds while trying to let the media and the public know of the
conspiracy. The result is a frantic chase throughout the city with
the Blue Thunder helicopter flying at street level through down-
town Los Angeles 50 feet above the pavement, pursued by Police
cars, Helicopters and Air Force F16s. Buildings, busses and autos
are blown to shreds. A bit of comic relief in the middle of extensiveand frightening devastation was a heat seeking missile that goes
down the chimney of an Asian barbecue shack blowing thousands
of cooked chickens into the air and onto the homeless population
of downtown LA. No Asians, homeless people or live chickens
were hurt, molested or panhandled in this messy sequence.
INSERT LINK HERE TO BBQ CHICKEN SCENE IN BLUE
THUNDER. OR PHOTOGRAPH OF SCENE
Meanwhile, back at Jack Warners Screening Room the Directors
cut of the film started to screen for its elite audience to simulta-
neously criticize, condemn and hopefully praise. Lots of luck on
that last bit. As any filmmaker knows screening first cuts for the
producers is an experience more excruciating than a colonoscopy.
At least with a colonoscopy there is anesthesia to dull the pain.
Stories of directors throwing up before, during or after one of
these screenings are legion. However one of the benefits of suffer-ing this torture is that after being so close to the film for months
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guns ablaze. He flies Blue Thunder down into the LA River Bed,
which is more of a concrete flood control channel than a real river.
It serpentines its way through the city under bridges, buildings,and train tracks. Because of the obvious difficulty and the dangers
of flying helicopters 5 feet off the ground through narrow pas-
sageways, the action was terrifying to watch, not unlike William
Friedkins wrong-way freeway chase later in To Live and Die in
LA. Our scene ended with a spectacular crash as the pursuing heli-
copter crashes into a bridge abutment exploding apocalyptically.
SPOILER ALERT! Damn, I did it again. Sorry.
The scene ran for 4 minutes, plenty of time to have fun with it
and extract the goody from the action. What were Dan OBannon
and his partner Don Jacoby, who had now me-too-ed his opinion,
thinking? Have they no sense of fun? Shylock might have said,
hath not a writer humor, organs, dimensions? When you tickle
him does he not laughwhen you punch him in the nose, does he
not bleed? Grrr!
The editors traipsed back with me to the cutting rooms, happy
we had a pretty good film in the works. It should become better,
thanks to the feedback we had gotten. But we were troubled by
the River Chase comments because we didnt know where we had
gone wrong, if we had gone wrong, or even what to do about it.
But we thought WTH it wouldnt hurt to shorten it up a bit. So we
went through and trimmed a minute out. That should do it, right?
Wrong.
The next time we showed the film to Dan and Don, who we now
called the DDTs (Dan and Don Team), they said Wow! Much
better. The film is sharpening up quite a bit
beat, beat, beat.
DAN AND DON
But didnt you say you were going to
fix the River Chase scene?
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JB
(protesting)
We did. We took a minute out. What is
that, like 25%?
DAN
(never to mince words)
Yeh, but its still boring.
So again back to the cutting room, went we we did, and another
minute took we out. (I was so stressed I was starting to talk like
Yoda). Screened it again for the DDTs and got the same reaction
DDTS
Boring.
By now Im mad. These guys are cutting the heart out of one of the
most exciting parts of the movie. I tell producer Ray Stark that I
want to preview this last version with a full audience, composed
of real peoplewho dont belong to the Writers Guild! We add
in great sound effects and exciting music that Arthur Rubinstein
composed for us, one of the first totally electronic scores in moviehistory.
At the first public preview in Tucson, Arizona the film is playing
well. The audience is definitely taking the ride and having fun
doing it. And here it comes: a 2 minute version of the river
chase Ive all been waiting for (I know, thats ungrammatical, but
youre smart, youll figure it out). As the film unspools and proj-
ects onto the 70 foot screen in glorious John Alonzo color and
Dolby Stereo it hits me like a ton of bricks. Like Marlon Brando
in Apocalypse Now like I was shotlike I was shot with a dia-
mond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead.The horror,
the horror! (purple prose apologies).
The reason the DDTs said it was boring was suddenly obvious,
right in front of me all the time. Nothing was happening. Oh yes,
many choppers flew into the river bed and snaked under bridges
and fired a lot of fake ammunition. Oh yes, there was even a crashand explosion at the end. But! That was ALL there was. There
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were few clever maneuvers by Scheiders character to evade his
pursuers. He zig-zagged back and forth and a few bullets hit Blue
Thunder. But what the hell, it was heavily armored and the audi-ence knew it couldnt be shot down, so who gave a flying flop? All
the jeopardy was watered down; we knew Scheider would worm
his way out of it somehow. Not Good Storytelling! When the audi-
ence stops asking What happens next? the movie is in trouble.
What could we do? We couldnt re-shoot; we had spent enough
money already to feed a third-world country for a year. And we
had a release date staring us in the face. We did the only thing we
could do at that pointwe cut the scene out of the movie...Justkidding!
What we had to do was cut the scene down even more so that the
exciting parts of the scene did not become repetitive. One event
had to lead to a different event, not repeat the same old, same old.
Thats boring. And the next event has to be bigger and more clever
than the previous one, etc. etc. What I mean is if Blue Thunder
chopper comes whizzing by the camera and then the Police chop-per whizzes by, the next shot better not be the two choppers
whizzing by again. Somebody needs to do something differently.
One of them needs to try a different maneuver, or another chopper
has to enter the chase. In a comedy two men would be carrying a
giant pane of glass across the river bed and somebody would be
sure to fly right through it. You get the idea.
OK, so we shortened it down to 1minute, 45 seconds so that noth-
ing was repetitive and there was no time for it to get boring.
INSERT LINK TO BLUE THUNDER RIVER CHASE
The movie went out into the theatres on time, Memorial Day 1983,
and did great business. It was among the top ten grossing films of
the year and was nominated for several Academy Awards for edit-
ing and sound design. What was so bad about that?
What was bad was that the mistake shouldnt have been made inthe first place and we ought to have designed something that was
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A C T I O N
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much more clever. We were shooting in an scary, dangerous loca-
tion and thought that would be exciting all by itself, just great, two
degrees shy of Fabulous.Well it needed more than we gave it and it was my fault. As the
director I blamed myself because who else is responsible for taking
the writers ideas and elevating them to be the most exciting they
can be? You cant just take a rough idea, like theres an exciting
Chopper chase in the River bed or the Indians take the fort and
literally transpose it to the screen as is. Hell, if that would work
the writer could just read the script aloud to the audience. Save a
lot of money.
Directors have to electro-shock all the moments alive so they jump
off the screen and grab the audience by the throat.
Thats what this chapter is about.
WHAT IS ACTION?
If I ask my grandson Milo what is action Ill probably get an answerlike what I heard from my 50 year old friend Scott last week. I rec-
ommended a lovely film Id just seen, The Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel. He asked, with tongue stuck in cheek, and smirk pasted on
face Got much action in it? Any explosions, or car chases? I said
there were some Tuk Tuks racing around. Like space aliens or
superheroes? he asked. No, TukTuks are rickshaws with engines.
Theyre all over Asia, I replied. Scott frowned. Somehow I got the
idea that he wasnt going to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotelin the next 500 years, if that soon.
Action happens in films, as in life, when ordinary responses are
too tame to respond to a situation normally. Events have mush-
roomed to such a degree of intensity that behavior has to shift
into a higher gear. All the senses go into overdrive and adrenaline
amps up. Its the fight or flight response in action, so to speak.
Time even seems to slow down dramatically and we seem to have
a nano by nano-second recall of what went on.
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A C T I O N
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On photographic safari in Tanzania, my daughter Kelley and
I watched a solitary Cape Buffalo peacefully grazing in the
Ngornogoro crater as a pride of Lions crept up on him. This wasdefinitely Suspenseful in every sense. Kelley and I were asking the
key question for suspense scenes: what happens next? Our guide
Ally Mtumwa, cautioned us not to disturb the animals. Nature has
to take its course and its not for sentimental humans to interfere.
So the suspense built inside us, and probably inside the Lions as
well. They crept as close as they could to the Cape Buffalo until it
was put up or shut up time. The Cape Buffalo, who had seemed
oblivious to the approaching danger lazily raised his head at thelast minute and seemed to barely take note of the Lions surround-
ing him. Other animals like wildebeests would have been in full
OMG flight by now.
If this were a film, from a storytellers point of view the situation
is perfectly set-up. We know whats likely to happen, we can see
the jeopardy the Cape Buffalo is in: hes about to become lunch.
Because
hes outLioned he looks like the Biggest Loser of the week. Kelley
and I are seeing this from the Cape Buffalos point of view and
hoping he escapes. Interestingly, if we were telling this from the
hungry Lions point of view we would be rooting for them to kill
the Cape Buffalo for dinner and also share leftovers with the cir-
cling carrion birds.
The Lions were no fools. They were very cautious. They realized
this was no baby zebra, no newborn antelope, this was a BIG
MOTHER they faced. Not being their first Rodeo, they stood
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there on hyper-alert gauging their chances. And the Cape Buffalo
made no sign of running away. Something had to give.
And give it did. The leader of the Lions crouched, pawed theground, said F. it and charged. At that moment we went from
Suspense to Action. Everything speeded up dramatically. The
Cape Buffalo saw that he was being charged, made a decision in a
heartbeat, dropped his head low to the ground and charged right
back at the Lion.
The Lion faked to the right and then zoomed left around to attack
the hind end of his prey.
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The Cape Buffalo followed the fake and then reversed and went
on the attack after the Lion.
The two of them started to run in circles, chasing each other whichwould have been funny were it not a life or lunch struggle.
The other Lions just stood and watched this mano a mano fight,
just like the bad guys in Hong Kong action flicks who stand
around until its their turn to beat up Jackie Chan. All the Lions
were lacking were cigarettes to smoke.
Which way would it go? Cape Buffalo or Lion? Right now it was
an African standoff.
Until..
The Cape Buffalo faked right then surged up behind the Lion and
hooked a horn into the Lions side.
The Lion howled in pain, then started to flee.
The Cape Buffalo wheeled on the others who revealed their true
character and ran like hell.
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Kelley and I, safe in the Land Rover, started to cheer for the Cape
Buffalo who took his bows and went back to eating his grassy
lunch.
What can we learn from this True-life adventure that we can apply
to our own storytelling?
First, we have a story that has its own beginning, middle and end,
its own Act 1 setup, Lions sneak up on Buffalo. Act 2 development
Lions charge, Buffalo charges back, they chase each other and Act
3 resolution: Buffalo gores Lion, the Pride runs away,.
Second, the story can stand on its own. We dont need to know alot of back-story on the Lions or the Cape Buffalo to fully appreci-
ate the struggle.
Third, each of the animals has a clearly defined goal. Kelley and
I know the goals of the scene: The Lions want to kill and eat the
Cape Buffalo. The Cape Buffalo wants to ward off his attackers. If
it werent clear we might not understand whats going down. We
might not appreciate the different moves the animals are making
to get what they want. In a poorly written version of this story
there would have to be a narrator, like on NatGeo WILD, who has
to explain to us whats happening. The best film stories can be told
visually and need no narration to stand on their own. Show it,
dont say it is Mantra #1 for filmmakers
Fourth,We see a building of tension and suspense as the lions
get closer and the middle of the story develops. It bursts into
full action when it cant progress any further without one of the
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characters making a major move. Either the Lions are going to
attack or the Cape Buffalo is going to run away.
Then the head Lion makes his move and starts a charge. The CapeBuffalo is going to have to respond in some way: stand his ground
and maybe get killed and eaten, run away, or charge right back at
the Lion. At this point things have speeded up dramatically and
are happening very fast.
Fifth, The question becomes HOW do they go after their goals,
what are their tactics? What does the lion do when one tactic
doesnt work? Does he keep doing it or does he try somethingnew? In this case the head Lion starts to run in circles as the Cape
Buffalo turns the tables and charges him.
The Lion doesnt know what to do for a few seconds and keeps
going in a circle until he gets gored by the Buffalo horn. He
responds by getting the hell away. The Buffalo then turns his
attention to the other Lions who make no effort to stand and fight
but retreat ASAP. Resolution.
In films as in real life, there need to be different tactics to get to
a difficult goal. In directing and acting, these are what we call the
beats of a scene. They operate in any dramatic scene whether its
dialogue between two people, suspense scenes, choreography, or
action. Any scene that doesnt have distinct and interesting beats
will become repetitive and tedious very quickly. We know the
animals in our wild life adventure are not going to run in circles
forever. Not only is it boring, it isnt working as a tactic and oneof them needs to try something else if they are to reach their goal.
Lunch or Die. Which will it be?
Speaking of boring, lets move on and look at an example of an
action sequence fromNo Country For Old Men, 2007s winner of 4
Oscars, another 107 wins and 50 nominations for the Coen broth-
ers, their cast and crew. NO SPOILERS! I promise.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi145883417/
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After finding $2 million in the desert from
a drug deal gone bad, a man finds himself
running from a psychotic killer determinedto get the money back.
At the beginning of the film the man,
Llewelan Moss is in the desert in the middle
of the night when the drug dealers come
back looking for their money. He sees them
coming and starts to run away on foot: Read
this carefully to see how the chase works.
Look for the goals and the beats.
INSERT NO COUNTRY CHASE link or PHOTO
EXT. RIVER GORGE - DAWN1
Moss tops the small rise and straightens and
flat-out runs. We hear the pickups engine
racing and see, behind Moss, its spot sweeping
backlight across the crest.
Moss is running towards the declivity of
a river gorge. Sky there is pink from the
un-risen sun.
Moss bears on the gorge, panting.
The pickup bounces up into view on the crest
behind him, roof, lights blazing. It is
pointed off at an angle. Its spotlight sweepsthe river plain.
It finds Moss. The truck reorients as it
bounces down in pursuit. A muzzle flash
precedes the dull whump of the shotgun.
Moss races on toward the river. Another
shotgun whump. Moss stumbles, turns to look
behind him.
1No Country for Old Men screenplay by Joel & Ethan Coen based on
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The truck, gaining ground. A man stands up out
of the sunroof, one hand on top of the cab,
the other holding a shotgun.
Moss is almost to the steep riverbank. Another
whump of the shotgun.
Shot catches Moss on the right shoulder. It
tears the back of his shirt away and sends
him over the crest of the river bank.
Moss airborne, ass over elbows, hits near the
bottom of the sandy slope with a loud fhump.
He rolls to a stop and looks up.
We hear a skidding squeal and see dirt and
dust float over the lip of the ridge, thrown
by the trucks hard stop.
As Moss pulls off his boots we hear voices
from the men in the truck.
There is the clank of its tailgate beingdropped and sounds of activity on the hollow
metal of its bed.
Moss tucks his boots into his belt and runs
splashing into the fast-moving water. A look
back:
Something shakes the scrub down the steep
slope. Moss backpedals deeper.
Bursting out of the scrub at the foot of the
slope: a huge black dog with a large head and
clipped ears. It bounds toward Moss.
Moss turns and half stumbles, half dives
into the river. Underwater a very dull whump
followed by the fizz of buckshot.
Moss breaks the surface of the water, gasping,
and looks back:
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Figures on the ridge. Below, the dog hitting
the water. Another gunshot from the bank.
Where it hits we dont know.
River current and Mosss strokes speed him
away.
The giant dog swims with the current and gains
on Moss
Moss looks back at the dog who is closing and
redoubles his swimming
The dog is very close now
EXT. RIVER BEND - DAWN
Moss finds his feet under him and staggers
onto a sandbar. The pursuing dogs head bobs
rhythmically in the water.
Moss pulls the gun from his belt. He takes
the clip out and ejects the chamber round.
The dog finds his stumpy legs much closer to
the sandbar: his massive head dips and waggles
as he lurches out of his swim. He emerges
from the river and bounds across the sand.
Moss shakes the gun and blows into the barrel.
The dog splashes through the riverwash that
separates him from the human.
Moss reinserts the clip. He chambers a round
as the dog runs snarling and as the dog leaps
he fires.
Moss fires twice more quickly, not waiting to
see whether the first round told.
The dog lands, stopped but not dead. It jerks
and gurgles.
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MOSS
Goddamnit.
He is looking out at the river.His boots are drifting by.
This sequence is so classic that it could be in the middle of a
John Ford western or a Raoul Walsh gangster flick. Yet there is a
modern sense of brutality and violence that keeps it from feeling
dated. Beyond that, the storytelling is spot on perfect.
Go back and re-read the sequence and see where the set-up hap-
pens, where it breaks into full blown action, how the action builds,and how it resolves. All the same questions that we asked in the
12 QUESTIONS YOU BETTER ASK chapter can be asked here.
Its not hard, its not String Theory, but it is critical to ask the
questions. Whats the goal, where are the beats, where is the tip-
ping point, whats the climax? Finally, is it exciting enough or is it
predictable?
DIRECTING ACTORS IN ACTIONThank God, theres an easy part to directing action: the actors.
Unexpectedly, they are the least of a directors worry. Scenes with
a lot of dialogue are the actors specialty. When they trained it was
with dialogue scenes from plays and films. They learned to analyze
motivations, character, back-story etc, etc, If they studied at a first
rate institution like the Yale Drama School, they will have learned
physical movement, fencing, even dance to be able to skillfully useboth their bodies and their voices as instruments. But Action is
still the directors domain. Hes the one that knows how a scene
needs to be shot, often like a jigsaw puzzle, made of individual bits
that have to fit together just so. Like submissive puppies actors
need to sit, stand or stay when it comes to action.
We often call actors players and action scenes take them right
back to a totally playful and childlike state. Its imbedded in their
makeup and begging to be released. Just like turning a bunch of
10 year old boys loose to play Cowboys and (pardon the political
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incorrectness) Indians. When we give directions to actors in an
action scene we dont have to worry about esoteric back stories,
we dont need to come up with huge character motivations, wejust have to tell them what their physical action is. Always express
it with an active verb: Run across the street to escape the man
chasing you, Slam the door in the pushy salesmans facetoreject
his pitch, Tear the office apart to punish the man who just fired
you. These are simple, direct, easy directions. Do THIS in order
to do THAT! SIMPLE. DIRECT.
Never make directions complicated. Its a waste of energy, waste
of breath and the actor stopped listening after the first sentenceanyway.
Of course the character will affect how the actor does the action;
a timid man and the Hulk will perform the same active verb poles
apart. Imagine how they would enact Tear the office apart to
punish the man who just fired you. This can be a lot of fun in both
drama and comedy. Watch some of the action in The Hangoverto
see how this works
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2105934361/
It will come as no surprise to anyone whos spent much time
around actors that they are quick learners. Since their job is to
create the body, voice and mind of a character they become excel-
lent students absorbing like sponges what they need to know.
For example: Elizabeth Pea inRUSH HOUR 2 plays a bomb dis-
posal expert. It wouldve been easy/lazy for her to show up on the
set and let someone show her a few moves. But being a good pro-
fessional she made the effort to meet with bomb disposal experts
to learn as much as she could about how bombs and blasters and
wiring really work. Like all actors she wanted to look like she
knew what she was doing and not just pretending.
InPOINT OF NO RETURN, Harvey Keitel, playing a professional
assassin, actually managed to meet with someone who killedpeople for a living. Or so he said. But nevertheless Keitel returned
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from that meeting having a very strong idea of the kind of person-
ality that would do that.
Roy Scheider learned the basics of flying a helicopter from stuntpilot Jim Gavin on BLUE THUNDER. Gavin commented to me
at the time that he had always been able to teach an actor to fly
very easily, much more so than a non-actor. This was a godsend
one day in shooting when our cameraman nearly fell 2000 feet
from the helicopter. Seeing a gorgeous sunset one afternoon on
the set in downtown Los Angeles we rushed to get the helicopter
up in the air in order to photograph Scheider against the sunset.
The cameraman, Frank Holgate, would have to stand on the skidsoutside the helicopter handholding the camera, attached by a very
simple safety harness that he had made himself.
As we were scurried to get up in the air before we lost the sunset,
I noticed that Holgate was having difficulty setting up his harness.
Seeing an accident in our future I told him to slow down, if we
missed it we missed it. There would be plenty of sunsets that we
could photograph later. Always confident, Frank assured me hewould be perfectly safe.
Insert shot of Scheider against setting sun. Clip from blue thunder.
(Might be one in the Bound Blue Thunder volume or in the trailer
we can rip.)
Up in the air at 2000 feet we got some really dramatic shots of
Scheider against the setting sun. I was riding in the back of the
helicopter, and looked over the pilots shoulder at Holgate to see ifhe liked what he was shooting. What I saw was a look I had never
seen on any human being before. Frank had turned chalk white.
The straps of his harness were slipping and he was beginning to
fall away from the helicopter. Both his hands were holding the
camera, and he couldnt just drop it over a populated area.
Jim Gavin, the pilot, was sitting close to Holgate and quickly
reached through the open window to wrap his left arm around
him to keep him from falling. Then he ordered Roy Scheider to
take control of the
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helicopter. Like a pro, Roy grabbed the cyclic and landed us at
the heliport with only a little help from Gavin. Somewhere in the
excitement, the Arriflex camera had been thrown back to me, andI continued shooting so that we would have a documentary record
of Scheider landing the helicopter.
FORMATTING ACTION
Undoubtedly, you have noticed that the examples of action
sequences in these chapters are formatted like a screenplay, not
like a novel. This is very deliberate. When a writer conceives of a
scene its easy to separate the dialogue between characters. Even ashort line of action:
Lauren walked into her living room and turned
on the light
works in one line. When the action gets more complicated it needs
a different kind of formatting so that the Production department
can break it down and get a realistic idea of how long it will taketo shoot, what it will cost etc. Otherwise its hard to get a good
sense of how many shots will be needed to tell the story and what
angles will work the best. Writers are often in a hurry and are
eager to just get the scene down on paper. With apologies to my
friend Peter Lance who wrote this scene from his novel Stranger
456about a serial killer attacking his victim, lets see what it might
look like in an outline or first draft of a screenplay:
INT. LAURENS BEDROOM
Now in the distance, Karl hears the sound
of a siren. He lets go of Laurens neck
and grabs her by the hair from the back. He
spins her around and quickly unties the belt
from the robe on her wrists. With the skill
of a man expert in abduction, he grabs the
handcuffs from the Sheriffs belt on his waist
and slaps one on Laurens right wrist. Hesabout to cuff her left when she looks across
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the bed and spots her Search & Rescue kit
with the surgical scissors she used to pull
Karl out of the chopper. Suddenly, before he
can get the second cuff on, Lauren jerks awayand in one, swift move, rolls across the bed,
grabs the scissors and jams them into his
thigh as he lunges for her.
Karl pulls out the scissors and drops them,
lunging at her with his bloody hand and
catching the edge of her robe, flipping her
onto the floor. Lauren pushes back on the
floor with her feet to get away, but Karl
grabs her ankle, pulling her toward him.
For a novel or work of prose this might work. But screenplays are
really blueprints that are less meant to be read for pleasure, as
they are to be detailed guides to shooting. Peter Lance knows of
course to break down his action into basic shots:
INT. LAURENS BEDROOM
Now, in the distance, Karl hears the sound of
the siren. He lets go of Laurens neck and
grabs her by the hair from the back.
KARL
To be continued. Lets go...
He spins her around and quickly unties the
belt from the robe on her wrists.
With the skill of a man expert in abduction,
he grabs THE HAND CUFFS from the Sheriffs
belt on his waist and...
Slaps one on Laurens right wrist. Hes about
to cuff her left when, She looks across the
bed and spots her Search & Rescue kit with
the SURGICAL SCISSORS.
Suddenly, before he can get the second cuff
on, Lauren jerks away and in one, swift move,
rolls across the bed, grabs the scissors and
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Jams them into his thigh as he lunges for
her.
He pulls out the scissors and drops them,lunging at her with his bloody hand and
catching the edge of her robe, flipping her
onto the floor.
Lauren pushes back on the floor with her feet
to get away, but Karl grabs her ankle, pulling
her toward him.2
Whats clear is that when the scene is formatted even roughly its
easy to see the shots start to lay themselves out. Its easy for pro-
duction to break it down and for the director to see what other
beats might be needed to make the story clear.
Of course one thing that Peter Lance did not do here as he
adapted his novel was to specify the exact angles for each of the
shots. Since he doesnt know the locations, the casting, or what the
director might possibly have in mind he leaves that to the direc-
tor, production designer and cinematographer to create and fill in.Sometimes the writer may have a very specific idea for a shot and
will detail the idea in the script like a handheld shot, a low angle,
a steadicam shot or a tracking shot but as a general practice, its
wiser to leave this detailing of shots until later in the filmmak-
ing process. Nothing is more annoying to a director than scripts
where the writer has dictated every angle before anyone knows
what the locations look like or how the scene will be staged.
An exception would be the writer striving to make his script
extremely readable when selling his script. He may write it in
the form of a short story filled with descriptive details that would
ordinarily be left out of a screenplay. Nobody would ever sug-
gest that producers dont have sufficient imagination. Never. Its
merely to help the occasional Attention Deficit Disorder that some
producers flesh is heir to. Directors often take a screenplay like
this after its been approved and create a shooting version where
2 Adapted fromStranger 456by Peter Lance 2012
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they strip out the extra detail, creating a shooting script, that is
much more bare-bones, easier to follow and more transparent to
the cast and crew.
SUMMARY
1. BLUE THUNDERs lesson was that action sequences need new
events and tactics to grow, and the events and tactics need to
increase in intensity.
2. Action happens when ordinary responses to any situation
are too tame to respond normally. Behavior goes into overdrive.Example of the Cape Buffalo and the Lions in Tanzania.
3. Action sequences are like individual stories within a larger story.
They have a beginning, middle and end. Not necessarily in that
order.
4. A sequence can usually stand on its own without much refer-
ence to prior circumstances.
5. The goals or objectives of a sequence must be understood by
the Audience either intuitively or from information given by the
filmmaker.
6. The fun of the action comes when we see the ways that
characters
go after their goal. What do they do when one tactic doesnt work?
7. Formatting action scenes should be as close to verbal story-boards as possible. If written like prose in a novel its unlikely to
be shot properly. Enough time wont be scheduled and shots can
be missed.
8. Actors are great learners. When they have to portray something
they will work hard to be authentic.