The Making of…
Chapter 45
Don’t Pick Fights with Helmets
Just over a week after Orlando’s accident, he was allowed back onto the set. By now, most people knew about Viggo and I, but we weren’t exactly broadcasting the news about our relationship, word just crept around slowly. The media hadn’t caught wind of it yet, so I considered that a relief.
I suppose the day when most people got to witness it first-hand, was on one of the days when we were filming just outside the forest that was posing as Fangorn. We were taking filming pretty slowly, because Orlando was still in a ‘delicate’ condition, so we were mainly doing scenes where he didn’t have to move around that much. Today’s scene consisted of Aragorn, Rana, Legolas and Gimli turning up outside Fangorn, finding the pile of orc-corpses and thinking that Merry and Pippin were dead. I had thought that we’d get to work with Billy and Dom soon, but it turned out that the scenes of inside the forest would be filmed in the studio.
Viggo and I had to do a few shots of us riding up to the pile – as Orlando wasn’t able to – so we were sitting on Kenny, just out of shot. I was sitting in front of Viggo, but he held the reins by reaching past my waist. All I had to cling on to was Kenny’s mane, but I had my legs firmly clamped to the saddle, and Viggo was holding me pretty securely – I wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry!
“I feel like I ought to be controlling this horse somehow…” I mumbled.
“It’s ok, I’ve got it covered.” Viggo murmured softly in my ear – leaning a little closer than was probably necessary, but I didn’t mind.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”
“All you have to do is sit there and look pretty – in which case, you don’t have to try very hard.” He smiled, and I could only turn and stare at him like an idiot as I tried to think of some way to argue with him. But that was the thing about Viggo; he was constantly leaving me speechless.
“Right guys; let’s get the riding shots done!” Peter called from the other side of the pile of blackened fake corpses. “Action!” Viggo nudged Kenny into a gentle canter as we approached the pile, then he drew the horse to a slow stop and dismounted, leaving me in the saddle for a moment before I followed silently, keeping my facial expression shocked and mournful. We finished that shot and did a few more before Peter asked Viggo to kick one of the steel orc-helmets that littered the ground towards the camera – for the ‘I’m-really-manly-but-I’m-quite-upset-that-the-Hobbits-are-dead-so-now-I’m-angry-and-I’m-going-to-kick-this-helmet Effect’. I just had to stand there and look upset, because I’m a girl, and we don’t kick helmets apparently. We did the first take – consisting of Viggo yelling and kicking the helmet – and it was pretty good, but Peter wanted the helmet to fly right past the camera that was sitting further down the hill. We did three more takes, and on the fourth one, it was really close to the camera, but Peter was sure Vig could kick it closer.
“One more take and we’ll have it Vig!” He called, “Just try not to actually hit the camera!” I wandered back to my original spot beside Kenny and got my sad-face on as Peter shouted ‘Action’. Viggo yelled and swung his leg back, booting the helmet heavily down the hill with surprising precision, although he continued to yell as he sank to his knees. It was definitely the best take, he was being ridiculously… Real. Almost too real… I brushed my gut instinct aside so we could finish the take.
“Cut!” Peter shouted, “That’s the best take!” I grinned and dropped my mournful pose as I looked over to Viggo, who hadn’t yet stood up.
“Hey Vig, you ok?” I asked, walking slowly over to him.
“Yeah… I think I bruised my foot on that last take.” He laughed weakly.
